Total Annual Figures for Compromise Agreements, etc.

The request was successful.

Dear Northampton Borough Council,

Please supply Annual totals for the following:

As far as records go back, the annual figures for the total
of current employees / ex-employees (including teaching staff) of the Council who have signed compromise agreements directly related to the resolving of dispute(s) / grievance(s) / internal and external investigation(s) / whistleblowing incident(s).

In addition to this, annual figures for the number of current employees / ex-employees (including teaching staff) who have agreed, following the matter being raised and made conditional as part of a compromise agreement drawn up by the body acting as the Council's legal team, to sign and forgo their right to approach the council in the future with Freedom of Information and/or DPA Subject Access requests under the relevant Acts.

Please provide the figures in the following format e.g. 2006 - 2; 2007 - 4; 2008 - 0; 2010 - 6; etc.

Please note that I do not seek or require any personal information such as names and addresses – only the total figures for each subject area.

Yours faithfully,

Paul Cardin

Requests, Northampton Borough Council

Please accept this response as acknowledgement that your request has
been received by the Council. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 the Council has 20
working days in which to respond to your request. Under the Data
Protection Act 1998 the Council has 40 days in which to respond to your
request.

If you require any further information regarding this request please see
contact details below.

Information Governance, The Guildhall, Northampton, NN1 1DE. Tel 01604
838536/837409. Fax No 01604 837057

Please note that the contents of this e-mail, including any attachments thereto, may contain information which is confidential or privileged, and which is solely for the use of the recipient named above. The information contained in this e-mail, and in your reply, may be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or other legislation, and its confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this e-mail is strictly prohibited.

Northampton Borough Council, The Guildhall, Northampton, United Kingdom, NN1 1DE

+44 (0)1604 837837

www.northampton.gov.uk

Judy Goodman, Northampton Borough Council

Dear Mr Cardin

Further to your email dated 5th January 2011 regarding compromise
agreements. The Council is seeking clarification on the wording of
'disputes'. Please can you clarify. Do you mean actual disputes or
potential disputes that may have arisen.

Please note that this part of your request has been put on hold on day 5
until clarification has been received.

Regards

Judy Goodman
Information Governance Officer
Northampton Borough Council
Borough Solicitor's Department
The Guildhall
St Giles Street
Northampton, NN1 1DE
Tel No. 01604 837409

Please note that the contents of this e-mail, including any attachments
thereto, may contain information which is confidential or privileged, and
which is solely for the use of the recipient named above. The information
contained in this e-mail, and in your reply, may be subject to disclosure
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or other legislation, and its
confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. If you are not the intended
recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or
use of the contents of this e-mail is strictly prohibited.

Northampton Borough Council, The Guildhall, Northampton, United Kingdom,
NN1 1DE

+44 (0)1604 837837

www.northampton.gov.uk

Dear Judy Goodman,

Thanks for your request for clarification.

By disputes, I mean those that have resulted in compromise agreements being drawn up (usually involving termination of the working contract and a reference being supplied to the soon to be ex-employee). Often, they will have been through a grievance process / internal or internal investigation, but not gone on to the initiation of tribunal proceedings.

For clarity, I am not referring to disputes which are resolved and the working contract continues between employer and employee. I am also not referring to equal pay claims, redundancy situations (purely redundancy) or COT3 tribunal proceedings.

I hope this answers your request,

Yours sincerely,

Paul Cardin

Judy Goodman, Northampton Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Cardin

Please find attached the Council's response in respect of your
clarification dated 12th January 2011.

Regards

Judy Goodman
Information Governance Officer
Northampton Borough Council
Borough Solicitor's Department
The Guildhall
St Giles Street
Northampton, NN1 1DE
Tel No. 01604 837409
<<0001_00000811_Fin_3500000811_32FINAL RESPONSE.DOC>>

Please note that the contents of this e-mail, including any attachments thereto, may contain information which is confidential or privileged, and which is solely for the use of the recipient named above. The information contained in this e-mail, and in your reply, may be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or other legislation, and its confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. If you are not the intended recipient, please be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the contents of this e-mail is strictly prohibited.

Northampton Borough Council, The Guildhall, Northampton, United Kingdom, NN1 1DE

+44 (0)1604 837837

www.northampton.gov.uk

Dear Judy Goodman,

Thanks for your response. Please could you answer the second part of my query, dealing with the issue of employees signing away their rights to make future FOI / DPA requests?

Yours sincerely,

Paul Cardin

Judy Goodman, Northampton Borough Council

Dear Mr Cardin

Sorry for having omitted that part of your request. The Council has not
asked any employees to waive their rights regarding making requests
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Data Protection Act
1998.

Kind Regards

Judy Goodman
Information Governance Officer
Northampton Borough Council
Borough Solicitor's Department
The Guildhall
St Giles Street
Northampton, NN1 1DE
Tel No. 01604 837409

show quoted sections

Dear Judy Goodman,

Thank you very much for your time,

Yours sincerely,

Paul Cardin

Paul Cardin left an annotation ()

Northampton Borough Council were one of the quicker respondents of the 345 councils asked, taking 11 days to respond positively and in full.

Please link here to read about the further aspects of this request:

www.easyvirtualassistance.co.uk/page4.html

...including councils who have attempted to prevent individuals from exercising their statutory FOI / DP querying rights.

There is a growing trend for the use of compromise agreements, not just in the area of disputes or whistleblowing, but also in general redundancy or equal pay claims. Some councils have yet to answer this query - although to date, 65 working days have elapsed.

Paul Cardin left an annotation ()

Here’s a piece of legal opinion from Senior Counsel Hugh Tomlinson QC, which appears to make more likely the prospect of public sector employers opting for Freedom of Information and Data Protection “gagging clauses” within compromise agreements; and thereby aiming to remove persons’ statutory rights to make data and information requests.

It has been an effective reputation management tactic, and a way of concealing the historical malpractice engaged in by employers when targetting whistleblowers or getting rid of people who’ve lodged grievances. The ruse has been deployed in the past by two councils; Cheshire West & Chester, and Brent.

The ICO are powerless to prevent it as the HT opinion implies that contract law takes precedence over a person’s statutory rights – which it appears can be surrendered. The ICO could only act if the recipient of any “ban” were to breach it and make an FoI or DP request of the relevant data controller – which is unlikely to occur because there’s always a “club over the head” of the signatory to the compromise agreement i.e. the threat of any monetary pay off being clawed back through the courts.

http://tinyurl.com/bu9vynx