Dear Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government,

In last week's announcement in the Commons, Robert Jenrick said on more than one occasion that the average service charge for a flat was £50 a month (the same as the proposed maximum loan to be charged to leaseholders under 18m).

1) Could you please supply any advice or briefing or information that was provided to Mr Jenrick that gave him this figure, and the source of that figure. I have no need for the rest of any advice/briefing, just the part about average service charge please.

As this information has now had a decision made on it and announced in the Commons, along with the strong public interest in this matter where up to 11m people could be affected by the cladding scandal, I believe that s35/36 will not apply, particularly the source of the figure.

2) Could you please provide any legal advice the Government has received regarding the making of leaseholders below 18m pay for a loan and those above 18m receiving public funding to remove cladding, plus any legal advice on why it should just apply to cladding and not any other of the fire risks that make homes unsellable.

Again, as this information has now had a decision made on it and announced in the Commons, along with the strong public interest in this matter where up to 11m people could be affected by the cladding scandal, I believe that s42, despite normally being a strong exemption to use, should not apply in this case and taxpayers have the right to know why billions of pounds of public money are being spent to bail out some developers' building deathtraps and not others and why.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Regards

Lynn Wyeth

MHCLG Correspondence,

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Despatch Box,

                            
Our reference: 10379757             
Information request

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Dear Lynn Wyeth
 
Thank you for your Information Request of 15 February 2021 requesting:
 
In last week's announcement in the Commons, Robert Jenrick said on more
than one occasion that the average service charge for a flat was £50 a
month (the same as the proposed maximum loan to be charged to leaseholders
under 18m).
1) Could you please supply any advice or briefing or information that was
provided to Mr Jenrick that gave him this figure, and the source of that
figure. I have no need for the rest of any advice/briefing, just the part
about average service charge please.
As this information has now had a decision made on it and announced in the
Commons, along with the strong public interest in this matter where up to
11m people could be affected by the cladding scandal, I believe that
s35/36 will not apply, particularly the
source of the figure.
2) Could you please provide any legal advice the Government has received
regarding the making of leaseholders below 18m pay for a loan and those
above 18m receiving public funding to remove cladding, plus any legal
advice on why it should just apply to cladding
and not any other of the fire risks that make homes unsellable.
Again, as this information has now had a decision made on it and announced
in the Commons, along with the strong public interest in this matter where
up to 11m people could be affected by the cladding scandal, I believe that
s42, despite normally being a strong
exemption to use, should not apply in this case and taxpayers have the
right to know why billions of pounds of public money are being spent to
bail out some developers' building deathtraps and not others and why.
 
We will aim to send you a response by 15 March 2021.
 
If you have any questions, please ask by return email. Please leave the
subject line unchanged when replying, to make sure your email gets
straight to us.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
 
 
MHCLG FOI Team
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

Despatch Box,

                            
Our reference: 10379757             
Information request

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 
Dear Lynn Wyeth
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000

Thank you for your request concerning:

In last week's announcement in the Commons, Robert Jenrick said on more
than one occasion that the average service charge for a flat was £50 a
month (the same as the proposed maximum loan to be charged to leaseholders
under 18m).
1) Could you please supply any advice or briefing or information that was
provided to Mr Jenrick that gave him this figure, and the source of that
figure. I have no need for the rest of any advice/briefing, just the part
about average service charge please.
As this information has now had a decision made on it and announced in the
Commons, along with the strong public interest in this matter where up to
11m people could be affected by the cladding scandal, I believe that
s35/36 will not apply, particularly the
source of the figure.
2) Could you please provide any legal advice the Government has received
regarding the making of leaseholders below 18m pay for a loan and those
above 18m receiving public funding to remove cladding, plus any legal
advice on why it should just apply to cladding
and not any other of the fire risks that make homes unsellable.
Again, as this information has now had a decision made on it and announced
in the Commons, along with the strong public interest in this matter where
up to 11m people could be affected by the cladding scandal, I believe that
s42, despite normally being a strong
exemption to use, should not apply in this case and taxpayers have the
right to know why billions of pounds of public money are being spent to
bail out some developers' building deathtraps and not others and why. 

