Information about the monitoring of affordable housing delivery

The request was partially successful.

Dear Southwark Borough Council,

In response to a Local Government Ombudsman decision in 2016, Southwark Council undertook a piece of work over the five months between June and November in 2019, to research how they could accurately monitor affordable housing (including why an annual audit wasn't fit for this purpose) and building a solution to this problem.

According to your own website, the council then appears to have had such software, and the capability to monitor the delivery of affordable housing, guarding against its loss, since November 2019. However, despite undertakings and the passage of four years, this tool has yet to be launched and monitoring is still not be being carried out.

Please supply us with i/ the cost of work to date for this project and ii/ any emails, between the online tool’s product owner (Jack Ricketts) and the director of planning / other managers relating to the project, from December 2019 (date of delivery) to the present.

Yours faithfully,

Jerry Flynn

Planning, Southwark Borough Council

Southwark Council - Information request

Our reference: 2560592

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CEXaccessinfo, Southwark Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Sir,

Re: Your request for information: 2560592

 

Thank you for your request for information that was received on 19 April
2021, in which you requested:

 

 In response to a Local Government Ombudsman decision in 2016, Southwark
Council undertook a piece of work over the five months between June and
November in 2019, to research how they could accurately monitor affordable
housing (including why an annual audit wasn't fit for this purpose) and
building a solution to this problem.

 

According to your own website, the council then appears to have had such
software, and the capability to monitor the delivery of affordable
housing, guarding against its loss, since November 2019. However, despite
undertakings and the passage of four years, this tool has yet to be
launched and monitoring is still not be being carried out.

 

Please supply us with i/ the cost of work to date for this project and ii/
any emails, between the online tool's product owner (Jack Ricketts) and
the director of planning / other managers relating to the project, from
December 2019 (date of delivery) to the present.

 

Your request has been considered under the Freedom of Information Act
2000.

In response to it, we are able to confirm that the cost of work to date
for this project to DXW consultants is £236, 750.

Further information that falls within the scope of your request is
attached. Please also note that wherever the information is redacted, this
is in accordance with Section 40 of the Act – personal information, where
we have a duty to protect the identity of third party individuals and our
junior employees, who might be identified through our records.

You are free to use the information provided for your own purposes,
including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes
of news reporting.  Any other re-use, for example commercial publication,
requires the permission of the copyright holder.  You may apply for
permission to re-use this information by submitting a request to
[1][Southwark Borough Council request email]; you can find details on these arrangements
at
[2]http://www.southwark.gov.uk/YourCouncil/....
Detailed advice about the Reuse of Public Sector Information Regulations
(PSI) 2005 is available from the Office of Public Sector Information at:
[3]http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/index.htm.

 

Your rights

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to ask for an internal review. You should request this review within
two months of receiving this response, by contacting
[4][Southwark Borough Council request email]. Please remember to quote the reference
number above in any future communications.

If you are not content with the outcome of your appeal you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have first
exhausted our internal appeal procedure and you should contact her within
two months of the outcome of the internal review. Further information on
the Freedom of Information Act is available through the Information
Commissioner’s website at [5]www.ico.org.uk

 

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Martyna Plewniak

Senior Information Officer

 

 

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Southwark Borough Council request email]
2. http://www.southwark.gov.uk/YourCouncil/...
3. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/index.htm
4. mailto:[Southwark Borough Council request email]
5. http://www.ico.org.uk/
6. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronaviru...

Dear Southwark Council

Thank you for supplying me with the cost of work for this project (£236,750), the first part of my request.

But the second part of my request, for emails between the project owner and others, has not been met. The information supplied for this is incomplete, because;

i) It is a single thread of only fifteen short emails; a very small number, on a single topic, for a project of this size and duration
ii) It covers less than 2 months of the 2 year plus time period the request covers.
iii) It does not include any emails between the tool’s project owner (Jack Ricketts) and the director of planning /other managers, relating to the project, a specific point in the request.

The information supplied also contains redactions, but it is not readily apparent where these are. We would be grateful if where redactions occur that they are shown as such (eg as a black mask) in any future information supplied.

The tool’s development began in June 2019 and would have been ready for use by at least Dec 2019, according to the date of the Alpha Phase Report
(https://www.southwark.gov.uk/assets/atta...). Our request is for the period since Dec 2019, to date.

We therefore request an internal review of the response.

Yours sincerely,

Jerry Flynn
35% Campaign

Dear Southwark Council,

I would be grateful if you could acknowledge receipt of my request for an internal review of your response to this FOI request, made on the 11 June 2021, and a date by which I will get a full response.

Yours faithfully,
Jerry Flynn

Dear Southwark Council

Your ref - Request for information: 2560592

I would be grateful if you could acknowledge receipt of my request for an internal review of your response to this FOI request, made on the 11 June 2021, and a date by which I will get a full response.

This is the second time that I have asked for an acknowledgement, the first being on the 30 June, so I would be grateful if you could respond.

Yours faithfully,
Jerry Flynn
35% Campaign

Planning, Southwark Borough Council

Southwark Council - Information request

Our reference: 2560592

show quoted sections

Dear Southwark Council

Your ref - Request for information: 2560592

Thank you for your reply.

You say the answer to my request for a review (appeal) will be ' within 40 working days'. Is this from the date of my request on the 11 June?

It has taken 28 days to receive an acknowledgement, so I would expect a reply within a further 12 working days (ie by 6 August).

I would be grateful if you could confirm this.

Yours faithfully
Jerry Flynn
35% Campaign

CEXaccessinfo, Southwark Borough Council

Dear Mr Flynn,

I'm able to confirm that the due date for a response is the 8th of August.

Yours sincerely,

Martyna Plewniak
Senior Information Officer - BCS - FOIA 2000
Chief Executive’s Department
London Borough of Southwark
160Tooley Street
London SE1P 5LX
T:020 7525 1585
E: [email address]

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Snazell, Andy, Southwark Borough Council

6 Attachments

Dear Mr Flynn

 

Following the response to your FOI request sent on the 18^th May I can
confirm that, in accordance with your subsequent request, I have conducted
an internal review into the case.

 

By way of clarification, I can confirm that throughout the project the
owner of the project has been Juliet Seymour(JS).  Jack Rickets(JR) was a
project officer working on the proposals up until April 2020.

 

As part of the review I have now included further information that falls
within the scope of your request which includes additional correspondence
between the project owner(JS), the project officer(JR) and subsequent
project offers.  I have also included the correspondence from your
original request with any areas of redaction now clearly shown.

 

Please also note that wherever the information is redacted, this is in
accordance with Section 40 of the Act – personal information, where we
have a duty to protect the identity of third party individuals and our
junior employees, who might be identified through our records.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of your appeal you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have first
exhausted our internal appeal procedure and you should contact her within
two months of the outcome of the internal review. Further information on
the Freedom of Information Act is available through the Information
Commissioner’s website at [1]www.ico.org.uk

 

Yours faithfully

 

Andy Snazell

Emergency Planning and Resilience Manager

Chief Executives Office

London Borough Southwark

 

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.org.uk/
2. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronaviru...
3. https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronaviru...