Collections of artwork, gifts, silver, valuables controlled or owned by Aberdeen City Council
Dear Aberdeen City Council,
In light of the city recently being unable to account for huge granite stairs weighing several tonnes, and in light of the Aberdeen Art Gallery storing valuables off site for a long period during its refurbishment, kindly supply:
a. Inventory of all items in the possession/custodianship of Aberdeen Art Gallery
b. Inventory of all items in the possession/custodianship of Aberdeen City Council - for example including gifts from public entities or private people, items displayed in Reception of the Town House, portraits of former lord provosts and others
c. Inventory of all items in the possession/custodianship of other entities owned by Aberdeen City Council, eg but not exclusively Provost Skene's House
I would hope that all such inventories of valuables are in the form of comprehensive electronic documents/spreadsheets, such as is the case with the list of property the city owns. In which case, supplying same will be simple, swift and not incurring any cost. Where an inventory is not kept electronically, advise how such inventory is stored, how managed.
d. For all inventory please advise (again this should be recorded and easy to find) whether any item has been signed out/taken by ACC councillors, staff, others or whether any inventory is missing or damaged.
e. for any inventory which is missing, please advise whether this has been reported to police, and whether any insurance claims have been lodged.
f. advise how much money is spent on insurance for inventory by each location.
g. advise for any items signed out at d above, advise the length of time any item has been signed out/taken and the reason for such action.
Yours faithfully,
Suzanne Kelly
Did you know that the quickest way to make a request for information is to
make your request online? Please visit
[1]https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
to make a request.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
References
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Reference: FOI-343188251
Date of request: 18/06/2021
Title of request: Collections of artwork, gifts, silver, valuables
controlled or owned by Aberdeen City Council
Dear Suzanne Kelly,
Thank you for your completing your Freedom of Information Request.
We aim to answer all requests within 20 working days.
You will receive a response via email and an update in [1]your self-serve
account.
For information about how we handle your request please see our [2]Freedom
of Information privacy notice.
For information about your appeal rights please see [3]Freedom of
Information reviews and appeals.
Kind regards
Access to Information Team
Aberdeen City Council | Customer Development | Customer Experience |
Customer
Marischal College | Broad Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
[4]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
Your personal data is very important to us. Please refer to [5]information
on why and how we use your data.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
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Dear Suzanne Kelly,
Thank you for your request for information.
We would like to ask you to clarify your request so that we can identify
and locate the information which you have requested.
a. Inventory of all items in the possession/custodianship of Aberdeen Art
Gallery b. Inventory of all items in the possession/custodianship of
Aberdeen City Council - for example including gifts from public entities
or private people, items displayed in Reception of the Town House,
portraits of former lord provosts and others c. Inventory of all items in
the possession/custodianship of other entities owned by Aberdeen City
Council, eg but not exclusively Provost Skene's House
We would be extremely grateful if you could clarify what is meant by ‘all
items in the possession of’ in section a, b and c. The Archives, Gallery &
Museums team holds multiple inventories – equipment inventory, Aberdeen
City and Aberdeenshire Archives, Art Gallery & Museums Collections (which
is split further into types of media such paintings, sculpture, costume,
ceramics etc) inventory, McBey and Lloyds Library books inventory. These
are all held centrally and not related to a specific building such as the
Art Gallery, although works may be on display for a period of time in the
Art Gallery.
d. For all inventory please advise (again this should be recorded and
easy to find) whether any item has been signed out/taken by ACC
councillors, staff, others or whether any inventory is missing or damaged.
g. advise for any items signed out at d above, advise the length of time
any item has been signed out/taken and the reason for such action.
We would be extremely grateful if you could define what is meant by the
phrase ‘whether any item has been signed out/taken by ACC councillors,
staff, others’ in question d and g and the timeframe this refers to? Our
interpretation is that this refers to any items not on Council premises on
the day the enquiry is run on the electronic databases. In particular we
wish to understand the definition of ‘others’ – for example does this
refer to Loans of Works of Art to other art galleries for inclusion in
their exhibitions?
Clarifying these points will help us to be sure we are providing, where
possible, the information you are interested in. Please note we will keep
your request on file for 20 working days whilst we await your
clarification. It can often be helpful to discuss your request with a
member of our team who may be able to help you frame your request or
explain more about how ACC holds its information; if this is something you
feel may be helpful please do call us, and we will be happy to assist you.
If you are dissatisfied with the way we have handled your request or the
content of it, you are entitled to ask for an appeal. You can do this from
your [1]Aberdeen City Council self service account.
For more information on your right to review, please visit [2]Freedom of
Information Review and Appeals.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Grant Webster
Access to Information Officer
[3]ACC_Crest_for Grant Webster | Access to Information Officer
mac email
Aberdeen City Council | Access to Information Team |
Customer Feedback |Customer
Marischal College | Business Hub 6 | 1^st Floor | Broad
Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
Dial: 01224 522166
[4]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
[5]COVID-19
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IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
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Dear Foi Enquiries,
Thank you for your request for clarification, response as follows:
you wrote: "We would be extremely grateful if you could clarify what is meant by ‘all
items in the possession of’ in section a, b and c. ". i refer you to the title of the FOI request - which answers that question. I ask for, and am surprised it needs clarification, details of ' Collections of artwork, gifts, silver, valuables controlled or owned by Aberdeen City Council'. Had I been interested in equipment, then I would have said so. I am interested only at this point in ' Collections of artwork, gifts, silver, valuables controlled or owned by Aberdeen City Council'. Naturally you keep such inventories electronically, ready at hand for situations such as needing to supply same to your insurers. I'm sure you can manage to get me this list swiftly. To make this go faster and be affordable for you to do - why not just send me all the inventories you have? That will be easiest. From there if I have other questions, I'll let you know.
You also asked: "We would be extremely grateful if you could define what is meant by the
phrase ‘whether any item has been signed out/taken by ACC councillors,
staff, others’ in question d and g and the timeframe this refers to? Our
interpretation is that this refers to any items not on Council premises on
the day the enquiry is run on the electronic databases. In particular we
wish to understand the definition of ‘others’ – for example does this
refer to Loans of Works of Art to other art galleries for inclusion in
their exhibitions?" your interpretation of items not on council premises on the day the enquiry is run is just fine by me. Others means any third party.
Many thanks
Suzanne Kelly
Yours sincerely,
Suzanne Kelly
Did you know that the quickest way to make a request for information is to
make your request online? Please visit
[1]https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
to make a request.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
Reference: FOI-343188251
Date of request: 17/06/2021
Title of request: Collections of artwork, gifts, silver, valuables
controlled or owned by Aberdeen City Council
Dear Suzanne Kelly,
We are closing your request as we required further clarification from you.
Since that clarification was received on 29 June 2021, we need to close
your request and log a new request with the date 29 June 2021 as the
starting date. We will send you a new acknowledgement email with your new
reference number.
For clarity, you are asking for an inventory of all items in
possession/custodian of Aberdeen City Council in relation to Collections
of artwork, gifts, silver, valuables controlled or owned by Aberdeen City
Council, you are happy for the timeframe for items signed out etc. to be
as at the day that the enquiry is run and when you refer to 'others' you
mean any third party.
Please feel free to contact us at [Aberdeen City Council request email] should
you have any questions.
