Inclusion in Education Group Minutes

The request was refused by Bristol City Council.

Dear Bristol City Council,

Please may I have copies of all the meeting minutes and associated reports for the Inclusion in Education Group (IEG) from its original inception until the end of December 2020.

Thanks

Jen Smith

Bristol City Council

 
Dear Jen Smith
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
 
Thank you for your request for information that was received on 9 December
2020.
 
We are dealing with your request and we aim to send a response by 8
January 2021.
 
For further information regarding FOI requests, please visit
[1]https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/off...
 
If you have any further queries about your request please contact
[2][email address].
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Customer Relations Team
 
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Bristol City Council
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Hello,

This request is a couple of weeks past deadline now.

Thanks

Jen

Bristol City Council

1 Attachment

 
Dear Jen Smith
 
Thank you for your request for information received on 9 December 2020.
 
Please find attached our response to your request.
 
Yours faithfully
 
 
Robert Gardner
Customer Relations Officer
[email address]
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
 
Bristol City Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error has
misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email. Any views expressed in
this email are those of the individual sender, except where the sender
specifically states these to be the views of Bristol City Council.
 
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have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Bristol City
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.

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Dear Bristol City Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Bristol City Council's handling of my FOI request 'Inclusion in Education Group Minutes'.

There is no guidance on how far in the future the minutes are going to be published, please either provide the date or release the minutes.

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,

Jen Smith

Bristol City Council

 
Dear Jen Smith
 
Thank you for your request for a review received on 27 January 2021. I am
sorry that you are unhappy with our response under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
 
I can confirm that we are considering your concerns and we will aim to
provide you with a response by 24 February 2021.
 
Yours faithfully
 
 
Rebecca Kanyangarara
Data Protection Officer
[email address]
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
 
Bristol City Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error has
misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email. Any views expressed in
this email are those of the individual sender, except where the sender
specifically states these to be the views of Bristol City Council.
 
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Bristol City
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
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Hi,

Your response is now quite delayed. Is there an update to this before I take it to the ICO?

Thanks

Jen

Dear Bristol City Council,

I was expecting a response for this by 24 February 2021.

There's no reason why these minutes should be withheld. They date back to 2018 and there has been no attempt to publish them. I would like them released under the FOI please.

Yours sincerely,

Jen Smith

Dear Bristol City Council,

You said you would get back to me by the 24 February but we're in April.

Please may I have a response.

Yours sincerely,

Jen Smith

Dear Bristol City Council,

You said you would reply with a response by 24 February 2021. It is now 18 May. Can you respond please?

Yours sincerely,

Jen Smith

Bristol City Council

 
Dear Jen Smith
 
Information requested by: Jen Smith

Our ref 12496365 - internal review response

I am writing in response to your concerns about Bristol City Council's
handling of your request for information (our reference: 2496365) received
on 5 December 2020 and which was responded to on 19 January 2021. 

I was appointed to carry out an independent review as officer not involved
in the original decision.

In your request dated 5 December 2020 you asked for the following
information:

' Please may I have copies of all the meeting minutes and associated
reports for the Inclusion in Education Group (IEG) from its original
inception until the end of December 2020. '

Original decision 

Bristol City Council responded to your request on 19 January 2021 confirm
that we hold the information requested. However, some of the information
was withheld under section 22 of Freedom of Information Act (FOI Act).

Internal review request 

On 22 January 2021  you contacted Bristol City Council to request an
internal review as you were not satisfied with the original response to
the above request. You were concerned that we refused your request under
section 22 of the FOIA .
 

I have treated your request for an internal review in line with the terms
of the FOI Act.

Information requested 

Your original request, you stated that there is no guidance on how far in
the future the minutes are going to be published and asked us to  either
provide the date or release the minutes.

Internal review 

I have reviewed the decision to withhold the information under the
following exemption:

Section 22 of the FOIA - information intended for future publication

Section 22 of the FOIA states that information is exempt information if'

 (a) the information is held by the public authority with a view to its
publication, by the authority or any other person, at some future date
(whether determined or not),

(b) the information was already held with a view to such publication at
the time when the request for information was made, and

(c) it is reasonable in all the circumstances that the information should
be withheld from disclosure until the date referred to in paragraph (a).

[1]The ICO's guidance (22-page / 347KB PDF) states that public bodies do
not need to have set a date for publication of the information they hold
for the section 22 exception to apply.

As our original response indicates, when the request was received, some of
the information requested had not been completed or published. The
withheld information that was referred to in the minutes for example, the
Ordinarily Available Provision document and Outcomes document was
subsequently completed and is now publicly available on the Local Offer
website.

I also consider that the delay that would be caused to you by reliance on
section 22 would not place you at significant disadvantage, as any
disclosure under FOI is to the world. On balance, therefore, I consider
that section 22 was an appropriate exemption to use in this case.

I therefore will focus my review on whether it was in the public interest
to release the information.

Public Interest Test

This exemption is subject to a public interest test which means that we
must consider whether the public interest favouring disclosure is greater
than the public interest in maintaining the exemption.  I have concluded
that the public interest factors in favour of maintaining the exemption
outweigh those in favour of disclosure. Please see the public interest
test factors below.
 
We considered arguments in favour of disclosure; that there was public
interest in providing information recognising:

* the importance of transparency and that disclosure of the requested
information will ensure that  the Council remains accountable to the
public in respect of its operations and decision making.
* Disclosing information would contribute to the development of public
debate and allow the public to understand the rationale behind the
Council's decisions.

We balanced against those views that there were arguments to support the
use of the future publication exemption on the basis that  Bristol City
Council is
committed to publishing the information and is in the process of doing so
and that release of the information at this stage may jeopardise public
confidence when inaccurate information is disclosed prematurely.
 
Having reviewed our response I consider that there were stronger arguments
in favour of withholding the information in that the best use of public
resources lay in  compiling accurate information and publishing it in a
consistent and comprehensive format, in line with planned processes. The
process of compiling this information and preparing it for publication is
a complicated one that requires the input of a number of different teams.
It would not be an appropriate use of Council resources if, in addition to
this, we were duplicating our workload to respond to individual requests.

We considered the public interest test at the time of the request and took
the view that it was reasonable in this case to await the planned
publication of the information.

We therefore uphold our original decision that the exemption at section 22
FOIA   applies and we were correct to withhold some of the information.

 

Decision

 

The final decision of this review is that it does not uphold your
complaint.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of this Internal Review you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner's Office for a
further decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

 

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

 

[2]www.ico.org.uk 

 

Helpline on 0303 123 1113

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

Freedom of Information Officer

 

NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

 

 
 
 
Bristol City Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error has
misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email. Any views expressed in
this email are those of the individual sender, except where the sender
specifically states these to be the views of Bristol City Council.
 
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Bristol City
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.

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Council services: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/service
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