Cost of refusing FoI enquiry about Alexandra Palace, overturned by Information Commissioner Decision

Haringey Borough Council did not have the information requested.

Dear Haringey Borough Council,

Please itemize the expenditure incurred in estimated officer time and on legal advice (including Counsel's Advice, which please itemize) on unsuccessfully resisting the applicant's freedom of information request about Alexandra Palace, the subject of the information commissioner’s decision reproduced at this link:
https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...

Yours faithfully,

J O'Callaghan

Haringey Borough Council

Dear Mr J O'Callaghan,

 

Thank you for your enquiry.   I can advise that we do not record the time
spent by officer on each item of work and nor are we able to estimate
this, and for expediency I am responding to you directly rather than
taking this through as a formal FOI request and response.

 

Please note we have not dealt with your enquiry as a formal Freedom of
Information Act request at this stage, and we shall take no further action
on your request unless we hear further from you.

 

I trust this is helpful for you.

 

Regards

 

 

Feedback & Information Governance

Shared Service Centre | Central Team

 

Email: [email address]

 

 

 

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be
subject to legal privilege and are intended only for the person(s) or
organisation(s) to whom this email is addressed. Any unauthorised use,
retention, distribution, copying or disclosure is strictly prohibited. If
you have received this email in error, please notify the system
administrator at Haringey Council immediately and delete this e-mail from
your system. Although this e-mail and any attachments are believed to be
free of any virus or other defect which might affect any computer or
system into which they are received and opened, it is the responsibility
of the recipient to ensure they are virus free and no responsibility is
accepted for any loss or damage from receipt or use thereof. All
communications sent to or from external third party organisations may be
subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant
legislation.

Dear Haringey Borough Council,

I'll take your response as an invitation to clarify my enquiry. Therefore:

1 Officer time: I understand the difficulty if you do not record the time spent by officer on each item of work and are unable to estimate its cost. Perhaps you could explain how your internal billing/charging system works or refer me to a link explaining it.

2 Legal advice, external and internal, and Counsel's advice: this is a separate matter. The cost of this will have been clearly set out in fee notes and similar and will be known and itemized. I repeat my request for this information
.
3 Can you please explain if the decision to resist this enquiry and authorize the costs involved, was (a) notified to any Council committee or subcommittee and/or any Members, and (b) signed off or authorized by any members, inside or outside any meetings? If so, when and where?, or (c) done under delegated powers by officers: if so which officer, and under what delegated powers?

4. If you cannot answer parts of this enquiry, could you kindly proceed with answering the parts you can?

Yours faithfully,

J O'Callaghan

Haringey Borough Council

Dear Mr O'Callaghan

 

Freedom of Information / Environmental Information Regulations Request:
LBH/8606919

 

I acknowledge your request for information received on 10 April 2019.

 

This information request will be dealt with in accordance with the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations and we
will send the response by 13 May 2019

 

Yours sincerely, 

 

Feedback and Information Governance

 

Shared Service Centre | Central Team

Haringey Council 

Alexandra House, 10 Station Road, Wood Green, London N22 7TR

 

www.haringey.gov.uk

twitter@haringeycouncil

facebook.com/haringeycouncil

 

 

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be
subject to legal privilege and are intended only for the person(s) or
organisation(s) to whom this email is addressed. Any unauthorised use,
retention, distribution, copying or disclosure is strictly prohibited. If
you have received this email in error, please notify the system
administrator at Haringey Council immediately and delete this e-mail from
your system. Although this e-mail and any attachments are believed to be
free of any virus or other defect which might affect any computer or
system into which they are received and opened, it is the responsibility
of the recipient to ensure they are virus free and no responsibility is
accepted for any loss or damage from receipt or use thereof. All
communications sent to or from external third party organisations may be
subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant
legislation.

Amaneer Zainab, Haringey Borough Council

Dear Mr O'Callaghan,

Re: Freedom of Information Act Request ref: LBH/8606919

 

Thank you for your request for information received on 10 April 2019, in
which you asked for the following an estimate of officer time and on legal
advice (including Counsel's Advice) in responding to your request
regarding Alexandra Palace, case reference LBH/7058218

 

My response is as follows:

 

We do not itemise time spent by officers on dealing with particular cases,
and under the Freedom of Information Act we are not required to provide
estimates which are not recorded information.  We hold no estimate of the
officer time (and therefore expense to the Council) taken in dealing with
your request.

