25 litter hot spots

The request was successful.

Dear Highways England Company Limited,

Please refer to this list of the initial 25 litter hotspots identified by HE in response to the request from John Hayes MP
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/4...

What exactly is included in the following sections:

M25 (A1089 spur)
M25 (A13 spur)

Does it include all of the section of these roads for for which Highways England has the statutory responsibility for cleaning?

If not, which sections are included?
Is the section of the A13 to the west of its junction with the M25 included?

Yours faithfully,

Peter Silverman

Highways England,

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Highways England,

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Silverman

 

Thank you for your email to the Highways England Customer Contact Centre
dated 16 August regarding a Freedom of Information request.

 

Your enquiry has been given the reference number 18493686, please quote
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OPSSESecretariat,

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Silverman,

 

 

Please find attached our response to your FOI request of the 16 August,
with copies of documents relating to your requested.

 

 

Kind regards

 

 

Katie

 

 

 

Katie Jackson – Team Executive
OD SE Business Management Team

Highways England | Bridge House | 1 Walnut Tree Close | Guildford | Surrey
| GU1 4LZ
Web: [1]http://www.highways.gov.uk

 

 

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[2]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati... |
[3][Highways England request email]

 

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Dear OPSSESecretariat,

18493686

5( 2) of the EIR says that "Information shall be made available under paragraph (1) as soon as possible and no later than 20 working days after the date of receipt of the request".

Your response took, I calculate, 18 working days to action. That is over a month in real time

Surely it would only have taken a couple of phone calls to obtain the information.

While you did not exceed the statutory maximum of 20 days it is difficult to believe that the information has been made available "as soon as possible" .

Why did it take so long?

Yours sincerely,

Peter Silverman

OPSSECorrespondenceTeam,

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Silverman,

 

 

Please find attached our response to your email of the 15 September,
regarding our response timescale.

 

 

Kind regards

 

K Jackson

 

 

K. Jackson – Team Executive
OD SE Business Management Team

Highways England | Bridge House | 1 Walnut Tree Close | Guildford | Surrey
| GU1 4LZ
Web: [1]http://www.highways.gov.uk

 

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[2]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati... |
[3][Highways England request email]

 

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OPSSECorrespondenceTeam,

OPSSECorrespondenceTeam would like to recall the message, "Highways England Response - response timescale - Peter Silverman".

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1 Attachment

Dear Mr Silverman,

 

 

Apologies for my previous email with the incorrect date, please find
attached our response to your email of the 14 September, regarding our
response timescale.

 

 

Kind regards

 

K Jackson

 

 

K. Jackson – Team Executive
OD SE Business Management Team

Highways England | Bridge House | 1 Walnut Tree Close | Guildford | Surrey
| GU1 4LZ
Web: [1]http://www.highways.gov.uk

 

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Highways England Company Limited | General enquiries: 0300 123 5000
|National Traffic Operations Centre, 3 Ridgeway, Quinton Business Park,
Birmingham B32 1AF |
[2]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati... |
[3][Highways England request email]

 

Registered in England and Wales no 9346363 | Registered Office: Bridge
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3. mailto:[Highways England request email]

Dear Katie,

Thanks for getting back so promptly.

Highways England's clean- up of its 25 litter hot-spots has been widely publicised and is a matter of some significance. Locating the right person to provide the information should not therefore have been an issue.

It related to two adjoining roads in the same Area - Area 10. The answer was simplicity itself. All of these roads for which HE had a cleansing responsibility were included in the two hot spots.

I still see no reason why any more that two calls to Area 10's HQ would not have sufficed to obtain the information. The response to me could have been turned round in say 2 or 3 days.

I accept that complex requests requiring liaison with a number of departments who in turn might have to collate and prepare data from different sources might, in exceptional circumstances, require weeks to respond to. But this is not one of them.

Your reply does not address the specifics of my request which was disappointing.

I therefore intend intend to go ahead with a complaint to the Information Commissioner.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Silverman

This is to illustrate the significance of the 25 Litter Hot-spots:

Please refer to the Governments' Litter Strategy for England published in April 2017 at
http://www.cleanhighways.co.uk/wp-conten...

On page 10 under the heading "Cleaning up the country including" one of the 6 points listed was:

"- working with Highways England to put in place measures to deliver a lasting improvement
in cleanliness at 25 priority litter hotspots on the Strategic Road Network, .... "

Details of what constitutes a particular hot-spot is not therefore some obscure fact that might take time to ferret out.

Peter Silverman

OPSSESecretariat,

1 Attachment

  • Attachment

    Highways England Response FOI 18493686 to Mr Silverman Times Scales for responsing to FOI Requests.pdf

    50K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Silverman

Thank you for your email of 15 September to Katie Jackson about the time scales for responding to Freedom of Information requests.

