DGOne

Barbara Jones made this Freedom of Information request to Dumfries and Galloway Council This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was partially successful.

Dear Dumfries and Galloway Council,

The history of DGOne reads like a public disgrace which suggests Dumfries and Galloway Council has much to answer for.

DGOne having opened in 2008, closed in 2014 due to serious defects in the building. There were then two years of negotiations with Kier, the contractor as a result of which a settlement was reached which remains a secret.

The repairs were commenced only for the council to discover that matters were far worse than we were all lead to believe to be the case. The council set a budget of £10 million for the repairs, for which only part was to be funded by the contractor. The Council Tax Payers were to foot the bill for the rest. This is inequitable.

The current predictions are that the repairs will cost at least £3 million more than allowed in the £10 million budget.

The information request is as follows:

1) Has the council had a legal opinion as to whether the settlement with the contractor is legally binding in these circumstances?

2) What were the repairs specified in the council's claim against the contractor on which the settlement was based?

3) Has the council obtained a legal opinion regarding possible fraud, or misrepresentation, of the position by Kier which would make the settlement void?

4) Is there any clause in the settlement contract which allows the council to pursue Kier in the event further faults are discovered?

5) Who was responsible for drawing up the settlement contract?

6) Has the council investigated any council officers in relation to the serious negligence on the part of the council to identify the defects whilst works were in progress? What was the outcome of any investigations?

7) As it appears there may well have been criminal offences committed in relation to this, has the council referred any of these matters to Police Scotland?

8) What discussions have taken place by the councillors of Dumfries and Galloway Council in relation to this mater in the past 6 months? Are minutes available?

Yours faithfully,

Barbara Jones

Dumfries and Galloway Council

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

Thank you for your request for information which was received on 19/09/2017 which we are dealing with in terms of the above legislation. We have given your request the unique reference 279443 and we would appreciate it if you could quote this on all correspondence to us.

Under the terms of the legislation, we have an obligation to respond to your request within 20 working days from the day after your request was received. We will therefore aim to respond to your request by 17/10/2017.

Please be aware that, in some circumstances, a fee may be payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of the information you have requested. If this is the case, a fees notice will be issued, which would need to be paid in order to progress your request.

If your request for information is considered and deemed as a 'business as usual' request, it will be responded to by the appropriate Service within the Council.

If you have any queries in the meantime, please contact [email address].

Kind Regards

FOI Unit
Dumfries and Galloway Council

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Dumfries and Galloway Council

Please find below the Council's response to your request 279443 which was received on 19/09/2017.

Details of request: The history of DGOne reads like a public disgrace which suggests Dumfries and Galloway Council has much to answer for.

DGOne having opened in 2008, closed in 2014 due to serious defects in the building. There were then two years of negotiations with Kier, the contractor as a result of which a settlement was reached which remains a secret.

The repairs were commenced only for the council to discover that matters were far worse than we were all lead to believe to be the case. The council set a budget of £10 million for the repairs, for which only part was to be funded by the contractor. The Council Tax Payers were to foot the bill for the rest. This is inequitable.

The current predictions are that the repairs will cost at least £3 million more than allowed in the £10 million budget.

The information request is as follows:

1) Has the council had a legal opinion as to whether the settlement with the contractor is legally binding in these circumstances?

2) What were the repairs specified in the council's claim against the contractor on which the settlement was based?

3) Has the council obtained a legal opinion regarding possible fraud, or misrepresentation, of the position by Kier which would make the settlement void?

4) Is there any clause in the settlement contract which allows the council to pursue Kier in the event further faults are discovered?

5) Who was responsible for drawing up the settlement contract?

6) Has the council investigated any council officers in relation to the serious negligence on the part of the council to identify the defects whilst works were in progress? What was the outcome of any investigations?

7) As it appears there may well have been criminal offences committed in relation to this, has the council referred any of these matters to Police Scotland?

8) What discussions have taken place by the councillors of Dumfries and Galloway Council in relation to this mater in the past 6 months? Are minutes available?

Response:

The terms and basis of the settlement agreement are both confidential. The Settlement agreement itself was prepared by Solicitors acting for the Council and Solicitors acting for Kier.

The Council continues to take advice from its Solicitors as new information becomes available.

The Council is therefore applying the exemption set out in Section 36(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (Confidentiality). The Council is prohibited from releasing the information requested as it is bound by the terms of the settlement agreement, the terms of which are confidential and cannot be disclosed. As Section 36(2) is an absolute exemption, the Council is not required to consider the public interest test as set out in Section 2(1)(b) of the 2002 Act.

