Information about your dealings with Stonewall (2021 - 2022))

The request was successful.

Dear Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service,

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Please provide any information that you hold answering to any of the following descriptions:

1. Any application you made (or intend to make) in 2021 or 2022 to be a "Stonewall Diversity Champion" or to be included on Stonewall's "Workplace Equality Index," including any attachments or appendices to those applications. Please redact personal details if necessary.

2. Any feedback you received in 2021, or to date, from Stonewall in relation to either application or programme.

3. Any other communication you have received from Stonewall in 2021 or 2022 unless privileged or otherwise exempt from disclosure (but if you claim privilege or exemption in relation to any material, please say in broad terms what the material is and the basis on which you claim to be entitled to withhold it).

4. Full details of any equality impact assessment you carried out connected with any of these applications (including any equality impact assessment carried out prior to an earlier application of the same kind, if no further assessment was done).

5. Details of the total amount of money you paid to Stonewall (i) in 2021; (ii) in 2022, whether or not as payment for goods or services.

6. Whether you intend to continue your membership of any Stonewall scheme in the future, and if so which.

Yours faithfully,

L. Ko

Freedom of Information, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service

1 Attachment

Dear Laua Ko 

 

Freedom of Information Act Request – Reference: 1725

 

Thank you for your request for information about Stonewall.

 

Your request was received on 28^th February 2022 and we are dealing with
it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000/Data Protection
Act 1998.  We will respond to you as soon as possible, but at the latest
by 30^th March 2022.

 

If you do not hear from us by this date, please contact the Executive
Support Office on 01606 868403 or by email to [1][email address].

 

Thank you for your co-operation.

 

Kind regards,

 

Hannah Hollis

Cheshire Fire & Rescue Service,

Clemonds Hey, Oakmere Road,

Winsford, Cheshire, CW7 2UA

 

email: [2][email address]

 

[3]https://i.cheshirefire.gov.uk/Assets/1/C...

 

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Freedom of Information, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service

2 Attachments

Dear Laura Ko

 

Your request, received on 28^th February 2022, Reference 1725

 

Dear Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service,

 

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Please
provide any information that you hold answering to any of the following
descriptions:

 

1. Any application you made (or intend to make) in 2021 or 2022 to be a
"Stonewall Diversity Champion" or to be included on Stonewall's "Workplace
Equality Index," including any attachments or appendices to those
applications. Please redact personal details if necessary.

2. Any feedback you received in 2021, or to date,  from Stonewall in
relation to either application or programme.

3. Any other communication you have received from Stonewall in 2021 or
2022 unless privileged or otherwise exempt from disclosure (but if you
claim privilege or exemption in relation to any material, please say in
broad terms what the material is and the basis on which you claim to be
entitled to withhold it).

4. Full details of any equality impact assessment you carried out
connected with any of these applications (including any equality impact
assessment carried out prior to an earlier application of the same kind,
if no further assessment was done).

5. Details of the total amount of money you paid to Stonewall (i) in 2021;
(ii) in 2022, whether or not as payment for goods or services.

6. Whether you intend to continue your membership of any Stonewall scheme
in the future, and if so which.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

L. Ko

 

Our response, March 8^th 2022

 

1. Any application you made (or intend to make) in 2021 or 2022 to be a
"Stonewall Diversity Champion" or to be included on Stonewall's "Workplace
Equality Index," including any attachments or appendices to those
applications. Please redact personal details if necessary.

 

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service is a longstanding member of Stonewall’s
Diversity Champions scheme. We did not make a fresh application to join
the scheme in 2021. Our membership details were carried over from previous
years.

 

Our submission for inclusion in the 2022 Workplace Equality Index was
completed in September 2021. This involves answering a detailed set of
questions, available only to those paying membership of the Diversity
Champions scheme. Sharing our submission, and by definition the question
set, would damage the charity’s commercial interests (Section 43, FOIA)
and potentially give other organisations an advantage in a competitive
initiative.

 

2. Any feedback you received in 2021, or to date,  from Stonewall in
relation to either application or programme.

 

Although we have been told of our ranking, we have yet to receive feedback
on our latest submission. Feedback is provided to organisations in
confidence and disclosure would represent breach of that confidence.

 

3. Any other communication you have received from Stonewall in 2021 or
2022 unless privileged or otherwise exempt from disclosure (but if you
claim privilege or exemption in relation to any material, please say in
broad terms what the material is and the basis on which you claim to be
entitled to withhold it).

 

As Diversity Champions we receive regular newsletters and updates about
training and events from Stonewall as part of our membership benefits. We
do not intend to share these, on the basis of commercial interest (Section
43) and confidentiality (Section 41) exemptions in the FOIA.

 

4. Full details of any equality impact assessment you carried out
connected with any of these applications (including any equality impact
assessment carried out prior to an earlier application of the same kind,
if no further assessment was done).

 

There is no specific equality impact assessment in relation to our
Stonewall membership or submission to the Workplace Equality Index. Our
commitment to external benchmarking and accreditation, across multiple
protected characteristics, is set out in our Equality, Diversity and
Inclusion Strategy (EDI) 2021-24, available on our website:
[1]https://www.cheshirefire.gov.uk/about-us...

