Concerning the management of Arun Arts Company Limited

Jan Cosgrove made this Freedom of Information request to Charity Commission for England and Wales This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was successful.

Dear Charity Commission for England and Wales,

Please supply copies of the following:

- correspondence between the Commission and any person who has raised concerns about the running of Arun Arts Company Limited within the past 60 months;

- correspondence between the Commission and Arun Arts within the same period;

- copies of any internal Commission memoranda, notes etc re- Arun Arts re the same period

- record of any phone calls, emails re Arun Arts re the same period.

Yours faithfully,

Jan Cosgrove

Enquiries, Charity Commission for England and Wales

Your e-mail will now be assessed. If we feel that the issues do not fall
within our regulatory remit you may not receive a response from us.
However, if the issues raised fall within our regulatory remit we will aim
to respond to you within fifteen working days from receipt. Please do not
send us a paper version unless we have specifically requested this.

Very often the fastest way to answer your enquiries will be to look at the
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Fe geith eich e-bost eu hasesu. Os rydym yn teimlo bod y materion ddim yn
disgyn o fewn ein hawdurdod rheoli efallai ni chewch ateb gennym. Er
hynny, os yw’r mater o fewn ein hawdurdod rheoli rydym yn anelu at roi
ateb i chwi o fewn pymtheg diwrnod gwaith o’i dderbyn. Peidiwch ag anfon
fersiwn bapur oni bai ein bod yn gofyn amdano os gwelwch yn dda.

Yn aml y ffordd gyflymach i ateb eich cwestiynau yw drwy edrych ar ein
gwefan [3]www.charitycommission.gov.uk. Gallwch hefyd weld fersiwn Gymraeg
o'n gwefan gan glicio 'Cymraeg' sydd wedi ei leoli i'r dde ar frig y
dudalen cartref.

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Comisiwn Elusennau. Mae Twitter yn ffynhonnell o wybodaeth sy'n diweddaru
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ei hangen os gwelwch yn dda.

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References

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Dear Charity Commission for England and Wales,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Charity Commission for England and Wales's handling of my FOI request 'Concerning the management of Arun Arts Company Limited'.

The Commission has failed to respond within the required deadline.

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

Yours faithfully,

Jan Cosgrove

Enquiries, Charity Commission for England and Wales

Your e-mail will now be assessed. If we feel that the issues do not fall
within our regulatory remit you may not receive a response from us.
However, if the issues raised fall within our regulatory remit we will aim
to respond to you within fifteen working days from receipt. Please do not
send us a paper version unless we have specifically requested this.

Very often the fastest way to answer your enquiries will be to look at the
frequent questions and guidance on our website
[1]www.charitycommission.gov.uk. You can also view the Welsh version of
our website by clicking on 'Cymraeg' in the top right-hand corner of our
home page.

Are you following us on Twitter? Get short, timely messages from Charity
Commission. Twitter is a rich source of instantly updated information.
It's easy to stay updated on an incredibly wide  variety of topics. Go to
<[2]http://twitter.com/chtycommission> and sign up.

Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really
need to.

Fe geith eich e-bost eu hasesu. Os rydym yn teimlo bod y materion ddim yn
disgyn o fewn ein hawdurdod rheoli efallai ni chewch ateb gennym. Er
hynny, os yw’r mater o fewn ein hawdurdod rheoli rydym yn anelu at roi
ateb i chwi o fewn pymtheg diwrnod gwaith o’i dderbyn. Peidiwch ag anfon
fersiwn bapur oni bai ein bod yn gofyn amdano os gwelwch yn dda.

Yn aml y ffordd gyflymach i ateb eich cwestiynau yw drwy edrych ar ein
gwefan [3]www.charitycommission.gov.uk. Gallwch hefyd weld fersiwn Gymraeg
o'n gwefan gan glicio 'Cymraeg' sydd wedi ei leoli i'r dde ar frig y
dudalen cartref.

A ydych yn ein dilyn ar Twitter? Cewch negeseuon amserol a byr gan y
Comisiwn Elusennau. Mae Twitter yn ffynhonnell o wybodaeth sy'n diweddaru
ar unwaith. Mae'n hawdd i gadw eich hun yn ddiweddar gyda amrywiaeth eang
o bynciau. Ewch i <[4]http://twitter.com/chtycommission> i gofrestru.

Ystyriwch yr amgylchedd. Peidiwch â printio'r e-bost yma oni bai fod gwir
ei hangen os gwelwch yn dda.

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.

If you have received this email in error please notify the sender and
delete
the original message from your system.

