FOI Request handling, Data for Jan 2009 - Jan 2010 inclusive
Dear Brent Borough Council,
(1) Please provide the number of FOI Requests received each month by the council for calendar year 2009 and January 2010, and the overall total.
(2) Please confirm whether it is council policy to acknowledge all FOI Requests, and how quickly.
If it is, provide the % which met that target in each month and overall.
If not, explain how the council considers this complies with ICO guidance and the council's duties under the Act, in particular §16 to be helpful.
(3) For each month and the whole period, include how many received the council's response
(a) within 15wd,
(b) in 16-20 wd,
(c) after 20wd,
and (d) any still awaiting response.
(4) Include also how many were met
(a) in full,
(b) partly,
(c) rejected, with a note of the numbers for each reason for rejection - not held, too costly, fees notices etc.
(5) Include how many were referred to Internal Review, how long these took as per (3) above, and the outcome
(6) Lastly for each month and total, include the number of requests that had ICO involvement, distinguishing between numbers where the ICO asked the council to respond due to delay by the council, or where the ICO made a ruling after the council process was exhausted.
Itemise each of these presumably very few cases individually with full dates and outcome.
Please provide this electronically, preferably in an XLS spreadsheet.
Yours faithfully,
James Muldoon
Brent Council - INFORMATION REQUEST
Our Reference: 584332
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Dear Mr. Muldoon
Thank you for your request for information received on 15 February 2010.
We aim to respond to your request within 20 working days.
However, whilst we may send the formal notification of the decision to the
email address you have provided we will not send the information requested
to that address. This is because we are aware that doing so will
automatically result in the information being published on the
whatdotheyknow website. Publication of information in this way may
constitute an unauthorised re-use (under the Re-use of Public Sector
Information Regulations 2005) and may infringe copyright. I would
therefore be grateful if you will provide me with an alternative
disclosure address. This can be a postal address, fax number or an email
address, as long as it does not result in automatic publication and
re-use.If you wish to apply for permission to re-use any of the requested
information you may do so by writing to the IT Standards Manager at Brent
Council, Floor 5, 349-357 High Road, Wembley HA9 6BZ , telephone 020 8937
1402, e-mail
[1][Brent Borough Council request email]
If you wish to appeal against the requirement to provide an alternative
disclosure address you can do so by writing to the IT Standards Manager at
the address given above.
You also have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner. However,
the Information Commissioner will not normally consider an appeal until
you have exhausted your rights of redress and complaint to the Council.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted as follows: Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9
5AF; Telephone: 01625 545 700, www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
Yours sincerely
Stephen F Williams,
For Brent ITU
[email address]
Yours sincerely
Stephen F Williams,
DPA & FOI Consultant
[email address]
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The use of Brent Council's e-mail system may be monitored and communications read in order to secure effective operation of the system and other lawful purposes.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[Brent Borough Council request email]
Dear Stephen F Williams,
I would ask you to reconsider your decision.
In this case the information requested cannot lead to issues of unauthorised re-use or breach of copyright.
I adopt the words of another FOI Requester.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Could you kindly confirm whether you are going to provide the Information asked for on this occasion to my WDTK email address?
If you refuse, I will refer this to the ICO for a Ruling.
I say you should provide the Information as requested.
You may include a Copyright Notice if you wish.
Publication of Information on a website if covered by a Copyright Notice retains all the protection of copyright.
It is equivalent to a book or other publication, where copyright protection is not lost by the fact of publication.
I say any concern you may have in general can be covered by a statement such as that below, which was provided by Hounslow when they provide WDTK with the Information in response to the same request to them as I made to you.
I also say that you must provide the Information as requested, and then take action should any breach of copyright subsequently occur.
I would point out that the ICO has already made a recent ruling in these terms.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Most of the information that is provided in response to Freedom of Information Act 2000 requests will be subject to copyright protection. In most cases the copyright will be owned by The London Borough of Hounslow. However, the copyright in other information
may be owned by another person or organisation, as indicated in the information itself.
"You are free to use any information supplied for your own use, including for non-commercial research purposes. The information may also be used for the purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example, by publishing the information, using it for marketing purposes or issuing copies to the public will require the permission of the copyright owner.
