Active Travel Programme Board and sub-groups

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Oxfordshire County Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Oxfordshire County Council,

I would like to understand what happens in relation to Oxfordshire County Council's Active Travel Programme Board. i would like to know what reports it recieves, what it's discussions say, and who its activite travel stakeholder group consists of.

Therefore please send me:
A list of any "corporate / organisational" members of the Active Travel Stakeholder Group. I am happy to have individual members' names redacted;

Any minutes of the Active Travel Programme Board; City AT Steering Group; Cycling & Walking Activation Steering Group; C&W (North) AT Steering Group; South AT Steering Group; Active Travel Stakeholder Group; and City Programme Board since the start of 2021 to the current date.

Any reports presented to, or made by, the above entities.

Any reports made in relation to the "DfT Infrastructure Delivery Schemes & Monitor" specifically.

I would not expect such documentation to need to be redacted. But, if to do so would be too onerous, please either a) only provide reports rather than minutes; and / or only provide minutes since the start of March 2021 until the end of June 2021.

Yours faithfully,

Richard Parnham

FOI - E&E, Oxfordshire County Council

1 Attachment

Our reference: 19193 EIR

                                                            

Dear Mr Parnham,

Thank you for your correspondence received on 10 December 2021 in which
you asked for the following information:

 

I would like to understand what happens in relation to Oxfordshire County
Council's Active Travel Programme Board. i would like to know what reports
it receives, what it's discussions say, and who its active travel
stakeholder group consists of.

 

Therefore please send me:

A list of any "corporate / organisational" members of the Active Travel
Stakeholder Group. I am happy to have individual members' names redacted;

 

Any minutes of the Active Travel Programme Board; City AT Steering Group;
Cycling & Walking Activation Steering Group; C&W (North) AT Steering
Group; South AT Steering Group; Active Travel Stakeholder Group; and City
Programme Board since the start of 2021 to the current date.

 

Any reports presented to, or made by, the above entities.

 

Any reports made in relation to the "DfT Infrastructure Delivery Schemes 
& Monitor" specifically.

 

I would not expect such documentation to need to be redacted. But, if to
do so would be too onerous, please either a) only provide reports rather
than minutes; and / or only provide minutes since the start of March 2021
until the end of June 2021.

 

 

Your request is being considered and you will receive the information
requested as soon as possible and in any event within the next 20 working
days in compliance with the Environmental Information Regulations
2004/Freedom of Information Act 2000, unless an exception applies. This
means that the council will respond to you by the end of 13 January 2022
at the latest.

 

If appropriate, the information requested can be made available in
alternative formats, including other languages, Braille, large print, and
audiocassette. If you require any of these formats then please let me
know.

 

Please contact me if you have any have further enquiries about your
request. I would be grateful if you could quote the reference number given
at the top of this email.

 

Kind regards

Renata Malinowski

 

Freedom of Information Support Officer

Law and Governance

Oxfordshire County Council

Email: [1]E&[email address] and
[2][email address]

[3]www.oxfrodshire.gov.uk

 

 

 

[4]cid:image001.jpg@01D6010C.B8A402C0

 

 

Save money and paper - do you really need to print this email.

 

 

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If you have received it in error, please notify the sender by reply and
delete it immediately. Views expressed by the sender may not be those of
Oxfordshire County Council. Council emails are subject to the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. [5]email disclaimer. For information about how
Oxfordshire County Council manages your personal information please see
our [6]Privacy Notice.

References

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5. https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/emaildisc...
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FOI - E&E, Oxfordshire County Council

Our reference: 19193 EIR

                                                            

Dear Mr Parnham,

I am writing to update you on your request 19193 EIR.

 

Unfortunately, the Council is unable to supply you with a response to this
request today. Please accept the Council’s apologies for this delay.

 

Please be assured that the Council is actively working on this request and
will respond to you in full as soon as possible.

 

As the Council has not met the statutory deadline for responding to this
request, you do have the right to request an Internal Review now. However,
you may wish to reserve your right to do this until you have received and
considered the Council’s response.

 

We will send you an update at the latest by the end of 20 January 2022.

