Information Access Team
Hannah Jewell
Climate Emergency UK
Hertfordshire County Council
County Hall,
Room 216 Pegs Lane,
Hertford, SG13 8DE,
Postal Point: CHO320
www.hertfordshire.gov.uk
Tel: 0300 123 4040
Email:
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
Our reference: 1340528
Your reference: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Date: 14th February 2023
Dear Hannah Jewell
Freedom of Information Act 2000
On 18th January 2023 Hertfordshire County Council has received the following request
for information from you:
Council staff working on climate action
I would like information about your council's staff positions in relation to climate
action for the Council Climate Action Scorecards. This information is most likely
to be held by a HR department or similar.
In particular, please supply me with information relating to the following
questions:
1a. How many staff does the Council directly employ (excluding contractors or
subcontractors, and excluding teachers), that work directly for the Council as
opposed to a school, leisure centres or other venture?
1b. How many directly employed staff spend 3 or more days per week (0.6 Full
Time Equivalent (FTE)) on implementing the Climate Action Plan or other climate
change projects? Please provide a list of all the roles. Please exclude waste
management staff unless they are specifically working 3 or more days per week
on implementing the Climate Action Plan or other climate change projects.
If you have answered yes to have a retrofit staff member below, this staff
member can be included in this question even if they are contracted. This is
County of opportunity
likely to include all staff in your climate/sustainability team, such as Climate
Change Officers or similar. This may include full time staff who spend 60% of
their time on climate change projects and 40% of their time on other work.
You might include other staff in other departments, such as a procurement
officer if they are spending 3 or more days per week (0.6 FTE) on writing and
implementing a sustainable procurement policy or a planner that is working
primarily on low carbon policies for new buildings.
2. Does the council have one or more staff member who works on home energy
efficiency retrofitting, such as retrofit officers or project managers across the
council area, for 3 or more days per week (0.6+ FTE)? This can include both
directly employed and contracted staff, provided they work 3 or more days per
week (0.6 FTE). The work of this officer may include working on any retrofit
projects, including council buildings, council homes or private rented or owned
households.
Please list any roles that work in this area, including the full time equivalent
(FTE) if they work part time.
Please include staff members that are shared with other councils, such as
between county and district councils, and note if they are shared across other
areas.
The request has been considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I can
confirm that Hertfordshire County Council does hold some of the information you have
requested and can be found below:
1a. How many staff does the Council directly employ (excluding contractors or
subcontractors, and excluding teachers), that work directly for the Council as
opposed to a school, leisure centres or other venture?
8,490 heads in Council Departments excluding the above as at January 2023.
1b. How many directly employed staff spend 3 or more days per week (0.6 Full
Time Equivalent (FTE)) on implementing the Climate Action Plan or other climate
change projects? Please provide a list of all the roles. Please exclude waste
management staff unless they are specifically working 3 or more days per week
on implementing the Climate Action Plan or other climate change projects.
The County Council has a Corporate Plan with four priorities that all 8,490 staff have a
responsibility to implement within their work:
•
A cleaner and greener environment,
•
Healthy and fulfilling lives for our residents
•
Sustainable, responsible growth in our county
•
Excellent council services for all
County of opportunity
All staff have to demonstrate the Corporate values as part of the county council’s
performance management process including demonstrating that they Act Sustainably.
In addition to this, the County Council has an approved Sustainable Hertfordshire
Strategy which is accompanied by a Programme Plan of actions covering all
directorates. As such, it is not possible to list all teams that directly implement climate
change projects as staff from all directorates (Resources, Environment & Transport,
Adult Care Services, Community Protection, Public Health, Children’s Services and
Sustainable Growth) are all responsible for creating a cleaner and greener environment
and have embedded sustainability into their work.
The Sustainable Hertfordshire Team leads on integrating and embedding sustainability
and climate action into all council services. The roles within this team are listed below:
Executive Director of Sustainable Growth
Director of Environmental Sustainability
Head of Sustainability
Programme Manager – Air Quality
Programme Manager – Biodiversity
Programme Manager – Carbon
Programme Manager – Community Engagement
Project Manager – Air Quality
Project Manager – Biodiversity
Project Manager – Carbon
Project Manager - Adaptation
Project Officer x 3
Sustainable Hertfordshire Student Placement
Graduate Management Trainee
The Sustainable Hertfordshire Team also funds post across the authority including:
Senior Campaigns Officer (Sustainability)
Project Lead – Land Management/Communities
Project Officer x 2 – Tree Strategy (part funded by Tree Accelerator fund)
Senior Project Manager – Design and Capital Delivery Team
2. Does the council have one or more staff member who works on home energy
efficiency retrofitting, such as retrofit officers or project managers across the
council area, for 3 or more days per week (0.6+ FTE)? This can include both
directly employed and contracted staff, provided they work 3 or more days per
week (0.6 FTE). The work of this officer may include working on any retrofit
County of opportunity
projects, including council buildings, council homes or private rented or owned
households.
Hertfordshire County Council do not have any social housing stock and are not the
Local Authority responsible for housing delivery/retrofit – this would be the
responsibility of the district and borough councils, contact details for which can be
found at
https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/about-the-council/how-the-council-
works/district-and-borough-councils.aspx with the District/Borough Councils.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me, quoting the reference
number on this correspondence. To find out more about Freedom of Information,
please visit http://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/your-council/work/foi/
If you are unhappy with the way the County Council has handled your request for
information you may request an internal review of the request. This will be carried out
by a member of the County Council Legal Services Team, who has had no prior
involvement with the request. Requests for an internal review should be sent to the
Information Governance Unit at the address above (within 2 months of this
correspondence) and should detail in writing your grounds of appeal.
If you are unhappy with the outcome of the internal review you are entitled to ask the
Information Commissioner to investigate your complaint. You should write to: FOI/EIR
Complaints Resolution, Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely,
Victoria Hooper
Information Access Practitioner
County of opportunity
