Dear Mr Porter

 

Request for Information RFI-8634-24 Re: Cost of Processing Freedom of
Information

 

Thank you for your request for information relating to Cost of Processing
Freedom of Information which was received on 07 March 2024.

 

In accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the council will respond to your request within 20 working days, saying
whether we have the information that you want, and if there will be any
charges. 

 

If, for any reason, we cannot provide you with the information, we will
tell you why.

If we need to clarify your request, we will contact you again.

 

In the meantime, if you need to contact me about your request, please do
so quoting the above reference number.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Fakhara Qanwal

Assistant Assurance Officer

Walsall Council 

0800 0856018

[1]www.walsall.gov.uk 

 

[2]Walsall Council, Proud of our past, our present and for our future 

 

Disclaimer: The information in this message should be regarded as
confidential and is intended for the addressee only unless explicitly
stated. If you have received this message in error it must be deleted and
the sender notified. The views expressed in this message are personal and
not necessarily those of Walsall Council unless explicitly stated. Emails
sent or received from Walsall Council may the subject of a request under
data protection, freedom of information or environmental information
legislation and therefore could be disclosed to third parties. We strongly
advise you not to email any information, which if disclosed to unrelated
third parties would be likely to cause harm or distress. If you have an
enquiry related to your confidentiality or data protection, please visit
the council data protection pages on our website

 

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.walsall.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Porter,

 

FOI Request for Information - Our Ref: RFI-8634-24 

I write to acknowledge and apologise for the delay in responding to your
request relating to Cost of Processing Freedom of Information. As you
know, the council is required to respond to all requests for information
under the Freedom of Information Act within 20 working days, unless a
‘qualified exception’ applies that requires the consideration of the
Public Interest.

 

Walsall Council takes its obligations under this legislation extremely
seriously and I am sorry that in this case we have not met this timescale.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to assure you of our best
intentions in this regard. I can confirm that a full reply to your request
will be sent to you on or before 29th April 2024.

 

If you have any queries in regard to this process, please do not hesitate
to contact us.

 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Kim Pahal

Assurance Officer

Walsall Council 

0800 0856018

[1]www.walsall.gov.uk 

 

[2]Walsall Council, Proud of our past, our present and for our future 

 

Disclaimer: The information in this message should be regarded as
confidential and is intended for the addressee only unless explicitly
stated. If you have received this message in error it must be deleted and
the sender notified. The views expressed in this message are personal and
not necessarily those of Walsall Council unless explicitly stated. Emails
sent or received from Walsall Council may the subject of a request under
data protection, freedom of information or environmental information
legislation and therefore could be disclosed to third parties. We strongly
advise you not to email any information, which if disclosed to unrelated
third parties would be likely to cause harm or distress. If you have an
enquiry related to your confidentiality or data protection, please visit
the council data protection pages on our website

 

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.walsall.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Porter,

 

Freedom of Information Request - Our Ref: RFI-8634-24

 

Further to your request for information about Cost of Processing Freedom
of Information, I can tell you the following:

FOI REQUEST 

For the last 3 tax year's (23/22, 22/21, 21/20) please provide the total
cost of:

1.     Total number of staff hired with responsibility for freedom of
information requests, (full time equivalent)? 

2.     Total salary costs for staff with responsibility for freedom of
information requests? 
3.     The total for all other costs associated with handling Freedom of
Information requests? 
4.     The total number of Freedom of Information requests received, and
total number responded with the 

      requested information?

 

FOI RESPONSE

 
1.     2020/21

      3 FTE Assistant Assurance Officers

      4 FTE Assurance Officers up to December 21, then 4.5 after this
date

      2 Lead Assurance Officers

      

      2021/22

      3 FTE Assistant Assurance Officers

      4.5 FTE Assurance Officers up to September 22, then 5.5 after this
date

      2 Lead Assurance Officers

      2022/23

      3 FTE Assistant Assurance Officers

      5.5 FTE Assurance Officers

      2 Lead Assurance Officers

      Please note – the Assurance Service is a multi-disciplinary
service. The Officers within the service whilst 

      responsible for FOIA requests also process requests for
information under other legislation (EIR, DPA)

2.     Total salary costs for staff with responsibility for FOI’s:

      2020 to 2021 – £414028.30

      2021 to 2022 – £401104.34

      2022 to 2023 – £460739.21

      Please note these are the total salary figures for the posts
detailed in question 1.