 

If you have any queries in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact
us at this email.

 

Kind regards

Renata Malinowski

 

Freedom of Information Support Officer

Email: [1]E&[email address] and
[2][email address]

 

 

 

Save money and paper - do you really need to print this email.

 

 

This email, including attachments, may contain confidential information.
If you have received it in error, please notify the sender by reply and
delete it immediately. Views expressed by the sender may not be those of
Oxfordshire County Council. Council emails are subject to the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. [3]email disclaimer. For information about how
Oxfordshire County Council manages your personal information please see
our [4]Privacy Notice.

References

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2. mailto:[email address]
3. https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/emaildisc...
4. https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/council/a...

FOI - E&E, Oxfordshire County Council

Our reference: 19193 EIR

                                                            

Dear Mr Parnham,

I am writing to update you on your request 19193 EIR.

 

Unfortunately, the Council is unable to supply you with a response to this
request today. Please accept the Council’s apologies for the ongoing
delay.

 

Please be assured that the Council is actively working on this request and
will update you early next week.

 

As the Council has not met the statutory deadline for responding to this
request, you do have the right to request an Internal Review now. However,
you may wish to reserve your right to do this until you have received and
considered the Council’s response.

 

If you have any queries in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact
us at this email.

 

Kind regards

Renata Malinowski

 

Freedom of Information Support Officer

Email: [1]E&[email address] and
[2][email address]

 

 

 

Save money and paper - do you really need to print this email.

 

 

This email, including attachments, may contain confidential information.
If you have received it in error, please notify the sender by reply and
delete it immediately. Views expressed by the sender may not be those of
Oxfordshire County Council. Council emails are subject to the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. [3]email disclaimer. For information about how
Oxfordshire County Council manages your personal information please see
our [4]Privacy Notice.

References

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2. mailto:[email address]
3. https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/emaildisc...
4. https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/council/a...

Dear Oxfordshire County Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Oxfordshire County Council's handling of my FOI request 'Active Travel Programme Board and sub-groups'. For your reference, this is FOI 19193 EIR.

The deadline for receiving this information passed some time ago, and some of this information is time critical. Please provide me with this data as soon as possible and please (via this complaint) explain why it was not done so within the legal timeframes.

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

Yours faithfully,

Richard Parnham

FOI - E&E, Oxfordshire County Council

1 Attachment

Our reference: 19193 EIR IR

 

Dear Mr Parnham,

 

In accordance with the council's Freedom of Information policy, I will
arrange for an internal review of your request to be undertaken.

 

The review will be undertaken by a manager not involved in the original
handling of your request. In line with guidance from the Information
Commissioner’s Office, we will aim to provide a full response within 20
working days beginning the day your complaint was received. This means you
will receive a response by 24 February 2022.

 

Kind regards,

Renata Malinowski

 

Freedom of Information Support Officer

Email: [1]E&[email address] and
[2][email address]

 

 

[3]cid:image001.jpg@01D67C47.D9E2A5C0

 

 

Save money and paper - do you really need to print this email.

 

 

This email, including attachments, may contain confidential information.
If you have received it in error, please notify the sender by reply and
delete it immediately. Views expressed by the sender may not be those of
Oxfordshire County Council. Council emails are subject to the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. [4]email disclaimer. For information about how
Oxfordshire County Council manages your personal information please see
our [5]Privacy Notice.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:E&[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
4. https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/emaildisc...
5. https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/council/a...

FOI - E&E, Oxfordshire County Council

20 Attachments

Our reference: 19193 EIR

 

Dear Mr Parnham,

 

Thank you for your email dated 30 January.  As you have indicated that you
are not satisfied with the Council’s handling of your request, the issue
has been referred to me to conduct an internal review.

 

My investigation

 

I have completed the internal review and have looked at the whole request
afresh. I have also looked at how the original response was handled.

 

It is unfortunate that there have been some delays in engaging with
relevant officers due to the Christmas and New Year period as well as the
need to check with several relevant Officers to discuss what can and can’t
be disclosed in accordance with legislation guidance. In addition to this,
some staff members have been unavailable due to sickness. As a result of
this the process has taken longer than usual. Please accept my apologies
for this.

