Six month rule

R Head made this Freedom of Information request to Croydon Borough Council Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.

The request was partially successful.

Dear Croydon Borough Council,

It has been reported that Cllr Ryan fell foul of the six month rule due to non attendance. This was reviewed and further evidence was accepted by the monitoring officer to allow him to remain a councillor.

Please provide all correspondence and emails relating to this six month rule action including the evidence which was eventually accepted by the monitoring officer.

Yours faithfully,

R Head

Croydon Council, Croydon Borough Council

FOI/EIR
Our reference: 4791233

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Dear R Head
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
Thank you for your request for information that was received on 29 March
2022.
 
We are dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 and we aim to send a response by 26 April 2022, however due to the
current COVID 19 (Coronavirus) outbreak you may experience some delay in
us responding to your request.
 
In some case, a fee may be payable. If we decide a fee is payable, we will
send you a fee notice and we will require you to pay the fee before
proceeding with your request.
 
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 may restrict the release of some or
all of the information you have requested. We will carry out an assessment
and if any exemptions apply to some or all of the information then we
might not provide that information to you. We will inform you if this is
the case and advise you of your rights to appeal this decision.
 

Unfortunately the Council is currently experiencing a delay in our
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of our legal duties under the legislation and are making every effort to
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London Borough of Croydon takes its role as a Data Controller seriously
and would like to thank you for your continued patience and understanding
whilst we improve our service to you.

 
 
 
Yours sincerely,
 
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Democratic Services 

Floor 7, Zone C
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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 'Six month rule'.

Substantially overdue

[ GIVE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR COMPLAINT HERE ]

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

Yours faithfully,

R Head

Dear Croydon Council,

You have again failed to respond or recognise this request. Please may I have an urgent update in line with your legal requirements.

Yours sincerely,

R Head

Dear Croydon Council,

What is happening?

Yours sincerely,

R Head

croydon@infreemation.co.uk,

Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]

 

Dear Mr Head,

 

Further to your request under the Freedom of Information Request,
correspondence with the Information Commissioners Office and the decision
notice issued by the ICO, I can confirm the position regarding Cllr Ryan.

 

Pat Ryan attended a Council meeting prior to the change of adminstration
that meant he satisfied the requirements relating to the '6 month rule'. 
No further action was taken or was necessary.  Following the May 2022
elections Mr Ryan is no longer a Councillor.  Correspondence in relation
to this is exempt under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act
2000 in that it is personal data.

Thanks,

Tim Rodgers

Strategic Information Manager,

Croydon Council

 

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 'Six month rule'.

This is an absolutely disgraceful response. The request was made in March when Cllr Ryan was still a member. To delay a request for nearly a year and saying it is personal information is clearly rubbish. Cllr attendance records are published on the website. The records show he did not attend a meeting for six months therefore it is clearly in the public interest to show why this rule was ignored.

[ GIVE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR COMPLAINT HERE ]

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

Yours faithfully,

R Head

croydon@infreemation.co.uk,

Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]

 

Dear R Head

 

Acknowledgement: Internal Review in relation to request FOI/2419
 

Thank you for your email, which was received on 16/01/2023.
 

As a result of your complaint we will be carrying out an internal review.
An officer, not involved in the original decision, will reconsider your
request for information and notify you of their decision. 

If you have any queries regarding this matter please do not hesitate to
contact us.

Kind regards

Information Compliance Team

Turnbull, Mark, Croydon Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear R Head,

I am writing to you further to our email dated 24 February, when we confirmed we would be carrying out an internal review of our response to your FOI request.

Your request for information was as follows

"It has been reported that Cllr Ryan fell foul of the six-month rule due to nonattendance. This was reviewed and further evidence was accepted by the monitoring officer to allow him to remain a councillor. Please provide all correspondence and emails relating to this six-month rule action including the evidence which was eventually accepted by the monitoring officer."

As I understand it, the Council wrote to you by way of response on 17 August 2022 and disclosed a copy of the Monitoring Officer's letter dated 3 February 2022, and a copy of an internal email dated 9 March 2022. However, the Council also concluded that certain other information falling within the scope of your request was exempt information under Section 40(2) of the FOI Act.

In your email dated 13 January 2023 below, you requested an internal review of the Council's handling of your request, and set out your reasons for this.

I have reviewed the information which is relevant to your request, and I have decided that there is one further item which should be disclosed to you. This is an email dated 7 March 2022 from Stephen Rowan, then Head of Democratic Services and Scrutiny to John Jones, then Interim Monitoring Officer (attached).

However, in relation to the remaining items of information, I am satisfied that these are exempt under Section 40(2)(b) and (3A) of the FOI Act on the basis that disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles, namely the condition that data must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject. In this respect, I have considered whether it could be said that disclosure is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by the controller or by a third party, and whether such interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data. In this regard there are 3 tests to be applied, the legitimate interest test, the necessity test and the balancing test.

I am satisfied that you are pursuing a legitimate interest, in that you have a legitimate concern that Cllr Ryan may have vacated his office as an elected Member by failure to attend meetings under Section 85 of the Local Government Act 1972, and you wish to understand the basis for the authority's decisions in this respect.

However, I am not satisfied that it is necessary to disclose the remaining items of information to you in order to meet that legitimate interest, as you have now been provided with the Monitoring Officer's letter to Cllr Ryan requesting information about his attendance at meetings, an email confirming that Cllr Ryan attended a meeting with residents on 9 December 2021, and an email from the Monitoring Officer confirming that Cllr Ryan had therefore not ceased to be a Member under Section 85. To clarify, attending other meetings as an elected Member is also deemed to be attendance at a formal meeting of the authority under Section 85(2).

Having decided that disclosure of the remaining items does not satisfy the necessity test, it's not strictly necessary for me to go on to consider the balancing test. However, I have done so for the sake of completeness. In considering the balancing test, I have taken into account the following factors
* the potential harm or distress that disclosure may cause;
* whether the information is already in the public domain;
* whether the information is already known to some individuals;
* whether the individual expressed concern to the disclosure;
* the reasonable expectations of the individual.

I am satisfied that Cllr Ryan would not reasonably have expected the remaining items of information to be disclosed, and I am also satisfied that the potential distress to Cllr Ryan as a result of disclosing these items outweighs your legitimate interest in knowing whether Cllr Ryan vacated his office under Section 85, and the reasons why the Council concluded he had not done so. In any event as I have explained above, I am satisfied that your legitimate interest has been fully met by the disclosure of the 3 items referred to above.

If you are not content with the outcome of the 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

Mark Turnbull
Interim Corporate Solicitor
www.croydon.gov.uk
email: [email address]
Tel: 020 8726 6000 Ext. 27410

Resources Directorate
Legal Services Division
Floor 7 Zone C
Bernard Weatherill House
8 Mint Walk
Croydon CR0 1EA
DX 136017 Croydon 17

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