Senior Officers - Business and property interests

Carmarthenshire County Council did not have the information requested.

Dear Mr Tillman,

Please provide the following information from 1st January 2015 (where applicable) to date;

1. A detailed list of declarations of;

a) Company directorships; also including non-executive directorships or any other position as a board director;
b) Land and property ownership/joint ownership/financial interest (aside from main residence);
c) Shareholdings;
d) Positions as a Trustee
e) Status as registered (or licence pending) landlord and details of the relevant properties;
f) All other business/property interests not covered by the above.

for each of the following;

a) Chief Executive, Mark James;
b) Director of Communities, Jake Morgan;
c) Director of Environment, Ruth Mullen;
d) Director of Regeneration and Policy, Wendy Walters;
e) Director of Corporate Services, Chris Moore

2. If consent or approval was sought from the authority for any of the above interests, please provide details, including the reasoning, for consent or refusal.

Thank you,
Jacqui Thompson

FOIA, Carmarthenshire County Council

Dear Mrs Thompson

Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 24th August, 2017 and is being dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We are therefore required to provide a response within 20 working days, which will be on or before 22nd September, 2017.

If we require clarification we will also contact you as soon as we can – please note that the timescale for response specified above may be subject to change if this is the case.

In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any queries, remembering to quote the reference number above in any communications.

Yours sincerely

John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data
Tîm Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth a Chwynion
Adran y Prif Weithredwr
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin

Information & Data Protection Officer
Information Governance & Complaints Team
Chief Executive's Department
Carmarthenshire County Council
Mewnol/Internal: 4127
Allanol/External: 01267 224127

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Dear Mr Tillman,

Please could you also include 'leaseholds' under 1(b) of my request

Thank you

Jacqui Thompson

Dear Mr Tillman,

Please note that the response to this request is now late and I would be grateful for an explanation/response by the end of today (26th September)

Thank you,
Jacqui Thompson

Dear Mr Tillman,

I note that you have still not responded to my request nor my request for an update.
I would be grateful for a response but as this was due on the 22nd September 2017 I have raised the delay as a concern with the Information Commissioner.

Yours sincerely,

Jacqui Thompson

FOIA, Carmarthenshire County Council

Dear Mrs Thompson,

 

I refer to your request for information, which was received on 24^th
August, 2017 and has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act
2000.  Please accept my apologies for the delay in providing this
response.

 

The specific information you requested was as follows:

 

“1. A detailed list of declarations of;

a) Company directorships; also including non-executive directorships or
any other position as a board director;
b) Land and property ownership/joint ownership/financial interest (aside
from main residence);
c) Shareholdings;
d) Positions as a Trustee
e) Status as registered (or licence pending) landlord and details of the
relevant properties;
f) All other business/property interests not covered by the above.

for each of the following;

a) Chief Executive, Mark James;
b) Director of Communities, Jake Morgan;
c) Director of Environment, Ruth Mullen;
d) Director of Regeneration and Policy, Wendy Walters;
e) Director of Corporate Services, Chris Moore

2. If consent or approval was sought from the authority for any of the
above interests, please provide details, including the reasoning, for
consent or refusal.”

 

In response, the Council does not hold any declarations of interest in
relation to such matters in Carmarthenshire.

 

Yours sincerely

 

John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data

(Rheolwr) Tîm Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth a Chwynion
Adran Adfywio a Pholisi
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin

 

Information & Data Protection Officer

(Manager) Information Governance & Complaints Team
Regeneration & Policy Department
Carmarthenshire County Council

 

Mewnol/Internal: 4127
Allanol/External: 01267 224127

 

Dear Mr Tillman,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Carmarthenshire Council's handling of my FOI request 'Senior Officers - Business and property interests'.
I am requesting an internal review of your response as I find your claim that you do not hold details of the interests I requested quite astonishing. It would surely be a matter of good practice, and an audit requirement - let alone an important element of transparency and accountability - to record such details.

To assist your review I quote the following extract from relevant ICO Guidance;

"Many public authorities maintain a register of interests in which senior staff are required to record, for example, business interests, shareholdings, property ownership and other outside interests, such as membership of clubs and societies, that could potentially give rise to a conflict of interests with their position in the authority.
A public authority may need to record this information in order to monitor any potential conflict of interest, and the scope of the register could include officers below the most senior level who nevertheless make decisions affecting the public or involving the expenditure of public money.
If this information is requested under FOIA, the public clearly have a legitimate interest in knowing that any potential conflicts are monitored, to ensure that the decisions and actions of officials are not influenced by their private interests. There is a legitimate interest in transparency in order to foster trust in public authorities."

Although my current request asks for additional information, I also refer you to Freedom of Information responses provided in;
February 2012;
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/s...

and February 2016
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/s...

Your response states; "the Council does not hold any declarations of interest in relation to such matters in Carmarthenshire." I am uncertain as to what is meant by 'in Carmarthenshire' and my request, quite clearly and as I am sure you are well aware, did not confine itself to property or business interests etc which exist exclusively within the boundaries of the county of Carmarthenshire.

The second part of my request (2) has not been answered.

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

If you require any further clarification, please contact me through this site.

Yours faithfully,
Jacqui Thompson

Dear Mr Tillman,

I would be grateful for an acknowledgement of my request for an internal review sent on the 3rd October and also an indication of when I will be receiving a reply,

Thank you

Jacqui Thompson

Martin Milan left an annotation ()

Open Government, eh lads?

Martin Milan left an annotation ()

Page 23 of this should be illuminating...

http://www.nalc.gov.uk/library/publicati...

Dear Mr Tillman,

I understand that an acknowledgement and timescale for a reply is recommended good practice by the ICO in response to a request for an internal review.
My request for a review was received by yourselves on the 3rd October and I have had neither an acknowledgement nor a timescale.
I would be grateful if you, or whoever is dealing with the internal review, could provide such a response as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,
Jacqui Thompson

Dear Mr Tillman,

I have still not had a timescale for a response, could you please let me know when I will receive the outcome of the internal review?

Yours sincerely,

Jacqui Thompson

caebrwyn left an annotation ()

The outcome of the internal review was sent via email on the 21st November, I have blogged about it here; http://carmarthenplanning.blogspot.co.uk...

caebrwyn left an annotation ()

The outcome of the internal review was sent via email on the 21st November, I have blogged about it here; http://carmarthenplanning.blogspot.co.uk...