In respect of your other points, it would be inappropriate at this time to disclose details of any legal advice or to speculate on causes and whether there was any negligence. There is now an independent inquiry underway and depending on what findings are established by the Inquiry the Council will take advice on any legal recourse the Council may have.

DG One has been the subject of reports to Full Council in the last six months. Whilst some reports have been confidential - even for those reports there is a summary of decisions taken. The Agendas and Minutes for Full Council meetings are available online. There was also a report at Full Council in September 2017 on the independent Inquiry and its scope. This is not a confidential report and the report and minute are available online.

http://egenda.dumgal.gov.uk/aksdumgal/us...

Please be aware that the Council holds the copyright, where applicable, for the information provided and it may be reproduced free of charge in any format or media without requiring specific permission. This is subject to the material not being used in a misleading context. The source of the material must be acknowledged as Dumfries and Galloway Council and the title of the document must be included when being reproduced as part of another publication or service.

If you require any further clarification, please contact us. However, if you are not satisfied with the way in which your request has been dealt with, you can request us to carry out an internal review of the decision by emailing [email address] or writing to us within 40 working days of receiving this response.

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the review, you have the right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a decision. Appeals to the Commissioner can be made online at www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal or in writing to: The Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS.

Kind Regards

FOI Unit
Dumfries and Galloway Council

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Any email message sent or received by the
Council may require to be disclosed by the
Council under the provisions of the Freedom
of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Dear Dumfries and Galloway Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Dumfries and Galloway Council's handling of my FOI request 'DGOne'.

The response is totally unsatisfactory and relies on the now customary claim of confidentiality. The Council Tax payers, who may well end up footing the colossal bill for this disaster, are entitled to know just how their council has failed so spectacularly in this project.

A full reply to the Freedom of Information request is required. It is not good enough to cover this up with a shroud of secrecy. It is in the public interest for this to be exposed. Why does the council consider it is above the law and unaccountable?

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

Yours faithfully,

Barbara Jones

Dumfries and Galloway Council

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

Thank you for your request for a formal review which was received on 18/10/2017 and is being dealt with. We will respond within 20 working days from the day after the request was received. A response to your request will be sent promptly, and in any event not later than 15/11/2017.

If you have any queries in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact [email address].

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Any email message sent or received by the
Council may require to be disclosed by the
Council under the provisions of the Freedom
of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

FOI, Dumfries and Galloway Council

Dear Ms Jones

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002 - REVIEW

I refer to your email on 18 October 2017 in which you requested a Review of the way in which the Council responded to your request for information. I can confirm that a Compliance Review was held on 9 November 2017 in relation to your request.

For your information, a Compliance Review will consider matters such as whether there should be a further search carried out for information, whether any exemptions used have been applied correctly, to establish if the statutory timescales have been adhered to and, generally, to review the manner in which a request has been handled.

I can advise that the outcome of the Review is that the Council is maintaining its original response and withholding the information in accordance with Section 36(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (Confidentiality). The Council is prohibited from releasing the information requested as it is bound by the terms of the settlement agreement, the terms of which are confidential and cannot be disclosed. As Section 36(2) is an absolute exemption, the Council is not required to consider the public interest test as set out in Section 2(1)(b) of the 2002 Act.

I appreciate that this is not the response you would have been hoping for and I can assure you that the Council understands the public interest. That is why an independent review has been commissioned which is looking at many of the aspects you have highlighted. That review is now underway and any information which can be disclosed will be shared with the public as it progresses.

I would hope that you are satisfied with this response and that the Council has appropriately considered and dealt with your Review. If, however, you are not satisfied with this decision, you are entitled to make representation to the Scottish Information Commissioner at:

Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St. Andrews
KY16 9DS

Subsequent to the appeal process and the Commissioner issuing her decision, you also then have the right to appeal to the Court of Session on a point of law against the Commissioner’s decision.

Yours sincerely

FOI Unit
Dumfries and Galloway Council

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Barbara Jones (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

The council's refusal to provide information only serves to increase the concerns over the situation with DGOne. In view of the distinct possibility criminal offences have occurred in relation to this, it seems that Police Scotland should be asked to investigate.

The Council Tax payers of Dumfries and Galloway are expected to pick up the bill for the serious failures of both the council and Kier, so we are entitled to have the full details.

It will be interesting to see if the enquiry will be held in public.