Will the Legal Dispute between SCC and SW1 be heard in a public court?
Dear Somerset County Council,
It has been reported that the controversial joint venture SW1 (75% ponwed by IBM) is suing Somerset County Council (SCC) and that in return SCC is counter-suing SW1.
Q1. Will this dispute be heard in a court open to the public including Somerset taxpayers?
Q2. Has a court and date been agreed? If so please provide details. If not, please notify me when details are known.
Yours faithfully,
Dave Orr
Dear Dave
Thank you for contacting Somerset County Council. I have logged your FOI
request with the relevant department. Your reference number is 2282223.
If you require any further assistance please do not hesitate to contact
us again.
Robert Taylor
The Deane House
Belvedere Road
Taunton
TA1 1HE
Southwest One - working in partnership with
Somerset County Council, Taunton Deane
Borough Council & Avon and Somerset
Police.
6373780
Link: [1]File-List
Dear Mr Orr
Thank you for your request for information of which we are dealing with
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We are currently dealing with
your request and will be in touch shortly concerning disclosure of the
information you have requested.
The legislation obliges us to provide you with this information within 20
working days, so we will endeavour to send our response to you by
15 January 2013.
Yours sincerely
Communications Team
FOI / EIR Co-ordinator
Tel: 01823 355584,
Email: [2][email address]
Somerset County Council, County Hall, Taunton, TA1 4DY
URL: [3]www.somerset.gov.uk
FOI Disclosure Log URL: [4]http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
This email, and any attachments is intended solely for the individual to
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Business Development - Resources would like to recall the message, "Freedom of Information request 2282223 - ref 1577 - Acknowledgement".
This email, and any attachments is intended solely for the individual to whom it is addressed. It may contain personal and / or sensitive material and should be handled according to the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998. If this email carries a protective marking of PROTECT or RESTRICTED in the header it should be handled according to HMG guidelines, if not protectively marked it can be regarded as UNCLASSIFIED.
If this Email has been misdirected, please notify the author immediately. If you are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on any of the information contained in it or attached, and all copies must be deleted immediately.
Whilst we take reasonable steps to try to identify any software viruses, any attachments to this email may nevertheless contain viruses which our anti-virus software has failed to identify. You should therefore carry out your own anti-virus checks before opening any documents. Somerset County Council will not accept any liability for damage caused by computer viruses emanating from any attachment or other document supplied with this email.
All GCSx traffic may be subject to recording and / or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.
Link: [1]File-List
Dear Mr Orr
Thank you for your request for information of which we are dealing with
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We are currently dealing with
your request and will be in touch shortly concerning disclosure of the
information you have requested.
The legislation obliges us to provide you with this information within 20
working days, so we will endeavour to send our response to you by
15 January 2013.
Yours sincerely
Communications Team
FOI / EIR Co-ordinator
Tel: 01823 355584,
Email: [2][email address]
Somerset County Council, County Hall, Taunton, TA1 4DY
URL: [3]www.somerset.gov.uk
FOI Disclosure Log URL: [4]http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
This email, and any attachments is intended solely for the individual to
whom it is addressed. It may contain personal and / or sensitive material
and should be handled according to the principles of the Data Protection
Act 1998. If this email carries a protective marking of PROTECT or
RESTRICTED in the header it should be handled according to HMG guidelines,
if not protectively marked it can be regarded as UNCLASSIFIED.
If this Email has been misdirected, please notify the author immediately.
If you are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, distribute,
copy, print or rely on any of the information contained in it or attached,
and all copies must be deleted immediately.
Whilst we take reasonable steps to try to identify any software viruses,
any attachments to this email may nevertheless contain viruses which our
anti-virus software has failed to identify. You should therefore carry
out your own anti-virus checks before opening any documents. Somerset
County Council will not accept any liability for damage caused by computer
viruses emanating from any attachment or other document supplied with this
email.
All GCSx traffic may be subject to recording and / or monitoring in
accordance with relevant legislation.
References
Visible links
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2. mailto:[email address]
3. file:///tmp/www.somerset.gov.uk
4. http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
Dear Somerset County Council,
This is due today.
Please advise on progress.
Yours faithfully,
Dave Orr
Dear Business Development - Resources,
This FOI is now overdue.
Please advise on progress.
Yours sincerely,
Dave Orr
Dear Somerset Direct - FOI,
This FOI is now overdue.
