Dear Wirral Borough Council,

On the 24th December 2010 I sent this following email to Jim Wilkie the Interim Chief Executive about a Notice of Motion (which was passed as policy at a full Council meeting)

The email is below (with a slight change as I have since located the 2009-2010 list of allowances on the website):-

Dear Jim Wilkie,

I note that last year a notice of motion was passed with regards to councillors allowances (both those for on the authority and representing it on outside bodies) being published and calling on the Chief Executive to do so.

I tried Wirral's Council's website but could only find the list of allowances from 2009-2010 (not those for outside bodies).

Could you confirm if this notice of motion was actioned and if so either email or provide a link to the information please?

Thanks,

John Brace

I include the notice of motion below and a link to it which was agreed unanimously by councillors on the 13th July 2009.

http://democracy.wirral.gov.uk/ieListDoc...

Council notes that there is considerable public and press interest in the level of allowances being paid by taxpayers to members of public bodies.

Council further notes that Wirral Councillors have been frugal in their approach to allowances with an increase of just 1.9% in five years, that income tax and national insurance is paid on allowances and that Councillors on Wirral do not have access to a pension fund.

Although a lot of information is available in the public domain, Council believes that information on councillor allowances should be easily accessible to all those who wish to see it.

Council therefore requests the Chief Executive to place on the Council website a detailed list of all the allowances actually paid to individual Councillors, both by the Council and by those bodies funded from the Council Tax through a precept or levy.

Like all other Councils, Wirral Council has an Independent Remuneration Panel, which makes recommendations on the level of Councillors’ Basic and Special Responsibility Allowances. However, Council notes that these arrangements do not extend to Fire, Police and Passenger Transport Authorities; and calls upon the Leaders of all the constituent Council’s in Merseyside to support the appointment of a local Independent Remuneration Panel to take on this task.

My freedom of information request is for either a link or to be provided with the information directly which Wirral Council has previously agreed it would release.

Please note this is for the list of allowances paid by councillors representing Wirral Council on outside bodies funded by council tax, precepts or levy. Some (but not all) examples are below. Please could you also indicate if councillors are paid a £NIL amount and whether allowances apply for these duties too.:-

Merseyside Police Authority
Merseytravel (Merseyside Integrated Transport Authority)
Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority.

Yours faithfully,

John Brace

Please could you also state as the previous email wasn't answered whether you class the start of this FOI request as from receipt of this email or the one to Jim Wilkie.

Dear Wirral Borough Council,

I have not received a reply to my initial request. Please could you confirm whether you hold the information or not and if so supply it. I copy my original email of the 29th January 2011 for easy reference below.

Dear Wirral Borough Council,

On the 24th December 2010 I sent this following email to Jim Wilkie
the Interim Chief Executive about a Notice of Motion (which was
passed as policy at a full Council meeting)

The email is below (with a slight change as I have since located
the 2009-2010 list of allowances on the website):-

Dear Jim Wilkie,

I note that last year a notice of motion was passed with regards to
councillors allowances (both those for on the authority and
representing it on outside bodies) being published and calling on
the Chief Executive to do so.

I tried Wirral's Council's website but could only find the list of
allowances from 2009-2010 (not those for outside bodies).

Could you confirm if this notice of motion was actioned and if so
either email or provide a link to the information please?

Thanks,

John Brace

I include the notice of motion below and a link to it which was
agreed unanimously by councillors on the 13th July 2009.

http://democracy.wirral.gov.uk/ieListDoc...

Council notes that there is considerable public and press interest
in the level of allowances being paid by taxpayers to members of
public bodies.

Council further notes that Wirral Councillors have been frugal in
their approach to allowances with an increase of just 1.9% in five
years, that income tax and national insurance is paid on allowances
and that Councillors on Wirral do not have access to a pension
fund.

Although a lot of information is available in the public domain,
Council believes that information on councillor allowances should
be easily accessible to all those who wish to see it.

Council therefore requests the Chief Executive to place on the
Council website a detailed list of all the allowances actually paid
to individual Councillors, both by the Council and by those bodies
funded from the Council Tax through a precept or levy.

Like all other Councils, Wirral Council has an Independent
Remuneration Panel, which makes recommendations on the level of
Councillors’ Basic and Special Responsibility Allowances. However,
Council notes that these arrangements do not extend to Fire, Police
and Passenger Transport Authorities; and calls upon the Leaders of
all the constituent Council’s in Merseyside to support the
appointment of a local Independent Remuneration Panel to take on
this task.

My freedom of information request is for either a link or to be
provided with the information directly which Wirral Council has
previously agreed it would release.

Please note this is for the list of allowances paid by councillors
representing Wirral Council on outside bodies funded by council
tax, precepts or levy. Some (but not all) examples are below.
Please could you also indicate if councillors are paid a £NIL
amount and whether allowances apply for these duties too.:-

Merseyside Police Authority
Merseytravel (Merseyside Integrated Transport Authority)
Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority.

Yours faithfully,

John Brace

Please could you also state as the previous email wasn't answered whether you class the start of this FOI request as from receipt of this email or the one to Jim Wilkie.

Yours faithfully,

John Brace

Dear Corrin, Jane,

Thank you, although the original request was for a link to the information or the information itself.

Unfortunately your answer contains neither a link nor the information itself and it is now over 3 months since the original request was made.

Please if possible could you link to the information you mention now it is available on the website as it is possible it only partly fills my FOI request.

Yours sincerely,

John Brace

Dear Corrin, Jane,

One of your recent responses stated "As a
result of this exercise appropriate contacts have been established and arrangements have been made to publish these allowances again as soon as the 2010/11 Tax year ends and the necessary figures are available."

However despite the financial year ending, I cannot find this on Wirral Council's website, please could you provide the information or a link please?

Yours sincerely,

John Brace