Change of public realm contracts and councillor's allowances in Brent

The request was refused by Brent Borough Council.

Dear Borough of Brent Council,

I am writing to make an open government request for any and all information to which I am entitled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

I hereby request:

1) Full disclosure of any and all correspondence, documented in any and all forms, between Veolia and any and all Borough of Brent Council members or officers regarding changes to public realm contracts, with particular, though not limited, reference to green waste collection, exchanged at any time between and including the period of 6 May 2010 to 21 November 2014.

2) Full disclosure of such correspondence on this matter, documented in any and all forms, with special, though not exclusive, reference to correspondence between the Borough of Brent council leader, the Borough of Brent council Executive, and Borough of Brent Environmental Services on the same matter, exchanged at any time between and including the period of 6 May 2010 to 21 November 2014.

3) Full disclosure of any and all correspondence, documented in any and all forms, between the Borough of Brent Finance Director and/or Finance Department to any and all Borough of Brent councillors and/or the Borough of Brent executive with regard to the level of Borough of Brent councillor allowances, exchanged at any time between and including the period of 6 May 2010 to 21 November 2014.

4) Full disclosure of any and all correspondence, documented in any and all forms, between the London Borough of Barnet, Hammersons, their agents, including Jonathan Joseph, and the London Borough of Brent, specifically, though not limited to, the Borough of Brent Director of Regeneration, Andy McDonald, and the relevant Borough of Brent cabinet member for Regeneration, as well as the leader of Brent council, Muhammed Butt, exchanged at any time between and including the period of 1 July 2013 and 21 November 2014.

I would like the above information to be provided to me as a paper or electronic copy, and/or in any format that appropriately facilitates the effective, unimpeded delivery and examination of the requested information.

If this request is too wide, unclear, or presented in such a fashion that it could be deemed, in any way, to impede the satisfaction of this request , I would be grateful if you could contact me, as I understand that under the Act, advice and assistance to requesters is required on your behalf by law.

If any of the requested information is already in the public domain, please can you direct me to it, with page references and URLs if necessary.

If the release of any of this information is prohibited on the grounds of breach of confidence, or for any other reason, I ask that you supply me with copies of the confidentiality agreement and remind you that information should not be treated as confidential if such an agreement has not been signed.

If my request is denied in whole or in part, I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific exemptions to the act. I will also respectfully expect you to release any and all non-exempt material to which I am entitled. I reserve the right to appeal your decision to withhold any information or to charge excessive fees.

I understand that you are required to respond to my request within 20 working days after you receive this letter. I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Alessandro Lanuto

James Scott,

Information request
Our reference: 2324965

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Dear Mr. Lanuto
 
Thank you for your information request. We will forward it to the
relevant department who will contact you shortly.
 
Brent Council
Brent Civic Centre
Engineers Way
Wembley HA9 0FJ
[email address]
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

James Scott,

Information request
Our reference: 2324965

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Dear Mr. Lanuto
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Thank you for your recent request for information received on 24th
November 2014. This is being treated as a request for information under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000. In accordance with the Act this
letter acts as a Refusal Notice.

An estimate has been made of the cost of providing the information
requested, which exceeds the “appropriate limit” of £450 specified under
the Act. It is Council policy not to supply information that exceeds this
cost ceiling and this is permitted by the Freedom of Information and Data
Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. This £450 cost
ceiling equates to 2 ½ days of officer time spent in gathering and
compiling information. We estimate that it would take at least 60 hours to
comply with your request.

You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the
cost to within the “appropriate limit”. For example, you could restrict
your request to fewer of the questions requested, reduce the time period
for which you are requesting correspondence, or narrow the subject matter
of the correspondence requested in questions 3 and 4.

You have the right of appeal against this decision. If you wish to appeal
please set out in writing your grounds of appeal and send to the
Complaints and FoI Manager, 4th Floor, Civic Centre, Wembley, Middlesex,
HA9 0FJ; telephone 020 8937 2444; e-mail [Brent Borough Council request email], Middlesex, HA9
6BZ1402, e-mail [Brent Borough Council request email].

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to appeal directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at, Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF; telephone 01625 545 700; website www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

As part of our commitment to improve our service to our customers we would
welcome any feedback on the way that we have dealt with your request.

Yours sincerely
 
 
James Scott
Principal Freedom of Information Officer
Assistant Chief Executive's Service
020 8397 2444
[email address]
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

Dear James Scott,

This is an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act.

On November 21, 2014, I requested documents under the Freedom of Information Act. My request was assigned the following identification number: 2324965, to which I received your response on November 24, 2014. I appeal the denial of my request.

I appeal the decision to deny my request due to excessive costs, as I do not believe the compilation of this information need necessarily fall within the timeframe and /or expenditure cited. Should the actions undertaken in support and/or fulfillment of the requested information amount to 60 hours of work, as you stated, then could you please provide a detailed breakdown of what actions or procedures, precisely, would, in fact, be required? Could you also detail the amount of time you estimate each individual action to take, and what cost would be attached to them? Additionally, could you indicate the number of people you would have performing these tasks, as this could have a significant impact both on the time and the cost of the effective, efficient, and successful execution of my request.

In addition to lodging a general appeal, if it is not possible to supply the breakdowns requested above, I would ask that you reconsider the grounds for denial, as the inability to provide this information would amount to an inability to justify the excessive costs cited as the original reason for refusal.

I include a telephone number (07710 409 057) at which I can be contacted during the hours of 9am to 9pm, if necessary, to discuss any aspect of my appeal.

Thank you for your consideration of this appeal.

Yours sincerely,

Alessandro Lanuto

Sujata Aurora left an annotation ()

Wouldn't it be better to separate this request into 3 - one dealing with Veolia, another with councillor allowances, another with Hammersons/Brent X? Individual requests would be unlikely to hit the disproportionate costs rule. They all seem like different topics, unless I'm missing something?

Phillip Mears,

Information request
Our reference: 2324965

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Dear Mr. Lanuto
 
Thank you for your request for a review received on 15 December 2014. I am
sorry that you are dissatisfied with the way we have handled your request
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
I can confirm that we are considering your concerns and we will aim to
provide you with a response by 15 January 2015.
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Phillip Mears
Complaints Service Manager
Complaints Service Team
(020) 8937 1041
[email address]
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

Alderman, Fiona, Brent Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Lanuto, please find attached a response to your request for an
internal review.

 

 

Fiona Alderman

Principal Solicitor

Social Care Team

Legal and Procurement Department

 

Brent Civic Centre

Engineers Way,

Wembley, Middlesex HA9 0FJ

DX: 145100 Wembley Central 2

 

Tel: 020 8937 4101 

[mobile number]

Fax: 020 8937 4090

[1]www.brent.gov.uk. 

 

 

 

 

Brent Council needs to save £54million over the next two years. Find out
more about our budget consultation events and have your say before
February 4th, 2015 at: www.brent.gov.uk/budget

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References

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James Williams left an annotation ()

Send this to the information governor.
It is the responsibility of the council to have their data accessible and they cant charge you for retrieval as part of the limit costs

Dan Filson left an annotation ()

I agree, the question covers diverse and seemingly unrelated issues

Dan Filson left an annotation ()

I agree, the question covers diverse and seemingly unrelated issues. (This comment follow on from that by Sujata Aurora suggesting splitting the question, not any other annotation).