Kind regards
Access to Information Team
Aberdeen City Council | Customer Development | Customer Experience |
Customer
Marischal College | Broad Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
[1]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
Your personal data is very important to us. Please refer to [2]information
on why and how we use your data.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
References
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Reference: FOI-346070201
Date of request: 01/07/2021
Title of request: Collections of artwork, gifts, silver, valuables
controlled or owned by Aberdeen City Council
Dear Suzanne Kelly,
Thank you for your completing your Freedom of Information Request.
We aim to answer all requests within 20 working days.
You will receive a response via email and an update in [1]your self-serve
account.
For information about how we handle your request please see our [2]Freedom
of Information privacy notice.
For information about your appeal rights please see [3]Freedom of
Information reviews and appeals.
Kind regards
Access to Information Team
Aberdeen City Council | Customer Development | Customer Experience |
Customer
Marischal College | Broad Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
[4]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
Your personal data is very important to us. Please refer to [5]information
on why and how we use your data.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
References
Visible links
1. https://integration.aberdeencity.gov.uk/...
2. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/your-dat...
3. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
4. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk /
5. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/your-dat...
Dear Access to Information Team, Aberdeen City Council,
For the record the original request was 17 June. I consider the clarification request from ACC frivolous (did ACC really not understand the meaning of the word 'other'), and I consider it unacceptable that ACC is trying to say that the new FOI date is 29 June. I expect a comprehensive response within 20 days maximum.
As is inevitable when dealing with ACC, I expect the ACC response will undoubtedly be late and/or claim it is far too difficult/expensive to fill. I am adding this email as a comment for the inevitable internal enquiry that will follow the type of response I have come to expect from ACC.
When it comes time for any internal enquiry / Commissioner review of the handling of this request, I will assuredly want to know why the clarification was needed, and an explanation of the potentially precedent-setting claim that ACC can now move dates simply by asking for (unnecessary) clarifications.
I look forward to an explanation in particular of the inventory of Union Terrace Gardens' valuable items, not least with granite stairs being removed and dumped without permission on private land, heraldic metal shields disappearing, and most recently balustrades being offered for sale via ebay which 'came from Aberdeen' and look identical to the ones that were at Union Terrace Gardens. My original FOI request clearly would have covered Union Terrace Gardens, but for historical benefit, I am listing these items, all of which should have been captured on an easy-to access, electronic list of assets (such as surely you must supply to your insurers) - so I expect a swift and comprehensive reply to this FOI.
Yours sincerely,
Suzanne Kelly
Did you know that the quickest way to make a request for information is to
make your request online? Please visit
[1]https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
to make a request.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
Dear Suzanne Kelly,
Thank you. I acknowledge receipt of your email.
Kind regards,
Grant Webster
Access to Information Officer
Reference: FOI-346070201
Date of request: 29/06/2021
Title of request: Collections of artwork, gifts, silver, valuables
controlled or owned by Aberdeen City Council
Dear Suzanne Kelly,
Thank you for your information request. We have completed the necessary
search for the information requested. Our response is now detailed below.
In light of the Aberdeen Art Gallery storing valuables off site for a long
period during its refurbishment, kindly supply:
a. Inventory of all items in the possession/custodianship of Aberdeen Art
Gallery
b. Inventory of all items in the possession/custodianship of Aberdeen
City Council - for example including gifts from public entities or private
people, items displayed in Reception of the Town House, portraits of
former lord provosts and others
c. Inventory of all items in the possession/custodianship of other
entities owned by Aberdeen City Council, eg but not exclusively Provost
Skene's House
d. For all inventory please advise whether any item has been signed
out/taken by ACC councillors, staff, others or whether any inventory is
missing or damaged.
e. for any inventory which is missing, please advise whether this has
been reported to police, and whether any insurance claims have been
lodged.
f. advise how much money is spent on insurance for inventory by each
location.
g. advise for any items signed out at d above, advise the length of time
any item has been signed out/taken and the reason for such action.
I am interested only at this point in ' Collections of artwork, gifts,
silver, valuables controlled or owned by Aberdeen City Council'. Your
interpretation of items not on council premises on the day the enquiry is
run is just fine by me. Others means any third party.
The spreadsheet listing our collection is too large to send through our
online portal. As such, we will send it by email to you. Please see notes
below:
Notes, definitions and assumptions related to FOI-346070201 Collections
Missing
The electronic record held by Aberdeen City Council was created using
historic paper records, rather than actual items held. As such, it not
only lists everything we have, but also everything that we once had as
well. This is to ensure that we have a records trail for future
research/provenance etc. There is currently work ongoing to match the
electronic records to actual items held. As I’m sure you can appreciate,
this is a significant task considering the number of items held and
recorded.
In addition, the electronic record is regularly audited to check the
information. This is done on a random sample basis, where a number of
records are extracted and checked for accuracy. This has been done
regularly since the early 2000’s.
Although c. 1500 items have a 'missing' status, we have assigned around
3100 items with temporary numbers; many of which have become disassociated
from their accession number e.g. the label with the number has become
separated from the object. It is highly likely that there is an overlap
between these two categories and we will be able to reconcile in the
future by undertaking research in to the extensive paper files
pre-computerisation. The remaining temporary numbers are items stored in
the buildings but not accessioned into the collections.
Many of the 'historical loss pre-TMS' records refer to a 'missing' date of
2020. It is important to note that these items were missing before we
began using TMS in 2002, however, their status was confirmed as 'still
missing' in 2020 as data cleaning work was undertaken.
A number of items have been recorded as 'missing' and requiring further
investigation during the decant of the art gallery in 2015. As we were
moving thousands of items between buildings we suspected an admin error
occurred in the recording of blocks. We are now relocating stores and
expect to investigate and identify current locations during this process.
We plan to retain the last known location of 'Art Gallery basement' as a
clear indication of this process.
Damaged
Many items recorded as 'damaged' have subsequently been conserved. Some of
the damage entries record historical damage rather than damage that has
just occurred. Generally speaking, 'wear and tear' or natural
deterioration of the object has not been recorded as damage. We have paper
damage reports that predate use of our digital Collections Management
System (TMS) but such files cannot be easily accessed.
Damage reports indicate that most damage relates to the frames surrounding
our paintings. Frames are particularly vulnerable, especially if they were
cheaply constructed. Adhesives, joints and the wood itself become brittle
with age or have ornate decoration. Damage to our frames is generally
minor and we keep the ornamentation that becomes detached from frames to
enable reattachment.
Conservation required
The 'Conservation required' category identifies several items whose
condition has either deteriorated or came into the collection in a poor
state. Note that this category does not cover all such items in the
collection, but generally highlights ones where conservation is essential
in the next 1-5 years e.g. as preparation in advance of display in an
upcoming exhibition.
Insurance claims
No claims have been made in the past 5 years. Financial accounts are
disposed of after 5 years, therefore there is nothing to report. We do not
hold information on how much insurance is spent per location as this is
not recorded per location.
We are unable to provide you with information on how much money is spent
on insurance for inventory by each location as it is not held by ACC. In
order to comply with our obligations under the terms of Section 17 of the
FOISA, we hereby give notice that this information is not held by us.
ABD** numbers
ABDAG and ABDMS prefixes refer to items in the collection of Aberdeen Art
Gallery and Museums.
ABDCC prefix refers to items in the Civic Collection.
Loans from ABDAG & ABDMS collection
Loans are only permitted to organisations - either through the collection
loan scheme to businesses, or by standard museum loan agreement to other
local authority, heritage or educational institutions.
