The Ends Festival, Lloyd Park, Jun 2-3

The request was partially successful.

Dear Croydon Borough Council,

I would be grateful for a list of all recipients of free tickets provided by the council for The Ends Festival, staged in Lloyd Park on June 1-2 2019.

Please detail the name, the number of tickets received, and value of tickets provided. Please specify if these were tickets for June 1 or June 2, or a two-day pass.

Please provide figures for total tickets sales for the Festival for June 1 and June 2.

Please also provide details of all sponsorship, in cash and in kind, provided to the Festival by Croydon Council.

And please provide an estimate of the attendance at The Ends Festival for June 1 and June 2.

Yours faithfully,

S Downes

Freedom of Information, Croydon Borough Council

 

Dear Mr Downes

 

Freedom of Information Request

 

Thank you for your recent request.

 

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Croydon Council

 

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Dear Freedom of Information,

Please amend my request for information under the Freedom of Information Act to add a request for the same details in relation to tickets and attendances for May 31 also.

Thank you,

Yours sincerely,

S Downes

Freedom of Information, Croydon Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Downes

Freedom of Information Request

Please see attached the council's response to your Freedom of Information
request.

Yours sincerely

Information team

Croydon Council

 

Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount.

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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 'The Ends Festival, Lloyd Park, Jun 2-3'.

The council admits that it was granted some 100 tickets, and that it distributed those tickets.

I requested information on who, among council officials and councillors, received tickets and the value of the tickets received.

The council has a public interest duty to provide this information.

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

Yours faithfully,

S Downes

Passman, Howard, Croydon Borough Council

Dear Mr. Downes,

Thank you for your email dated 26 June 2019 in which you requested an Internal Review of the Council’s response to your request for information.

I have been asked to conduct an Internal Review of the Council's response to your request for information, and will endeavour to provide a response within the statutory timescales; that is no later than 24 July 2019. However, if for any reason there is a need to extend the time for the review, I will contact you before that date.

Yours sincerely,

Howard Passman
020 8726 6000 ext. 62318

Information Management and Governance Co-ordinator

Resources Department
Legal Services
7th Floor Zone C
Bernard Weatherill House
8 Mint Walk
Croydon CR0 1EA
Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount.

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Passman, Howard, Croydon Borough Council

Dear Mr Downes,

 

Further to your email dated 26 June 2019, in which you requested an
Internal Review of the Council’s response to your request for information,
I have now concluded this review and I am able to reply as follows. Your
request for an Internal Review has been considered under the terms of the
Freedom of Information Act (FoIA).

 

In your request for Internal Review, you asked the Council to reconsider
your request as had not been provided with the information requested.

 

In your request for information dated 3 June 2019, you requested the
following information:

 

“I would be grateful for a list of all recipients of free tickets provided
by the council for The Ends Festival, staged in Lloyd Park on June 1-2
2019.

 

Please detail the name, the number of tickets received, and value of
tickets provided. Please specify if these were tickets for June 1 or June
2, or a two-day pass.

 

Please provide figures for total tickets sales for the Festival for June 1
and June 2.

 

Please also provide details of all sponsorship, in cash and in kind,
provided to the Festival by Croydon Council.

 

And please provide an estimate of the attendance at The Ends Festival for
June 1 and June 2.”

 

 

The Council responded to you on the 26 June 2019, and provided the
following response:

 

“I would be grateful for a list of all recipients of free tickets provided
by the council for The Ends Festival, staged in Lloyd Park on May 31 and
June 1-2 2019.

 

Please detail the name, the number of tickets received, and value of
tickets provided. Please specify if these were tickets for May 31 and June
1 or June 2, or a two-day pass.

 

The council did not provide any free tickets, the festival is run by
Metropolis Music/Live Nation who allocated a block allocation of around
100 tickets across the 3 days at zero face value for the council’s use for
relevant officers, Members and partner organisations.

 

Please provide figures for total tickets sales for the Festival for May 31
and June 1 and June 2.

 

We do not hold this information.

 

Please also provide details of all sponsorship, in cash and in kind,
provided to the Festival by Croydon Council.

 

Croydon Music and Arts funded the Futures stage at The Ends Festival at a
cost of £30,000 for staging and production, featuring 30 local Croydon
music acts from performers under the age of 25

 

And please provide an estimate of the attendance at The Ends Festival for
May 31 and June 1 and June 2

 

We do not hold this information.”

 

In your request for an Internal Review dated 26 June 2019, you stated the
following:

 

“The council admits that it was granted some 100 tickets, and that it
distributed those tickets.

 

I requested information on who, among council officials and councillors,
received tickets and the value of the tickets received.

 

The council has a public interest duty to provide this information.”

 

On receiving your request for an Internal Review, I contacted the Creative
Director (Place) who has provided additional information in answer to the
issues raised in your Internal Review.

 

The Council received 102 tickets from the Endz Festival organisers. I have
been informed that the tickets allocated to sponsor organisations have a
notional face value of £0. Of these, 40 of the tickets were passed to
Members of the Council, 34 to Staff with the reminder going to culture
partnership organisations.

 

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

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Howard Passman

020 8726 6000 ext. 62318

 

Information Management and Governance Co-ordinator

 

 

Resources Department

Legal Services

7th Floor Zone C

Bernard Weatherill House

8 Mint Walk

Croydon CR0 1EA

 

Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount.

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Kelly, Sarah, Croydon Borough Council

1 Attachment

BY EMAIL ONLY

 

Request for Information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Our reference: F/10011471

 

Dear Mr. Downes,

 

The Council has reviewed the information it held, in respect of your
request for information about the tickets provided to the Council by the
organisers of the Endz Festival.