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
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References

Visible links
1. file://www.charitycommission.gov.uk
2. http://twitter.com/chtycommission
3. file://www.charitycommission.gov.uk
4. http://twitter.com/chtycommission

Operations London, Charity Commission for England and Wales

17 Attachments

Dear Mr Cosgrove,

Thank you for your e-mail of 9 September, requesting information.

You asked for copies of the following:

·         correspondence between the Commission and any person who has
raised concerns about the running of Arun Arts Company Limited within the
past 60 months;

·         correspondence between the Commission and Arun Arts within the
same period;

·         copies of any internal Commission memoranda, notes etc re- Arun
Arts re the same period

·         record of any phone calls, emails re Arun Arts re the same
period.

I can confirm that the Charity Commission does hold information which
comes within the meaning of your request (we have understood the 60 month
time limit to apply only from the date of your written request).

Within the 60 months previous to the date of your request the Commission
opened six individual cases (there were no cases opened before that which
were closed within the 60 months previous to your request).

We have provided (as attachments to this e-mail) full details of the
information we hold for the first five of those cases. You will see that
for two of the cases, the only information we have is a list of actions. I
can confirm that this is all the information we hold on these cases. Where
information has been redacted from the documents we hold that is because
it is exempt under s.40 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, being
information where it is personal information relating to a third party
(i.e. someone other than the applicant for information), and:

(a)   disclosure of this information would contravene the principles of
the [1]Data Protection Act 1998 ; OR

(b)   the person to whom it relates would not have a right to know about
it or a right of access to it under the Data Protection Act 1998 because
of the exemptions provided by that Act. 

The Charity Commission has also had a case open relating to concerns about
the charity raised by a member of the public.

Section 31 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides that
information which is not exempt by virtue of section 30 of that Act is
exempt if its disclosure would, or would be likely to prejudice, amongst
other things, the exercise by any public authority of its functions for
any of the purposes specified in section 31(2).

The purposes specified in section 31(2) include:

o the purpose of protecting charities against misconduct or
mismanagement (whether by trustees or other persons) in their
administration;
o the purpose of protecting charities from loss or misapplication;
o the purpose of recovering the property of charities.

The correspondence the Charity Commission holds concerning the complaint
contains information the disclosure of which may affect the willingness of
members of the public to talk to the Charity Commission candidly, which
would affect the Commission's ability to function.

The exemption from disclosure under s.31 of the Freedom of Information Act
2000 is a qualified exemption. This means that even if the information
requested is exempt the Charity Commission should consider whether
disclosure should be made in the public interest. The exemption should
only be relied upon where the public interest in maintaining the exemption
outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

The Commission considers that releasing copies of the documents requested
would affect the Charity Commission's ability to function, as disclosing
the documents may affect the willingness of members of the public to talk
to the Charity Commission candidly.

However, having regard to the public interest in maintaining public
confidence in the processes in question the Charity Commission has
provided a detailed summary of the correspondence on the case, including
details of the complaint, the issues the Charity Commission raised with
the trustees, their responses and the outcome of the case, and this is
attached.

If you think our decision regarding your FOI request is wrong you can
write to: Charity Commission First Contact by email to:
[2][Charity Commission request email].

Please state what it is you are dissatisfied with, which will assist us
when we review our response. If you request a Decision Review you will be
notified of our final decision. Please note that we will accept requests
for a Decision Review up to a maximum of 3 months after the original
decision.

The 3 months will be calculated from the date on which you receive written
notification of the original decision. You will be deemed to have received
written notification on the day after the letter enclosing the decision
was sent or the same day if the decision was sent by email.

If after this you remain dissatisfied with the decision, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. Generally,
the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our complaints
procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF.

I hope this is helpful.

Yours sincerely

 

 

Nigel Geary-Andrews

Operations London

 

tel: 020 7674 2448

 

 

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.
If you have received this email in error please notify the sender and
delete the original message from your system.

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
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References

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2. mailto:[Charity Commission request email]

Dear Operations London,

Thank you. I can now withdraw my request for an internal review as your response arrived just after I requested it.

Yours sincerely,

Jan Cosgrove

Litigation & Review, Charity Commission for England and Wales

Dear Mr Cosgrove

I have been forwarded your email as I am the person who manages decision
reviews for the Commission.

I have looked at the case file in relation to your original request and
have come across an email from you withdrawing your request for decision
review. It is not clear from our system when this email was sent and so I
am unbale to identify whether your request below was submitted before or
after the withdrawal.

I would be greatful if you would confirm by return whether you wish us to
review your Freedom of Information Act request.

Kind regards

Kait White 

Litigation and Review Team

show quoted sections

Dear Litigation & Review,

Yes I have withdrawn it as the answers I was seeking arrived a few hours later, literally. Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Jan Cosgrove