"For information where the copyright is owned by another person or organisation, you must apply to the copyright owner to obtain their permission."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Yours sincerely,
James Muldoon
Dear Mr Muldoon
Having reviewed your request and our request for you to supply us with an alternative address to send your information, I have concluded that your internal review has not been upheld.
The council has not and is not refusing to respond to your request which it accepts is valid. The council does have an issue with using the 'whatdotheyknow' email address. By using this email address, all responses are automatically uploaded on the associated website without any apparent control. You cannot assume that you can use information on the Internet freely just because it is available and free of charge. It does not mean you necessarily have an implied license.
The making of a Freedom of Information request cannot invalidate the council's rights to control further use of its own information or abrogate any duty it may owe to third party copyright holders. The concern is that disclosing information in the manner requested would make the council complicit in any such breach. Responding to an email address that automatically publishes responses does not make it possible for the council to exercise any controls referred to under the new regulations governing the re-use of public sector information, which came into force in July 2005 (Statutory Instrument 1515).
We have advised you of the means and circumstances in which we consider it reasonable to communicate the information requested. I urge you to supply an alternative address so that the information can be sent.
Rajesh Seedher
IT Standards Manager
Information Technology Unit
Business Transformation Department
Brent Council
Telephone 020 8937 1402
Brent Council - INFORMATION REQUEST
Our Reference: 584332
====================================================
Dear Mr. Muldoon
I refer to the information request you made on 15th February 2010 and am
writing to advise that the information you requested is held by the
Council.
However, formally the Council is refusing to comply with Section 1 (1)(b)
of the Freedom of Information Act as it applies to your request in
accordance with Sections 12 (1) and (4) of the Act, because it estimates
that , when combined with other similar requests received within the last
60 days, communicating the information in compliance with the request
would be likely to exceed the Appropriate Limit. For local government
this gives 18 hours to identify if information requested is held,
locating, retrieving and extracting it.
However, where it can be readily extracted the base data is available to
be communicated to you in accordance with the Section 16 duty to provide
help and assistance. We have already advised you of the need to provide
an alternative address for service.
The information available to be provided may be subject to copyright and
you may require further permission from the Council to re-use it. If you
require further guidance please write to the IT Standards Manager (contact
details below).
I apologise that your request will not be met but if you have any further
information needs in the future then please contact me.
If you are dissatisfied with the response or how the Council has handled
your request you can complain to the Council by writing to the following
address: IT Standards Manager at Brent Council,Floor 5, 349-357 High Road,
Wembley HA9 6BZ, telephone 020 8937 1402, e-mail [Brent Borough Council request email]. It is
the Council's policy to ensure that, where practicable, your complaint is
dealt with by someone who was not involved in the original decision.
You also have a right of appeal about our decision to the Information
Commissioner, however, the Information Commissioner will not normally
consider an appeal until you have exhausted your rights of redress and
complaint to the Council. The Information Commissioner can be contacted as
follows:
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF; Telephone: 01625 545 700,
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
Stephen F Williams,
DPA & FOI Consultant
[email address]
--
The use of Brent Council's e-mail system may be monitored and communications read in order to secure effective operation of the system and other lawful purposes.
Dear Stephen F Williams,
(1) (1) You may send information to me at this email address: [email address]
(2) I do not understand your reference to "other similar requests received within the last 60 days".
I have not made any FOI Request to you before.
I am not in contact with any other person in respect of this request.
(3) How much is your estimate of the cost of complying with my request?
(4) I suggest that you consider whether in this case you wish to add the data to your website publication scheme.
Yours sincerely,
James Muldoon
Dear Brent Borough Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Brent Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'FOI Request handling, Data for Jan 2009 - Jan 2010 inclusive'.
I note you have not responded to my follow up questions.
Accordingly I ask you to treat those questions as part of the Request an Internal Review which I now make.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fo...
Yours faithfully,
James Muldoon
Gadawodd James Muldoon anodiad ()
No reply received to Internal Review so referred to ICO on 18-9-10
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Gadawodd Raphael Clifford anodiad ()
Has this been sent to the ICO for judgement?