Loans from ABDCC collection
As above, in compliance with the custodial care responsibility of Aberdeen
Gallery & Museums; plus the supervised use of civic regalia for official
functions with items signed out and in on return by the Town Sergeants.
We handled your request for information in accordance with the provisions
of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
If you are dissatisfied with the way we have handled your request or the
content of it, you are entitled to ask for an appeal. You can do this from
your [1]Aberdeen City Council self service account.
For more information on your right to review, please visit [2]Freedom of
Information Review and Appeals.
We hope this helps with your request.
Kind regards
Access to Information Team
Aberdeen City Council | Customer Development | Customer Experience |
Customer
Marischal College | Broad Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
[3]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
Your personal data is very important to us. Please refer to [4]information
on why and how we use your data.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
References
Visible links
1. https://integration.aberdeencity.gov.uk/...
2. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
3. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk /
4. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/your-dat...
Dear Ms Kelly,
Please see attached in relation to your request. I have included a copy of
our response below.
Kind regards,
Grant
Thank you for your information request. We have completed the necessary
search for the information requested. Our response is now detailed below.
In light of the Aberdeen Art Gallery storing valuables off site for a long
period during its refurbishment, kindly supply:
a. Inventory of all items in the possession/custodianship of Aberdeen Art
Gallery
b. Inventory of all items in the possession/custodianship of Aberdeen
City Council - for example including gifts from public entities or private
people, items displayed in Reception of the Town House, portraits of
former lord provosts and others
c. Inventory of all items in the possession/custodianship of other
entities owned by Aberdeen City Council, eg but not exclusively Provost
Skene's House
d. For all inventory please advise whether any item has been signed
out/taken by ACC councillors, staff, others or whether any inventory is
missing or damaged.
e. for any inventory which is missing, please advise whether this has
been reported to police, and whether any insurance claims have been
lodged.
f. advise how much money is spent on insurance for inventory by each
location.
g. advise for any items signed out at d above, advise the length of time
any item has been signed out/taken and the reason for such action.
I am interested only at this point in ' Collections of artwork, gifts,
silver, valuables controlled or owned by Aberdeen City Council'. Your
interpretation of items not on council premises on the day the enquiry is
run is just fine by me. Others means any third party.
The spreadsheet listing our collection is too large to send through our
online portal. As such, we will send it by email to you. Please see notes
below:
Notes, definitions and assumptions related to FOI-346070201 Collections
Missing
The electronic record held by Aberdeen City Council was created using
historic paper records, rather than actual items held. As such, it not
only lists everything we have, but also everything that we once had as
well. This is to ensure that we have a records trail for future
research/provenance etc. There is currently work ongoing to match the
electronic records to actual items held. As I’m sure you can appreciate,
this is a significant task considering the number of items held and
recorded.
In addition, the electronic record is regularly audited to check the
information. This is done on a random sample basis, where a number of
records are extracted and checked for accuracy. This has been done
regularly since the early 2000’s.
Although c. 1500 items have a 'missing' status, we have assigned around
3100 items with temporary numbers; many of which have become disassociated
from their accession number e.g. the label with the number has become
separated from the object. It is highly likely that there is an overlap
between these two categories and we will be able to reconcile in the
future by undertaking research in to the extensive paper files
pre-computerisation. The remaining temporary numbers are items stored in
the buildings but not accessioned into the collections.
Many of the 'historical loss pre-TMS' records refer to a 'missing' date of
2020. It is important to note that these items were missing before we
began using TMS in 2002, however, their status was confirmed as 'still
missing' in 2020 as data cleaning work was undertaken.
A number of items have been recorded as 'missing' and requiring further
investigation during the decant of the art gallery in 2015. As we were
moving thousands of items between buildings we suspected an admin error
occurred in the recording of blocks. We are now relocating stores and
expect to investigate and identify current locations during this process.
We plan to retain the last known location of 'Art Gallery basement' as a
clear indication of this process.
Damaged
Many items recorded as 'damaged' have subsequently been conserved. Some of
the damage entries record historical damage rather than damage that has
just occurred. Generally speaking, 'wear and tear' or natural
deterioration of the object has not been recorded as damage. We have paper
damage reports that predate use of our digital Collections Management
System (TMS) but such files cannot be easily accessed.
Damage reports indicate that most damage relates to the frames surrounding
our paintings. Frames are particularly vulnerable, especially if they were
cheaply constructed. Adhesives, joints and the wood itself become brittle
with age or have ornate decoration. Damage to our frames is generally
minor and we keep the ornamentation that becomes detached from frames to
enable reattachment.
Conservation required
The 'Conservation required' category identifies several items whose
condition has either deteriorated or came into the collection in a poor
state. Note that this category does not cover all such items in the
collection, but generally highlights ones where conservation is essential
in the next 1-5 years e.g. as preparation in advance of display in an
upcoming exhibition.
Insurance claims
No claims have been made in the past 5 years. Financial accounts are
disposed of after 5 years, therefore there is nothing to report. We do not
hold information on how much insurance is spent per location as this is
not recorded per location.
We are unable to provide you with information on how much money is spent
on insurance for inventory by each location as it is not held by ACC. In
order to comply with our obligations under the terms of Section 17 of the
FOISA, we hereby give notice that this information is not held by us.
ABD** numbers
ABDAG and ABDMS prefixes refer to items in the collection of Aberdeen Art
Gallery and Museums.
ABDCC prefix refers to items in the Civic Collection.
Loans from ABDAG & ABDMS collection
Loans are only permitted to organisations - either through the collection
loan scheme to businesses, or by standard museum loan agreement to other
local authority, heritage or educational institutions.
Loans from ABDCC collection
As above, in compliance with the custodial care responsibility of Aberdeen
Gallery & Museums; plus the supervised use of civic regalia for official
functions with items signed out and in on return by the Town Sergeants.
We handled your request for information in accordance with the provisions
of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
If you are dissatisfied with the way we have handled your request or the
content of it, you are entitled to ask for an appeal. You can do this from
your [1]Aberdeen City Council self service account.
For more information on your right to review, please visit [2]Freedom of
Information Review and Appeals.
We hope this helps with your request.
[3]ACC_Crest_for Grant Webster | Access to Information Officer
mac email
Aberdeen City Council | Access to Information Team |
Customer Feedback |Customer
Marischal College | Business Hub 6 | 1^st Floor | Broad
Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
Dial: 01224 522166
[4]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
[5]COVID-19
COVID-19
COVID-19
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Dear Foi Enquiries,
Thank you for this information.
You refer to not being able to electronically send me information as it is too large. I hope this is a problem you will soon rectify; it is a reason/excuse used in the past - one which anyone with access to secure drive services such as google drive are immune from.
You said you would then send this information by post; please then send it in an electronic form such as memory stick so that it will be easy to search, affordable to post, and greener than sending paper.
Yours sincerely,
Suzanne Kelly
Did you know that the quickest way to make a request for information is to
make your request online? Please visit
[1]https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
to make a request.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
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Dear Ms Kelly,
Thank you for your e-mail and our apologies for any inconvenience.
We just checked our response and we had sent an excel spreadsheet to you, however, it did appear as a text file on the 'What do they know' website. We have contacted 'What do they know' to find out if there may be any existing issue with the excel files appearing as text files.
We will send it to you again and if the same error happens, could you please provide an alternative e-mail address where we can send this spreadsheet to ?
