Chief Executives Family Members Employed By Council

Christopher James O'Neal made this Freedom of Information request to Gwynedd Council This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was successful.

Christopher James O'Neal

Dear Gwynedd Council,

I Make this request under the FOI Rules & Procedures.

Please can you tell me how many relatives of the Chief Executive are employed by the council.

If the number to the above question is 1 or greater please can you confirm in what positions they are employed by the council, how are they related ie (Cousin, Son, Auntie) and what was their respective start dates with the authority.

I trust there will be no need to not be transparent with the answers to this question and remind you that I will seek a internal review if the answer is not forthcoming within the times scales as stipulated within the rules & regulations concerning FOI Requests.

Yours faithfully,

Christopher James O'Neal

Rhyddid Gwybodaeth, Gwynedd Council

Dear Christopher James O’Neal,

 

Freedom of Information (ref T1618)

 

Thank you for your recent request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000.

Your request has been passed to me to process and I can confirm that it
has been logged under the reference number T1618.

The Council may take up to 20 working days, from the date of receipt, to
respond to your request. You should therefore receive the information you
have requested, subject to the application of any exemptions permitted
under the Act, by 22/11/2016.

If you require further information please contact me by phone on 01286
679809 or by emailing [1][Gwynedd Council request email] by quoting the reference
number above.

Yours sincerely,

Gwawr Owen

 

<gfidisc.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/>

-------------------------------------------------------------
Mae'r e-bost hwn ac unrhyw atodiad iddo yn gyfrinachol ac fe'i bwriedir ar gyfer
y sawl a enwir arno yn unig. Gall gynnwys gwybodaeth freintiedig. Os yw wedi
eich cyrraedd trwy gamgymeriad ni ellwch ei gopio, ei ddosbarthu na'i ddangos i
unrhyw un arall a dylech gysylltu â'r anfonwr ar unwaith.
Mae unrhyw gynnwys nad yw'n ymwneud â busnes swyddogol y corff sy'n anfon yr
e-bost yn bersonol i'r awdur.

show quoted sections

Arbedwch bapur, ynni ac arian - Peidiwch argraffu'r neges yma oni bai ei bod yn
hollol angenrheidiol.
Save paper, energy and money - Do not print this message unless it is absolutely
necessary.

<gfidisc.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/>

References

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Rhyddid Gwybodaeth, Gwynedd Council

Dear Christopher James O’Neal,

 

Freedom of Information (ref T1618)

 

Thank you for your recent request.

 

Unfortunately, most of the information should be witheld under s40(2) of
the Act  which states that information is exempt from disclosure if it
constitutes the personal data of a third party and its disclosure under
the Act would breach any of the data protection principles or section 10
of the Data Protection Act.

 

Personal data is defined by section 1 of the Data Protection Act 1998
(“the DPA”) as:

“…data which relate to a living individual who can be identified–

(a) from those data, or

(b) from those data and other information which is in the possession of,
or is likely to come into the possession of, the data controller, and
includes any expression of opinion about the individual and any indication
of the data controller or any person in respect of the individual…”

 

In order for the exemption to apply the information being requested must
constitute personal data as defined by section 1 of the DPA. In this
instance, the information relates to a specific individual and we contend
that it would be easy for them to be identified.

 

Secondly, we must consider whether disclosure of the information would
contravene any of the data protection principles. The Council is of the
opinion that disclosure would breach the first data protection principle
which states that personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully.

 

In deciding whether disclosure of personal data would be unfair, the
Council has considered a range of factors including:

o The reasonable expectations of the individual in terms of what would
happen to their personal data,
o The consequences of disclosing the information,
o Any legitimate interests in the disclosure

We do not consider disclosure to be reasonable, as the individual would
not expect information about their job title to be made public.
Information contained within personnel files contain a strong expectation
of privacy and the individual would expect them to be kept securely and
confidentially.

If identified, there is a risk that the individual could be contacted by
the press and be subject to intrusive attention.

 

There is always some legitimate public interest in the disclosure of any
information held by public authorities. This is because disclosure of
information helps to promote transparency and accountability amongst
public authorities. However, in this case we consider that that disclosing
the withheld information would have an unwarranted effect on the rights
and freedoms of the individual and this is not outweighed by any public
interest that may be gained in providing the information.

As such, we believe that disclosure of this information would be unfair
and breach the first principle of the Data Protection Act.

 

However, the Chief Executive wishes to be as open as possible within the
constraints and accordingly he has volunteered the following information:

 

That one member of staff employed by the Council is related to the Chief
Executive. This person is the Chief Executive’s son, he works within the
Finance Department and started working for the Council in 2008.

 

 

Please note that where information is subject to copyright belonging to
the Council, you will need to obtain the permission of the Council to
re-use it for purposes other than private study or non-commercial
research. The Council may charge for re-use. Where third party copyright
material is disclosed, you must obtain permission to re-use from the
copyright holders concerned.

 

Complaints

 

If you are unhappy with the way the Council has handled your request, you
may ask for an internal review. Please contact me if you require an
internal review of your case. An internal review will be conducted by the
Monitoring Officer or Head of Service and we will aim to respond within 20
working days. However, if we are unable to complete the review by this
date, we will advise you accordingly.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. Please see below for the contact details:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office

2^nd Floor

Churchill House

Churchill Way

Cardiff

CF102HH

 

Telephone: 02920 678400

Email: [1][email address]

Fax: 02920 678399

 

Yours sincerely,

Gwawr Owen

 

<gfidisc.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/>

-------------------------------------------------------------
Mae'r e-bost hwn ac unrhyw atodiad iddo yn gyfrinachol ac fe'i bwriedir ar gyfer
y sawl a enwir arno yn unig. Gall gynnwys gwybodaeth freintiedig. Os yw wedi
eich cyrraedd trwy gamgymeriad ni ellwch ei gopio, ei ddosbarthu na'i ddangos i
unrhyw un arall a dylech gysylltu â'r anfonwr ar unwaith.
Mae unrhyw gynnwys nad yw'n ymwneud â busnes swyddogol y corff sy'n anfon yr
e-bost yn bersonol i'r awdur.

show quoted sections

Arbedwch bapur, ynni ac arian - Peidiwch argraffu'r neges yma oni bai ei bod yn
hollol angenrheidiol.
Save paper, energy and money - Do not print this message unless it is absolutely
necessary.

<gfidisc.gwynedd.llyw.cymru/>

References

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