In-house valuation reports

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Croydon Borough Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Croydon Borough Council,

Earlier this month you were good enough to provide a response to a request for information about the sale of public property by the council.

In respect of 24 sites sold between March 2018 and January 2019 to Brick by Brick Croydon, your response stated that they had been subject to an in-house valuation.

Please provide the in-house valuation reports for each of these properties.

Yours faithfully,

S Downes

Freedom of Information, Croydon Borough Council

 

Dear Mr Downes

 

Freedom of Information Request

 

Thank you for your recent request.

 

Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days, subject to the application of
any exemptions. Where consideration is being given to exemptions the 20
working day timescale may be extended to a period considered reasonable
depending on the nature and circumstances of your request. In such cases
you will be notified and, where possible, a revised time-scale will be
indicated. In all cases we shall attempt to deal with your request at the
earliest opportunity.

 

There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of
the information requested where the request exceeds the statutory limit or
where disbursements exceed £450. In such cases you will be informed in
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you or your request is modified and/or reduced.

 

Your request may require either full or partial transfer to another public
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If we are unable to provide you with the information requested we will
notify you of this together with the reason(s) why and details of how you
may appeal (if appropriate).

 

Please note that the directorate team may contact you for further
information where we believe that the request is not significantly clear
for us to respond fully.

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Lynda Fay

FOI Co-ordinator

Croydon Council

 

Information in relation to the London Borough of Croydon is available
at [1]http://www.croydonobservatory.org/. Also responses to previous
Freedom of Information requests can also be found on the following link

[2]https://croydondata.wordpress.com/ Council services, online, 24/7
www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount.

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Dear Croydon Borough Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Croydon Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'In-house valuation reports'.

The request was submitted on April 26. Today is 20 working days since, which is your deadline as laid down by the Freedom of Information Act for a response, and I have not had such.

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

Yours faithfully,

S Downes

Freedom of Information, Croydon Borough Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Downes

Freedom of Information Request

Please see attached the council's response to your Freedom of Information
request.

Yours sincerely

Information Team

Croydon Council

 

Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount.

Please use this web site address to view the council's e-mail disclaimer -
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/email-disclaimer

Dear Freedom of Information,

Thank you for your response.

However, you appear to have overlooked what was requested.

In my original information request, I wrote:

>>>
Please provide the in-house valuation reports for each of these properties.
<<<

Please do so.

Yours sincerely,

S Downes

FOI, Croydon Borough Council

Hi,

Thank you for your email. We have emailed the service to ask for this.

Kind regards,

Isabel de Haan
Legal intern

Legal Team
Resources Department
Floor 7, Bernard Wetherill House, Mint Walk, Croydon, CR0 1EA
DX: 136016 Croydon 17
[email address]
| External 020 8726 6000

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Dear Croydon Borough Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Croydon Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'In-house valuation reports'.

The response is long overdue, after the council failed to provide the valuation reports requested.

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

Yours faithfully,

S Downes

Kelly, Sarah, Croydon Borough Council

2 Attachments

BY EMAIL ONLY

 

Internal Review Request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Our reference: Internal Review 11255

Dear Mr Downes,

I refer to your request for an internal review dated 28 May 2019 regarding
your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(‘FOI’) ref. F/CRT/10011255, relating to in-house valuation reports for
properties sold to Brick by Brick. 

 

I have now completed my investigations in respect of this internal review,
and my response is set out below.

 

Internal Review Response

I understand your FOI request (ref. F/CRT/10011255) was filed on 26 April
2019.

A public authority has an obligation to communicate information requested
under the FOI, to a requester, no later than 20 working days after the
date of receipt of the request. I therefore calculate that a full response
to your FOI request should have been provided to you by 28 May 2019. You
filed this internal review request on 28 May 2019, on the grounds that
the council had not yet responded to your FOI request.

 

In carrying out this internal review, I have spoken to the Information
Management Team, which was responsible for preparing the FOI response. The
Information Management Team has told me it was unable to issue the FOI
response by the original 28 May deadline, due to the need for additional
time to finalise the response. However, the FOI response was sent to you
the following day on 29 May 2019. The Information Team apologised for the
delay in issuing the response, in the FOI response letter (copy attached).

 

I therefore uphold your complaint that the council failed to issue a
response to your FOI request by the 20-working day deadline of 28 May
2019. I can only apologise on behalf of the council for this delay in
responding to your request, and for any inconvenience this may have caused
you. I will remind the Information Management Team of the need to inform
requesters promptly if there are likely to be delays in responding to
requests for information.