Hope this clarifies and please let us know in case of any problems.
Thank you,
Salomeh Kheyri Rad | Access to Information Officer
Aberdeen City Council | Access to Information Team | Customer Feedback |Customer
Marischal College | Business Hub 6 | 1st Floor | Broad Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
Dial: 01224 522166
www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC | Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
Dear Ms Kelly,
Here is another copy of our response to you.
Thank you,
Salomeh
Thank you for your information request. We have completed the necessary
search for the information requested. Our response is now detailed below.
In light of the Aberdeen Art Gallery storing valuables off site for a long
period during its refurbishment, kindly supply:
a. Inventory of all items in the possession/custodianship of Aberdeen Art
Gallery
b. Inventory of all items in the possession/custodianship of Aberdeen City
Council - for example including gifts from public entities or private
people, items displayed in Reception of the Town House, portraits of
former lord provosts and others
c. Inventory of all items in the possession/custodianship of other
entities owned by Aberdeen City Council, eg but not exclusively Provost
Skene's House
d. For all inventory please advise whether any item has been signed
out/taken by ACC councillors, staff, others or whether any inventory is
missing or damaged.
e. for any inventory which is missing, please advise whether this has been
reported to police, and whether any insurance claims have been lodged.
f. advise how much money is spent on insurance for inventory by each
location.
g. advise for any items signed out at d above, advise the length of time
any item has been signed out/taken and the reason for such action.
I am interested only at this point in ' Collections of artwork, gifts,
silver, valuables controlled or owned by Aberdeen City Council'. Your
interpretation of items not on council premises on the day the enquiry is
run is just fine by me. Others means any third party.
The spreadsheet listing our collection is too large to send through our
online portal. As such, we will send it by email to you. Please see notes
below:
Notes, definitions and assumptions related to FOI-346070201 Collections
Missing
The electronic record held by Aberdeen City Council was created using
historic paper records, rather than actual items held. As such, it not
only lists everything we have, but also everything that we once had as
well. This is to ensure that we have a records trail for future
research/provenance etc. There is currently work ongoing to match the
electronic records to actual items held. As I’m sure you can appreciate,
this is a significant task considering the number of items held and
recorded.
In addition, the electronic record is regularly audited to check the
information. This is done on a random sample basis, where a number of
records are extracted and checked for accuracy. This has been done
regularly since the early 2000’s.
Although c. 1500 items have a 'missing' status, we have assigned around
3100 items with temporary numbers; many of which have become disassociated
from their accession number e.g. the label with the number has become
separated from the object. It is highly likely that there is an overlap
between these two categories and we will be able to reconcile in the
future by undertaking research in to the extensive paper files
pre-computerisation. The remaining temporary numbers are items stored in
the buildings but not accessioned into the collections.
Many of the 'historical loss pre-TMS' records refer to a 'missing' date of
2020. It is important to note that these items were missing before we
began using TMS in 2002, however, their status was confirmed as 'still
missing' in 2020 as data cleaning work was undertaken.
A number of items have been recorded as 'missing' and requiring further
investigation during the decant of the art gallery in 2015. As we were
moving thousands of items between buildings we suspected an admin error
occurred in the recording of blocks. We are now relocating stores and
expect to investigate and identify current locations during this process.
We plan to retain the last known location of 'Art Gallery basement' as a
clear indication of this process.
Damaged
Many items recorded as 'damaged' have subsequently been conserved. Some of
the damage entries record historical damage rather than damage that has
just occurred. Generally speaking, 'wear and tear' or natural
deterioration of the object has not been recorded as damage. We have paper
damage reports that predate use of our digital Collections Management
System (TMS) but such files cannot be easily accessed.
Damage reports indicate that most damage relates to the frames surrounding
our paintings. Frames are particularly vulnerable, especially if they were
cheaply constructed. Adhesives, joints and the wood itself become brittle
with age or have ornate decoration. Damage to our frames is generally
minor and we keep the ornamentation that becomes detached from frames to
enable reattachment.
Conservation required
The 'Conservation required' category identifies several items whose
condition has either deteriorated or came into the collection in a poor
state. Note that this category does not cover all such items in the
collection, but generally highlights ones where conservation is essential
in the next 1-5 years e.g. as preparation in advance of display in an
upcoming exhibition.
Insurance claims
No claims have been made in the past 5 years. Financial accounts are
disposed of after 5 years, therefore there is nothing to report. We do not
hold information on how much insurance is spent per location as this is
not recorded per location.
We are unable to provide you with information on how much money is spent
on insurance for inventory by each location as it is not held by ACC. In
order to comply with our obligations under the terms of Section 17 of the
FOISA, we hereby give notice that this information is not held by us.
ABD** numbers
ABDAG and ABDMS prefixes refer to items in the collection of Aberdeen Art
Gallery and Museums.
ABDCC prefix refers to items in the Civic Collection.
Loans from ABDAG & ABDMS collection
Loans are only permitted to organisations - either through the collection
loan scheme to businesses, or by standard museum loan agreement to other
local authority, heritage or educational institutions.
Loans from ABDCC collection
As above, in compliance with the custodial care responsibility of Aberdeen
Gallery & Museums; plus the supervised use of civic regalia for official
functions with items signed out and in on return by the Town Sergeants.
We handled your request for information in accordance with the provisions
of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
If you are dissatisfied with the way we have handled your request or the
content of it, you are entitled to ask for an appeal. You can do this from
your [1]Aberdeen City Council self service account.
For more information on your right to review, please visit [2]Freedom of
Information Review and Appeals.
We hope this helps with your request.
[3]ACC_Crest_for Salomeh Kheyri Rad | Access to Information Officer
mac email
Aberdeen City Council | Access to Information Team |
Customer Feedback |Customer
Marischal College | Business Hub 6 | 1^st Floor | Broad
Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
Dial: 01224 522166
[4]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
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Dear Ms Kelly,
Following our yesterday e-mail, we re-sent our response to you. We then checked the 'What do they know' website and noticed that there is still an error with the spreadsheet. We had been in touch with 'What do they know' website to check any existing issue, in the meantime, could you please provide an alternative e-mail address so we can send our response to you?
Thank you,
Salomeh Kheyri Rad | Access to Information Officer
Aberdeen City Council | Access to Information Team | Customer Feedback |Customer
Marischal College | Business Hub 6 | 1st Floor | Broad Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
Dial: 01224 522166
www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC | Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
Dear Aberdeen City Council,
you can email me at [email address] ; this email is public-facing and I am happy for it to appear here. I will be happy to have the spreadsheet electronically, but if that is not possible, then it will have to be in print.
Yours faithfully,
Suzanne Kelly
Did you know that the quickest way to make a request for information is to
make your request online? Please visit
[1]https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
to make a request.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
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Dear Ms Kelly,
Thank you for your e-mail received today.
Please find enclosed the spreadsheet in relation to our response to your
FOI ref: FOI-346070201.
We were advised by ‘What Do They Know’ team that there is a technical
issue on their website which they are currently looking into, trying to
resolve it.
Hope this helps and please let us know in case of any further details
needed.
