Spending on Mayoral Cars

The request was partially successful.

Hello,

I'd be grateful if you can provide me with the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in regards to vehicles used to transport the Mayor of your Local authority.

1) A list of all vehicles owned or leased to the council for the use of transporting the Mayor of your Local authority and:
a) The make and model of each vehicle?
b) The cost of purchasing each vehicle (if not leased) since 2018?
c) The cost of leasing each vehicle (if not purchased) since 2018?
d) The cost of fuel for each vehicle since 2018?
e)The costs associated with maintaining each vehicle since 2018?
f) The cost of insuring each vehicle since 2018?
g) The costs of any parking fees and / or fines / PCNs issued to each vehicle since 2018?

Please provide cost per annum if possible for questions 1b-1g.

2) How many days a week on average is each vehicle used?

3) Is transporting the mayor the primary use of the vehicle? If not, please list other uses?

I look forward to receiving a response from you and I am happy to provide any additional information you require.

Yours faithfully
Akwesi Osei

Freedom Of Information, East Lothian Council

Thank you for your email.

 

This automated message is East Lothian Council’s acknowledgement that your
information request has been received and is receiving attention.  The
statutory timescales for responses are as follows:

 

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 20 working days
Environmental Information Regulations 2004 20 working days
Internal Reviews 20 working days

 

Customer Feedback and FOI Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [1][East Lothian Council request email]

 

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[2]here.

 

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [3]here.

 

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s [4]website.

 

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[East Lothian Council request email]
2. https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/2105...
3. Link to ELC website
http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/704/d...
4. Link to SIC website
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/

Freedom Of Information, East Lothian Council

1 Attachment

Our Ref:  2022/ELF3789

 

Dear Sir or Madam

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2004

 

Thank you for your enquiry of 25 July.

 

In the first instance, East Lothian Council (ELC) would explain that we
have a Provost and Depute Provost rather than a “mayor”.  We would also
confirm that ELC no longer has an official car. Due to COVID-19, the
Provost has not attended many events over the past two years, but when he
has, he has used the electric pool cars.

 

Under Regulation 8 of The Environmental Information Regulations 2004, ELC
considers that payment of a fee is reasonable in order to comply with your
request; please refer to the PDF attachment for further details.

 

It is ELC’s [1]policy to recover full staff costs for every information
request received which falls under the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 (EIRs).  If you do not consider that your request falls
within scope of the EIRs, or if you wish to contest the amount of the fee,
you have the right to request a review.  We must receive a request to
review within 40 working days of the date of this notice.  A request to
review must be in writing (e-mail is acceptable) or another permanent
format and should be addressed to:

 

Customer Feedback and FOI Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Email: [2][East Lothian Council request email]

 

We will have a maximum of 20 working days from the date we receive your
request in order to complete our review of the fee amount and give you our
decision. 

 

If you are still not satisfied with following the review process, then you
may ask the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner (OSIC) to
investigate the matter.  You must appeal to the Commissioner within six
months of receiving the review decision.  You may submit your appeal
online via OSIC’s website, a link to the online appeal service is provided
for your convenience: 
[3]http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...

 

Alternatively, you may contact OSIC at:

 

Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St Andrews

Fife

KY16 9DS

 

Telephone:  01334 464610

Fax:  01334 464611

E-mail:  [4][email address]

 

If you remain dissatisfied following the Commissioner’s decision, you may
be able to appeal to the Court of Session.   You should, however, obtain
legal advice before deciding on this course of action.  This is because an
appeal may only be made on a point of law, not because you disagree with
the Commissioner’s view of the case. 

 

Yours faithfully

 

Shelley Neville

Customer Feedback and FOI Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [5][East Lothian Council request email]

 

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[6]here.

 

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [7]here.

 

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s [8]website.

 

 

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information, East Lothian Council

1 Attachment

 

 

Our Ref:  2022_ELF3789

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2004

 

I refer to our email of 18 August and note that we have not yet received
the requested fee.

 

East Lothian Council is unable to proceed with this matter until we
receive the fee of £56.80.  Once this has been received, we will respond
to you as soon as possible within the remainder of the statutory 20
working days.

 

I look forward to hearing from you in due course but if you require any
assistance in the meantime please do not hesitate to get in touch. 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Kelly McCormack

Freedom of Information Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [1][East Lothian Council request email]

 

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[2]here.