I can advise that the cost of obtaining external Counsel’s advice in the
case was  £1,012.50 + VAT.

 

If you are unhappy with how we have responded to your request you can ask
us to conduct an Internal Review. If so, please contact the [1]Feedback
and Information Team. (Please note you should do so within two months of
this response.)

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Zainab Amaneer

Feedback Review Assistant

 

Haringey Council

Alexandra House, 10 Station Road, Wood Green, N22 7TR

 

T: 020 8489 3581

[2][email address]

 

[3]www.haringey.gov.uk

twitter@haringeycouncil

facebook.com/haringeycouncil

 

Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be
subject to legal privilege and are intended only for the person(s) or
organisation(s) to whom this email is addressed. Any unauthorised use,
retention, distribution, copying or disclosure is strictly prohibited. If
you have received this email in error, please notify the system
administrator at Haringey Council immediately and delete this e-mail from
your system. Although this e-mail and any attachments are believed to be
free of any virus or other defect which might affect any computer or
system into which they are received and opened, it is the responsibility
of the recipient to ensure they are virus free and no responsibility is
accepted for any loss or damage from receipt or use thereof. All
communications sent to or from external third party organisations may be
subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant
legislation.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.haringey.gov.uk/

Dear Haringey Borough Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Haringey Borough Council's handling of my Freedom of Information Act Request ref: LBH/8606919, concerning the Council refusing an FoI enquiry about Alexandra Palace, a decision subsequently overturned by an Information Commissioner Decision.

The reason for this request is as follows:

The Council has neither answered item 3 of my request, nor given any reason for not doing so.

For ease of reference, the item was:

"3 Can you please explain if the decision to resist this enquiry and authorize the costs involved, was (a) notified to any Council committee or subcommittee and/or any Members, and (b) signed off or authorized by any members, inside or outside any meetings? If so, when and where?, or (c) done under delegated powers by officers: if so which officer, and under what delegated powers?"

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

Yours faithfully,

J O'Callaghan

Haringey Borough Council

Dear Mr O'Callaghan,

 

Internal Review regarding Freedom of Information request reference
LBH/8606919

 

Thank you for your email received on 12 June 2019.

 

Your request for an Internal Review has been logged with the reference
LBH/8823819. Please quote this reference number on any further
correspondence.

 

We will now review the response you have been sent to the above request
and I aim to let you know the outcome of our investigation by 10 July
2019. If I need longer, I will write to let you know the reason and when
you can expect a full reply.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Claire Gunn

Feedback Review Officer

 

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be
subject to legal privilege and are intended only for the person(s) or
organisation(s) to whom this email is addressed. Any unauthorised use,
retention, distribution, copying or disclosure is strictly prohibited. If
you have received this email in error, please notify the system
administrator at Haringey Council immediately and delete this e-mail from
your system. Although this e-mail and any attachments are believed to be
free of any virus or other defect which might affect any computer or
system into which they are received and opened, it is the responsibility
of the recipient to ensure they are virus free and no responsibility is
accepted for any loss or damage from receipt or use thereof. All
communications sent to or from external third party organisations may be
subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant
legislation.

Dear Haringey Borough Council,

Thank you and I look forward to the response

Yours faithfully,

J O'Callaghan

Gunn Claire, Haringey Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr O’Callaghan,

 

Please find attached my response to your Independent Review reference
LBH/8823819.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Claire Gunn

Feedback Review Officer

Corporate and Customer Services

 

Haringey Council

5th Floor, Alexandra House, 10 Station Road, Wood Green, London N22 7TR

 

T. 020 8489 2576

E. [1][email address]

 

[2]www.haringey.gov.uk

[3]twitter@haringeycouncil

[4]facebook.com/haringeycouncil

 

 

P Please consider the environment before printing this email.

 

 

show quoted sections