After making additional inquiries, I am able to provide further
clarification. The Council received 102 tickets from the Endz Festival
organisers. Forty of the tickets were passed to Members of the Council, 34
to Staff with the reminder going to culture partnership
organisations. Twenty-eight tickets were allocated for Friday attendance,
36 were allocated for Saturday attendance and 38 for Sunday attendance as
detailed below:

Distributed to Friday Sat Sun Total
Councillors 12 14 14 40
Croydon Music and Arts 2 2 2 6
Culture Partnership organisation 4 4 4 12
Culture Partnership organisation 2 2 2 6
Staff Members: Gateway Strategy and Engagement 2 2 4
Staff Members: Place 8 8 8 24
Staff Members: Resources 2 2
Staff Members: Education and Youth Engagement 2 2 4
The details of the distribution of these 4 tickets
would identify the individuals, as they occupy
clearly defined roles which would result in them
being identified.

 

As such the Council considers that this information
is exempt under Section 40 of the Freedom of
Information Act. After consultation with the ICO, the
details of the distribution of these tickets is
considered to be exempt under the exemption within
Section 40 (Personal Data) of the Freedom of
Information Act. 2 2 4

 

I am given to understand that no detailed record of the allocation was
retained, nor is any record held in respect of the use of these tickets by
the recipients.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Sarah Kelly

Corporate Solicitor

 

[1]cid:image002.png@01D407E8.20701350

 

Legal Team

Resources Department

Floor 7, Bernard Wetherill House, Mint Walk, Croydon, CR0 1EA

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Dear Ms Kelly,

Thank you for the somewhat delayed response.

As part of the internal review process, please identify those councillors who received tickets, and how many and to what value.

Yours sincerely,

S Downes

Kelly, Sarah, Croydon Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Downes,

 

I confirm receipt of your email of 25 February 2020, below.

 

My colleague Mr Passman (copied in) will be continuing to handle this
matter going forward, and will respond to your email.

 

In the interests of good order, could you please direct any further
correspondence regarding this matter to Mr Passman.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Sarah Kelly

Corporate Solicitor

 

[1]cid:image002.png@01D407E8.20701350

 

Legal Team

Resources Department

Floor 7, Bernard Wetherill House, Mint Walk, Croydon, CR0 1EA

 

show quoted sections

S Downes left an annotation ()

Latest correspondence with the ICO:

14 April 2020

Case reference: FS50861374
Council Ref: F/10011471

Dear Mr Downes,

I am writing with regard to the above case.

I understand that the Council provided further information on 2 March 2020 and following that disclosure you asked for confirmation of which councillors received tickets.

The Council advised the Commissioner that it would investigate further to find any recorded information on this but it was unlikely that any was held. I have spoken with the Council on several occasions, however, it seems that this information is not held.

In the Covid-19 pandemic climate, many public authorities are facing severe front line pressures and are re-deploying resources to meet those demands. The Commissioner’s view is that public authorities therefore require maximum flexibility at this time to deploy their resources to best respond to this national crisis.

As a reasonable and proportionate regulator, the Commissioner has therefore taken the decision to amend her casework approaches to reduce the burden on public authorities in these unprecedented times whilst it is necessary to do so.

I am aware that this is the situation at the London Borough of Croydon and it is therefore likely that any final confirmation may not be forthcoming for many weeks.

In the current circumstances may I suggest that this case now be closed.
I would appreciate you contacting me with your response.

Thank you.
Yours sincerely,

Susan Hughes
Senior Case Officer
FOI Complaints & Appeals

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
T. 0330 414 6545 F. 01625 524510

My response:

Dear Ms Hughes,

Even under the current emergency circumstances, your closing the case at this stage would be entirely unsatisfactory and, might I suggest, a serious dereliction of your duties, to the law and to the public.

You should be aware by now, from this and other cases that your office has been asked to consider concerning this particular local authority, that their usual method of operation is to seek to frustrate, delay and ignore substantive enquiries submitted under the Freedom of Information Act.

The role of the Office of the Information Commissioner is, as I understood it, to ensure that the law is upheld, respected and applied.

Croydon Council had delayed and then avoided answering the enquiries put to them in this case long before the coronavirus circumstances had been established, even in China, never mind in their part of south London. They delayed, then they deliberately avoided, and even by last month they had failed to provide the detail sought, namely the value of gifts and hospitality received from a commercial operation (over which they hold licensing authority) by specific elected councillors.

It is an important matter, and one for which the council ought to have adequate records.

Your closing the case at this point would permit Croydon Council to evade its responsibility under the law.

Surely, a better decision under the current circumstances would be to suspend the case pending a review set, I would suggest, for two months' time (15 June 2020). Of course, should the council suddenly discover that it does have the details requested, they would have the option to finally respond to an information request submitted in June 2019.

And in that manner, the law and the public interest will both be properly protected.

If you decide that this is not an option, I would be glad to know the name and email address of your manager so that I might take this matter further.

Yours sincerely,

Nick Davies left an annotation ()

Those who've seen every episode of Dad's Army a hundred times will know that 'there is a war on, you know' was regularly deployed as an excuse to avoid doing anything that required a little application. Some things don't change.

FOI, Croydon Borough Council

3 Attachments

Dear Mr Downes,

 

I hope you are well.

 

Please find attached the council’s response to your Freedom of Information
Request.

 

 

Kind regards

 

Information Team

 

Bernard Weatherill House

7^th Floor Zone C

8 Mint walk

Croydon CR0 1EA

 

[1]cid:995D36CC-63D9-452C-921A-47E295D9BC0F

 

 

Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount.

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