Please advise on progress.
Yours sincerely,
Dave Orr
Dear Dave
Thank you for your further enquiry.
I have forwarded your e-mail to the Information Governance team to chase
up your request.
Robert Taylor
The Deane House
Belvedere Road
Taunton
TA1 1HE
Southwest One - working in partnership with
Somerset County Council, Taunton Deane
Borough Council & Avon and Somerset
Police.
6373780
Dear Mr Orr
I am writing in respect of your recent request for information from
Somerset County Council, which has been dealt with under the provisions of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
I am sorry for the delay in returning our response to you.
I can confirm that we do hold the information that you are seeking and we
are able to provide it to you.
Our response is detailed in bold format underneath your questions as
follows.
Q1. It has been reported that the controversial joint venture SW1 (75%
owned by IBM) is suing Somerset County Council (SCC) and that in return
SCC is counter-suing SW1.
Q1a. Will this dispute be heard in a court open to the public including
Somerset taxpayers?
A1a. Yes
Q1b. Has a court and date been agreed? If so please provide details. If
not, please notify me when details are known.
A1b. The court is the High Court in London. The court has provisionally
set aside time for a hearing in November 2013 however as this date is
provisional it could change to as late as 2014.
If you feel your request has not been answered in sufficient detail or if
you wish to clarify the information given, please contact me and I will be
happy to address the issues you raise.
If you are not satisfied with the way in which your request has been dealt
with, or the information you have received, you can ask for an internal
review of our decision.
Please send your request to:
Peter Grogan, Information Governance Team, Client Services
Somerset County Council, A2 West, County Hall, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 4DY
or email [1][email address]
Please quote the reference number 2282223 in any future communications.
An internal review will then be carried out and we will write to you with
the results of our investigation. If you are not content with the outcome
of our review, you may then apply directly to the Information
Commissioner’s Office ([2]www.ico.gov.uk) for an appeal. The Information
commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113
Finally, please be aware that your response will appear, without your
contact details, on the Council’s website at:
[3]http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
Yours sincerely,
Communications Team
FOI / EIR co-ordinator
Tel: 01823 355584,
Email: [4][email address]
Somerset County Council, County Hall, Taunton, TA1 4DY
URL: [5]www.somerset.gov.uk
FOI Disclosure Log URL: [6]http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
This email, and any attachments is intended solely for the individual to
whom it is addressed. It may contain personal and / or sensitive material
and should be handled according to the principles of the Data Protection
Act 1998. If this email carries a protective marking of PROTECT or
RESTRICTED in the header it should be handled according to HMG guidelines,
if not protectively marked it can be regarded as UNCLASSIFIED.
If this Email has been misdirected, please notify the author immediately.
If you are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, distribute,
copy, print or rely on any of the information contained in it or attached,
and all copies must be deleted immediately.
Whilst we take reasonable steps to try to identify any software viruses,
any attachments to this email may nevertheless contain viruses which our
anti-virus software has failed to identify. You should therefore carry
out your own anti-virus checks before opening any documents. Somerset
County Council will not accept any liability for damage caused by computer
viruses emanating from any attachment or other document supplied with this
email.
All GCSx traffic may be subject to recording and / or monitoring in
accordance with relevant legislation.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. file:///tmp/www.ico.gov.uk
3. http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
4. mailto:[email address]
5. file:///tmp/www.somerset.gov.uk
6. http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
Dear Business Development - Resources,
Can you now please supply papers from the Preliminary hearing(s) held, disclsoing the Judge's advice and ruling(s).
Yours sincerely,
Dave Orr
Dear Somerset County Council,
Can you now please supply papers from the Preliminary hearing(s) held, disclosing the Judge's advice and ruling(s).
Yours faithfully,
Dave Orr
Dear Somerset Direct - FOI,
Can you now please supply papers from the Preliminary hearing(s) held, disclosing the Judge's advice and ruling(s).
Yours sincerely,
Dave Orr
Somerset Direct ref: n/a
Council internal ref: 1616
Date request received: 18 January 2013
Due date of response: 15 February 2013
Dear Mr Orr
Thank you for your request for information of which we are dealing with
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We are currently dealing with
your request and will be in touch shortly concerning disclosure of the
information you have requested.
The legislation obliges us to provide you with this information within 20
working days, so we will endeavour to send our response to you by 15
February 2013.