      Please note however the Assurance service is a multi-disciplinary
team and whilst this includes the processing 

      of FOI requests it also includes (but is not limited to) other
requests for information (such as SARS and EIR), 

      as well as complaints relating to Social Care.

      As such these salary costs are not solely related to the
processing of FOI – it is not possible to calculate the   

      figures for this type of request in isolation.

      

3.     Costs of the system used to manage the processing of FOI cases.

      

      2020 to 2021 – £4418.24

      2021 to 2022 – £23,735.87

      2022 to 2023 – £22,781.14

      Unfortunately, the council do not record any costs specifically
associated with the handling of FOI 

      requests. The system used for the management of these requests is
also used for other Information requests 

      as well as social care and LGO complaints – as such it is not
possible to identify the costs that are just for FOI 

      requests.

      Also, whilst other officers across the council may be required at
times to provide information this time is not 

      recorded and as such cannot be quantified as a financial figure.

      However if you are able to provide further clarity as to what
other costs data you are seeking we may be able 

      to assist further.

4.      

┌──────────┬──────────────────┬───────────────────┐
│ │ FOI’s Received* │FOI Info Provided**│
├──────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ 2020/21 │ 562 │ 434 │
├──────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ 2021/22 │ 570 │ 477 │
├──────────┼──────────────────┼───────────────────┤
│ 2022/23 │ 761 │ 618 │
└──────────┴──────────────────┴───────────────────┘

*This number represents the number of valid FOI requests received.
It does not include those that were considered not valid (due to
no name provided for example), those that were closed due to a
lack of required clarification, or those that were latterly
withdrawn.

**This is the number of cases where some or all of the requested
information was provided. The remaining requests were either for
information that the council did not hold, or the requested
information was considered exempt under the FOIA.

 

Most of the information that we provide in response to Freedom of
Information Act 2000 requests will be subject to copyright protection.  In
most cases the copyright will be owned by Walsall Council. The copyright
in respect of other information may be owned by another person or
organisation, as indicated.

 

You are free to use any information supplied to you in response to this
request for your own non-commercial research or private study purposes.
The information may also be used for any other purpose allowed by a
limitation or exception in copyright law, such as news reporting.
 However, any other type of re-use, for example by publishing the
information in analogue or digital form, including on the internet, will
require the permission of the copyright owner.

 

I hope that the information provided is useful to you. However, if you are
dissatisfied, you should set out in writing your grounds for complaint and
send to: Corporate Assurance Manager, Resources & Transformation, Civic
Centre, Darwall Street, Walsall, WS1 1TP.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for a decision.
Please remember that, generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you
have first exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the council. The
Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9
5AF. [1]https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

 

Yours sincerely,

Kim Pahal

Assurance Officer

Walsall Council 

0800 0856018

[2]www.walsall.gov.uk 

 

[3]Walsall Council, Proud of our past, our present and for our future 

 

Disclaimer: The information in this message should be regarded as
confidential and is intended for the addressee only unless explicitly
stated. If you have received this message in error it must be deleted and
the sender notified. The views expressed in this message are personal and
not necessarily those of Walsall Council unless explicitly stated. Emails
sent or received from Walsall Council may the subject of a request under
data protection, freedom of information or environmental information
legislation and therefore could be disclosed to third parties. We strongly
advise you not to email any information, which if disclosed to unrelated
third parties would be likely to cause harm or distress. If you have an
enquiry related to your confidentiality or data protection, please visit
the council data protection pages on our website

 

 

References

Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
2. http://www.walsall.gov.uk/