Total Annual Figures for Compromise Agreements, etc.

The request was successful.

Dear Worthing Borough Council,

Please supply Annual totals for the following:

As far as records go back, the annual figures for the total
of current employees / ex-employees (including teaching staff) of the Council who have signed compromise agreements directly related to the resolving of dispute(s) / grievance(s) / internal and external investigation(s) / whistleblowing incident(s).

In addition to this, annual figures for the number of current employees / ex-employees (including teaching staff) who have agreed, following the matter being raised and made conditional as part of a compromise agreement drawn up by the body acting as the Council's legal team, to sign and forgo their right to approach the council in the future with Freedom of Information and/or DPA Subject Access requests under the relevant Acts.

Please provide the figures in the following format e.g. 2006 - 2; 2007 - 4; 2008 - 1; 2010 - 6; etc.

Please note that I do not seek or require any personal information such as names and addresses – only the total figures for each subject area.

Yours faithfully,

Paul Cardin

Worthing Borough Council

Thank you for contacting us with your request for information.
We aim to respond to requests for general information within 20 working days, in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.
We aim to respond to requests for your own personal information within 40 calendar days, in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act .
We aim to respond to requests for environmental information within 20 working days, or within 40 working days if the information is complex and voluminous, in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations.
The Freedom of Information area on our website, www.worthing.gov.uk can be accessed via the Freedom Of Information link from the site's home page and contains advice about how to make a request for information.

Dear Sir

YOUR REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

I refer to your recent request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act, received on 10 January 2011.

I have forwarded your request to the relevant department who will write
to you. They hope to be in a position to fully respond to your enquiry
within 20 working days.

Yours faithfully

Information Officer

Penelope Cronin - Information Officer | Legal Services, Adur District
Council and Worthing Borough Council
Location: Town Hall, Chapel Road, Worthing, BN11 1HA
Internal: 1033 | External: 01903 221033 | E-mail:
[email address]
Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council do not accept service
of Court documents by fax or e-mail.
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Dear legal foi,

By law, I believe the authority should have responded promptly and
by 1st February 2011.

Although I have received a late response, to assist, and as an act of good faith, I would like to reduce the scope of the original request as follows:
Please exclude all COT3 Agreements and all compromise agreements
drawn up in the following circumstances:

1. Purely redundancy situations
2. Purely PILON (pay in lieu of notice) situations
3. Equal pay claims
4. TUPE situations
5. Purely voluntary severance situations

Further to this, please reduce the time period to the years between
2005 and 2010 i.e. the last six years.

I am researching this particular area and aim to view trends and
movements both regionally and nationally. It would benefit myself
and the authority if the figures reached were as accurate as
possible.

When responding, please give figures in calendar year format e.g.
2005 - 1; 2006 - 3; 2007 - 2; etc.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Cardin

Worthing Borough Council

Thank you for contacting us with your request for information.
We aim to respond to requests for general information within 20 working days, in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.
We aim to respond to requests for your own personal information within 40 calendar days, in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act .
We aim to respond to requests for environmental information within 20 working days, or within 40 working days if the information is complex and voluminous, in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations.
The Freedom of Information area on our website, www.worthing.gov.uk can be accessed via the Freedom Of Information link from the site's home page and contains advice about how to make a request for information.

Dear Worthing Borough Council,

Just as a reminder, you've run way overtime with this request. Many thanks.

Yours faithfully,

Paul Cardin

Worthing Borough Council

Thank you for contacting us with your request for information.
We aim to respond to requests for general information within 20 working days, in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.
We aim to respond to requests for your own personal information within 40 calendar days, in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act .
We aim to respond to requests for environmental information within 20 working days, or within 40 working days if the information is complex and voluminous, in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations.
The Freedom of Information area on our website, www.worthing.gov.uk can be accessed via the Freedom Of Information link from the site's home page and contains advice about how to make a request for information.

Dear Worthing Borough Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Worthing Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Total Annual Figures for Compromise Agreements, etc.'.

Your response is now long overdue.

This request has now been responded to positively and in full by 251 English Councils since 1st January 2011. I'd appreciate it very much if while conducting this internal review, you took into account all the
questions and information I have supplied to date.

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

Yours faithfully,

Paul Cardin

Worthing Borough Council

Thank you for contacting us with your request for information.
We aim to respond to requests for general information within 20 working days, in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.
We aim to respond to requests for your own personal information within 40 calendar days, in accordance with the requirements of the Data Protection Act .
We aim to respond to requests for environmental information within 20 working days, or within 40 working days if the information is complex and voluminous, in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations.
The Freedom of Information area on our website, www.worthing.gov.uk can be accessed via the Freedom Of Information link from the site's home page and contains advice about how to make a request for information.

corporate foi,

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Cardin,

Please find enclosed your freedom of Information request from Worthing Borough Council,

Best Wishes,

Pippa Walcott
information Officer Corporate Strategy
Worthing Borough Council

________________________________

Dear Worthing Borough Council,

Please supply Annual totals for the following:
As far as records go back, the annual figures for the total
of current employees / ex-employees (including teaching staff) of
the Council who have signed compromise agreements directly related
to the resolving of dispute(s) / grievance(s) / internal and
external investigation(s) / whistleblowing incident(s).

In addition to this, annual figures for the number of current
employees / ex-employees (including teaching staff) who have
agreed, following the matter being raised and made conditional as
part of a compromise agreement drawn up by the body acting as the
Council's legal team, to sign and forgo their right to approach the
council in the future with Freedom of Information and/or DPA
Subject Access requests under the relevant Acts.

Please provide the figures in the following format e.g. 2006 - 2;
2007 - 4; 2008 - 1; 2010 - 6; etc.

Please note that I do not seek or require any personal information
such as names and addresses - only the total figures for each
subject area.

faithfully,

Paul Cardin

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legal foi, Worthing Borough Council

Dear Sir

Your request for a review of your Freedom of Information request has been forwarded to Jeremy Cook, Executive Head of Legal and Democratic Services.

Yours faithfully

Legal FOI - Information Officer | Legal Services, Adur District Council and Worthing Borough Council
Location: Town Hall, Chapel Road, Worthing, BN11 1HA
Internal: Ext 1033 | External: 01903 221033 | E-mail: [email address]
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Dear legal foi,

Please cancel the review. You answered in full on 7th March 2011 and thank you for this,

Yours sincerely,

Paul Cardin

Paul Cardin left an annotation ()

Worthing Borough Council were one of the slowest respondents of the 345 councils asked, taking 41 working days (over twice the statutory period) to respond positively and in full.

Please link here to read about the further aspects of this request:

www.easyvirtualassistance.co.uk/page4.html

...including councils who have attempted to prevent individuals from exercising their statutory FOI / DP querying rights.

There is a growing trend for the use of compromise agreements, not just in the area of disputes or whistleblowing, but also in general redundancy or equal pay claims. Some councils have yet to answer this query - and to date, 65 working days have elapsed