Kind regards,
[1]ACC_Crest_for Salomeh Kheyri Rad | Access to Information Officer
mac email
Aberdeen City Council | Access to Information Team |
Customer Feedback |Customer
Marischal College | Business Hub 6 | 1^st Floor | Broad
Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
Dial: 01224 522166
[2]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
References
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2. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/
Dear Aberdeen City Council,
Thank you for this list; I cannot see how it was too large to be easily sent, but on another issue, this list does not seem to show the status of the items. If you ACC is aware that 1500 items are not accounted for, then this would have to be logged in some form for each item, ideally on the spreadsheet that lists the items. How can I otherwise tell what is missing?
The notable omission from your list are the marble steps which until the refurbishment were part of the Art Gallery. Please advise where these stairs are now; as far as I can tell, at a minimum each marble tread would be worth several hundred pounds at a minimum. Thank you for sending the complete spreadsheet showing status and advising the location of the stairs as part of this existing request at your early opportunity.
Yours faithfully,
Suzanne Kelly
Did you know that the quickest way to make a request for information is to
make your request online? Please visit
[1]https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
to make a request.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
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Reference: FOI-358275454
Date of request: 24/08/2021
Title of request: Marble Steps
Dear Suzanne Kelly,
Thank you for your completing your Freedom of Information Request.
We aim to answer all requests within 20 working days.
You will receive a response via email and an update in [1]your self-serve
account.
For information about how we handle your request please see our [2]Freedom
of Information privacy notice.
For information about your appeal rights please see [3]Freedom of
Information reviews and appeals.
Kind regards
Access to Information Team
Aberdeen City Council | Customer Development | Customer Experience |
Customer
Marischal College | Broad Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
[4]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
Your personal data is very important to us. Please refer to [5]information
on why and how we use your data.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
References
Visible links
1. https://integration.aberdeencity.gov.uk/...
2. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/your-dat...
3. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
4. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk /
5. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/your-dat...
Dear Ms Kelly,
Thank you for your e-mail.
Please note that the issue you had experienced with the spreadsheet was due to some technical errors in 'What do they know' website and not its actual size, however, we believe that you received the spreadsheet by providing an alternative e-mail address.
The list that we provided in our response ref: FOI-346070201, includes the status of the items as well. Please click on Column E where you can filter and view the missing items.
In relation to the marble steps, we logged this request as a new FOI where a response will be provided to you within the statutory timeframe.
Hope this helps and please let us know in case of any further details needed.
Kind regards,
Salomeh Kheyri Rad | Access to Information Officer
Aberdeen City Council | Access to Information Team | Customer Feedback |Customer
Marischal College | Business Hub 6 | 1st Floor | Broad Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
Dial: 01224 522166
www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC | Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
Reference: FOI-358275454
Date of request: 23/08/2021
Title of request: Marble Steps
Dear Suzanne Kelly,
Thank you for your information request. We have completed the necessary
search for the information requested. Our response is now detailed below.
The notable omission from your list are the marble steps which until the
refurbishment were part of the Art Gallery. Please advise where these
stairs are now; as far as I can tell, at a minimum each marble tread would
be worth several hundred pounds at a minimum.
The marble veneer taken from the staircase is stored at our offsite museum
collection storage facility in Northfield.
We handled your request for information in accordance with the provisions
of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
If you are dissatisfied with the way we have handled your request or the
content of it, you are entitled to ask for an appeal. You can do this from
your [1]Aberdeen City Council self service account.
For more information on your right to review, please visit [2]Freedom of
Information Review and Appeals.
We hope this helps with your request.
Kind regards
Access to Information Team
Aberdeen City Council | Customer Development | Customer Experience |
Customer
Marischal College | Broad Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
[3]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
Your personal data is very important to us. Please refer to [4]information
on why and how we use your data.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
References
Visible links
1. https://integration.aberdeencity.gov.uk/...
2. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
3. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk /
4. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/your-dat...
Dear Access to Information Team, Aberdeen City Council,
Thank you for the staircase info; I guess only some of the marble steps were turned into jewellery then.
As to ACC's claim that the information clearly shows up on the data previously supplied for this request that I should be able to see the item and its status: whether I open in HTML or download, all I can still see is the name of the item, column titles and a series of commas. At one point you were going to send me paper printouts or as I preferred the data on a memory stick. Can you please proceed with that. If you want screenshots of the fact the data is not visible, I can share that happily.
Yours sincerely,
Suzanne Kelly
Did you know that the quickest way to make a request for information is to
make your request online? Please visit
[1]https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
to make a request.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
References
Visible links
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Dear Ms Kelly,
Thanks for your email. I apologise that the file doesn't seem to be working for you. Could you provide me with your postal address and I will arrange to have a memory stick posted to you?
Thanks,
Grant
Dear Foi Enquiries,
i will email you my postal address thank you. It would be great if you could attach to this What Do They Know request a screenshot showing that the link ACC supplied open in the URL bar, with the contents displaying correctly. Many thanks.
Yours sincerely,
Suzanne Kelly
Did you know that the quickest way to make a request for information is to
make your request online? Please visit
[1]https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
to make a request.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
Dear Suzanne,
My sincere apologies about the ongoing issues regarding the spreadsheet we have shared with you. I understand that a pen drive has been posted to you.
However, I'm not sure what you are asking me to provide below. As part of our response to you, we attached a .csv file containing the information you requested. We didn't send you a link to access the information.
My understanding is that whatdotheyknow.com takes any attachments and provides a link to it on their Portal, rather than uploading the attachment. We have contacted whatdotheyknow.com to let them know that there is a fault with their website where some attachments don't appear to be accessible. They have advised us that they are working to resolve the issue.
Kind regards,
Grant
Dear Foi Enquiries,
Now that I have studied this database to some depth (it is a large file requiring time to evaluate, and I originally did not get a readable spreadsheet for some time), there are a number of issues arising that tell me the request was not filled in full and that the inventory supplied is flawed.
I would like an internal review held for the following reasons:
1. the lateness in responding; this is habitual with ACC, and I can't remember many of my requests being answered within the time frame.
2. The quality of the data is poor - I asked for a comprehensive inventory. That is not what I got. Some line items do not have a title/description at all. Regarding the 'Boticelli' [sic] entry, the word 'illustrations' is used - it now appears it should have read 'prints'. This is one example of the data being incorrect. The data for this entry is also incomplete: how many prints? Were they all different scenes? An inventory needs to quantify items. I also think a comprehensive inventory would clearly say what the object IS - ie original artwork, copy, photocopy, quality print, scuplture, etc. Someone decided to omit this information; I have just been told it is indeed captured as mentioned in ACC's email to me today.
3. That ACC opened on its own website, with no recourse to me in advance, a new FOI in my name when either an email response or a reply here should have happened. I was not consulted and would not have agreed to this: how did it happen?
I have been corresponding with the media team concerning the inventory and the missing objects, which is relaying answers to me presumably from the gallery staff. In that correspondence I wrote: " I would suggest a robust inventory would record whether something is an original painting, a copy, a print, sculpture, etc. - and ideally how acquired, whether it was purchased and if so for what sum, and any appraisal value and date. If there is a further inventory with further details and valuations shown, I would expect this to now be released to me asap without my needing to ask for the Information Commissioner's intervention. Please pass that on to the relevant FOI team, thank you."
4. Was the quality of the original spreadsheet sent in answer to this request checked? As is reflected on the WDTK website, it does not open correctly. When I tried to open the data as originally supplied here, I got the name / title (or so it appeared) of object followed by a series of commas. Nothing appearead about condition, missing status, etc. It took me several requests to finally get access to a readable excel spreadsheet. Was it checked for completeness and if so, what follow-on actions if anywhere taken to fill in the missing information? Some items do not even have a title, many do not give a location.
