Freedom of Information Request - Social Housing

Bath and North East Somerset Council did not have the information requested.

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information from your organisation:

1) How many complaints relating to housing has your organisation received in the past five years (January 2016 to present)? How many of these cases are ongoing? [Please could you provide the data for each year e.g. 2016 “X” number of complaints, 2017 “X” number of complaints.]

2) How many staff members do you have working as part of your complaints resolution team or equivalent team?

3) How many social housing tenants (council house and housing association tenants) does your council have? How many social housing dwellings/properties (council house and housing association dwellings/properties) does your council have?

5) How much money has your organisation spent on housing repairs and maintenance each year for the past five years (Jan 2016-present)? [Please could you provide the data for each year e.g. 2016 “X” number, 2017 “X” number]

My preferred format for this data is CSV format.

If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request.

If you can identify any ways that my request could be refined I would be grateful for any further advice and assistance.

If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact me via email or phone (07428474415) and I will be very happy to clarify what I am asking for and discuss the request, my details are outlined below.

Thank you for your time and I look forward to your response.

Best wishes,

Will Tullis

Information Governance, Bath and North East Somerset Council

Thank you for your request. We can confirm that your request will be logged and dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

As you are aware we are experiencing a National Emergency situation and the Council is now focused solely on minimising the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our local communities. Bath and North East Somerset Council has indeed formally declared the current situation a major incident in accordance with the 2004 Civil Contingencies Act and as a result, all Council resources are now prioritised only on business-critical activity to protect the most vulnerable.

Therefore in terms of responding to your request, please note that almost all Council staff are no longer in the office and are working remotely, either with limited access to information, or in some cases self-isolating, with ongoing impacts on availability, capacity and officer time, across all services.

We are therefore unable to always respond to requests made in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), within the 20 working day time limit, at this time. Instead it is likely that a response to your request will be subject to significant delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, we will respond as soon as we can. Responses to requests made under the Data Protection Act are also very likely to face similar delays.

We apologise for any delay that may occur in responding to these types of requests but are sure you will understand the reasons why. We will keep this position under constant review as the national position evolves.

Further information on council service changes resulting from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic can be found on our website at the following link:

https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk/coronavirus

Yours sincerely,

Information Governance Team –
One West
Bath & North East Somerset Council
Telephone: 01225 396658
www.bathnes.gov.uk

Bath & North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

show quoted sections

Information Governance, Bath and North East Somerset Council

1 Attachment

Dear W Tullis,

 

Thank you for your recent request for information. Please find enclosed
the information you are entitled to receive under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

 

We trust that we have answered your queries, however if you have any
further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

If you are unhappy with the response to your request, you may ask for an
internal review within 40 working days of receipt of this request. Please
contact Mr Jeff Wring, Service Director – One West, at Lewis House,
Manvers St, Bath BA1 1JG, or by email to: [1][email address]

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to appeal directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Or through their website:
[2]www.ico.org.uk

 

Please refer to the disclaimer regarding reuse which can be found on the
Council website at:

[3]http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/your-...

 

As you are aware we are experiencing a National Emergency situation and
the Council is now focused solely on minimising the impact of the Covid-19
pandemic on our local communities.  Bath and North East Somerset Council
has indeed formally declared the current situation a major incident in
accordance with the 2004 Civil Contingencies Act and as a result, all
Council resources are now prioritised only on business-critical activity
to protect the most vulnerable. 

 

Therefore in terms of responding to any further requests, please note that
almost all Council staff are no longer in the office and are working
remotely, either with limited access to information, or in some cases
self-isolating, with ongoing impacts on availability, capacity and officer
time, across all services.

 

In addition, please note that the Information Governance Team has delayed
access to hard copy letters.  As a result, we recommend that any Subject
Access Requests, Freedom of Information Act Requests/Environmental
Information Requests or Data Breach Reports are only sent to us
electronically.

 

We are therefore unable to always respond to requests made in accordance
with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or Environmental Information
Regulations (EIR), within the 20 working day time limit, at this time. 
Instead it is likely that a response to your request will be subject to
significant delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  However, we will respond
as soon as we can.  Responses to requests made under the Data Protection
Act are also very likely to face similar delays.

 

We apologise for any delay that may occur in responding to these types of
requests but are sure you will understand the reasons why.  We will keep
this position under constant review as the national position evolves.
General queries can still be sent to
[4][Bath and North East Somerset Council request email] and we will respond as soon as we
are able.

 

Further information on council service changes resulting from the impacts
of the Covid-19 pandemic can be found on our website at the following
link:

 

[5]https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk/coronavirus

 

Yours sincerely

 

Information Governance Team

One West

Bath & North East Somerset Council

Telephone: 01225 477961

[6]www.bathnes.gov.uk

 

Bath & North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit

 

Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

From: Will Tullis <[FOI #743487 email]>

Sent:  01 April 2021 20:26

To:     Information Governance

Subject:        Freedom of Information request - Freedom of Information
Request - Social Housing

 

To whom it may concern,

 

 

 

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request
the following information

from your organisation:

 

 

 

1) How many complaints relating to housing has your organisation received
in the past five years

(January 2016 to present)? How many of these cases are ongoing? [Please
could you provide the data

for each year e.g. 2016 “X” number of complaints, 2017 “X” number of
complaints.]

 

 

 

2) How many staff members do you have working as part of your complaints
resolution team or

equivalent team?

 

 

 

3) How many social housing tenants (council house and housing association
tenants) does your council

have? How many social housing dwellings/properties (council house and
housing association

dwellings/properties) does your council have?

 

 

 

5) How much money has your organisation spent on housing repairs and
maintenance each year for the

past five years (Jan 2016-present)? [Please could you provide the data for
each year e.g. 2016 “X”

number, 2017 “X” number]

 

 

 

My preferred format for this data is CSV format.

 

 

 

If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the
information exceeding the cost of

compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and
assistance, under the Section 16

obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request.

 

 

 

If you can identify any ways that my request could be refined I would be
grateful for any further advice

and assistance.

 

 

 

If you have any queries please don’t hesitate to contact me via email or
phone (07428474415) and I will

be very happy to clarify what I am asking for and discuss the request, my
details are outlined below.

 

 

 

Thank you for your time and I look forward to your response.

 

 

 

Best wishes,

 

 

 

Will Tullis

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/
3. http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/your-...
4. mailto:[Bath and North East Somerset Council request email]
5. https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk/coronavirus
6. http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/