Asbestos in Reading schools

The request was partially successful.

Dear Reading Borough Council,

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please provide me with the following information:

1. The names of the schools in your county that contain asbestos.
2. The date and outcome of the last independent audit or inspection of each of these schools Asbestos Management Plans.
3. The details of any reported incidents of asbestos exposure in these schools between 2011 and 2016.
4. Details of any improvement or prohibition notice served or guidance issued by the HSE in relation to the management of asbestos in schools in your county in the last 5 years.
5. The number of school employees (existing and retired staff to include teaching staff, school support staff and caretakers, etc) and ex-pupils that have pursued a claim against you for exposure to asbestos within a school in your county.
6. The number of these claims that have been settled.
7. The amount of money that has been paid in settlement of these claims (with and without your authority accepting responsibility).

I understand that under the Act I am entitled to a response within 20 working days of your receipt of this request. Some parts of the request may be easier to answer than others. Should this be the case, I request that you release information as soon as possible.

If my request is denied in whole or in part, I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific exemptions of the Act. I will also expect you to release all non-exempt material. I reserve the right to appeal your decision to withhold any information or to charge excessive
fees.

I would prefer to receive the information electronically.

If you require any clarification, please contact me in accordance with your duty under Section 16 to provide advice and assistance if you find any aspect of this FOI request problematic.

Please acknowledge receipt of this request by email. I look forward to receiving the information in the near future.

Yours faithfully,

Lucie Stephens

FOI, CRT, Reading Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Stephens

 

Thank you for your request for information under the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act (2000).  In accordance with the Act, you can
expect to receive a formal response to your enquiry by the 8 December
2016.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Mr N Bullough

Senior Customer Relations Officer

Customer Relations | Corporate Support Services

Reading Borough Council

Level 1

Plaza West

Bridge Street

Reading Borough Council

RG1 2LU

0118 937 2726 (72726

[1]Website | [2]Facebook | [3]Twitter | [4]YouTube

 

show quoted sections

FOI, CRT, Reading Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Stephens,

 

Thank you for your request for information under the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act (2000). 

 

1. The names of the schools in your county that contain asbestos.

2. The date and outcome of the last independent audit or inspection of
each of these schools Asbestos Management Plans.

3. The details of any reported incidents of asbestos exposure in these
schools between 2011 and 2016.

4. Details of any improvement or prohibition notice served or guidance
issued by the HSE in relation to the management of asbestos in schools in
your county in the last 5 years.

5. The number of school employees (existing and retired staff to include
teaching staff, school support staff and caretakers, etc) and ex-pupils
that have pursued a claim against you for exposure to asbestos within a
school in your county.

6. The number of these claims that have been settled.

7. The amount of money that has been paid in settlement of these claims
(with and without your authority accepting responsibility).

 

Our response is as follows:

 

1)    Question 1 refers to ‘your county’.  Reading Borough will not hold
data in respect of other Berkshire authorities, other than in respect of
claims received.

 

For Q2, reinspection surveys for all of these schools were commissioned in
July 2016 and are being carried out between August and December of this
year.

 

Question 3 = Zero

 

Question 4 = Zero

 

Question 5 =

 

Due to the low numbers this response involves, we are unable to provide
this information for you, as to do so may lead to the possibility of an
individual being able to be identified.  This therefore means that the
information is exempt under Section 40(2) and 40(3)(a)(i) of the Act, as
to disclose it would breach the First Data Protection Principle.

 

Question 6 = Zero

 

Question 7 = Zero

 

 

You are free to use any information supplied to you for your own personal
purposes or for non-commercial research, private study or news reporting.
However, you do not have the right to re-use the information in a way
which infringes copyright, for example, by distributing, making copies of
or publishing the information, without the permission of the copyright
holder, which in most cases will be Reading Borough Council. If you wish
to obtain permission for such use, please contact Mr C Brooks, Head of
Legal and Democratic Services, at Reading Borough Council.

 

Please note that your request may itself be the subject of a FOI request
and will be disclosed in that event.

 

If you are unhappy with this response to your request for information
under the Freedom of Information Act then you may ask for an internal
review.  Please make a request in writing to Mr C Brooks, Head of Legal
and Democratic Services, at Reading Borough Council.  If you request such
a review and are not content with its outcome, then you have a 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

 

 

Mr N Bullough

Senior Customer Relations Officer

Customer Relations | Corporate Support Services

Reading Borough Council

Level 1

Plaza West

Bridge Street

Reading Borough Council

RG1 2LU

0118 937 2726 (72726

[1]Website | [2]Facebook | [3]Twitter | [4]YouTube

[5]cid:image001.jpg@01D24709.60C27480

 

 

 

 

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