Yours sincerely,
Suzanne Kelly
Did you know that the quickest way to make a request for information is to
make your request online? Please visit
[1]https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
to make a request.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
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delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
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this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
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Dear Ms Kelly,
Thank you for your request for review.
I note that the following points will be reviewed:
1. the lateness in responding; this is habitual with ACC, and I can't remember many of my requests being answered within the time frame.
2. The quality of the data is poor - I asked for a comprehensive inventory. That is not what I got. Some line items do not have a title/description at all. Regarding the 'Boticelli' [sic] entry, the word 'illustrations' is used - it now appears it should have read 'prints'. This is one example of the data being incorrect. The data for this entry is also incomplete: how many prints? Were they all different scenes? An inventory needs to quantify items. I also think a comprehensive inventory would clearly say what the object IS - ie original artwork, copy, photocopy, quality print, scuplture, etc. Someone decided to omit this information; I have just been told it is indeed captured as mentioned in ACC's email to me today.
4. Was the quality of the original spreadsheet sent in answer to this request checked? As is reflected on the WDTK website, it does not open correctly. When I tried to open the data as originally supplied here, I got the name / title (or so it appeared) of object followed by a series of commas. Nothing appearead about condition, missing status, etc. It took me several requests to finally get access to a readable excel spreadsheet. Was it checked for completeness and if so, what follow-on actions if anywhere taken to fill in the missing information? Some items do not even have a title, many do not give a location.
In accordance with the timescales set out in FOISA, you should receive a review outcome on or before 24 November 2021. If ACC fails to provide you with a response by that date, you can apply to the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner (OSIC) to make a decision. Please refer to the Further Information section below.
I would also take this opportunity to advise you that you will have no further opportunities to seek a review at local authority level after your response has been provided, as FOISA allows applicants to have one review only. If you receive your response and disagree with any aspect of it, you should contact OSIC directly.
Please note that we are unable to review the following as it was not part of the original response you received and it looks like you are wishing to receive an explanation which can be provided to you outwith a review.
3. That ACC opened on its own website, with no recourse to me in advance, a new FOI in my name when either an email response or a reply here should have happened. I was not consulted and would not have agreed to this: how did it happen?
I have been corresponding with the media team concerning the inventory and the missing objects, which is relaying answers to me presumably from the gallery staff. In that correspondence I wrote: " I would suggest a robust inventory would record whether something is an original painting, a copy, a print, sculpture, etc. - and ideally how acquired, whether it was purchased and if so for what sum, and any appraisal value and date. If there is a further inventory with further details and valuations shown, I would expect this to now be released to me asap without my needing to ask for the Information Commissioner's intervention. Please pass that on to the relevant FOI team, thank you."
You should have received an explanation of our decision why we had decided to log your request as a new request before doing so. I apologise that this did not happen.
When we receive any request for information we need to assess whether it (a) it is a new request asking for information that was not specified in the original request, or (b) whether this is a review. We noted your dissatisfaction with the original response you received, however we have looked at your original request https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c... , we noted that you did not ask for the following information in your original request. e.g. type of art work, sum, appraisal date. Therefore, we have logged this as a new FOI request.
If you are dissatisfied with this decision, this can be handled as a separate review.
If you need any further details or wish speak to us, please let us know and we are happy to give you call.
Kind Regards
Claire Barranger-Clark
Dear Foi Enquiries,
Now that I have studied this database to some depth (it is a large file requiring time to evaluate, and I originally did not get a readable spreadsheet for some time), there are a number of issues arising that tell me the request was not filled in full and that the inventory supplied is flawed.
I would like an internal review held for the following reasons:
1. the lateness in responding; this is habitual with ACC, and I can't remember many of my requests being answered within the time frame.
2. The quality of the data is poor - I asked for a comprehensive inventory. That is not what I got. Some line items do not have a title/description at all. Regarding the 'Boticelli' [sic] entry, the word 'illustrations' is used - it now appears it should have read 'prints'. This is one example of the data being incorrect. The data for this entry is also incomplete: how many prints? Were they all different scenes? An inventory needs to quantify items. I also think a comprehensive inventory would clearly say what the object IS - ie original artwork, copy, photocopy, quality print, scuplture, etc. Someone decided to omit this information; I have just been told it is indeed captured as mentioned in ACC's email to me today.
3. That ACC opened on its own website, with no recourse to me in advance, a new FOI in my name when either an email response or a reply here should have happened. I was not consulted and would not have agreed to this: how did it happen?
I have been corresponding with the media team concerning the inventory and the missing objects, which is relaying answers to me presumably from the gallery staff. In that correspondence I wrote: " I would suggest a robust inventory would record whether something is an original painting, a copy, a print, sculpture, etc. - and ideally how acquired, whether it was purchased and if so for what sum, and any appraisal value and date. If there is a further inventory with further details and valuations shown, I would expect this to now be released to me asap without my needing to ask for the Information Commissioner's intervention. Please pass that on to the relevant FOI team, thank you."
4. Was the quality of the original spreadsheet sent in answer to this request checked? As is reflected on the WDTK website, it does not open correctly. When I tried to open the data as originally supplied here, I got the name / title (or so it appeared) of object followed by a series of commas. Nothing appearead about condition, missing status, etc. It took me several requests to finally get access to a readable excel spreadsheet. Was it checked for completeness and if so, what follow-on actions if anywhere taken to fill in the missing information? Some items do not even have a title, many do not give a location.
Yours sincerely,
Suzanne Kelly
Dear Foi Enquiries,
1. Please confirm plainly, ideally without repeating all of my previous email request for an internal review (it is redundant to do so) that you acknowledge the above request for internal review and it will be held.
2. Stop communicating with me by email. I want any and all replies on this subject to appear on this What do They Know, including the below exchange:
Dear All
Thank you for your email. May I remind you that your team was (eventually) able to send a working spreadsheet which had all of hte collection items on it - except for the medium/material? I was told clearly this information was part of hte inventory, but was not supplied because it was not specifically requested. What I asked for was a comprehensive inventory. That surely would have including what the items were. It should be relatively simple to send me an inventory which is in the city's possession which shows what the medium is for each item.
I will be posting this email from you and my response on the What Do They Know website: this is where I am communicating with the FOI team at ACC, despite the continued attempts to get me to use the ACC system which I repeatedly have declined.
It is clear the information is part of the inventory from previous comments and can be supplied; however, I will at some stage create a new FOI request on specific questions.
Yours
Suzanne Kelly
-----Original Message-----
From: Access to Information Team, Aberdeen City Council <[email address]>
To: [email address]
Sent: Mon, 22 Nov 2021 11:48
Subject: FOI-374007029 - Response
Reference: FOI-374007029
Date of request: 27/10/2021
Title of request: Details and Valuations of Art Items
Information request:
Further to FOI-343188251 and FOI-346070201
I would suggest a robust inventory would record whether something is an original painting, a copy, a print, sculpture, etc. - and ideally how acquired, whether it was purchased and if so for what sum, and any appraisal value and date. If there is a further inventory with further details and valuations shown, I would expect this to now be released to me asap without my needing to ask for the Information Commissioner's intervention. Please pass that on to the relevant FOI team, thank you.
