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Awards bun fight

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Dear City of York Council,

Please answer the request in full that your refused before.

Please be sure to provide the full names and numbers of members and staff (numbers) chief officers ( names) costs of travel, hotel. Numbers of days out of the office. Which agency was used for the hotel, including grade and name of hotel.

As you say it is of such benefit from learning please provide the documents provided for all the submissions and winners, so we can see what good practice could be applied here.

Please also provide all other awards that you applied for but we’re not shortlisted for LGC and others

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/l...

Yours faithfully,

Gwen Swinburn

Information Governance - CYC, City of York Council

Thank you for your email.  Please note this is an automatically generated
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For information:

 

·        The timescale for responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
and Environmental Information Regulation (EIR) requests is up to 20
working days. We will contact you promptly if we need you to clarify your
request or an extension to complete a public interest test.

 

·        The timescale for responding to requests for a review, for FOIA
or EIR responses, is up to 20 working days. You are also able to contact
the Information Commissioner Office (ICO) contact details below:

 

·        The timescale for responding to your rights in relation to
personal data eg: subject access to records (SAR) request, is up to 1
month. We will contact you promptly if we require further information from
you, or an extension.

 

·        The timescale for responding to requests for a review, of
responses to your rights regarding personal data, is up to 1 month. You
are also able to contact the ICO, contact details below:

 

·        If after we complete our investigation and reply to you with our
findings, you still remain dissatisfied you can contact the ICO:

 

Phone:  0303 123 1113 or via their [1]live chat. Their normal opening
hours are Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm (excluding bank holidays). 
You can also report, enquire, register and raise complaints with the ICO
using their web form on [2]Contact us | ICO

·        You can find more information about how we deal with Freedom of
Information Requests at:

 

[3]Make a freedom of information request – City of York Council

 

·        You can find the Corporate Governance Team Privacy Notice at:

 

[4]https://www.york.gov.uk/privacy/Corporat...

 

Regards

 

Corporate Governance Team

 

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Information Governance - CYC, City of York Council

3 Attachments

 
 
Dear Gwen Swinburn,
 
Please see below the response to your enquiry under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA).
 

 1. Please be sure to provide the full names and numbers of members and
staff (numbers) chief officers ( names) costs of travel, hotel.
Numbers of days out of the office. Which agency was used for the
hotel, including grade and name of hotel.

 
Names of attendees:
Cllr Denise Craghill, Executive Member for Housing and Community Safety
Cllr Ashley Mason, Executive Member for Economy and Strategic Planning
Tracey Carter, Director of Housing, Economy and Regeneration
Michael Jones, Head of Housing Delivery and Asset Management
Some of this information is exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of
the FOIA, because it constitutes personal data and disclosure would breach
the Data Protection Act (the DPA).
In this case, we consider that it would be unfair to staff below the level
of Head of Service and not in their reasonable expectations to have their
personal details disclosed in response to this FOIA enquiry, which is a
disclosure into the public realm.  We have considered if there is any
legitimate interest in disclosure, which would outweigh the individual’s
privacy rights in this case, but we do not consider there to be one.
 
Cost of travel:
 
4 tickets funded by CYC (2 per award) £201.60 (£50.40 per ticket)
2 tickets personally funded
 
Accommodation:
 
Accommodation was not booked in advance as the party intended to return
that night. Cancellation of trains due to heat damage to rail network then
required an overnight stay which was personally funded
 
Number of days out the office:
Worked on the train - 0
 

 1. Please provide the documents provided for all the submissions and
winners, so we can see what good practice could be applied here

 
We cannot provide all submissions as we do not have access to these. We
can only share the 2 CYC applications. Shortlist can be found here:
[1]https://awards.lgcplus.com/lgca/en/page/...
 
 

 1. Please also provide all other awards that you applied for but we’re
not shortlisted for LGC and others

 
To date, all award submissions have resulted in a shortlisting.
 
If you are dissatisfied with our response you have the right to ask for an
independent review of how your enquiry was handled and responded to. This
can be done by contacting us at [2][City of York Council request email]
within 40 working days of receiving your response, stating your reason(s)
why you are dissatisfied.
 