I attach above a signed copy of our response.

Yours sincerely

Anne Nugent
Team Executive
Business Management Team
Highways England | Bridge House | 1 Walnut Tree Close | Guildford | Surrey | GU1 4LZ
Web: http://www.highways.gov.uk

Dear OPSSESecretariat,

Please find below for your information my complaint to the Information Commissioner of 28th September.

From: Peter Silverman
Sent: 28 September 2017 16:25
To: '[email address]' <[email address]>
Subject: New complaint about Highways England - Litter hot spots

Complaint to the Information Commissioner – 25 litter hot spots

Complainant: Peter Silverman, 20 Kingsend, Ruislip, Middlesex HA4 7DA 01895 625770

I am complaining about: Highways England, Bridge House, 1 Walnut Tree Close, Guildford , Surrey GU1 4LZ

I confirm that to the best of my knowledge I have given you accurate information relating to this complaint. I understand that during any necessary investigations, you may need to disclose the details I have provided to the subject of my complaint to allow them to make a proper response. I also understand that your policy is to destroy documents relating to complaints after six months. I have clearly indicated those documents that you should not destroy and should return to me.

Complaint

Please refer to https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/2...

5( 2) of the EIR says that "Information shall be made available under paragraph (1) as soon as possible and no later than 20 working days after the date of receipt of the request".

It says “and” not “or”. Both conditions therefore have to be fulfilled - not just the second one.

In this case I contend that the first one was not met as the information could have been made available far more promptly than the 18 days taken. I have explained the reasons in my communications to Highways England accessible via the above link.

Kind regards

Peter Silverman
01895 625770

Yours sincerely,

Peter Silverman

Peter Silverman left an annotation ()

Copy of response from ICO

From: casework@ico.org.uk [mailto:casework@ico.org.uk]
Sent: 27 October 2017 16:35
To: petersilverman@cleanhighways.co.uk
Subject: ICO response - your complaint against Highways England[Ref. FER0703252]

27th October 2017

Case Reference Number FER0703252

Dear Mr Silverman

Your information request to Highways England

Thank you for your correspondence dated 28/09/17 in which you complain that you have did not receive a response to your information request from Highways England in line with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR).

You are correct in quoting that regulation 5(2) of the EIR says that "Information shall be made available under paragraph (1) as soon as possible and no later than 20 working days after the date of receipt of the request".

Whereas it would ideal for information to be provided 'as soon as possible' there are a number of reasons why a response might not be provided as soon as you might expect it to be. The 'no later than 20 working days' element of the regulation sets out the latest time when a response should be provided. A failure to meet that time frame puts the public authority in breach of the EIR.

You have acknowledged that a response was provided before the 20 working day limit expired so there is no breach of the EIR for the Commissioner to consider.

Given our scarce resources and the volume of complaints we are currently required to deal with we will not be contacting Highways England on the matter. You will recognise that it has taken 4 weeks in which to provide this initial response to your complaint.

I appreciate that this decision will disappoint you but I hope you can appreciate the rationale behind it. If I can be of any further assistance I can be contacted on the number below.
?
Yours sincerely

Jim Dunn (01625 545673)
Case Officer

Peter Silverman left an annotation ()

Copy of my response to ICO
From: Peter Silverman
Sent: 20 November 2017 14:32
To: 'casework@ico.org.uk' <casework@ico.org.uk>
Subject: RE: ICO response - your complaint against Highways England[Ref. FER0703252]

Dear Mr Dunn,

Please refer to this extract to from FOIA S50 which I gather applies to the EIRs

50 Application for decision by Commissioner.
(1) Any person (in this section referred to as “the complainant”) may apply to the Commissioner for a decision whether, in any specified respect, a request for information made by the complainant to a public authority has been dealt with in accordance with the requirements of Part I.
(2) On receiving an application under this section, the Commissioner shall make a decision unless it appears to him—
(a) that the complainant has not exhausted any complaints procedure which is provided by the public authority in conformity with the code of practice under section 45,
(b) that there has been undue delay in making the application,
(c) that the application is frivolous or vexatious, or
(d) that the application has been withdrawn or abandoned.
(3) Where the Commissioner has received an application under this section, he shall either—
(a) notify the complainant that he has not made any decision under this section as a result of the application and of his grounds for not doing so, or
(b) serve notice of his decision (in this Act referred to as a “decision notice”) on the complainant and the public authority.

As you will see having insufficient resources is not one of the reasons for not making a decision under 50(2).

Could you please reconsider your position, investigate my complaint and either make a decision in my favour or notify me your grounds for not doing so consistent with FOI 50 (2)

Thank you

Peter Silverman