Treatment of Freedom of Information Requests - Subjects - Outcomes - Time to Respond

Marlon Campbell made this Freedom of Information request to Hackney Borough Council

The request was successful.

From: Marlon Campbell

19 January 2010

Dear Hackney Borough Council,

For the 100 most recent FOI requests which the council considers
closed, be that because the request was rejected, met, or declared
"not held", please provide the following information:

(1) The date the request was received by the council.

(2) The summary subject of the request - in less than 20 words

(3) The date the request was acknowledged.

(4) The date the initial final response was given

(5) The status of this response, ie met, not held, rejected

(6) Whether an Internal Review was requested, and if so the date on
which this was completed and the outcome status

(7) Whether the FOI Request to the council's knowledge was referred
to the ICO.

(8) Whether the ICO issued any guidance or instruction to the
council following this referral.

(9) The final outcome after the ICO referral.

It is understood that a case may be referred to the ICO after the
council regards it a closed, and so this list request may not be
final and definitive, but at any given time, a FOI Request must be
either open or closed as far as the council, is considered.

This FOI Request is asking about the situation when it is
processed, and a snapshot should be taken, with the date of this
recorded in the reply.

As most of this information must already be held electronically for
administrative reasons by the council, it should not be onerous to
provide it.

Please provide this electronically, preferably in an XLS
spreadsheet.

Yours faithfully,

Marlon Campbell

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From: Pheng Lay
Hackney Borough Council

20 January 2010

Dear Mr Campbell

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - request for information.

I acknowledge your request for information received on 20 January 2010.

Your request is being considered and you will receive a full response to
your request, within the statutory timescale of 20 working days (from
the day after the request is received) as defined by the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

If appropriate, the information may be provided in paper copy, normal
font size. If you require alternative formats, e.g. language, audio,
large print, etc. then please let me know.

The Act defines a number of exemptions, some of which are subject to a
public interest test that may prevent release of the information. You
will be informed if this is the case, and you have a right to appeal
against our decision. Information relating to this will be included in
any refusal notice issued.

If the information you request contains reference to a third party then
they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on whether or not
to release the information to you.

There may be a fee payable for this information. This will be considered
and you will be informed if a fee is payable. In this event the fee must
be paid before the information is processed and released. The 20 working
day time limit for responses is suspended until receipt of the payment.

If you have any queries or concerns then please contact me at the
address above.

Further information is also available from the Information Commissioner
at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545 700
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Tat-Pheng Lay
Freedom of Information Assistant

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From: Pheng Lay
Hackney Borough Council

17 February 2010

Attachment CDM n2016808 v1 CDM n2014960 v1 Received and response date data.xls
48K Download View as HTML

Attachment 1 2021746 17022010 FOI Response.doc
31K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Campbell

Please find attached a response to your Freedom of Information request
received on 20 January 2010.

Yours sincerely

Tat-Pheng Lay
Freedom of Information Assistant

Hackney Council may exercise its right to intercept any communication, the
only exception to this would be confidential survey data, with any
employee or agent of the Council using its telephony or data networks. By
using these networks you give your consent to Hackney Council monitoring
and recording your communication.

If you have received this e-mail in error please delete it immediately and
contact the sender.

For further information about Hackney Council policies please contact
Hackney Service Centre on: 020 8356 3000

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London Borough of Hackney may exercise its right to intercept any
communication on its networks - for more information see

http://www.hackney.gov.uk/email_disclaim...

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From: Marlon Campbell

21 February 2010

Dear Hackney Borough Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Hackney Borough
Council's handling of my FOI request 'Treatment of Freedom of
Information Requests - Subjects - Outcomes - Time to Respond'.

Thank you for your satisfactory response in respect of Q1-Q4.

In respect of Q6, please confirm to which FOI Reference this
applies.

In respect of Q7-Q9, it may be that the ICO was not involved in any
way in any of these 100 FOI Requests
Please confirm.

In respect of Q5:

(1) One would have thought that the council would have added a
column to the spreadsheet provided, and included in that the
outcome of the Request - ie
- met in full
- met in part, with not held, or with sections for part refusal
- not held
- refused or rejected with sections applying

(2) One would also have thought that some record must have been
kept of what the outcome was, for example the response sent to the
Requester.
It seems hard to imagine that to go to each file and determine the
outcome from a quick look at the response would take more than 5
minutes, and then a couple of minutes to enter this outcome into
the spreadsheet.
Thus it seems hard to see how the total time could take more than
100 x 7 mins, which is less than 12 hours maximum, and so well
below the FOI limit.

(3) I would suggest that the council might wish to consider
amending its procedures so that the outcome is automatically added
to the council's spreadsheet data when the response is sent.
At that stage it would take no more than couple of minutes, a very
small proportion of the time taken to respond, and would then
provide the council with easy access to useful data.
I note that the MoJ has issued guidance which may well make this a
requirement.