If you remain dissatisfied following the internal review response you can
contact the Information Commissioner, contact details below:
 
Phone:  0303 123 1113 or via their [3]live chat. Their normal opening
hours are Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm (excluding bank holidays). 
You can also report, enquire, register and raise complaints with the ICO
using their web form on [4]Contact us | ICO
 
Yours sincerely,
 
City of York Council  | Corporate Governance Team
West Offices | Station Rise | York YO1 6GA
[5]www.york.gov.uk | [6]facebook.com/cityofyork | [7]@CityofYork
 
 
You can find information about how the Corporate Governance Team uses your
personal information at
[8]https://www.york.gov.uk/privacy/Corporat...
 
 
 
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Dear City of York Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of City of York Council's handling of my FOI request 'Awards bun fight'.

Dear City of York Council,

Thanks to the ICO you have now answered my Foi in part.

I am writing to request an internal review of City of York Council's handling of my FOI request 'Awards bun fight'.

[ GIVE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR COMPLAINT HERE ]

Please accept this as an internal review

1. Can you confirm that the entirety of these two submissions was those two sides of A4 each? No supplemental information requested or provided?

2. As I understood the purpose of these awards was to share good practice, it is surprising that none of the information is provided to you, or available for sharing across the LG network. How is good practice to be shared?

3. Can you provide the full costs of the event to us- this including the event and table costs ( how many were at our table and how many did we pay for and how much did we pay as an eg) all food paid for by us and all subsistence costs.

4. Can you confirm that only 2 staff and 2 members attended as your response is unclear -you say 2 more ‘funded themselves’ what does that even mean? How many were in the CYC party? If the staff are below a certain level , how is it personal data if they were photographed? If these or other attendees were suppliers who were they?

5. We simply need the costs to us, so we can understand if these bun fights are worth investing in. All we know is that no good practice is either shared or available. Please provide a full cost including tables, food, drinks, subsistence. Regarding ‘self funders’ can you confirm what we paid for for them, including table at the event and subsistence. Can it be clarified that these ‘self funders’ were not paid via departmental or gift donations from CYC suppliers or part of any quid pro quo contract? Did any CYC suppliers attend and if so who paid for the table - and for how many?
6. Finally I asked for copies of all bids made by the Council for awards, as I thought clear - not just LGC awards but all such competition awards - I can limit to the two FYs

Thank you

Gwen

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

Yours faithfully,

Gwen Swinburn

Information Governance - CYC, City of York Council

Thank you for your email.  Please note this is an automatically generated
receipt to let you know we have received your email.

 

For information:

 

·        The timescale for responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
and Environmental Information Regulation (EIR) requests is up to 20
working days. We will contact you promptly if we need you to clarify your
request or an extension to complete a public interest test.

 

·        The timescale for responding to requests for a review, for FOIA
or EIR responses, is up to 20 working days. You are also able to contact
the Information Commissioner Office (ICO) contact details below:

 

·        The timescale for responding to your rights in relation to
personal data eg: subject access to records (SAR) request, is up to 1
month. We will contact you promptly if we require further information from
you, or an extension.

 

·        The timescale for responding to requests for a review, of
responses to your rights regarding personal data, is up to 1 month. You
are also able to contact the ICO, contact details below:

 

·        If after we complete our investigation and reply to you with our
findings, you still remain dissatisfied you can contact the ICO:

 

Phone:  0303 123 1113 or via their [1]live chat. Their normal opening
hours are Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm (excluding bank holidays). 
You can also report, enquire, register and raise complaints with the ICO
using their web form on [2]Contact us | ICO

·        You can find more information about how we deal with Freedom of
Information Requests at:

 

[3]Make a freedom of information request – City of York Council

 

·        You can find the Corporate Governance Team Privacy Notice at:

 

[4]https://www.york.gov.uk/privacy/Corporat...

 

Regards

 

Corporate Governance Team

 

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Gwen Swinburn left an annotation ()

Considering the approach so far to transparency on this issue - all costs include hotel and related costs and who paid for them. And if not CYC ratepayers how this sponsorship was both sought, justified and cleared by legal ( note 10a in the Members & related staff codes of conduct).