 

In your request of 10 December 2021, you asked for the following
information:

 

I would like to understand what happens in relation to Oxfordshire County
Council's Active Travel Programme Board. I would like to know what reports
it receives, what it's discussions say, and who its active travel
stakeholder group consists of.

 

Therefore, please send me:

A list of any "corporate / organisational" members of the Active Travel
Stakeholder Group. I am happy to have individual members' names redacted;

 

Any minutes of the Active Travel Programme Board; City AT Steering Group;
Cycling & Walking Activation Steering Group; C&W (North) AT Steering
Group; South AT Steering Group; Active Travel Stakeholder Group; and City
Programme Board since the start of 2021 to the current date.

 

Any reports presented to, or made by, the above entities.

 

Any reports made in relation to the "DfT Infrastructure Delivery Schemes &
Monitor" specifically.

 

I would not expect such documentation to need to be redacted. But, if to
do so would be too onerous, please either a) only provide reports rather
than minutes; and / or only provide minutes since the start of March 2021
until the end of June 2021.

 

Please find attached the following information 

 

 

o Active Travel Co-production Group
o Healthy Streets
o T2 Bicester Scheme Steering Group Minutes
o T2 Witney Scheme Steering Group Minutes and

 

 

The Council has redacted the following information from the disclosure:

 

 1. The names and contact details of Council employees whose roles are not
sufficiently senior to warrant the inclusion of this information;
 2. The mobile telephone numbers of all Council staff and
 3. The names, addresses and contact details of some third parties who are
not Council staff;

 

The Council considers that this information is exempt from disclosure
under regulation13 of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. 
Regulation 13 provides that information shall not be disclosed where it
constitutes the personal data of someone other than the applicant and that
disclosure would satisfy one of the following three conditions:

 

 1. disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles, or
would do so if the exemptions in section 24(1) of the Data Protection
Act 2018 (manual unstructured data held by public authorities) were
disregarded or,
 2. disclosure would contravene Article 21 of the GDPR (general
processing: right to object to processing), or section 99 of the Data
Protection Act 2018 (intelligence services processing: right to object
to processing).
 3. on a request under Article 15(1) of the GDPR (general processing:
right of access by the data subject) for access to personal data, the
information would be withheld in reliance on provision made by or
under section 15, 16 or 26 of, or Schedule 2, 3 or 4 to, the Data
Protection Act 2018, on a request under section 45(1)(b) of that Act
(law enforcement processing: right of access by the data subject), the
information would be withheld in reliance on subsection (4) of that
section, or on a request under section 94(1)(b) of that Act
(intelligence services processing: rights of access by the data
subject), the information would be withheld in reliance on a provision
of Chapter 6 of Part 4 of that Act.

 

In this case, the relevant condition is the first condition. 
Specifically, the council considers that the first data protection
principle would be breached; namely, that disclosure of the redacted
information would not be fair for the following reasons:

 

 1. The reasonable expectations of the data subjects and the nature of the
information itself leads the Council to conclude that the data
subjects could not reasonably expect that this information would be
disclosed;
 2. Neither this, nor similar information has been released into the
public domain by the data subjects or anyone else; and
 3. That the legitimate interests in the public having access to this
information do not outweigh the interests in preserving the rights and
freedoms of the data subjects.

 

In reaching this decision, the Council noted that the following
consequences may occur if this information was disclosed:

 

 1. The data subject would not expect this information to be released.

 

In light of the above, the Council considers it justified to uphold this
exemption by applying redactions to the disclosure.

 

 

In relation to your specific request for information relating to the City
Programme Board, I can confirm that the Council does hold information.
However, the Council considers that an exception applies that prevents the
Council from making any such documents public.

