Green City Partnership board membership and meetings

The request was successful.

Dear Sheffield City Council,

Please provide details of the membership and any meetings of the Green City Partnership board, set up as part of the Green City Strategy 2018.

This may include names of individuals or groups, agendas, minutes and associated documents.

Yours faithfully,

Sam Wakeling

FOI, Sheffield City Council

Dear Sam Wakeling,
 
Thank you for your request for information relating to Green City
Partnership board which we received on 21/12/2021.
 
This has been logged as a Freedom of Information Request and will be dealt
with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The reference number for
your request can be found above.
 
Please be aware that Sheffield City Council’s response to the global
COVID-19 pandemic has led to a reduction in resources across the Council,
meaning that we are currently dealing with a backlog of requests.
 
We will aim to respond to your request within 20 working days, by
21/01/2021, but we kindly ask for your patience as we anticipate that
there may be a delay in some cases. Please do not hesitate to contact us
at the email address below if you have any queries.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
 
Sheffield City Council
PO Box 1283
Sheffield, S1 1UJ
Email: [1][Sheffield City Council request email]
P Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to
 
 
_____________________________________________
From: Sam Wakeling <[FOI #713973 email]>
Sent: 21 December 2020 10:49
To: FOI <[Sheffield City Council request email]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Green City Partnership board
membership and meetings
 
Dear Sheffield City Council,
 
Please provide details of the membership and any meetings of the Green
City Partnership board, set up as part of the Green City Strategy 2018.
 
This may include names of  individuals or groups, agendas, minutes and
associated documents.
 
Yours faithfully,
 
Sam Wakeling
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[2][FOI #713973 email]
 
Is [3][Sheffield City Council request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Sheffield City Council? If so, please contact us using this
form:
[4]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...
 
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[5]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...
 
For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:
[6]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...
 
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
 
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
 
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Sheffield City Council request email]
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3. mailto:[Sheffield City Council request email]
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FOI, Sheffield City Council

Dear Sam Wakeling,
 
Thank you for your request for information relating to Green City
Partnership board which we received on 21/12/2021.
 
Please find Sheffield City Council’s response to your request set out
below:
 
The information you have requested is exempt from disclosure under section
22 (information intended for future publication) of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 on the grounds that it is information which will be
accessible to the applicant by other means. This will be published at
[1]http://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/ecCatD...
by 1st March 2021. The Council considers that the public interest balances
in favour of the application of the Section 22 exemption, where
applicable, as this information is published as part of our regular
publications to aid with transparency.
 
Please note: our colleague in the City Growth department will contact you
directly to notify when this is uploaded.
 
If you have any queries about this response, please do not hesitate to
contact us.
 
The information provided in this response is available for re-use under
the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0. The terms of the OGL can be
found [2]here. When re-using the information, Sheffield City Council
requires you to include the following attribution statement: “Contains
public sector information obtained from Sheffield City Council and
licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
 
If you are unhappy with the response you have received in relation to your
request, you are entitled to have this reviewed. You can ask for an
internal review by either writing to the above address or by emailing
[3][Sheffield City Council request email]. Internal review requests should be submitted
within 40 working days from the date of this response.
 
If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of your internal review, you
can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office. Please see
[4]www.ico.org.uk for further details.
 
Kind Regards,
 
Sheffield City Council
PO Box 1283
Sheffield, S1 1UJ
Email: [5][Sheffield City Council request email]
P Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to
 
_____________________________________________
From: Sam Wakeling <[6][FOI #713973 email]>
Sent: 21 December 2020 10:49
To: FOI <[7][Sheffield City Council request email]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Green City Partnership board
membership and meetings
 
Dear Sheffield City Council,
 
Please provide details of the membership and any meetings of the Green
City Partnership board, set up as part of the Green City Strategy 2018.
 
This may include names of  individuals or groups, agendas, minutes and
associated documents.
 
Yours faithfully,
 
Sam Wakeling
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[8][FOI #713973 email]
 
Is [9][Sheffield City Council request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Sheffield City Council? If so, please contact us using this
form:
[10]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...
 
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[11]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...
 
For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:
[12]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...
 
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
 
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
 
 

show quoted sections

Dear Sheffield City Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Sheffield City Council's handling of my FOI request 'Green City Partnership board membership and meetings'.

