Dear Ms Mulcahy I write further to your email below. Please see attached an email I sent to you on the 31 December in response to your email dated the 20 December. Regards Catherine Barfield Specialist Services Manager (Customer Resolution) London Borough of Southwark PO BOX 64529 London SE1P 5LX Telephone: 0207 5250041 [cyfeiriad ebost] Please note: I do not work on a Friday -----Original Message----- From: Anna Mulcahy [mailto:[Cais Rhyddid Gwybodaeth e-bost #530577 ]] Sent: Friday, January 11, 2019 1:28 PM To: Barfield, Catherine Subject: Re: Internal Review Response Ref 996986 Dear Catherine, I have not received a reply from the email I sent on the 20th December (pasted below for your reference) in re. to the unsatisfactory response I received from Southwark council to my FOI reference no. 996986 Previous email: Dear Catherine, Thank you for your response to my request asking for the original response I received to be reviewed. Unfortunately, nowhere in your response did you address the main issue regarding why I was requesting a review. That is, in May 2018 Southwark council provided me with data on the number of NRPF households they supported over the six month period Dec 17-May 18. However, in response to this FOI requesting the same data (although referring to the time period Jan-Jun 18 and Jan-Jun 17) Southwark claimed the data was not available. I do not want to use up more resources by making a complaint to the Information Commissioner for an issue that I feel you could resolve relatively easily by revisiting the request with the NRPF and providing either the data or a legitimate reason why data that was available five months ago is no longer available? Yours sincerely, Anna Mulcahy -----Original Message----- Dear Ms Mulcahy I write in response to your email dated the 3 December 2018 in relation to freedom of information request Ref 996986. In your email you state as follows: In response to my FOI request, Southwark council refused to provide this data under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on the basis that 'the information is not held as statistical data and in order to collate the data the council would need to manually interrogate over 500 NRPF client files at a minimum of ten minutes per file.' I am requesting an internal review into the handling of this request for the following reason. In May 2018, I submitted a similar FOI request to Southwark council (ref no. 930202) requesting data on the council's NRPF caseload, although this request referred to the time period Dec 2017-May 2018 (differing slightly from the time period covered by my November FOI request). In response to the May request, Southwark council provided data on the number of families with NRPF that had been granted support, and the number of families with NRPF granted support where Schedule 3 of the Nationality Asylum and Immigration Act applied due to their immigration status. The fact that Southwark council was able to provide this data in May reveals that they do hold at least some of the data I requested in my November FOI in an accessible format. Despite this, the council refused to provide the data in response to my November FOI. I would therefore like to request a review into the council's claim in the response to the November FOI that they do not hold any of the data in an accessible format when at least some of it was available just five months ago. Thank you for your email. Our official stance on the use of Section 12 is as follows: • If we cannot answer the FOI within 18 hours, we apply Section 12. • If we can provide some information, but not all because it would exceed 18 hours, we apply Section 12 to the entire request. Under our duty to advise and assist (Section 16) we then state that if the requestor would like the information we can provide, they can resubmit a new FOI for this information. This brings us into line with the guidance as set out by the ICO and central government. I have noted that in the original response Ms Murray did advise and assist you by suggesting that you narrow the scope of the request. For your reference I have outlined below S32 of the ICO guidance in relation to the use of Section 12. 32. As a matter of good practice, public authorities should avoid providing the information found as a result of its searching and claiming section 12 for the remainder of the information. It is accepted that this is often done with the intention of being helpful but it ultimately denies the requestor the right to express a preference as to which part or parts of the request they may wish to receive which can be provided under the appropriate limit. If you require any further information the link to the appropriate section is copied below: [1]https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1199/costs_of_compliance_exceeds_appropriate_limit.pdf I would recommend that you submit a new request / requests for the information, which you can do by return email. I hope this response is satisfactory, however if you are not content with the outcome of your appeal you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. You should contact him within 2 months of the outcome of your internal appeal. Further information on the Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental Information Regulations is available through the Information Commissioner at the: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, Telephone: 01625 545 700, Internet: [2]https://ico.org.uk/ Regards Catherine Barfield Specialist Services Manager (Customer Resolution) London Borough of Southwark PO BOX 64529 London SE1P 5LX Telephone: 0207 5250041 [3][email address] Please note: I do not work on a Friday The email you received and any files transmitted with it are confidential, may be covered by legal and/or professional privilege and are intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this in error please notify us immediately. If you are not the intended recipient of the email or the person responsible for delivering it to them you may not copy it, forward it or otherwise use it for any purpose or disclose its contents to any other person. To do so may be unlawful. Where opinions are expressed in the email they are not necessarily those of Southwark Council and Southwark Council is not responsible for any changes made to the message after it has been sent. References Visible links 1. https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1199/costs_of_compliance_exceeds_appropriate_limit.pdf 2. https://ico.org.uk/ 3. mailto:[email address] ------------------------------------------------------------------- Please use this email address for all replies to this request: [Cais Rhyddid Gwybodaeth e-bost #530577 ] Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. 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