FOIA No: 1975
Date of Receipt: 5 March 2012
Last Date for Response: 2 April 2012
File Ref: CP01/00000137
 
Thank you for your written communication of 5 March 2012.  The information
that you require is not included within the Council’s formal publication
scheme and a referral has been made to the responsible officer to collate
a response.
 
You may expect to receive a response to your request by 2 April 2012, that
is within twenty working days of its receipt by the Council.
 
In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, we
will let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.
 
Please ensure that any further communication in relation to this matter is
sent by you to the Freedom of Information Officer at the above address
quoting the reference in the subject line of this communication.
 
Kind regards
 
 
 
 
Freedom of Information Officer
 

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Europe's Most Enterprising Place - Winner 2009
International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) - Project of the Year Award 2009
Academy of Urbanism - 'The Great Town' - Winner 2010

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Dear Mr Thorne,

Please find attached the response to your Freedom of Information request.

Regards,

Gill

Gill Wilkinson

Democratic and Administrative Services Manager

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Europe's Most Enterprising Place - Winner 2009
International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) - Project of the Year Award 2009
Academy of Urbanism - 'The Great Town' - Winner 2010

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Dear Mr Thorne

I refer to the email appended below. According to my records a response to this FOI request, ref FOIA1975, was sent to you on the 16 March. A copy of the response which was sent to you is attached.

Kind regards

Di Cross
Admin Manager, Central Administration Unit, Legal and Support Services
Scarborough Borough Council
e:[email address]
t:01723 232347 (DL)
f:0870 2384159
w:www.scarborough.gov.uk

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Dear Mr Thorne
Please find attached response to FOIA1975 dated 16 March 2012.

Many thanks
Karen Crosier

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Dear Mr Thorne

Re: FOIA1975 - Review/Repeat Request/New Request

I have been asked to deal with correspondence relating to your request for
information which was first made in March 2012. I am informed that you
requested the following:

Please confirm if Councillor Tom Fox has repaid the expenses that  he was
not entitled to claim that were the subject of complaint  2011/18531 that
was discussed by the Standards Referrals Sub-Committee on 6 July 2011.

Mrs Wilkinson responded to your request on 12 March 2012. The content of
her response was as follows:

This issue was referred to the Standards Referrals Sub-committee on 6 July
2011 and the Committee determined to take no action on the complaint in
relation to Councillor Tom Fox as under the Member’s Allowance Scheme
Council has determined on the advice of the Independent Remuneration Panel
that a fixed sum of money be provided toward the telecommunications and
internet connection costs of each member. Therefore Cllr Fox did not claim
for expenses to which he was not entitled.

This decision can be viewed at
[1]http://democracy.scarborough.gov.uk/ieLi...

Details of all members allowances and expenses claimed are published on
our website and can be viewed at
[2]http://www.scarborough.gov.uk/default.as...

You then responded to Mrs Wilkinson's response re-stating your request.

Review of Response

In the first instance I am treating this as a request for a review of Mrs
Wilkinson's response. I have therefore looked at whether the Council hold
information relevant to your request and whether Mrs Wilkinson's response
was appropriate.

I should start by making it clear that it is my opinion that the Council
do not in fact hold information directly relevant to your request. There
are two main reasons for this.

The first reason is that your request pre-supposes that Cllr Fox received
a payment to which he was not entitled. You specifically ask whether Cllr
Fox has "repaid the expenses that he was not entitled to claim".

As you are well aware, the Standards Committee when dealing with the
complaint did not make a determination that Cllr Fox was not entitled to
the payment. Their decision was that no further action be taken because
"under the Member's Allowance Scheme [the] Council has determined on the
advice of the Independent Remuneration Panel that a fixed sum of money be
provided toward the telecommunications and internet connection costs of
each member". There has not therefore been a determination by this Council
or its Standards Committee that Cllr Fox was not entitled to the payment.
Indeed, Mrs Wilkinson stated in her response of 12 March 2012 that " Cllr
Fox did not claim for expenses to which he was not entitled."

The second reason, which is more of an aside to the above, is that you
state he claimed expenses. There is a difference between 'expenses' and an
'allowance'. 'Expenses' are claimed where a Cllr has incurred a cost, and
then seeks to reclaim this back from the Council as an allowable expense.
An 'allowance' is a fixed payment made to a Cllr by way of their office.

To my mind your question is redundant because of the presupposition
detailed above. As mentioned, the point relating to expenses/allowances
adds further weight notwithstanding that the request is already redundant.

On this basis the Council do not in fact hold information relevant to your
request.

That said, there is information contained within the decision notice and
upon the website (as detailed in Mrs Wilkinson's response) which is of
indirect relevance.

I am therefore satisfied that the Council have provided you with the
appropriate information, however my position on review differs slightly as
explained.

Repeat Request

In the alternative, your response could be deemed to be a repeat request.
Section 14(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) states the
following:

Where a public authority has previously complied with a request for
information which was made by any person, it is not obliged to comply with
a subsequent identical or substantially similar request from that person
unless a reasonable interval has elapsed between compliance with the
previous request and the making of the current request.

The above section can only be relied upon where the Council have supplied
you with the information requested previously. It can reasonably be said
that Mrs Wilkinson provided you with the relevant information held by the
Council.

Sometimes a repeated request can in fact relate to different information,
for example where statistics or other records are updated regularly. This
is not true of your request and the situation remains the same.

In this alternative position, the Council rely upon section 14(2) and this
response is a refusal notice. This is because the Council have already
complied with a similar if not identical request from yourself in March
2012, and a reasonable interval has not passed, particularly because the
information held and provided to you has not changed since that time.

New Request

In the second alternative, your response could be treated as a new
request. In this respect, it is our position that the Council do not hold
information directly relevant to your request (on the basis of the
reasoning set out above). I do however refer you to the information
contained on our website relating to the Standards complaint 2011/18531
and the pages setting out what each member has received (links above).
This is the extent of information held (albeit indirectly relevant), and
as already communicated to you by Mrs Wilkinson in response to your
previous request in the same terms.

Right of Review etc

Ordinarily details are now provided of the appropriate contact within the
Council who deals with reviews. Given that the first position above is
that we have undertaken a review, if you remain dissatisfied you may now
pass the matter to the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF | Tel: 01625 545745 | Fax: 01625
524510 | Web: [3]www.ico.gov.uk

Regards

David Kitson
Senior Solicitor, Litigation and Regulation, Legal and Support Services,
Scarborough Borough Council

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Europe's Most Enterprising Place - Winner 2009
International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) - Project of the Year Award 2009
Academy of Urbanism - 'The Great Town' - Winner 2010

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