My request for details was turned down under section 22 (plans to publish), though this information is not recent and should already be publicly available.

I don't expect immediate access to material on very recent meetings, but membership of the board and minutes and documents from previous meetings over the last two years should be available without delay? I agree that publishing this to your website would be preferable to sending directly in reply to this FOI request - and this should be done without delay please.

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

Yours faithfully,

Sam Wakeling

FOI, Sheffield City Council

Dear Sam Wakeling,
 
Thank you for your recent request for an internal review relating to Green
City Partnership board which we received on 21/01/2021. We are sorry to
hear that you are not happy with your response.
 
This has now been logged and will be carried out by a member of the team
 
You should expect to hear a response from us by 18/02/2021.
 
While we endeavour to fulfil statutory deadlines, due to the current
pandemic situation there may be delays due to resourcing shortages. We
will try to provide updates where possible.
 
In the meantime, if you have any queries please, contact us at the email
address below.
 
Thank you.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Sheffield City Council
PO Box 1283
Sheffield, S1 1UJ
Email: [1][Sheffield City Council request email]
P Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to
 
 
_____________________________________________
From: Sam Wakeling <[FOI #713973 email]>
Sent: 21 January 2021 15:16
To: FOI <[Sheffield City Council request email]>
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Green City
Partnership board membership and meetings
 
Dear Sheffield City Council,
 
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information
reviews.
 
I am writing to request an internal review of Sheffield City Council's
handling of my FOI request 'Green City Partnership board membership and
meetings'.
 
My request for details was turned down under section 22 (plans to
publish), though this information is not recent and should already be
publicly available.
 
I don't expect immediate access to material on very recent meetings, but
membership of the board and minutes and documents from previous meetings
over the last two years should be available without delay? I agree that
publishing this to your website would be preferable to sending directly in
reply to this FOI request - and this should be done without delay please.
 
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on
the Internet at this address:
[2]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/g...
 
Yours faithfully,
 
Sam Wakeling
 
 
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[3][FOI #713973 email]
 
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[4]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...
 
For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:
[5]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...
 
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
 
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
 

show quoted sections

FOI, Sheffield City Council

4 Attachments

Dear Sam Wakeling
 
I am writing regarding the internal review you requested of FOI
2020-21-3007.  We received your request for review on 21 January 2021 and
I am pleased to provide a response your request within 20 working days.
 
What you had requested
 
In your original request, you asked for the following information:
 

* Please provide details of the membership and any meetings of the Green
City Partnership board, set up as part of the Green City Strategy
2018. This may include names of  individuals or groups, agendas,
minutes and associated documents.

 
I have carried out an internal review of the handling of your request.
 
The intention of an internal review is to consider if we handled your
response in accordance with the law and to consider if any decisions made,
for example to refuse information, were correct and still apply.
 
You were concerned that in our response we had said that:
 

* The ‘information intended for future publication’ was engaged under
Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on the grounds that
the information will be accessible to the applicant via other means
[ie. the Democratic Services pages of Sheffield City Council’s
website] by 1 March.

 
In your request for an internal review you agreed with our use of this
exemption, stating that:
 

* “this information is not recent and should already be publicly
available … and this should be done without delay.”

 
My response
I am glad to note that you agree with the application of this exemption.
There is a public interest in councils providing information they hold
that falls within the scope of an FOI request as quickly as possible. But
this needs to be balanced with the public interest in ensuring the maximum
cost effectiveness. Providing this information in response to an FOI
request is not the most cost effective way of placing this information in
the public domain, when it will be published in due course on the
Council’s website.
That said, I appreciate that you feel strongly that we should do
everything we can to make this information publicly available, and it is
to that concern that I now turn.
As part of my investigation I have spoken with the Policy Officer who is
responsible for publishing these documents on the Council’s website. She
has explained that there is some additional work that needs to be
undertaken to publish these documents. Unfortunately it’s not, as you may
reasonably believe, a straightforward case of uploading documents that are
already written and ready to be published, as they were not designed to be
published. In order for the Council to meet both its transparency and
accessibility duties, each document will need to be carefully reviewed and
made fully accessible to interested parties and the wider public. As I am
sure you will appreciate, given the pressures on his service as a result
of the current pandemic, including staff absence and reassignment, the
resources required to undertake this additional work are incredibly
stretched.
 