Dear Suzanne Kelly,
Please find below your response
Further to FOI-343188251 and FOI-346070201
“I would suggest a robust inventory would record whether something is an original painting, a copy, a print, sculpture, etc. - and ideally how acquired, whether it was purchased and if so for what sum, and any appraisal value and date.”
Aberdeen City Council is unable to provide you with a robust inventory as the cost of providing it has been calculated as being in excess of the statutory maximum (£600).
Our collections management database contains thousands of records and a vast amount of data spread across several modules and it is maintained and enhanced on a daily basis. To fulfil this enquiry would involve an Aberdeen City Council Officer exporting and preparing a comprehensive inventory of our collection from this database. This has been calculated at a minimum of 300 minutes per 1500 records. There are 150,000 records currently within the collection. This would equate to 500 hours at £15 per hour of staff time, at the cost of £ 7,500 in total.
In order to comply with its obligations under the terms of Section 16 of the FOISA, we are refusing your request under the terms of Section 12 - Excessive Cost of Compliance - of the FOISA.
The Access to Information Team would be happy to discuss ways in which you may refine your request, so we can provide some information of interest to you within the maximum cost limits. For example, by [reducing the time period you are interested in etc]. Please do contact the Access to Information team on 01224 522166, who will be happy to advise you, if this is something you would like to pursue.
We handled your request for information in accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.
If you are dissatisfied with the way we have handled your request or the content of it, you are entitled to ask for an appeal. You can do this from your Aberdeen City Council self service account or by emailing us at [email address]
For more information on your right to review, please visit Freedom of Information Review and Appeals.
We hope this helps with your request.
Kind regards
Access to Information Team
Aberdeen City Council | Customer Development | Customer Experience | Customer
Marischal College | Broad Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC | Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
Your personal data is very important to us. Please refer to information on why and how we use your data.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only. If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email, delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it. Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject to regular monitoring.
Yours sincerely,
Suzanne Kelly
Did you know that the quickest way to make a request for information is to
make your request online? Please visit
[1]https://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/services...
to make a request.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
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Dear Ms Kelly
We have reviewed your email below and can confirm that we will log a review for you on the following basis;
You believe that ACC should be able to supply the full inventory you requested as you previously received a partial inventory as part of your previous FOI.
If this is not the correct interpretation of the basis of your request, please let us know.
Kind Regards
Access to Information Team
Dear Ms Kelly,
Please find attached the decision of the FOI Review Panel following your
request for a review.
Regards,
Martyn
[1]ACC_Crest_for Martyn Orchard | Committee Lead
mac email
Aberdeen City Council | Governance
Town House (1^st Floor) | Broad Street | Aberdeen |
AB10 1AQ
Direct Dial: 01224 523097
[2]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
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Dear Ms Kelly,
Thank you for your request for a review to reconsider the information
request REV-374007029 Details and Valuations of Art Items on the basis
that you are not satisfied with the content of the response from Aberdeen
City Council.
In accordance with the timescales set out in FOISA, you should receive a
review outcome on or before 21 December 2021. If Aberdeen City Council
fails to provide you with a response by that date, you can apply to the
Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner (OSIC) to make a decision.
Please refer to the Further Information section below.
I would also take this opportunity to advise you that you will have no
further opportunities to seek a review at local authority level after your
response has been provided, as FOISA allows applicants to have one review
only. If you receive your response and disagree with any aspect of it, you
should contact OSIC directly.
FURTHER INFORMATION
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your request for an internal
review, you can apply directly to the Office of the Scottish Information
Commissioner (OSIC) for a decision. Generally, OSIC cannot make a decision
unless you have been through the ACC’s review procedure. To make an
application to OSIC, please write or email OSIC at:
The Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner
Kinburn Castle
Doubledykes Road
St Andrews
Fife
KY16 9DS
[1]www.itspublicknowledge.info
An application to OSIC must be made in writing within six months of
receipt of ACC’s Review Decision Notice. When applying to OSIC for a
decision you should give your name and address for correspondence. Please
note that OSIC will not be able to investigate if you have not used your
real name to make your information request. You must also specify:
You must also specify:
● which request for information your requirement for review relates to
● the reason that you asked ACC to carry out a review of your request
● the reason why you are not satisfied with ACC's review outcome decision
The Commissioner will contact ACC and invite its comments on your
application. Thereafter (if no settlement has meantime been reached), the
Commissioner must reach a decision within 4 months of receiving your
application, or within such other period as is reasonable. You will
receive written notice of the outcome of the Commissioner’s decision.
Should you wish to appeal against the Scottish Information Commissioner's
decision, there is an appeal to the Court of Session on a point of law
only. Any such appeal must be made within 42 days after the date of the
decision has been issued.
Yours sincerely,
Anna Buchan
Access to Information Officer
[2]ACC_Crest_for Anna Buchan | Access to Information Officer
mac email
Aberdeen City Council | Access to Information Team |
Customer Feedback |Customer
Marischal College | Business Hub 6 | 1^st Floor | Broad
Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AB
Dial: 01224 522166
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Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
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this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
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Dear Ms Kelly,
Please find attached the decision of the FOI Review Panel following your
request for a review. The additional information referred to in the
decision notice is set out below.
Aberdeen City Council does not hold what you have described as a ‘robust
inventory’ in a manner or format which we can publish (as one
comprehensible dataset). We have access to a robust and comprehensive
database for cataloguing our art items which is used to hold various
details such as item name, type, medium etc. This is the system used by
Art Gallery staff and is not considered to be an inventory. We are able to
extract a basic inventory from the database, listing Item and Reference
number but the additional detail you request requires further extraction
of data, creation of new reporting parameters (by our provider) and manual
compiling. To provide an inventory such as the type you have described
would take a considerable amount of work and is considered to be
excessive.
Aberdeen City Council is unable to provide you with a robust inventory as
the cost of providing it has been calculated as being in excess of the
statutory maximum (£600).
Our collections management database contains thousands of records and a
vast amount of data spread across several modules and data fields and it
is maintained and enhanced on a daily basis. To fulfil this enquiry would
involve an Aberdeen City Council Officer separately extracting, exporting
and preparing a comprehensive inventory of our collection from this
database. This has been calculated at a minimum of 300 minutes per 1500
records for records. There may also be a requirement to undertake research
of historical paper records to ascertain the accuracy of the record or add
requested information as many of these paper records are yet to be
transcribed on to the collections management database.
There are 150,000 records currently within the collection. This would
equate to 500 hours at £15 per hour of staff time, at the cost of £ 7,500
in total.
In order to comply with its obligations under the terms of Section 16 of
the FOISA, we are refusing your request under the terms of Section 12 -
Excessive Cost of Compliance - of the FOISA.
The Access to Information Team would be happy to discuss ways in which you
may refine your request, so we can provide some information of interest to
you within the maximum cost limits. For example, by reducing the time
period or items you are interested in etc. You may also wish to consider
looking at the information publicly available on ([1]Collections – eMuseum
(aberdeencity.gov.uk) and Open Data sets for a number of collection areas
[2]Aberdeen City Council - Organisations - Open Data Aberdeen). Please do
contact the Access to Information team on 01224 522166, who will be happy
to advise you, if this is something you would like to pursue.
Previously, we have provided you with an inventory spreadsheet, with some
additional information added. This spreadsheet was manually created using
information extracted from our database using a pre-set report, in an
effort to satisfy your previous request. However, to provide all the
additional information you are expecting to be in a robust inventory would
be excessive to undertake.