We are considering your request but unfortunately we need more time to
process it. This is because we are looking at the public interest.

We will now try to respond to you by 15 April 2021 

Yours sincerely
 
 
MHCLG FOIA Team
 
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

Despatch Box,

1 Attachment

                            
Our reference: 10379757             
Information request

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 
Dear Lynn Wyeth
 
Thank you for your request for information concerning:
 
In last week's announcement in the Commons, Robert Jenrick said on more
than one occasion that the average service charge for a flat was £50 a
month (the same as the proposed maximum loan to be charged to leaseholders
under 18m).
1) Could you please supply any advice or briefing or information that was
provided to Mr Jenrick that gave him this figure, and the source of that
figure. I have no need for the rest of any advice/briefing, just the part
about average service charge please.
As this information has now had a decision made on it and announced in the
Commons, along with the strong public interest in this matter where up to
11m people could be affected by the cladding scandal, I believe that
s35/36 will not apply, particularly the
source of the figure.
2) Could you please provide any legal advice the Government has received
regarding the making of leaseholders below 18m pay for a loan and those
above 18m receiving public funding to remove cladding, plus any legal
advice on why it should just apply to cladding
and not any other of the fire risks that make homes unsellable.
Again, as this information has now had a decision made on it and announced
in the Commons, along with the strong public interest in this matter where
up to 11m people could be affected by the cladding scandal, I believe that
s42, despite normally being a strong
exemption to use, should not apply in this case and taxpayers have the
right to know why billions of pounds of public money are being spent to
bail out some developers' building deathtraps and not others and why..
 
Unfortunately we are unable to provide this information. Please find
attached our formal response which sets out the reasons for this.
 
MHCLG FOIA Team
 
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

Dear Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's handling of my FOI request 'Cladding Scandal advice'.

You state that 'In reference to your first request the Secretary of State was referring to publicly
available information published by third parties on average weekly service charges.'

Regarding the price that was quoted, If you are advising that information is easily accessible elsewhere then s21 should have been cited and a link to where I could access that or advice as to where I can find that information. I believe that you have breached the FOI act in not citing the exemption used and not providing advice and assistance.

I still wish to see the sources for the amount that was quoted please.

With regards to s42 being used, as I already said in my original request, a decision has been made on it and announced in the Commons, and there is a strong public interest in this matter where up to 11m people could be affected by the cladding scandal. I believe that s42, despite normally being a strong exemption to use, should not apply in this case and taxpayers have the right to know why billions of pounds of public money are being spent to bail out some developers' building deathtraps and not others and why.

I would therefore like to challenge the refusal of all of the information asked for please.

I would also not like my personal details circulated on the Cabinet Office's Clearing House report in any way. Please can you confirm that this has not been done with my data.

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

Yours faithfully

Lynn Wyeth

Despatch Box,

                            
Our reference: 10379757             
Information request

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 
Dear Lynn Wyeth
 
Internal review under the 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
Thank you for your request for a review received on 16 April 2021. I am
sorry that you are dissatisfied with our attempts to handle your request
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
I am considering your concerns and will aim to provide you with a response
by 15 June 2021.
 
Yours faithfully
 
MHCLG FOI Team
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

Despatch Box,

1 Attachment

                            
Our reference: 10379757             
Information request

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 
Dear Lynn Wyeth,
 
Thank you for your request for a review received on 16 April 2021. I am
sorry that you are dissatisfied with our attempts to handle your request
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 
 
Please find attached our response.
 
If you are unhappy with the outcome of this internal review, you can ask
the independent Information Commissioner to investigate. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at email address [1][email address] or
use their online form at [2]ico.org.uk/concerns or call them on 0303 123
1113.
 
 
Kind Regards
 
MHCLG FOI Team
 
 
 
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

References

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