These circumstances notwithstanding a positive outcome of this review is
that, in the interim, the Policy Officer has been able to share the
attendees and Terms of reference for the Green City Partnership board
meetings as requested, alongside two reports that the Partnership has
recently commissioned. We won’t, at this stage, be making the reports
public on the website simply because we don’t have the resources to make
them accessible at the moment and still complete the work that allows us
to start taking action. However, we will be happy to release further
reports once they are finalised.
My conclusion
As a result of this internal review, I have found that that Sheffield City
Council's application of Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(FOI) was correct. Information is exempt under this section of the Act if
there is a “view to its publication by the authority … at some future date
(whether determined or not).” In this case the date for publication has
been determined as 1 March 2021, and I have received assurances that the
Council will do everything in its powers to meet this deadline.
However, I have also discovered that the Council has subsequently been
able to provide some of the requested information ahead of this deadline.
I am pleased to be able to attach these documents here, in the hope that
this provides confidence in the intention to make the whole set of
information publicly available as quickly as resources allow.
 
 
If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your internal review, you are
entitled to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and they
will consider whether your complaint is eligible for further review. The
ICO’s contact details and guidance on how to make a complaint is available
on the website at [1]www.ico.org.uk.
 
Kind regards
 
Jovian
 
Jovian Smalley
Information Governance and Compliance Officer
Business Change and Information Solutions (BCIS)
Resources Portfolio
Postal Address: Sheffield City Council,  PO Box 1283, Sheffield S1 1UJ
 
_____________________________________________
From: Sam Wakeling <[FOI #713973 email]>
Sent: 21 January 2021 15:16
To: FOI <[Sheffield City Council request email]>
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Green City
Partnership board membership and meetings
 
Dear Sheffield City Council,
 
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information
reviews.
 
I am writing to request an internal review of Sheffield City Council's
handling of my FOI request 'Green City Partnership board membership and
meetings'.
 
My request for details was turned down under section 22 (plans to
publish), though this information is not recent and should already be
publicly available.
 
I don't expect immediate access to material on very recent meetings, but
membership of the board and minutes and documents from previous meetings
over the last two years should be available without delay? I agree that
publishing this to your website would be preferable to sending directly in
reply to this FOI request - and this should be done without delay please.
 
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on
the Internet at this address:
[2]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/g...
 
Yours faithfully,
 
Sam Wakeling
 
 
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[3][FOI #713973 email]
 
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[4]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...
 
For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:
[5]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...
 
Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.
 
If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.
 

show quoted sections

FOI, Sheffield City Council

4 Attachments

Good morning,

 

Further to the internal review response below by my colleague Jovian, we
can confirm documents have been made accessible and uploaded [1]here.

 

In addition to the documents that were shared last month, there are a
number of PowerPoint presentations which have not been able to make
accessible yet due to limited resources and so are not able to share on
the website yet. These are attached so they can be shared with you
directly.

 

The minutes for January 2021 have not been finalised yet, and will be
posted on the website before the next meeting which is on the 23rd March.

 

Kind regards,

Holly

 

Holly McCready

Access to Information Officer

Information Management Team

Business Change and Information Solutions (BCIS)

Resources Portfolio, Sheffield City Council

Email: [2][Sheffield City Council request email]

Postal Address: Sheffield City Council,  PO Box 1283, Sheffield S1 1UJ

 

 

_____________________________________________
From: Jovian Smalley <[email address]> On Behalf Of FOI
Sent: 12 February 2021 12:14
To: 'Sam Wakeling' <[FOI #713973 email]>
Cc: FOI <[Sheffield City Council request email]>
Subject: RE: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Green
City Partnership board membership and meetings

 

Dear Sam Wakeling

 

I am writing regarding the internal review you requested of FOI
2020-21-3007.  We received your request for review on 21 January 2021 and
I am pleased to provide a response your request within 20 working days.

 

What you had requested

 

In your original request, you asked for the following information:

 

o Please provide details of the membership and any meetings of the Green
City Partnership board, set up as part of the Green City Strategy
2018. This may include names of  individuals or groups, agendas,
minutes and associated documents.

 

I have carried out an internal review of the handling of your request.