Yours sincerely
Communications Team
FOI / EIR co-ordinator
Tel: 01823 355584,
Email: [1][email address]
Somerset County Council, County Hall, Taunton, TA1 4DY
URL: [2]www.somerset.gov.uk
FOI Disclosure Log URL: [3]http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
This email, and any attachments is intended solely for the individual to
whom it is addressed. It may contain personal and / or sensitive material
and should be handled according to the principles of the Data Protection
Act 1998. If this email carries a protective marking of PROTECT or
RESTRICTED in the header it should be handled according to HMG guidelines,
if not protectively marked it can be regarded as UNCLASSIFIED.
If this Email has been misdirected, please notify the author immediately.
If you are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, distribute,
copy, print or rely on any of the information contained in it or attached,
and all copies must be deleted immediately.
Whilst we take reasonable steps to try to identify any software viruses,
any attachments to this email may nevertheless contain viruses which our
anti-virus software has failed to identify. You should therefore carry
out your own anti-virus checks before opening any documents. Somerset
County Council will not accept any liability for damage caused by computer
viruses emanating from any attachment or other document supplied with this
email.
All GCSx traffic may be subject to recording and / or monitoring in
accordance with relevant legislation.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. file:///tmp/www.somerset.gov.uk
3. http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
Dear Mr Orr
Thank you for your request made under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) 2000.
We are currently dealing with your request and will be in touch shortly
concerning disclosure of the information you have requested. If the
Council decides to apply a charge for processing your request, we will
also tell you.
The legislation obliges us to provide you with this information within 20
working days, so our response will be sent to you by 18-02-2013.
Please be aware that we now publish all responses to requests for
information made under the FOIA, without any details of the requestor, on
the Council’s website.
Please see:
http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Team
Tel: 01823-357194
Web : www.somerset.gov.uk
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Somerset Direct ref: n/a
Council internal ref: 1616
Date request received: 18 January 2013
Due date of response: Withdrawn – Duplicate request
Dear Mr Orr
Further to your request for information dated 18 January 2013, I
understand that you have submitted the same request to Somerset Direct.
As a result I am withdrawing this FOI request reference 1616 and your
request will be responded to under reference number 2313893 by the
Information Governance Team.
If you are not satisfied with the way in which your request has been dealt
with, or the information you have received, you can ask for an internal
review of our decision.
Please send your request to:
Peter Grogan, Information Governance Team, Client Services
Resources Directorate, A2 West, County Hall, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 4DY or
email [1][email address]
Please quote the reference number 1616 in any future communications.
An internal review will then be carried out and we will write to you with
the results of our investigation. If you are not content with the outcome
of our review, you may then apply directly to the Information
Commissioner’s Office ([2]www.ico.gov.uk) for an appeal. The Information
commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113
Yours sincerely
Communications Team
FOI / EIR co-ordinator
Tel: 01823 355584,
Email: [3][email address]
Somerset County Council, County Hall, Taunton, TA1 4DY
URL: [4]www.somerset.gov.uk
FOI Disclosure Log URL: [5]http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════
Somerset Direct ref: 2313893
Council Service ref: 1618
Date of request: 21-01-2013
Due date of response: 18-02-2013
Actual date of response: 11-02-2013
Dear Mr Orr
I am writing regarding your recent request for information to Somerset
County Council, which has been dealt with under the provisions of:
• The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (2000)
Your request made to the Council concerned the legal dispute between
Somerset County Council and South West One and the papers from the
preliminary hearing(s).
In response to your question I can confirm that this information is exempt under
section 32 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, because, to the extent it
exists, it is court records and held by Somerset County Council only by virtue
of being contained in (a) any document filed with, or otherwise placed in the
custody of, a court, (b) any document served upon, or by, a public authority, or
(c) any document created by a court or a member of the administrative staff of a
court, in each case for the purposes of proceedings in a particular cause or
matter.
If you feel your request has not been answered in sufficient detail, or if
you wish to clarify the information given, please contact me and I will be
happy to address the issues you raise.
If you are not satisfied with the way we have dealt with your request, or
the information you have received, you can ask for an internal review of
our decision.
Please send your request to:
Peter Grogan
Corporate Information Governance Manager
Information Governance Team
Client Services Team / A2W
County Hall
Taunton
Somerset
TA1 4DY or email [1][email address]
We will carry out an internal review and we will write to you with the
results of our investigation.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for an appeal.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF Tel: 0303 – 123 1113
Please quote the reference numbers at the top of this letter in any future
correspondence.
