Email correspondence relating to Simon Langton Girls Grammar School and/or the Craig Report

The request was refused by Kent County Council.

Dear Kent County Council,

Please provide copies of all email correspondence involving the following Kent County Staff (whether inbound or outbound):

Gill Nye
Mark Radford
Ben Watts
Sarah Cuckow
Jason Ofosu
Matthew Hazleton
Matthew Waterworth
Jane Hall

and any additional external individuals (whether inbound or outbound):

Alasdair Chisholm (Former Chair of SLGGS)
Paul Addis (Current Chair of SLGGS)
Tracey Rose (Former Clerk of SLGGS)
Paul Ferguson (Current Clerk of SLGGS)

in relation specifically to the Simon Langton Girls Grammar School (SLGGS) in Canterbury, which may or may not include topics such as the Craig Report and/or Jane Robinson and/or disciplinary investigation and/or legal agreements and/or financial settlements and/or compromise agreements and/or non-disclosure agreements. Please ensure that any searches include archive/cloud back-ups in case any emails have been deleted on local machines.

To ensure absolute clarity in the request, I am requesting all emails relating to the topics in the paragraph immediately above, but am seeking to restrict the search to any correspondence that includes any / all of the named individuals, to keep the request manageable, precise and focussed.

I should state, that this search should also included all internal emails from within KCC sent from one staff to one another (or many as the case may be), as well as any inbound/outbound emails (from anyone) relating to the same topics.

Please further advise whether any member of staff within KCC legal services, or Invicta Law, have drafted any contracts or agreements for any member of staff at SLGGS since January 2017 onwards.

Yours faithfully,

R Davis

Dear Kent County Council,

In addition to the list of names individuals in my request above, please add:

Jane Robinson (Former HT of SLGGS)

To the list of named individuals

Yours faithfully,

R Davis

Kent County Council

1 Attachment

  • Attachment

    Re Freedom of Information request Email correspondence relating to Simon Langton Girls Grammar School and or the Craig Report.txt

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Dear Mr Davis

Thank you for your emails below and attached.

Kent County Council acknowledges your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. However, we believe that in its current form your request is too broad as you have not specified a time period for the emails you require between any of the named individuals on the subject matter stipulated. Therefore, can you please provide the start/end dates that you wish us to search between for communications meeting the scope of your request.

The 20 working day timescale for providing a response to your request will be suspended until we receive this clarification from you. On receipt of clarification, we will inform you of the new latest complete by date.

In the meantime, you may be interested in our response to a similar request received via the WhatDoTheyKnow website. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/s...

Please quote our reference - FOI/17/1205 - in any communication regarding this particular request.

Best regards

Caroline Dodge | Team Leader | Information Resilience & Transparency Team | Kent County Council | Room 2.71, Sessions House, Maidstone, ME14 1XQ | Phone 03000 416033 | Fax 03000 420303 | http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council... |

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Dear Kent County Council,

Thank you for your response.

Given that KCC claim "not to have been involved" in the Craig Report, its findings or its outcomes, your response that this is too broad is extremely surprising. Given that KCC claim not to have been in control of this entire process since the Craig Enquiry was commissioned, there really shouldn't many emails at all should there?

Since you've asked for clarification and a specific date range. Please use the 1st January 2017 to the present day. Unless KCC have been lying about the scope and depth of their involvement in the Craig Report, this should result in a number of emails in the 0-50 range. If the number is significantly higher than this, this would suggest serious duplicity.

Yours faithfully,

R Davis

Kent County Council

Dear Mr Davis

 

Thank you for your request for information made under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA) 2000, relating to email correspondence in regards
to Simon Langton Girls Grammar School and/or the Craig Report. Please see
the response to your request below:

 

In this instance, after much consideration, Kent County Council (KCC) has
taken the decision to withhold the requested information from you by
relying upon two FOI exemptions; the section 12(1) exemption as the
information was to be provided the cost of finding and extracting the
information would exceed the appropriate limit as set down by section 12
of the Act and the section 14(1) exemption as we feel this is a vexatious
request.