 

The intention of an internal review is to consider if we handled your
response in accordance with the law and to consider if any decisions made,
for example to refuse information, were correct and still apply.

 

You were concerned that in our response we had said that:

 

o The ‘information intended for future publication’ was engaged under
Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on the grounds that
the information will be accessible to the applicant via other means
[ie. the Democratic Services pages of Sheffield City Council’s
website] by 1 March.

 

In your request for an internal review you agreed with our use of this
exemption, stating that:

 

o “this information is not recent and should already be publicly
available … and this should be done without delay.”

 

My response

I am glad to note that you agree with the application of this exemption.
There is a public interest in councils providing information they hold
that falls within the scope of an FOI request as quickly as possible. But
this needs to be balanced with the public interest in ensuring the maximum
cost effectiveness. Providing this information in response to an FOI
request is not the most cost effective way of placing this information in
the public domain, when it will be published in due course on the
Council’s website.

That said, I appreciate that you feel strongly that we should do
everything we can to make this information publicly available, and it is
to that concern that I now turn.

As part of my investigation I have spoken with the Policy Officer who is
responsible for publishing these documents on the Council’s website. She
has explained that there is some additional work that needs to be
undertaken to publish these documents. Unfortunately it’s not, as you may
reasonably believe, a straightforward case of uploading documents that are
already written and ready to be published, as they were not designed to be
published. In order for the Council to meet both its transparency and
accessibility duties, each document will need to be carefully reviewed and
made fully accessible to interested parties and the wider public. As I am
sure you will appreciate, given the pressures on his service as a result
of the current pandemic, including staff absence and reassignment, the
resources required to undertake this additional work are incredibly
stretched.

 

These circumstances notwithstanding a positive outcome of this review is
that, in the interim, the Policy Officer has been able to share the
attendees and Terms of reference for the Green City Partnership board
meetings as requested, alongside two reports that the Partnership has
recently commissioned. We won’t, at this stage, be making the reports
public on the website simply because we don’t have the resources to make
them accessible at the moment and still complete the work that allows us
to start taking action. However, we will be happy to release further
reports once they are finalised.

My conclusion

As a result of this internal review, I have found that that Sheffield City
Council's application of Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(FOI) was correct. Information is exempt under this section of the Act if
there is a “view to its publication by the authority … at some future date
(whether determined or not).” In this case the date for publication has
been determined as 1 March 2021, and I have received assurances that the
Council will do everything in its powers to meet this deadline.

However, I have also discovered that the Council has subsequently been
able to provide some of the requested information ahead of this deadline.
I am pleased to be able to attach these documents here, in the hope that
this provides confidence in the intention to make the whole set of
information publicly available as quickly as resources allow.

 

<< File: GCPB_ToR_Jan 21.docx >>  << File: WP2 Report FINAL.pdf >>  <<
File: WP2 infographic_final.pdf >>  << File: WP1 Report FINAL.pdf >>

 

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of your internal review, you are
entitled to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and they
will consider whether your complaint is eligible for further review. The
ICO’s contact details and guidance on how to make a complaint is available
on the website at [3]www.ico.org.uk.

 

Kind regards

 

Jovian

 

Jovian Smalley

Information Governance and Compliance Officer

Business Change and Information Solutions (BCIS)

Resources Portfolio

Postal Address: Sheffield City Council,  PO Box 1283, Sheffield S1 1UJ

 

_____________________________________________
From: Sam Wakeling <[4][FOI #713973 email]>
Sent: 21 January 2021 15:16
To: FOI <[5][Sheffield City Council request email]>
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Green City
Partnership board membership and meetings

 

Dear Sheffield City Council,

 

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

 

I am writing to request an internal review of Sheffield City Council's
handling of my FOI request 'Green City Partnership board membership and
meetings'.

 

My request for details was turned down under section 22 (plans to
publish), though this information is not recent and should already be
publicly available.

 

I don't expect immediate access to material on very recent meetings, but
membership of the board and minutes and documents from previous meetings
over the last two years should be available without delay? I agree that
publishing this to your website would be preferable to sending directly in
reply to this FOI request - and this should be done without delay please.

 

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

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Sam Wakeling

 

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[7][FOI #713973 email]

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[8]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...

 

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:

[9]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...

 

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.

 

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

 

show quoted sections