Finally, please be aware that your response will appear, without your
contact details, on the Council’s website at:
[2]http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Team
Client Services Team/A2W
County Hall
Taunton
Somerset
TA1 4DY
Tel: 01823-357194
Web : [3]www.somerset.gov.uk
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This email, and any attachments is intended solely for the individual to
whom it is addressed. It may contain personal and / or sensitive material
and should be handled according to the principles of the Data Protection
Act 1998. If this email carries a protective marking of PROTECT or
RESTRICTED in the header it should be handled according to HMG guidelines,
if not protectively marked it can be regarded as UNCLASSIFIED.
If this Email has been misdirected, please notify the author immediately.
If you are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, distribute,
copy, print or rely on any of the information contained in it or attached,
and all copies must be deleted immediately.
Whilst we take reasonable steps to try to identify any software viruses,
any attachments to this email may nevertheless contain viruses which our
anti-virus software has failed to identify. You should therefore carry
out your own anti-virus checks before opening any documents. Somerset
County Council will not accept any liability for damage caused by computer
viruses emanating from any attachment or other document supplied with this
email.
All GCSx traffic may be subject to recording and / or monitoring in
accordance with relevant legislation.
References
Visible links
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blocked::mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
blocked::http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog
3. http://www.somerset.gov.uk/
blocked::http://www.somerset.gov.uk/
http://www.somerset.gov.uk/
http://www.somerset.gov.uk/
Dear Information Governance,
Can you please supply me with contact details of the Court involved so that I may apply directly that to that public body.
Yours sincerely,
Dave Orr
Dear Somerset County Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Somerset County Council's handling of my FOI request 'Will the Legal Dispute between SCC and SW1 be heard in a public court?'.
The ICO guidance is here:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/...
"The phrase, 'only by virtue of,' implies that if the public authority also holds the information elsewhere it may not rely upon the exemption. For instance, a public authority may have a set of financial records which are the subject of litigation.
If those records are held only for the purposes of litigation and are contained in court records, then they are exempt. However, if it also held the records for another business purpose then they would not be exempt.
It is important to remember that the proceedings for which the document covered by the exemption is held must actually have commenced. The exemption cannot
be stretched to cover proceedings which are merely contemplated although in such cases it may be possible to rely upon the exemption relating to legal professional privilege (see Awareness Guidance No 4).
Examples of court records covered by the exemption include witness statements, statements of case (particulars of claim, defence, counterclaim, defence to counterclaim and reply), and details of when and how a fine is paid, warrants issued by a magistrate at his home, indictment (charge) sheets and bail
application sheets.
So far as inquiries are concerned, the key factor is whether or not they are governed by statute. It will often be useful, therefore, to look at the status of the Version 2.0 Nov 2004 - 4 -
(Updated March 2007 – under review) inquiry and its terms of reference. If in doubt, it is strongly recommended that FOI officers seek either the advice of the inquiry itself or of senior colleagues.
Likewise, information held for the purposes of arbitration is only exempt if the arbitration is statutory and governed by Part 1 of the Arbitration Act 1996 and, therefore, subject to a written arbitration agreement. Again, if the status of the arbitration is not certain, it is strongly recommended that FOI officers seek advice.
a) Duty to provide assistance
Although this is an absolute exemption, it does not mean that requests for information contained in court and other records covered by the exemption can be ignored. On the contrary, section 16 of the Act places public authorities under an explicit duty to provide advice and assistance to applicants. In many cases, assuming that a public authority wishes to rely upon the exemption, it will be appropriate to refer the applicant to some other means by which the information requested may be obtained."
I believe that the guidance shows that you should disclose information if it exists within SCC. And also the court case has not yet commenced.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/wi...
Yours faithfully,
Dave Orr
Thank you for contacting Somerset County Council. A member of our
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UNCLASSIFIED.
Whilst we take reasonable steps to try to identify any software viruses,
any attachments to this email may contain viruses which our anti-virus
software has not identified. You should therefore carry out your own
anti-virus checks before opening any documents. This Council will not
accept any liability for damage caused by computer viruses that come
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Thank you.