Information Governance - CYC, City of York Council

4 Attachments

Dear Ms Swinburn

 

I have now completed a review of how the council has dealt with your
request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

 

1. Can you confirm that the entirety of these two submissions was those
two sides of A4 each? No supplemental information requested or provided?

 

Yes. To assist further the submissions were limited to 1000 words by the
awards organisers.

 

2. As I understood the purpose of these awards was to share good practice,
it is surprising that none of the information is provided to you, or
available for sharing across the LG network. How is good practice to be
shared?

 

Although this isn’t a request for recorded information to help with your
understanding good practice is shared by talking to individuals from other
councils exchanging ideas, views and experiences. 

 

3. Can you provide the full costs of the event to us- this including the
event and table costs ( how many were at our table and how many did we pay
for and how much did we pay   as an eg) all food paid for by us and all
subsistence costs.

 

4 members of staff and 2 Members attended. 6 individuals in total attended
from CYC.

 

The total cost to the cost to the council was provided in your original
response. This was £201.60. 4 travel tickets funded by CYC (2 per award)
£201.60 (£50.40 per ticket) 2 tickets were personally funded. This means
that they were not paid for by CYC and paid for by themselves. This
information was provided to help explain why the council did not pay for
all 6 travel tickets when 6 individuals attended from CYC.

 

I am still waiting for the cost of the table for the event. Please note
this was not a cost to CYC. Once I have this information I will send in a
follow up response.

 

4. Can you confirm that only 2 staff and 2 members attended as your
response is unclear -you say 2 more ‘funded themselves’ what does that
even mean? How many were in the CYC party? If the staff are below a
certain level , how is it personal data if they were photographed?  If
these or other attendees were suppliers who were they?

 

Please see response to Q3

 

5. We simply need the costs to us, so we can understand if these bun
fights are worth investing in. All we know is that no good practice is
either shared or available. Please provide a full cost including tables,
food, drinks, subsistence. Regarding ‘self funders’ can you confirm what
we paid for for them, including table at the event and subsistence. Can it
be clarified that these ‘self funders’ were not paid via departmental or
gift donations from CYC suppliers or part of any quid pro quo contract? 
Did any CYC suppliers attend and  if so who paid for the table - and for
how many?

 

Please see response to Q3

 

6. Finally I asked for copies of all bids made by the Council for awards,
as I thought clear - not just LGC awards but all such competition awards -
I can limit to the two FYs

 

Awards submissions for the last 2 FY include:

 

FSB Local Government awards under 4 categories – “Covid-19 Support and
Recovery”, “Programme of Business Support”, “Future Ready” and “All-round
business support”. 

 

• The application process was through a website form and a copy of the
form was not provided once completed. Therefore a copy of the
submission is not held.

 

Purple Flag

 

• Please attached for submission – Please note individual names of our
names partners have been redacted under section 40 of the FOIA as this
is personal information.

 

APSE –Fleet and Transportation Service of the year. 

 

• Please see attached for submission

 

Institute of Highway Engineers (IHE), JCT awards for STEP

 

• A copy of the submission is not held

 

Social Worker of the Year awards

 

• Submission was an online form and no copy of the submission was
provided after completion of the form. Therefore this is information
not held

 

If you remain dissatisfied you can now contact the Information
Commissioner, contact details below:

 

Phone:  0303 123 1113 or via their [1]live chat. Their normal opening
hours are Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm (excluding bank holidays). 
You can also report, enquire, register and raise complaints with the ICO
using their web form on [2]Contact us | ICO

Yours sincerely,

 

 

Information Governance Advisor.
t: 01904 554145 | e: [3][City of York Council request email]

 

City of York Council  |  Corporate Governance Team

West Offices  | Station Rise | York YO1 6GA

[4]www.york.gov.uk | [5]facebook.com/cityofyork | [6]@CityofYork

 

 

You can find information about how the Corporate Governance Team uses your
personal information at

 

[7]https://www.york.gov.uk/privacy/Corporat...

 

 

[8]Our values footer word.jpg

 

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We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are Gwen Swinburn please sign in and let everyone know.