 

Even when taking into account your timeframe of all emails from 1^st
January 2017 the traffic report generated by ICT generated a vast amount
of emails that could potentially fit the criteria. To drill down and
capture the relevant emails would take an excessive amount of time for an
already overstretched resource, and would exceed the limit of £450 as set
by the Act. Upon locating the relevant information it is most likely that
FOIA exemptions would apply in any event and very little new information
would come into the public domain as a result of the disclosure sought.

 

However, above and beyond applying the section 12 exemption, we believe
that this request is vexatious and are therefore applying section 14(1)
exemption. Over the past 12 months, the KCC has received numerous FOI
requests from you on similar lines to this one. You have been provided
with a fully considered answer on each occasion.

 

The KCC has also received numerous requests on a similar theme from other
persons. From reviewing the website where the FOI results are posted we
believe that this pattern of behaviour is a campaign by yourself and
others to place a disproportionate amount of pressure upon the Council and
the School at a time when the School is building new foundations after all
the disruption that has recently occurred.

 

If you are unhappy with this response, and believe KCC has not complied
with legislation, please ask for a review by following our complaints
process; details can be found at this link
[1]http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council...
on our website. Please quote reference FOI/17/1205.

 

If you still remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you can
appeal to the Information Commissioner, who oversees compliance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Details of what you need to do, should
you wish to pursue this course of action, are available from the
Information Commissioner’s website [2]http://www.ico.org.uk/concerns.

 

Best regards

 

Caroline Dodge | Team Leader | Information Resilience & Transparency Team
| Kent County Council | Room 2.71, Sessions House, Maidstone, ME14
1XQ | Phone 03000 416033 | Fax 03000 420303 | 
[3]http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council...
|

 

 

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Dear Kent County Council,

Please submit this for immediate internal review. For the avoidance of doubt, the reason this information is sought, is because it is believed that Kent County Council are involved in a colossal cover-up, as described and quoted in the Kentish Gazette on numerous occasions.

As a citizen of the County, I am not prepared to let the local authority that is responsible for our schools, potentially cover-up duplicitous and underhand dealings. The provision of this information will demonstrate one way or another the truth.

You have a duty to disclose pertinent information. It is particularly interesting that the current Chair of Governors of the school is attempting to use the same "vexatious" provision as yourself, which would intimate that you are in close contact with one another.

Yours faithfully,

R Davis

Kent County Council

Dear Mr Davis

Firstly, please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in acknowledging receipt of your email below. This was due to an oversight on my part.

I am sorry you are unhappy with KCC’s response to your request for information, specifically our belief that it would exceed the appropriate limit to locate and collate information meeting the scope of your original request from within the volume of emails between KCC and Simon Langton Girls Grammar School.

An independent officer who was not involved with your original request will investigate your complaint and review our original response on behalf of the Head of Paid Service. Their reply will be forthcoming within 20 working days from receipt (by 7th September 2017)

Best regards

Caroline Dodge | Team Leader | Information Resilience & Transparency Team | Kent County Council | Room 2.71, Sessions House, Maidstone, ME14 1XQ | Phone 03000 416033 | Fax 03000 420303 | http://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council... |

Dear Kent County Council,

I acknowledge receipt of your tardy response. I take considerable exception to what you have stated thus:

"However, above and beyond applying the section 12 exemption, we believe that this request is vexatious and are therefore applying section 14(1) exemption. Over the past 12 months, the KCC has received numerous FOI requests from you on similar lines to this one. You have been provided with a fully considered answer on each occasion.

The KCC has also received numerous requests on a similar theme from other persons. From reviewing the website where the FOI results are posted we believe that this pattern of behaviour is a campaign by yourself and others to place a disproportionate amount of pressure upon the Council and the School at a time when the School is building new foundations after all the disruption that has recently occurred."

I have already uncovered considerable evidence that the Council is involved in an unlawful cover-up of affairs at the school. It is not a "campaign" to apply pressure on either the Council or the School. It is a request to lawfully reveal information of the appalling conduct of both key members of staff within the Council and former members of staff at the School.

