FOI request: Governance and Funding for Climate Action

Climate Emergency UK made this Freedom of Information request to East Devon District Council as part of a batch sent to 15 authorities Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.

The request was partially successful.

Climate Emergency UK

Dear East Devon District Council,

Please treat this as a Freedom of Information request.

I would like information about your Council's Planning policy in relation to climate action.

In particular, please supply me with information regarding:
1. What is the total number of directly employed staff and councillors in this council and 1a. How many have received carbon literacy training in the last 3 years (from 1st January 2019 until today)?
Please provide the number of staff that have received carbon literacy project training and separately, the number of staff that have received other carbon literacy training (if relevant).

2. How many Climate Change Officers (or similar) does the Council currently employ?
2b. What is the total number of staff that are employed by the Council to advise on climate change matters and/or implement the Councils’ climate action plan?
Please list all these job titles for both these questions.

3. How much budget has been given to the Climate Action Plan (in terms of writing and managing, not the specific projects) for the Council budget 2022/23?
3b. How much has been spent on projects to reduce Council only emissions since 1st January 2019 up until 1st June 2022?
3c. How much has been spent on projects to reduce emissions across the whole of the authority area since 1st January 2019 up until 1st June 2022?

This may include, but should not be limited to, meeting minutes and other materials such as power point presentations considered by meeting participants, reports, spreadsheets, and relevant messages sent via tools such as WhatsApp, Slack, Yammer, or Signal.

I am interested in all relevant recorded information dated from 1st January 2019 to 1st June 2022.

I would prefer to receive information in a machine readable format, such as CSV files for data. I would prefer not to receive information in pdf format files.

I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Yours faithfully,
Annie, Climate Emergency UK

East Devon District Council

1 Attachment

Thank you for submitting a request for information. We will respond to
your request as quickly as possible, within the 20 working day statutory
deadline under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

For updates on this case, please quote your unique reference number
101001238193 .

---------------------------------------
Customer Service Centre
East Devon District Council
Web: [1]www.eastdevon.gov.uk

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FOI EDDC, East Devon District Council

4 Attachments

Dear Annie,

 

Thank you for your FOI enquiry. Please see our response below.

 

I hope this information is helpful but, if you feel dissatisfied with the
way we have responded to your request, please contact our Monitoring
Officer, Mr Henry Gordon Lennox, to request an internal review
[email address]

 

You may also approach the Information Commissioner for advice at
[1]www.ico.org.uk

 

Kind regards,

 

Sara

 

Ms S Harvey

Information and Complaints Officer

East Devon District Council

 

[2][email address]

[3]www.eastdevon.gov.uk

 

1. What is the total number of directly employed staff and councillors in
this council – 60 Cllrs and 497 staff

1a. How many have received carbon literacy training in the last 3 years
(from 1st January 2019 until today)? – 64

Please provide the number of staff that have received carbon literacy
project training and separately, the number of staff that have received
other carbon literacy training (if relevant) – The number of staff and
Cllrs that attended Carbon Literacy training was 64 with 15 of them being
councillors.  The other 49 attendees were heads of department and key
officers within the organisation that were especially selected as they
have authority within their team to affect change.

 

There is a plan to train all the staff and department leads and this is
being rolled out in the summer and autumn of 2022, this will be an ongoing
process and will take a number of years to complete in its entirety.  This
will include training for new starters and refresher training as required.

2. How many Climate Change Officers (or similar) does the Council
currently employ? – 1

2b. What is the total number of staff that are employed by the Council to
advise on climate change matters and/or implement the Councils’ climate
action plan?

Please list all these job titles for both these questions.
Strategic Lead – Housing Health, & Environment

Service Lead – Environmental HealthClimate Change Officer. Other senior
managers and their staff are responsible for reducing carbon emissions in
their Services.

3. How much budget has been given to the Climate Action Plan (in terms of
writing and managing, not the specific projects) for the Council budget
2022/23? – Annual Budget £323,000

3b. How much has been spent on projects to reduce Council only emissions
since 1st January 2019 up until 1st June 2022? – See below spend - No
break down available

3c. How much has been spent on projects to reduce emissions across the
whole of the authority area since 1st January 2019 up until 1st June 2022?
– See below spend - No break down available

Spend on climate change budget spend since 2020/21 to date 12/06/2022.