 

The Council considers that Regulation 12(4)(d) of the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 (EIR’s) is applicable to this information. It
states:

 

For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), a public authority may refuse to
disclose information to the extent that—

d) the request relates to material that is still in the course of
completion, to incomplete documents or unfinished data. the request
relates to material which is still in the course of completion, to
unfinished documents or to incomplete data; the request relates to
material which is still in the course of completion, to unfinished
documents or to incomplete data;

 

Having had regard to the ICO guidance, the Council considers it essential
that any debate that contributes to a live issue is carried out freely and
frankly in a ‘safe space’ so that all options can be explored as part of
the process.

 

In engaging the exception at Regulation 12(4)(d), the Council is required
to carry out a public interest test and consider where the balance of the
public interest lies.

 

Public interest test

 

Arguments in favour of disclosure

1.    That there is an explicit presumption in favour of disclosure;

2.    Disclosure could further the understanding of, and participation in,
public debate;

3.    Releasing this information may promote transparency and increase
public awareness;

4.    Disclosure may promote good decision-making in circumstances where
decisions affect the environment; and

5.    Releasing information of this kind could encourage debate about the
state of the environment.

Arguments against disclosure

 

The safe space is essential so that officers, and in turn Councillors, can
contribute to the process, and explore all options, which in turn, leads
to the final version that is then subject to consultation and independent
scrutiny.

1.    The matter is very much live. The public interest is met by the
publicly available version of the document as it is the version to which
the Council will refer and work from.

Accordingly, the Council considers that the public interest in withholding
this information outweighs the public interest in disclosing it. 

 

In relation to the specific request for information relating to the City
Programme Board. Whilst I can confirm that this information is held, the
Council considers that an exception applies that prevents the Council from
making any such documents public.

 

The Council considers that Regulation 12(4)(d) of the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 (EIR’s) is applicable to this information. It
states:

For the purposes of paragraph (1)(a), a public authority may refuse to
disclose information to the extent that—

 

d) the request relates to material that is still in the course of
completion, to incomplete documents or unfinished data. the request
relates to material, which is still in the course of completion, to
unfinished documents or to incomplete data; the request relates to
material which is still in the course of completion, to unfinished
documents or to incomplete data;

 

Having had regard to the ICO guidance, the Council considers it essential
that any debate that contributes to a live issue is carried out freely and
frankly in a ‘safe space’ so that all options can be explored as part of
the process.

 

In engaging the exception at Regulation 12(4)(d), the Council is required
to carry out a public interest test and consider where the balance of the
public interest lies.

 

Public interest test

 

Arguments in favour of disclosure

 1. That there is an explicit presumption in favour of disclosure;
 2. Disclosure could further the understanding of, and participation in,
public debate;
 3. Releasing this information may promote transparency and increase
public awareness;
 4. Disclosure may promote good decision-making in circumstances where
decisions affect the environment; and
 5. Releasing information of this kind could encourage debate about the
state of the environment.

 

Arguments against disclosure

 

 1. The safe space is essential so that officers, and in turn Councillors,
can contribute to the process, and explore all options, which in turn,
leads to the final version that is then subject to consultation and
independent scrutiny.
 2. The matter is very much live. The public interest is met by the
publicly available version of the document as it is the version to
which the Council will refer and work from.

 

Accordingly, the Council considers that the public interest in withholding
this information outweighs the public interest in disclosing it.

 

Please note Oxfordshire County Council never had an Active Travel
Stakeholder Group. Please also note that there are no minutes held for the
Active Travel Programme Board.

 

The Information Commissioner

 

I trust that this information now satisfies your request.  However, if you
remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint, you
have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

 

The Information Commissioner's Office,

Wycliffe House,

Water Lane,

Wilmslow,

Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Website: [1]https://ico.org.uk/

 

Yours sincerely

 

Simon Lymn

Programme Lead

Planning and Place

Oxfordshire County Council

Email: [2][email address]

[3]www.oxfordshire.gov.uk

 

 

This email, including attachments, may contain confidential information.
If you have received it in error, please notify the sender by reply and
delete it immediately. Views expressed by the sender may not be those of
Oxfordshire County Council. Council emails are subject to the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. [4]email disclaimer. For information about how
Oxfordshire County Council manages your personal information please see
our [5]Privacy Notice.

References

Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/
4. https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/emaildisc...
5. https://www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/council/a...