Bryan Turner, chair of Health and Adult Social Care select scrutiny committee (HASC)

The request was refused by West Sussex County Council.

Dear West Sussex County Council,

Having been informed by Bryan Turner (Chair) that he has been advised by Tony Kershaw, that it would not be appropriate for him (Bryan) to respond to the points put to him about the absence of any declaration of interests to numerous and public HASC meetings, I wish to be informed of any remuneration claimed by Bryan in respect of his chairmanship of this select committee role to date.

In addition, I would like to receive a response to the previous questions I posed to Bryan and informed of why, as chairperson, he is precluded from responding.

Yours faithfully,

Martyn Lewis

Freedom of Information Act,

Dear Mr Lewis,

Thank you for your enquiry, which has been forwarded to the appropriate officers for a response. The usual timescale for a response is twenty working days, that is by or on 13th November.

If for any reason the Council needs to extend this timescale you will be notified in accordance with the relevant legislation.

Please note that in 2012 the County Council adopted a position in principle that FoI and EIR requests to West Sussex County Council and the Council's responses may be published on the Council's website in a suitably anonymised form. This is in addition to the individual response to the requestor, and in line with the Council's commitment to transparency and open data.

Yours sincerely,

Kerry Rickman

Freedom Of Information, Communities Directorate | West Sussex County Council | Location: County Hall, Chichester PO19 1RQ | E-mail: [email address]

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Tracey Guinea,

Mr Lewis,

 

Freedom of Information Request: Democratic Services Reference
WSCC/DSU/FOI/17-18/20

 

I refer to your request dated 15 October 2017, which has been dealt with
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

Your request was for:

 

“Having been informed by Bryan Turner (Chair) [of Health and Adult Social
Care Select Committee (HASC)] that he has been advised by Tony Kershaw,
that it would not be appropriate for him (Bryan) to respond to the points
put to him about the absence of any declaration of interests to numerous
and public HASC meetings, I wish to be informed of any remuneration
claimed by Bryan in respect of his chairmanship of this select committee
role to date.

 

In addition, I would like to receive a response to the previous questions
I posed to Bryan and informed of why, as chairperson, he is precluded from
responding.”

 

In response to your point requesting details of the remuneration to date
claimed by Bryan Turner in respect of his chairmanship of Health and Adult
Social Care Select Committee, the Authority has applied the exemption in
Section 21 – Information accessible by other means. (absolute). 

 

S21-Information accessible by other means:

 

Under section 21 of the Act, we are not required to provide information in
response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you.  The
information you requested is available on the County Council’s website.

 

[1]https://www.westsussex.gov.uk/about-the-...

 

Each year, the County Council is required to publish the sums paid to each
member of the Council including details of special responsibility
allowances.  Allowances for each member of West Sussex County Council for
each financial year up to, and including, 2016/17 are available to view on
this webpage.

 

As we are partway through the current financial year, sums paid to each
member of the Council for 2017/18 are not yet published.  However, you can
also view on this webpage the Members Allowances Scheme for 2017/18,
including special responsibility allowances.  You will note that special
responsibility allowances are paid to members in instalments of
one-twelfth of the amount specified in the scheme on the penultimate
Friday of each month.

 

Having applied an absolute exemption I am not required to consider the
balance of public interest for and against disclosure.

 

In response to your request ‘I would like to receive a response to the
previous questions I posed to Bryan and informed of why, as chairperson,
he is precluded from responding’, which relates to your earlier point
‘Having been informed by Bryan Turner (Chair) that he has been advised by
Tony Kershaw, that it would not be appropriate for him (Bryan) to respond
to the points put to him about the absence of any declaration of interests
to numerous and public HASC meetings’.  This request purports to be a
request for information held by the Authority, but appears to be an
invitation to debate a number of issues.  It falls outside the scope of
the Act/Regulations and the authority declines to respond to it.  I have
passed your request on to Dave Loveman, Customer Relations Manager for
consideration. 

 

If you require advice and assistance in making a request for information
please contact me.

 

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

 

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may
wish to ask for a review of our decision via [2][email address]. 

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.  Generally,
the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our internal
review procedure.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

 

The Information Commissioner's Office,

Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Tracey Guinea

Freedom of Information Liaison Officer

Democratic Services

 

PLEASE NOTE that my working days are Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday

 

[3]Tracey Guinea | Democratic Services Officer, Democratic Services
Unit,

[4]West Sussex County Council | Location: Cabinet Office, Room 102,
County Hall, Chichester, PO19 1RQ
Internal: 28679 | External: +44 [5]033022-28679 | E-mail:
[6][email address]

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