 

I understand you were dissatisfied with the FOI response issued on 29 May,
and the Information Management Team is in the process of sending a follow
up response to you in respect of this FOI request. You have filed a
separate internal review request dated 26 June 2019 in respect of the
delay in sending you the further response. That internal review is being
processed separately.

 

If you are not happy with the outcome of this internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire, SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

 

The ICO’s website is [1]www.ico.org.uk.  

 

Sarah Kelly

Corporate Solicitor

 

[2]cid:image002.png@01D407E8.20701350

 

Legal Team

Resources Department

Floor 7 , Bernard Wetherill House, Mint Walk, Croydon, CR0 1EA

 

[3][email address]

Internal 64851 | External  020 8726 6000 x64851

Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount.

Please use this web site address to view the council's e-mail disclaimer -
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/email-disclaimer

References

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3. mailto:[email address]

Dear Ms Kelly,

On July 23, you wrote to me upholding my complaint about your council's delays in dealing with my FoI request about in-house valuation reports, and in respect of my further complaint, that as well as late, the council's response was less than complete, you wrote at that time:

"I understand you were dissatisfied with the FOI response issued on 29 May,
and the Information Management Team is in the process of sending a follow
up response to you in respect of this FOI request."

I have never received any such response.

Why not?
Yours sincerely,

S Downes

Kelly, Sarah, Croydon Borough Council

I am currently out of the office, returning on Thursday, 19 September
2019.

 

If you require urgent assistance during this time, please email the Legal
Business Team at [email address]

 

Otherwise I will respond to your message, when I return.

 

Kind regards

 

Sarah Kelly

Corporate Solicitor

 

Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount.

Please use this web site address to view the council's e-mail disclaimer -
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/email-disclaimer

Kelly, Sarah, Croydon Borough Council

1 Attachment

BY EMAIL ONLY

Dear Mr Downes,

I refer to your email of 11 September 2019, below, regarding your request
for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘FOI’) ref.
F/CRT/10011255, relating to in-house valuation reports for properties sold
to Brick by Brick. 

 

I apologise for the delay in responding to your email, which was received
while I was on leave. You have complained that the response to your FOI
request is still outstanding. I have asked the council’s FOI team (copied
in) to send an update to you regarding the status of that response by this
Friday (04 October 2019).

 

Yours sincerely

 

Sarah Kelly

Corporate Solicitor

 

[1]cid:image002.png@01D407E8.20701350

 

Legal Team

Resources Department

Floor 7 , Bernard Wetherill House, Mint Walk, Croydon, CR0 1EA

 

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Dear Ms Kelly,

The council's handling of this information request has been appalling.
You upheld my complaint under an internal review, though the council still failed to provide the information requested. You then delayed responding because you were on leave, promising a response by October 4.

Twenty-six days later, I am still waiting.

Do we need another internal review into the mishandling and delays of the internal review?

Yours sincerely,

S Downes

Dear Ms Kelly,

I wonder whether you can hazard a guess as to when the council might respond to my request for an internal review, which was lodged with you five months ago.

Trust you enjoyed your holiday,

Yours sincerely,

S Downes

FOI, Croydon Borough Council

1 Attachment

Re: Your FOI request F/CRT/10011255

 

Dear Mr Downes

 

Further to your emails to Ms Kelly of 11 September 2019, 30 October 2019,
and 10 February 2020 regarding your internal review request of 26 June
2019. We would like to apologise for the delay in getting back to you. As
set out in Ms Kelly’s email of 01 October 2019, this matter is being
handled by the FOI Team. Our team prepared an update for you in response
to your emails of 11 September 2019 and 30 October 2019, but unfortunately
the update does not appear to have been issued, due to staffing changes
within the team at that time.

 

I am checking the status of this matter, and our team will send an update
to you by next Monday (17 February 2020). For the sake of good order,
could you please send all further correspondence regarding this case to
the FOI team at [Croydon Borough Council request email].  Although Ms Kelly handled your
earlier internal review request of 28 May 2019, she is no longer involved
with this matter.

 

Yours sincerely

Croydon Council

 

 [1]cid:995D36CC-63D9-452C-921A-47E295D9BC0F

Information Team

Law & Governance Division

Resources Department

7^th Floor, Zone C

Bernard Weatherill House

8 Mint Walk

Croydon CR0 1EA

 

[2][Croydon Borough Council request email]

 

 

 

 

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FOI, Croydon Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Downes

Please find our response to your e-mail of 6 June 2019, which is in relation to your Freedom of Information request F/10011255. Please also accept our apologies for the delay in responding to you.

Kind Regards

Croydon Council

[Croydon Borough Council request email]

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