Dear Liam Porter,

Freedom of Information Request Ref:3448

I refer to your recent request for information about communication & PR
spend, which was received by the Council on the 6th of March 2024.

Your request is being dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and will be responded to within twenty working days
of the date of its receipt by the Council.

If you have any queries about your freedom of information request, do not
hesitate to contact me. Please quote the reference number above in any
further communication concerning your request.

Yours faithfully,

Beau Klusko

Epping Forest District Council
Civic Offices,
High Street,
Epping,
Essex, CM16 4BZ

(01992) 564000

Dear Liam Porter,

Freedom of Information Request Ref: 3448

I refer to your recent request for information about communications &
public relations spend. The information you requested is as follows:
Budget information would be contained in the annual budget setting reports
that go to Full Council in February each year.

The 2024/5 was set at Council on Tuesday 20 ^ February 2024. Earlier
budgets will have been set at the corresponding meetings.

These documents are available via the website :

[1]Your Council (eppingforestdc.gov.uk)

Corporate Communications and Internal Communications consists of the
following posts:

Role Full/Part Hrs per week
Time
Team Manager - Corporate Communications F/T 36
Internal Communications Manager (located in HR) F/T 36
Lead Corporate Comms Officer - People F/T 36
Lead Corporate Comms Officer - Digital F/T 36
Corporate Communications Officer - Digital F/T 36
Chairman's Officer P/T 21.5
Media and Communications Assistant - People P/T 20

  
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by copyright.
You are free to use it for your own purposes, including for private study
and non-commercial research, and for any other purpose authorised by an
exception in current copyright law. Documents (except photographs) can be
also used in the UK without requiring permission for the purposes of news
reporting. Any other reuse, for example commercial publication, would
require the permission of the copyright holder.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your freedom of information
request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review
requests should be submitted within two months of the date of your receipt
of this response to your request and should be addressed to: Lynne Ridley,
Corporate and Data Protection Officer, Epping Forest District Council,
Civic Offices, Epping, Essex, CM16 4BZ.

Please quote the reference number above in any further communication
concerning your freedom of information request.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of an internal review, you have
the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner in
connection with the Council’s handling of your request. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Yours faithfully,

Beau Klusko

Epping Forest District Council
Civic Offices,
High Street,
Epping,
Essex, CM16 4BZ

(01992) 564000

References

Visible links
1. https://track.vuelio.uk.com/z.z?l=aHR0cH...

Thank you for your email, which I have forwarded to the case officer to
review the information which was provided.

As soon as I am in receipt of this, I will reply.

Kind regards

Beau Klusko

Freedom of Information Officer

Working pattern:

M-F 08.00-16.00

From: Liam Porter <[FOI #1097736 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 9:29 AM
To: FOI Enquiries <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information Request – Response Letter

CAUTION: This Message originated outside of Epping Forest District
Council. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the
sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Epping Forest District Council,

Thank you for your response, but this isn't the information I request. I
am looking for historic data on communications spending and staffing
levels. I have copied the original request below:

Please provide your total spend on communications and public relations for
the last three financial year's (20/21,21/22,22/23). For each year I would
like a breakdown containing the following information:
• Spend on communications and public relations activities.
• Total number of communications and public relations employees.
• Total salary cost for all communications and public relations employees

Yours faithfully,

Liam Porter

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Porter,

Thak you for your response email.

I can confirm that the Council holds this information. The information is
exempt under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act, because the
information is accessible to you, as it is already in the public domain.

Budget information would be contained in the annual budget setting reports
that go to Full Council in February each year.

The 2024/5 was set at Council on Tuesday 20^th of February 2024. Earlier
budgets will have been set at the corresponding meetings.

These documents are available via the website : Your Council
([1]eppingforestdc.gov.uk)

Kind regards

Beau Klusko

Freedom of Information Officer

From: Liam Porter <[FOI #1097736 email]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 9:29 AM
To: FOI Enquiries <[email address]>
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information Request – Response Letter

CAUTION: This Message originated outside of Epping Forest District
Council. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the
sender and know the content is safe.

Dear Epping Forest District Council,

Thank you for your response, but this isn't the information I request. I
am looking for historic data on communications spending and staffing
levels. I have copied the original request below:

Please provide your total spend on communications and public relations for
the last three financial year's (20/21,21/22,22/23). For each year I would
like a breakdown containing the following information:
• Spend on communications and public relations activities.
• Total number of communications and public relations employees.
• Total salary cost for all communications and public relations employees

Yours faithfully,

Liam Porter

show quoted sections

Dear Liam Porter,

Freedom of Information Request Ref: 3448

I refer to your recent response email dated 19th of March 2024, which was
in relation to the above case.
From a preliminary assessment, it is clear that the Council will not be
able to answer your request without further clarification. In your first
request you requested the following information: 
 For the last 3 tax year's (23/22, 22/21, 21/20) please provide the total
cost of:
• Total number of staff hired with responsibility for freedom of
information requests, (full time equivalent) .
• Total salary costs for staff with responsibility for freedom of
information requests.
• Total for all other costs associated with handling freedom of
information requests.                                                    
                     
• Total number of freedom of information requests received, and total
number responded with the requested information

We responded to this FOI on the 8th of March 2024 and the case was
closed. You replied to this case, saying that we did not send the
information you asked for and provided the following text:

Please provide your total spend on communications and public relations for
the last three financial year's (20/21,21/22,22/23). For each year I would
like a breakdown containing the following information:
• Spend on communications and public relations activities.
• Total number of communications and public relations employees.
• Total salary cost for all communications and public relations employees

These questions appear to be unrelated to the previous case, can you
please clarify exactly what information you are seeking. You may wish to
refine your request by narrowing its scope by being more specific about
what information you particularly wish to obtain, including any dates or
period of time relevant to the information required. 
Once you have clarified the matters set out above, the Council will
process your request. However, if clarification is not received within
three months of the date of this letter, your request will be considered
to have lapsed. Under section 1(3) of the Freedom of Information Act, the
Council need not comply with a Freedom of Information request unless any
further detail reasonably required to locate the information is supplied.
Please quote the reference number above in any further communication
concerning your Freedom of Information request.

Yours faithfully,

Beau Klusko

Epping Forest District Council
Civic Offices,
High Street,
Epping,
Essex, CM16 4BZ

(01992) 564000