This email, and any attachments is intended solely for the individual to whom it is addressed. It may contain personal and / or sensitive material and should be handled according to the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998. If this email carries a protective marking of PROTECT or RESTRICTED in the header it should be handled according to HMG guidelines, if not protectively marked it can be regarded as UNCLASSIFIED.
If this Email has been misdirected, please notify the author immediately. If you are not the intended recipient you must not disclose, distribute, copy, print or rely on any of the information contained in it or attached, and all copies must be deleted immediately.
Whilst we take reasonable steps to try to identify any software viruses, any attachments to this email may nevertheless contain viruses which our anti-virus software has failed to identify. You should therefore carry out your own anti-virus checks before opening any documents. Somerset County Council will not accept any liability for damage caused by computer viruses emanating from any attachment or other document supplied with this email.
All GCSx traffic may be subject to recording and / or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.
Dear Dave
Thank you for contacting Somerset County Council.
I have forwarded your email to our Information Governance department who
will Look into your request. If you require any further assistance
please do not hesitate to contact us again.
Robert Taylor
The Deane House
Belvedere Road
Taunton
TA1 1HE
Southwest One - working in partnership with
Somerset County Council, Taunton Deane
Borough Council & Avon and Somerset
Police.
6373780
Dear Mr Orr
I can confirm the following contact details as requested below:
· High Court, Fleet Street, London, Holborn, London EC4Y
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Team
Tel: 01823-357194
Web : www.somerset.gov.uk
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Dear Information Governance,
Thank you for the High Court information.
After further research and consideration I requested an Internal Review of the original FOI refusal.
Can you please confirm that an Internal Review is being conducted and when that is expected to complete?
Yours sincerely,
Dave Orr
Dear Mr Orr
Thank you for your email.
Please find attached the internal review as requested.
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Team
Tel: 01823-357194
Web : www.somerset.gov.uk
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Dear Information Governance,
Your Internal Review refusal does not address the specific issues that I raised above from the directly relevant ICO paper on court cases (ICO link above).
You have failed to confirm whether any information for the court case existed beforehand and should be disclosed e.g. shortfall in SW1 procurement "assured savings" against forecast of "assured savings".
If you do not supply any information that must have existed before the court case, then you will leave me with no option other than another ICO appeal against an improper or blanket refusal to disclose.
Please confirm that no information exists that can be disclosed under the relevant ICO guidance on court cases (ICO link above).
Yours sincerely,
Dave Orr
Dear Information Governance (ATTN.Peter Grogan),
ICO Appeal dedaline is 27/3.
A response to this email is outstanding - Please make a final confirmation (as per below) to avoid the overhead & cost of an ICO appeal:
=======================================================
From: Dave Orr
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2013 8:47 AM
To: Peter Grogan
Cc: John Wilkins ; Honor Clarke ; Donna Fitzgerald
Subject: Please confirm explicitly that "records for another business purpose" have NOT been submitted to the Court.
Dear Mr Grogan,
Thank you for the IM policy papers.
I am not expecting exempt papers as per ICO guidance. But the ICO clearly states:
‘The phrase, “only by virtue of,” implies that if the public authority also holds the information elsewhere it may not rely upon the exemption. For instance, a public authority may have a set of financial records which are the subject of litigation. If those records are held only for the purposes of litigation and are contained in court records, then they are exempt. However, if it also held the records for another business purpose then they would not be exempt.’
SCC is countersuing SW1 regarding savings made. That would naturally raise an expectation that evidence on savings using pre-existing information would be submitted to the court at some stage.
Can you please explicitly confirm that there are no submitted court papers by SCC that contain details on SW1 procurement savings or other SW1-related details i.e. "records for another business purpose"?
=======================================================
Yours sincerely,
Dave Orr
*** NOT FOR ACTION - UPDATING FOI FOR OFF-SITE CORRESPONDENCE ***
From: Dave Orr
Sent: Monday, March 25, 2013 5:27 PM
To: Peter Grogan
Cc: John Wilkins ; Honor Clarke ; Donna Fitzgerald ; roger conway
Subject: Re: Please confirm explicitly that "records for another business purpose" have NOT been submitted to the Court.
Dear Mr Grogan,
Quite how SCC has counter-claimed for a lack of savings by SW1, without utilising previous contract management records (such as those tracking savings between anticipated & received), will remain a mystery (for now).