 

5. Details of the total amount of money you paid to Stonewall (i) in 2021;
(ii) in 2022, whether or not as payment for goods or services.

 

During 2021/22 we paid the £2,500 Diversity Champions membership fee and
an additional £111.65 for rainbow laces, at the request of firefighters
and fire staff who wish to wear them in support of their LGBT+ colleagues
and communities.

 

6. Whether you intend to continue your membership of any Stonewall scheme
in the future, and if so which.

 

We continually review the costs and benefits of EDI memberships and
accreditations through our EDI Steering Group. At this time, it is our
intention to assess feedback from Stonewall (when we receive it) on our
latest submission and consider how and where we can continue to make
improvements in our LGBT+ inclusion activity.

 

 

Response prepared by:

Mark Shone, Head of Communications and Engagement

 

 

Notes

If you have any queries about this information, or, if you would like any
further assistance with this information, please contact Mark Shone on
telephone number 01606 868700, or by e-mail to
[2][email address]

If you are still dissatisfied with any aspect of our response to your
request, please contact us by email at
[3][email address] or write to the Information
Manager at the address below. We will endeavour to assist you, and then
advise you how to progress a formal review if you require.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Hannah Hollis

Cheshire Fire & Rescue Service,

Clemonds Hey, Oakmere Road,

Winsford, Cheshire, CW7 2UA

 

 

email: [4][email address]

 

[5]https://i.cheshirefire.gov.uk/Assets/1/C...

 

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Dear Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service's handling of my FOI request 'Information about your dealings with Stonewall (2021 - 2022))'.

Although you have confirmed basic details of this relationship, you have claimed that under s43 you cannot send further information for confidentiality reasons.

ICO guidelines suggest that this exemption is only relevant where the below is verified via a public interest test. Please confirm which clause you are claiming this exemption under? If you claim that it would damage the commercial interests of Stonewall (as a charitable body) please specify how this would do so.

1) Section 43(1) provides an exemption from disclosure for information which is a trade secret.

2) Section 43(2) exempts information whose disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any legal person (an individual, a company, the public authority itself or any other legal entity).

3) Section 43(3) provides an exemption from the duty to confirm or deny whether you hold information, if doing so would, or would be likely to, prejudice the interests protected by section 43(2).

All of the exemptions are subject to the public interest test.

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,

L Ko

Freedom of Information, Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service

1 Attachment

Dear Laura Ko

 

I am a nominated Information Officer who works for Cheshire Constabulary
and Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service Joint Corporate Services. I meet the
requirements under the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) guidance as
a person completing an independent review of Freedom of Information
requests in that I have many years of experience in Freedom of Information
matters, I was not involved in the original decision and I am senior to
those involved in the original decision.

 

[1]https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/gui...

 

The original response refused to supply the information requested around
question 1 & 3 in particular, where CFRS relied upon the Section 43
exemption.  As you quite rightly pointed out a public interest would be
required when relying upon this exemption.  After careful consideration
and having reviewed the original response I would like to amend our
original decision.

 

The principle of disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, is
disclosure to the world at large and not just to the individual making the
request for information. Your request was answered in part (questions 4,5
& 6). 

 

With reference to question 2 Cheshire Fire & Rescue Service do not hold
this information, feedback yet to be received.  

 

With regards to questions 1 & 3, I am pleased to inform you that my
decision is to provide you with the information requested.  Owing to the
size of the files, it is not possible to attach them to this email. They
are available to download from the following link for the next week:
[2]https://we.tl/t-Ny4hum9YSF

 

I am able to confirm that some of the information you have requested is
personal information and exempt by virtue of Section 40 (2) of the act (as
amended by Schedule 19 of the Data Protection Act 2018).

 

The information you have requested may identify an individual and is
therefore the personal data of a third party (as defined by the GDPR
(a4.1) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (s3.2)). Releasing this personal
data would be likely to contravene the first data protection principle (as
defined by the GDPR (a5) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (s35)). This is
an absolute exemption therefore neither the public interest test nor
evidence of harm in disclosure needs to be outlined.  I hope this assists
you in your request.

 

Should you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to appeal to the
Information Commissioner’s Office, as the regulator. Details of the
process are available via; 

 

The Information Commissioner

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK8 5AF

 

Regards

 

Sarah Davies – Information Officer

Cheshire Constabulary and Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service Joint Corporate
Services

Information Compliance| Cheshire Constabulary HQ | Clemonds Hey | Oakmere
Road | Winsford | Cheshire | CW7 2UA

Phone: 01606 366556 | Visit [3]www.cheshire.police.uk |
[4]www.cheshirefire.gov.uk | Follow [5]@cheshirepolice and @CheshireFire
on Twitter | Like [6]Cheshire Police and Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service
on Facebook

 

[7]email%20signature%20joint

 

This communication is intended for the addressee(s) only. Please notify
the sender if received in error. Internet email is not to be treated as a
secure means of communication. The Constabulary monitors all Internet and
email activity and requires it is used for official communications only.
Thank you for your co-operation.

 

 

 

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