Request for Information regarding provision of Religiously Slaughtered Meat/Poultry in Schools pt 2

The request was partially successful.

Dear Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council,

Ref: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...

Please find a followup to the above previous request request further details.
Dear Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council,

Many thanks for your reply, however in order to progress this FOI to a satisfactory conclusion I would like the following clarification regarding your replies:

Q1.
a. Which schools does in the Wigan Area does your reply refer ?
b. How do you know the meat/poultry has not been subject to religious slaughter at the time of slaughter?
c. Do you conduct checks or are you reliant on the relies from your caterers?
d. Do your caterering service providers buy in religiously slaughtered meat/poultry as per demand? If so can I please have a copy of those religiously slaughtered meat requests/demands or copies of order requests that reflect those specific requests?
e. Is it possible to have a breakdown of each school's requests for religiously slaughtered meals for each of the last 3 months?

Q2-3 What assurances are there in place to ensure religiously slaughtered meat does ente the food chain at your schools as provided by your catering service providers?

New Question (omitted from original request) - Has any poultry product whether fresh or frozen served at your schools been subject to religious slaughter at the time of slaughter and served to puplils who do not require any religious or dietry requirement other than those who have requested those specific requirements?

Q5. Are your catering service providers able to provide the Abattoir/Slaughter Codes of the Meat / poultry products either provided frozen or as raw fresh products (products which have not been subject to further processing i.e. coated, marinated when purchased). These will be availble from the caterer's suppliers (I do not require the supplier details only the slaughter codes of the products)? If not why not?

Q6. Do you stipulate in your catering service provider contracts that Religiously Slaughtered food should not be served to pupils who do not require it for dietry or religious reason? If so, how do you enforce this? If not, why not?

Q7. This question was specific as to whether you as Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council provided any education to pupils regarding Religious Slaughter practises whether stunned or unstunned and was not a question to determine if your catering service providers provided any education that contributed to any school curriculum. Therefore this question is again being asked specifically to Wigan Bourough Council.

Many thanks in advance
Yours faithfully,

John Cookson

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

1 Attachment

Please quote ID 7940 on all correspondence
Dear Sir
I am emailing to confirm the receipt of your recent request for
information to Wigan Council. This has been logged and will be forwarded
to the relevant department for action.
We will respond as soon as possible and in most cases no later than 20
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Freedom of Information
Legal Service - Resources Directorate
Wigan Council, PO Box 100
Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 3DS
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Dear Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council,

As this has now passed the date as per the requirements for a response, do you have an update on this matter?

Yours faithfully,

John Cookson

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Mr Cookson,

Apologies for the delay. The answer to your new question is:-

No. In all schools only customers with a special dietary requirement would be given an opportunity to discuss their preferred menu.

The replies to your follow-up questions are being chased and we hope to be able to respond by tomorrow.

Regards

Freedom of Information

Legal Service - Resources Directorate
Wigan Council, PO Box 100
Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 3DS

www.wigan.gov.uk www.twitter.com/wigancouncil www.facebook.com/WiganCouncilOnline
https://www.wigan.gov.uk/Council/Armed-f...
As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this email or any response to it under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 unless the information in it is covered by one of the exemptions in the Act.

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Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Cookson,

Apologies once again for the delay. Please now see attached full response to your request.

If you are unhappy with any aspect of this response, an independent senior officer will review this decision. If you are not satisfied with our response you must put your complaint in writing within 40 working days of receipt of this response giving the reasons for your complaint. You can either email [Wigan Council request email]

or write to Freedom of Information at the address below.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner, who is the regulator for Freedom of Information. Her website is https://ico.org.uk/ and her helpline number is 0303 1231113.Note: Her staff may ask you to exhaust our internal complaints procedure if you choose to complain to her office now.

Regards
Freedom of Information
Legal Service - Resources Directorate
Wigan Council, PO Box 100
Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 3DS
www.wigan.gov.uk www.twitter.com/wigancouncil www.facebook.com/WiganCouncilOnline
https://www.wigan.gov.uk/Council/Armed-f...
As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this email or any response to it under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 unless the information in it is covered by one of the exemptions in the Act

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Dear Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council,

You have failed to answer the questions I have asked and would like a direct answer to the following questions;

Q 1
b) How do you know the meat/poultry has not been subject to religious slaughter at the time of slaughter?

Is your answer of "All Meat is Stunned" a response in the belief you believe Pre-Stunning negates Religious Slaughter or Halal Certification (both of these are very different)?

c) Do you conduct checks or are you reliant on the relies from your caterers?

Not answered in this request. Why has this question not been addressed in your response?

d) Do your caterering service providers buy in religiously slaughtered meat/poultry as per demand?

Not Answered in this request. Why has this question not been addressed in your response?

e) Is it possible to have a breakdown of each school's requests for religiously slaughtered meals for each of the last 3 months? You have answered the question with N/A.Why is that when you or your caters are alleged to order Halal food to demand?

Q 2/3 What assurances are there in place to ensure religiously slaughtered meat does enter the food chain at your schools as provided by your catering service providers?

Not answered in this request.

Q 5 Are your catering service providers able to provide the Abattoir/Slaughter Codes of the Meat / poultry products either provided frozen or as raw fresh products (products which have not been subject to further processing i.e. coated, marinated when purchased).These will be availble from the caterer's suppliers (I do not require the supplier details only the slaughter codes of the products)? If not why not?

Your response does not provide details of any Abattoir codes and are only product codes.

Q 6 Do you stipulate in your catering service provider contracts that Religiously Slaughtered food should not be served to pupils who do not require it for dietry or religious reason? If so, how do you enforce this? If not, why not?

You have failed to answer the question of whether or not you stipulate to your catering providers that Religiously Slaughtered food should not be served to pupils not of that faith.

Q 7 This question was specific as to whether you as Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council provided any education to pupils regarding Religious Slaughter practises whether stunned or unstunned and was not a question to determine if your catering service providers provided any education that contributed to any school curriculum. Therefore this question is again being asked specifically to Wigan Bourough Council.

Again this question has not been answered but deflected with a response from your caterers which the question was not directed too.

Q Has any poultry product whether fresh or frozen served at your schools been subject to religious slaughter at the time of slaughter and served to puplils who do not require any religious or dietry requirement other than those who have requested those specific requirements?
Your replied: In all schools only customers with a special dietary requirement would be given an opportunity to discuss their preferred menu.

The question of how do you know if Religiously Slaughtered Food was served to pupils not of the faith of the method used for Religious Slaughter conducted at the abattoir at the time of slaughter has not been answered and this ties into the lack of responses to Q's 1b, c, d, e, Q2, Q6.

With this I require further clarification on my previous questions.

Many thanks for your previous response.

Yours faithfully

Mr John Cookson

Dear Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council,
I have sent a reply asking you to clarify the information you have failed to reply in either request. Are you in a position to clarify those specific points as per my request?
Yours faithfully,

John Cookson

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Mr Cookson,

We will aim to respond to you as soon as possible and, in any case, no later than 20 working days from when you submitted your follow up queries, i.e. by Wednesday 6th March 2019.

Graham Donelan
Information Governance Officer
Resources Directorate
Wigan Council
Wigan Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 1YN
01942 827639

www.wigan.gov.uk
www.twitter.com/wigancouncil
www.facebook.com/WiganCouncilOnline

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Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

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Dear Mr Cookson,

I am writing to respond to your recent request for clarification to the information provided in our initial response to your FOI request 7940. This request has also been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The response to your request is attached.

If you are unhappy with any aspect of this response, an independent senior officer will review this decision. If you are not satisfied with our response you must put your complaint in writing within 40 working days of receipt of this response giving the reasons for your complaint. You can either email [Wigan Council request email] or write to Freedom of Information at the address below.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner, who is the regulator for Freedom of Information. Her website is https://ico.org.uk/ and her helpline number is 0303 1231113.

Her staff may ask you to exhaust our internal complaints procedure if you choose to complain to her office now.

Kind Regards

Freedom of Information

Legal Services - Resources Directorate
Wigan Council, PO Box 100
Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 3DS
www.wigan.gov.uk
www.twitter.com/wigancouncil
www.facebook.com/WiganCouncilOnline
https://www.wigan.gov.uk/Council/Armed-f...
As a public body, the Council may be required to disclose this email or any response to it under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 unless the information in it is covered by one of the exemptions in the Act.
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