Should court proceedings actually take place, then all submitted papers (in whatever form) will then be in the public domain and I trust will corroborate that the form they are in, is within the ICO guidance, that I have brought to the attention of SCC on several occasions.
Based upon your explicit confirmation that none of the records that were submitted to the court “were held for another business purpose” in any form, I will not proceed with an ICO appeal.
Yours sincerely,
David Orr.
-------------------------------------------------------
From: Peter Grogan
Sent: Monday, March 25, 2013 4:45 PM
To: Dave Orr
Cc: John Wilkins ; Honor Clarke ; Donna Fitzgerald
Subject: RE: Please confirm explicitly that "records for another business purpose" have NOT been submitted to the Court.
Dear Mr Orr
Thank you for your email
I can confirm that none of the submitted court papers were prepared for any other purpose other than to claim and counterclaim and that the documents submitted did not exist in this form until the commencement of proceedings in September 2012.
Yours sincerely
Peter Grogan
Information Governance Manager
Tel 01823 357175
Mob 07500 882481
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From: Dave Orr [mailto:[email address]]
Sent: 21 March 2013 08:47
To: Peter Grogan
Cc: John Wilkins; Honor Clarke; Donna Fitzgerald
Subject: Please confirm explicitly that "records for another business purpose" have NOT been submitted to the Court.
Importance: High
Dear Mr Grogan,
Thank you for the IM policy papers.
I am not expecting exempt papers as per ICO guidance. But the ICO clearly states:
‘The phrase, “only by virtue of,” implies that if the public authority also holds the information elsewhere it may not rely upon the exemption. For instance, a public authority may have a set of financial records which are the subject of litigation. If those records are held only for the purposes of litigation and are contained in court records, then they are exempt. However, if it also held the records for another business purpose then they would not be exempt.’
SCC is countersuing SW1 regarding savings made. That would naturally raise an expectation that evidence on savings using pre-existing information would be submitted to the court at some stage.
Can you please explicitly confirm that there are no submitted court papers by SCC that contain details on SW1 procurement savings or other SW1-related details i.e. "records for another business purpose"?
Yours sincerely,
David Orr.
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From: Peter Grogan
Sent: Thursday, March 21, 2013 8:13 AM
To: Dave Orr
Cc: Donna Fitzgerald ; John Wilkins ; Honor Clarke
Subject: RE: SCC Policy information, plus a further clarification on a refused FOI (Somerset Direct ref: 2313893 Service Ref: 1618).
Dear Mr Orr
Policy Documents
I can confirm that the following policies have been consulted on with staff and Unions and recently signed off by IRO Richard Williams.
· Data Destruction Policy
· Records Retention Policy
· Records Management Policy
The current policies are attached to the email
FOI Request and subsequent Internal Review - 2313893
With regard to the second issue and your request for the documents pertaining to the ongoing legal dispute and court action between SCC and SWOne.
I concur with the previous decisions and internal review that have determined that the information is part of the preceding arbitration and court process and therefore exempt under section 32.
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000...
The initial legal action commenced in early September 2012 followed by subsequent arbitration and court proceedings which are still under way. Papers submitted to the court as part of this process are exempt.
I confirm that none of the information you requested has fallen outside of this exemption.
The ICO guidance states ICO Guidance Section32 The information covered is that which is held “only by virtue” of being contained in documents which have been:
• filed with or otherwise placed in the custody of a court (or tribunal), or
• served upon or by a public authority, for the purposes of court proceedings (including inquests and post mortem examinations), or
• placed in the custody of a person conducting an inquiry or arbitration or the purposes of that inquiry or arbitration, or
• created by a court or member of the administrative staff for the purposes of court proceedings, or
• created by a person conducting an inquiry or arbitration for the purposes of that inquiry or arbitration.
Somerset County Council relies upon the fact that the documentation you requested falls under the description outlined above
The ICO guidance further states
Examples of court records covered by the exemption include witness statements, statements of case (particulars of claim, defence, counterclaim, defence to counterclaim and reply), and details of when and how a fine is paid, warrants issued by a magistrate at his home, indictment (charge) sheets and bail application sheets.
Somerset County Council relies upon the fact that these documents refer to “statements of case (particulars of claim, defence, counterclaim, defence to counterclaim and reply)”
I hope that this is a comprehensive answer to your questions, if you need any further clarification please contact me
Regards
Peter Grogan
Information Governance Manager
Tel 01823 357175
Mob 07500 882481
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