(4) Bearing in mind the council's duty under ยง16 to assist, for
example by suggesting ways to modify the FOI Request so as to come
within the limit, could you kindly review the calculation you made.

If you still consider the costs exceeds the relevant limit, then
please advise the figure so I may modify my request accordingly.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/tr...

Yours faithfully,

Marlon Campbell

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From: Pheng Lay
Hackney Borough Council

24 February 2010

Dear Mr Campbell

Thank you for your email of 21 February. I am writing to acknowledge your request for an Internal Review. Please be assured that your request has been referred to the relevant member of staff who will endeavour to respond to you at the earliest possible date.

Miss Pheng Lay
Freedom of Information Assistant
6-15 Florfield Road
London
E8 1DT
Phone: 0208 356 4032
[email address] I www.hackney.gov.uk

Please consider the environment before printing

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From: Pheng Lay
Hackney Borough Council

24 February 2010

Dear Mr Campbell

Thank you for your email of 21 February. I am writing to acknowledge your request for an Internal Review. Please be assured that your request has been referred to the relevant member of staff who will endeavour to respond to you at the earliest possible date.

Miss Pheng Lay
Freedom of Information Assistant
6-15 Florfield Road
London
E8 1DT
Phone: 0208 356 4032
[email address] I www.hackney.gov.uk

Please consider the environment before printing

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From: Pheng Lay
Hackney Borough Council

25 February 2010

Dear Mr Campbell

Thank you for your email of 21 February. I am writing to acknowledge your request for an Internal Review. Please be assured that your request has been referred to the relevant member of staff who will endeavour to respond to you at the earliest possible date.

Miss Pheng Lay
Freedom of Information Assistant
6-15 Florfield Road
London
E8 1DT
Phone: 0208 356 4032
[email address] I www.hackney.gov.uk

Please consider the environment before printing

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From: Marlon Campbell

17 March 2010

Dear Pheng Lay,

I note that the maximum recommended time for an Internal Review has
almost passed, yet all I have from you is 3 separate
acknowledgements within two days more than 3 weeks ago.

Please confirm when I may expect your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Marlon Campbell

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From: Pheng Lay
Hackney Borough Council

17 March 2010

I am out of the office for the afternoon on Weds 17th March and will respond to your email at the earliest possible date. If you query is urgent, please contact Zoe Rowland on Ext. 2683

Hackney Council may exercise its right to intercept any communication, the only exception to this would be confidential survey data, with any employee or agent of the Council using its telephony or data networks. By using these networks you give your consent to Hackney Council monitoring and recording your communication.

If you have received this e-mail in error please delete it immediately and contact the sender.

For further information about Hackney Council policies please contact Hackney Service Centre on: 020 8356 3000

**********************************************************************

London Borough of Hackney may exercise its right to intercept any communication on its networks - for more information see

http://www.hackney.gov.uk/email_disclaim...

**********************************************************************

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From: Pheng Lay
Hackney Borough Council

19 March 2010

Attachment CDM n2016808 v1 Summary of FOI requests and timescales.xls
49K Download View as HTML

Attachment CDM n2109616 v1 12032010 Internal Review Response.doc
30K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Campbell

Your request for an internal review has been conducted. Please find
attached a response.

Yours sincerely

Tat-Pheng Lay
Freedom of Information Assistant

Hackney Council may exercise its right to intercept any communication, the
only exception to this would be confidential survey data, with any
employee or agent of the Council using its telephony or data networks.

By using these networks you give your consent to Hackney Council
monitoring and recording your communication.

If you have received this e-mail in error please delete it immediately and
contact the sender.For further information about Hackney Council policies
please contact Hackney Service Centre on: 020 8356 3000

**********************************************************************

London Borough of Hackney may exercise its right to intercept any
communication on its networks - for more information see

[1]http://www.hackney.gov.uk/email_disclaim...

**********************************************************************

This message has been scanned for malware by Websense. [2]www.websense.com

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From: Marlon Campbell

19 March 2010

Dear Pheng Lay,

Thank you for your reply, and I note that you went over the normal
18h limit, for which I am grateful.

I am conducting research into the ways that councils in London
handle FOI Requests.

I made the same request as I made to you to each of the 33 London
boroughs, and to TfL and the GLA.

I need to import the data into a spreadsheet.

Unfortunately the PDF file you have provided does not allow me to
do this.

Could you kindly supply me the data as an XLS spreadsheet - as I
did in fact originally request?

Yours sincerely,

Marlon Campbell

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From: Marlon Campbell

19 March 2010

Dear Pheng Lay,

I apologise for my previous message, which was sent in error.

Let me thank you for your final response, which was satisfactory.

Yours sincerely,

Marlon Campbell

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