 

2020/21               Annual Budget £323,000              

 

2021/22               Annual Budget £323,000

 

2022/23 (to date 2022-06-12) Annual Budget £323,470

 

 

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8. https://eastdevon.gov.uk/parking-permits/

Climate Emergency UK

Dear FOI EDDC,

Thank you so much for responding to our FOI. I have some follow-up questions if you would be so kind to answer, to help me fully understand your answer.

Your answer of 497 employees, how did you calculate this?
In order to better clarify how we are calculating the number of staff a council employ, could you answer the question: How many staff does the Council directly employ (that are not contractors or sub-contractors, excluding teachers), that work directly for the Council as opposed to a school, leisure centre or other venture ?

And of your list of staff:
Strategic Lead – Housing Health, & Environment
Service Lead – Environmental Health
and a Climate Change Officer.
Other senior
managers and their staff are responsible for reducing carbon emissions in their Services.

How many of these staff spend 50% or more of their time on implementing the climate action plan and other climate action?
Or are there other staff that spent 50% or more of their time on implementing the councils' climate action plan and other climate action? And if so, please list them.

As you can tell, we would like to more clearly define which staff work directly on climate action compared to the whole council staff body. If you have further comments or advice on how we might wish to define this, or what data here might be useful, please let us know.

Thank you so much for any further answers and clarification you may be able to provide.

Yours sincerely,
Annie Pickering
Climate Emergency UK

East Devon District Council

1 Attachment

Thank you for submitting a request for information. We will respond to
your request as quickly as possible, within the 20 working day statutory
deadline under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

For updates on this case, please quote your unique reference number
101001249803 .

---------------------------------------
Customer Service Centre
East Devon District Council
Web: [1]www.eastdevon.gov.uk

Follow us on [2]Facebook and [3]Twitter

[4]Subscribe to your East Devon Update for regular news and information
about what’s happening at East Devon District Council. Choose which topics
you’re interested in to get a personalised update.

[5]Email disclaimer

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References

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3. http://twitter.com/eastdevon
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5. http://eastdevon.gov.uk/help/email-discl...
6. https://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/green/

FOI EDDC, East Devon District Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Pickering,

 

Thank you for your FOI enquiry. Please see our response below.

 

 

I hope this information is helpful but, if you feel dissatisfied with the
way we have responded to your request, please contact our Monitoring
Officer, Mr Henry Gordon Lennox, to request an internal review
[email address]

 

You may also approach the Information Commissioner for advice at
www.ico.org.uk

 

Kind regards,

 

Sara

 

Ms S Harvey

Information and Complaints Officer

East Devon District Council

 

[1][email address]

01395 571659

[2]www.eastdevon.gov.uk

 

 

I have some follow-up questions if you would be so kind to answer, to help
me fully understand your answer.

Your answer of 497 employees, how did you calculate this? – This request
is not within the scope of FOI.

In order to better clarify how we are calculating the number of staff a
council employ, could you answer the question:

How many staff does the Council directly employ (that are not contractors
or sub-contractors, excluding teachers), that work directly for the
Council as opposed to a school, leisure centre or other venture ? – The
Council does not have direct leisure facilities as this service is
contracted out, and as a District Council schools, social services and
other areas are not provided at this tier of local government. All the
Council’s employees are employed for its main activities so this would be
the 497 quoted above.
And of your list of staff:
Strategic Lead – Housing Health, & Environment
Service Lead – Environmental Health
and a Climate Change Officer.
Other senior
managers and their staff are responsible for reducing carbon emissions in
their Services.

How many of these staff spend 50% or more of their time on implementing
the climate action plan and other climate action? – 1. A Climate Change
Officer who spends %100 of their time on implementing the climate action
plan and other climate action

Or are there other staff that spent 50% or more of their time on
implementing the councils' climate action plan and other climate action?
And if so, please list them – No

 

Follow us on [3]Facebook and [4]Twitter

[5]Subscribe to your East Devon Update for regular news and information
about what’s happening at East Devon District Council. Choose which topics
you’re interested in to get a personalised update.

[6]Email disclaimer

[7][IMG]

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/
3. http://www.facebook.com/eastdevon
4. http://twitter.com/eastdevon
5. https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/...
6. http://eastdevon.gov.uk/help/email-discl...
7. https://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/green/