 

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [3]here.

 

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s [4]website.

 

 

 

 

From: Freedom Of Information
Sent: 18 August 2022 15:05
To: 'Akwesi' <[FOI #881426 email]>
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Spending on Mayoral Cars

 

Our Ref:  2022/ELF3789

 

Dear Sir or Madam

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2004

 

Thank you for your enquiry of 25 July.

 

In the first instance, East Lothian Council (ELC) would explain that we
have a Provost and Depute Provost rather than a “mayor”.  We would also
confirm that ELC no longer has an official car. Due to COVID-19, the
Provost has not attended many events over the past two years, but when he
has, he has used the electric pool cars.

 

Under Regulation 8 of The Environmental Information Regulations 2004, ELC
considers that payment of a fee is reasonable in order to comply with your
request; please refer to the PDF attachment for further details.

 

It is ELC’s [5]policy to recover full staff costs for every information
request received which falls under the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 (EIRs).  If you do not consider that your request falls
within scope of the EIRs, or if you wish to contest the amount of the fee,
you have the right to request a review.  We must receive a request to
review within 40 working days of the date of this notice.  A request to
review must be in writing (e-mail is acceptable) or another permanent
format and should be addressed to:

 

Customer Feedback and FOI Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Email: [6][East Lothian Council request email]

 

We will have a maximum of 20 working days from the date we receive your
request in order to complete our review of the fee amount and give you our
decision. 

 

If you are still not satisfied with following the review process, then you
may ask the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner (OSIC) to
investigate the matter.  You must appeal to the Commissioner within six
months of receiving the review decision.  You may submit your appeal
online via OSIC’s website, a link to the online appeal service is provided
for your convenience: 
[7]http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...

 

Alternatively, you may contact OSIC at:

 

Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St Andrews

Fife

KY16 9DS

 

Telephone:  01334 464610

Fax:  01334 464611

E-mail:  [8][email address]

 

If you remain dissatisfied following the Commissioner’s decision, you may
be able to appeal to the Court of Session.   You should, however, obtain
legal advice before deciding on this course of action.  This is because an
appeal may only be made on a point of law, not because you disagree with
the Commissioner’s view of the case. 

 

Yours faithfully

 

Shelley Neville

Customer Feedback and FOI Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [9][East Lothian Council request email]

 

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[10]here.

 

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [11]here.

 

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s [12]website.

 

 

show quoted sections

Freedom of Information, East Lothian Council

1 Attachment

Our Ref:  2022_ELF3789

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2004

 

Further to our correspondence of 18 August and 15 November, as we have not
received the requested fee, I am writing to inform you that East Lothian
Council has now closed this case.

 

East Lothian Council will be happy to consider any future information
requests that you may wish to submit.  Simply send your request to us at
[1][East Lothian Council request email].  For your reference, a link to the “Tips for
Requesters” page of the Scottish Information Commissioner’s website has
been provided which you may find useful:

[2]http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...

 

Under the terms of this legislation, if you are unhappy with the way your
request has been handled, you are entitled to request that we undertake an
internal review.  Please note, however, that both the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information
(Scotland) Regulations 2004 only relate to the release of information. 
The Scottish Information Commissioner publishes the following guidance
about internal reviews:

 

You can ask the authority to review its decision if it does not respond or
you are unhappy with the way it has dealt with your request, for example
by:

 

·                refusing to give you the information

·                failing to reply to you within the time limit allowed

·                claiming the information is exempt

·                failing to give you advice about, and help with, making
your request

·                asking you to pay a fee that you feel is unreasonable

 

For example, if you are unhappy because you do not believe the information
you have received is accurate, an internal review would not apply.  Should
this be the case, however, please let me know and I will try to resolve
this.  If I am unable to help, I will be happy to put you in touch with
someone who can.

 

We must receive a request to review within 40 working days of the date of
this notice.  A request to review our decision must be in writing (e-mail
is acceptable) or another permanent format.  When writing, you should
include your reasons as to why you are unhappy with our response and why
you wish it to be reviewed.  Your reasons for dissatisfaction must relate
to your information request of 18 August only and should be addressed to:

 

Customer Feedback and FOI Team

People and Governance

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Email: [3][East Lothian Council request email]

 

We will have a maximum of 20 working days from the date we receive your
request in order to complete our review and give you our decision.  In
order to ensure an impartial approach, an independent senior officer will
be appointed to carry out the review.