I apologise for any confusion caused by this and I apologise that we are
unable to provide all the information you are looking for.
Regards,
Martyn
[3]ACC_Crest_for Martyn Orchard | Committee Lead
mac email
Aberdeen City Council | Governance
Town House (1^st Floor) | Broad Street | Aberdeen |
AB10 1AQ
Direct Dial: 01224 523097
[4]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC |
Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.
References
Visible links
1. https://emuseum.aberdeencity.gov.uk/coll...
2. https://data.aberdeencity.gov.uk/organiz...
4. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/
Dear Martyn Orchard,
Thank you for the response. Before I take this to the information Commissioner, I would like to address your claim it is too expensive to include what the media for each item is. You talked of hudreds of hours and hundreds of pounds' cost. I put it to you that an inventory that does not specify what an item is is hardly an inventory; it is just a list of titles and creators' n ames, and in ACC's case, whether or not the items are damaged, missing or stolen.
Your view that this information is 'too expensive to supply as part of the inventory is somewhat challenged by this response from your media team to me:
-----Original Message-----
From: Media <
[email address]
>
To:
[email address]
<
[email address]
>
CC: Media <
[email address]
>
Sent: Tue, 26 Oct 2021 15:02
Subject: RE: Questions on the city's missing art objects / lines for publication please
Hi Suzanne
Additional information for you:-
Our inventory does record material/media but you did not request that in your original FOI enquiry.
We provide information requested for FOI responses, this does not necessarily reflect the full record we retain on the database and/or in paper files which can be scant
or extensive.
Officers spent time revisiting printed information to gather this recently provided info on items that have been missing prior to the electronic record being created.
Such information is often reliant on transcription from card index files and can often be unreliable as standards in record keeping have changed significantly since
the 1920s (for example).
We do not release information on value of collections as it can place staff and collections at risk.
We do not release acquisition information beyond a credit line indicating method of acquisition & source if the donor (for example) wished to be named. Some prefer
to remain anonymous and in other early records this information was simply not recorded.
We would suggest that the enquiry related to the McBey prints is resubmitted in 12 months to give us reasonable time to review and audit these collections.
Thanks, KXXXX
Martyn, I refer you to the relevant sentence: "Our inventory does record material/media but you did not request that in your original FOI enquiry." Do you want to supply me the version of the inventory that does record material/media, or do you want me to go to the Information Commissioner? I need to have your answer before 8 January latest.
Yours sincerely,
Suzanne Kelly
Hello Suzanne,
I've discussed this with colleagues in the Access to Information Team. As per my email of 21 December 2021, which contained the review outcome, you are welcome to apply to the Information Commissioner if you are dissatisfied.
Martyn
Martyn Orchard | Committee Lead
Aberdeen City Council | Governance
Town House (1st Floor) | Broad Street | Aberdeen | AB10 1AQ
Direct Dial: 01224 523097
www.aberdeencity.gov.uk | Twitter: @AberdeenCC | Facebook.com/AberdeenCC
Dear Martyn Orchard,
I have passed this to the Scottish Information Commissioner; here for completeness is what I wrote to them. This is for the benefit of those looking at my FOI request on What Do They Know.
Dear All
Aberdeen City Council lost 1,577 items from its art collection, ranging from original, valuable works by masters to less valuable items. This link contains most of the correspondence (ACC wrote to me on the issue separately at one point; I told them to keep all correspondence on the What Do They Know thread. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...
I asked for an inventory in June; the request was late, and I was supplied links to spreadsheets that did not initially work.
The lateness was caused in part by a clarification request which I considered frivolous and delaying. The city wanted to know what I meant by 'all items ' all items in the possession of’' when the heading of the request provided details - eg artwork, gifts, silverware, valuables. This delayed the information getting to me.
I was given a spreadsheet supposedly the inventory. This spreadsheet is worrying in its incompleteness - when multiple prints or sketches for instance are listed, there is no quantity given. Many lines are blank; the location of some items is not shown, and of course 1,577 items are missing/unaccounted for. I am particularly unhappy to learn from the city's media team that the city has captured the all-important information of what the items are (ie media - sketch, copy, original, print etc). The Information officers now claim this information would cost over £600 to supply, contrasting to the media team's telling me the information is indeed collected. I am being told the information regarding media was not supplied because I had not specifically asked for it. For me, a robust, fit-for-purpose art collection inventory tells you the title of an artwork, what it is made of, if it is multiples how many prints/copies there are, where it is, and the condition. What was supplied to me is worryingly amateurish. The city represents that its records are held in different forms, and apparently are not joined up in one meaningful, useful inventory.
I think I should be given the version of the inventory which does capture what the items are made of/what the media is. I do not think the city addressed fully in its internal review why this FOI was answered late (as so many of them are with ACC),
Here are the questions I asked to be answered by the internal review. I feel you will agree with me that they have not remotely been satisfactorily answered.
1. the lateness in responding; this is habitual with ACC, and I can't remember many of my requests being answered within the time frame.
2. The quality of the data is poor - I asked for a comprehensive inventory. That is not what I got. Some line items do not have a title/description at all. Regarding the 'Boticelli' [sic] entry, the word 'illustrations' is used - it now appears it should have read 'prints'. This is one example of the data being incorrect. The data for this entry is also incomplete: how many prints? Were they all different scenes? An inventory needs to quantify items. I also think a comprehensive inventory would clearly say what the object IS - ie original artwork, copy, photocopy, quality print, sculpture, etc. Someone decided to omit this information; I have just been told it is indeed captured as mentioned in ACC's email to me today.
3. That ACC opened on its own website, with no recourse to me in advance, a new FOI in my name when either an email response or a reply here should have happened. I was not consulted and would not have agreed to this: how did it happen?
I have been corresponding with the media team concerning the inventory and the missing objects, which is relaying answers to me presumably from the gallery staff. In that correspondence I wrote: " I would suggest a robust inventory would record whether something is an original painting, a copy, a print, sculpture, etc. - and ideally how acquired, whether it was purchased and if so for what sum, and any appraisal value and date. If there is a further inventory with further details and valuations shown, I would expect this to now be released to me asap without my needing to ask for the Information Commissioner's intervention. Please pass that on to the relevant FOI team, thank you."
4. Was the quality of the original spreadsheet sent in answer to this request checked? As is reflected on the WDTK website, it does not open correctly. When I tried to open the data as originally supplied here, I got the name / title (or so it appeared) of object followed by a series of commas. Nothing appeared about condition, missing status, etc. It took me several requests to finally get access to a readable excel spreadsheet. Was it checked for completeness and if so, what follow-on actions if anywhere taken to fill in the missing information? Some items do not even have a title, many do not give a location.
I therefore request the Information Commissioner for Scotland reviews the handling of my FOI to Aberdeen City Council.
If it is within the Information Commissioner's remit, I feel that loss on such a scale requires further investigation, and I welcome any recommendations they may make to relevant authorities to carry out same.
I have supplied the link to the FOI request; please let me know if I can supply any further information to you.
Yours faithfully
Suzanne Kelly
Yours sincerely,
Suzanne Kelly
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Laura-Lynn Hardy left an annotation ()
The file "FOI 346070201 Collections.csv.txt" provided with the response from ACC on 26 July 2021 is what you need, Suzanne.
Save it without the ".txt" extension.
Open Excel (or similar) and import it as a CSV with a comma delimiter.
You'll find all 148,803 rows there.
LLH