It is not "disruption" that occurred at the school. It was unlawful conduct on the part of some members of staff and gross misconduct on the part of others. The fact that you have tried to "play it down" as "disruption" speaks volumes for how the Council would now wish for all of this to simply go away and for people to start asking difficult questions.

Finally, I reject your assertion that I have received a "fully considered" response on all occasions. What I have in fact received, are rejections where the Council are keen to bury/hide the truth until such time that people stop asking for it. It is my civic duty to uncover corruption within the Council and other public offices where it exists, so that the correct people can be held to account. This includes KCC staff who are not exempt from the law.

Yours faithfully,

R Davis

Kent County Council

1 Attachment

 

Dear Mr Davis

 

Please see attached letter.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Jason Ofosu

Solicitor

Office of the General Counsel

Room 1.97  Kent County Council  Sessions House County Hall  Maidstone 
ME14 1XQ DX 123693 Maidstone 6

 

E:         [1][email address]

T:         03000 417455

W:        www.kent.gov.uk

 

 

References

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1. mailto:[email address]

Dear Kent County Council,

I acknowledge receipt of diatribe contained within your letter dated 7th September 2017.

It is interesting that you state that the volume of emails between the specifically named individuals is such that it would take well in excess of 18 hours to retrieve. In the 21st century, and with organisations like the DfE who are clearly some way ahead of KCC in the IT stakes, it takes mere seconds to retrieve specific email correspondence between named individuals. I therefore call you out as promoting a falsehood to avoid having to provide the data requested.

In addition, it does seem that you have demonstrated that a considerable volume of emails exists between just 12 people on one specific subject. That in itself does seem to be something of a disclosure in a situation that just shouldn’t have been “actively managed” by KCC (legal) at all.

“The Council has responded substantially to each and every previous request you have made” – this is a falsehood. In the main, the Council has attempted to find grounds within the FOIA to hide behind to prevent the data from being disclosed. This is neither substantive nor transparent. It is cowardly.

“Your motive appears to be exposing in your mind….” – thank you for implying that I am some sort of fixated psycho. You should tread carefully with the personal allegations you make when you are unaware of the evidence that I already have to hand. Some of which was provided by your colleagues.

“A number of similar requests have been made by other people…” on the exact same email correspondence between the same limited amount of people? I doubt that. Please provide evidence to substantiate your claim. I call this out as another falsehood.

“The purpose of your request is the same as the previous numerous requests that you have made to obtain a copy of the Craig Report…” – this is entirely wrong, and demonstrates that you have not carefully considered my very specific request at all. Either that, or you cannot read and/or understand what I have very specifically requested. It is fortunate that I now have no further need to request a copy of the Craig Report.

“…it would have been faced with an onslaught of further correspondence and requests.” – Actually, no. But you may have had to respond to court proceedings depending on the disclosures made.

“The tone of the previous requests made by you concerning Simon Langton School makes unsubstantiated allegations about the conduct of the Council and its staff. You have also made unsubstantiated allegations about the Council in the press and on social media which is unreasonable behaviour” – this is a serious error of statement Mr Ofosu. I can substantiate every single word I have ever said or published. Please provide a list of the unsubstantiated commentary that you believe exists, and I will publish the evidence to substantiate it publicly. Better still, why not take me to Court if you believe I am deluded and "fixated". We can test all of the evidence there.

“…and is a means of holding public authorities to account” – now there’s a misnomer if I ever read one. You couldn’t be working harder, in this instance, to prevent yourselves from being held to account. KCC legal in particular. I'm simply tired of seeing organisations like yourself bully, buy and ignore their way out of trouble. It is indeed time for you to be held to account.

Instead of hiding behind the FOIA Mr Ofosu, why not respond to the serious complainants that have been outstanding since June 2016? Will you also be trying to find some legislation to help you not respond to these complaints also?

Yours faithfully,

R Davis