 

If you are still not satisfied with our decision following the review
process, then you may ask the Office of the Scottish Information
Commissioner (OSIC) to investigate the matter.  You must appeal to
the Commissioner within six months of receiving the review decision.  You
may submit your appeal online via OSIC’s website, a link to the online
appeal service is provided for your convenience: 
[4]http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...

 

Alternatively, you may contact OSIC at:

 

Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St Andrews

Fife

KY16 9DS

 

Telephone:  01334 464610

Fax:  01334 464611

E-mail:  [5][email address]

 

If you remain dissatisfied following the Commissioner’s decision, you may
be able to appeal to the Court of Session.   You should, however, obtain
legal advice before deciding on this course of action.  This is because an
appeal may only be made on a point of law, not because you disagree with
the Commissioner’s view of the case. 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Kelly McCormack

Freedom of Information Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [6][East Lothian Council request email]

 

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[7]here.

 

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [8]here.

 

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s [9]website.

 

 

 

From: Freedom of Information
Sent: 15 November 2022 12:06
To: '[FOI #881426 email]'
<[FOI #881426 email]>
Subject: FW: Freedom of Information request - Spending on Mayoral Cars

 

 

 

Our Ref:  2022_ELF3789

 

Dear Sir or Madam,

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2004

 

I refer to our email of 18 August and note that we have not yet received
the requested fee.

 

East Lothian Council is unable to proceed with this matter until we
receive the fee of £56.80.  Once this has been received, we will respond
to you as soon as possible within the remainder of the statutory 20
working days.

 

I look forward to hearing from you in due course but if you require any
assistance in the meantime please do not hesitate to get in touch. 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Kelly McCormack

Freedom of Information Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [10][East Lothian Council request email]

 

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[11]here.

 

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [12]here.

 

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s [13]website.

 

 

 

 

From: Freedom Of Information
Sent: 18 August 2022 15:05
To: 'Akwesi' <[FOI #881426 email]>
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Spending on Mayoral Cars

 

Our Ref:  2022/ELF3789

 

Dear Sir or Madam

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2004

 

Thank you for your enquiry of 25 July.

 

In the first instance, East Lothian Council (ELC) would explain that we
have a Provost and Depute Provost rather than a “mayor”.  We would also
confirm that ELC no longer has an official car. Due to COVID-19, the
Provost has not attended many events over the past two years, but when he
has, he has used the electric pool cars.

 

Under Regulation 8 of The Environmental Information Regulations 2004, ELC
considers that payment of a fee is reasonable in order to comply with your
request; please refer to the PDF attachment for further details.

 

It is ELC’s [14]policy to recover full staff costs for every information
request received which falls under the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 (EIRs).  If you do not consider that your request falls
within scope of the EIRs, or if you wish to contest the amount of the fee,
you have the right to request a review.  We must receive a request to
review within 40 working days of the date of this notice.  A request to
review must be in writing (e-mail is acceptable) or another permanent
format and should be addressed to:

 

Customer Feedback and FOI Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Email: [15][East Lothian Council request email]

 

We will have a maximum of 20 working days from the date we receive your
request in order to complete our review of the fee amount and give you our
decision. 

 

If you are still not satisfied with following the review process, then you
may ask the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner (OSIC) to
investigate the matter.  You must appeal to the Commissioner within six
months of receiving the review decision.  You may submit your appeal
online via OSIC’s website, a link to the online appeal service is provided
for your convenience: 
[16]http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...

 

Alternatively, you may contact OSIC at:

 

Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St Andrews

Fife

KY16 9DS

 

Telephone:  01334 464610

Fax:  01334 464611

E-mail:  [17][email address]

 

If you remain dissatisfied following the Commissioner’s decision, you may
be able to appeal to the Court of Session.   You should, however, obtain
legal advice before deciding on this course of action.  This is because an
appeal may only be made on a point of law, not because you disagree with
the Commissioner’s view of the case. 

 

Yours faithfully

 

Shelley Neville

Customer Feedback and FOI Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [18][East Lothian Council request email]

 

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[19]here.

 

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [20]here.

 

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s [21]website.

 

 

show quoted sections