Could you provide full information on grievance procedure results please.
Dear British Council,
Could you provide full information on grievance procedure results please. How many were there in 2020, how many were successful and if they were unsuccessful, does the person involved still work for the British Council?
Yours faithfully,
Stuart Wiffin
Case Reference FOI_2021_06
Dear Stuart,
Thank you for your request for information. It is being dealt with under
the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and will be answered
within 20 working days.
I have not combined your two FOI requests as treating them separately is
administratively easier.
If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact me.
Kind regards,
Stephen
Stephen Witkowski Information Governance Advisor (Archives and Disclosure)
| Information Governance and Risk Management Team
[1][email address]
[2]https://www.britishcouncil.org/organisat...
Case Reference: FOI_2021_06
10 February 2021
Dear Stuart
Thank you for your request for information dated 24 January concerning
2020 data on grievances. Your request has been handled under the terms of
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000 and has been passed to me for
reply.
For your ease of reference, I have restated your questions below in bold
and have provided our response beneath.
Could you provide full information on grievance procedure results please.
How many were there in 2020, how many were successful and if they were
unsuccessful, does the person involved still work for the British Council?
In 2020 the BNC received 34 grievances. Five were upheld and 14 under are
still undergoing investigation.
Data is not collected on whether staff members with unsuccessful
grievances continue to work for the British Council, so this information
is not available.
I hope the information provided has been useful.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be
submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your
original letter and should be addressed to:
Information Governance Advisor (Disclosures)
Information Governance and Risk Management
British Council
Bridgewater House
58 Whitworth Street
Manchester
M1 6BB
Email: [1][email address]
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have a
right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision at:
The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone: 0303 123 1113
Website: [2]www.ico.org.uk
Yours sincerely
Stephen
Stephen Witkowski Information Governance Advisor (Archives and Disclosure)
| Information Governance and Risk Management Team
[3][email address]
[4]https://www.britishcouncil.org/organisat...
Dear IG_Disclosures,
I see that 14 cases from 2020 are still "under investigation". As it is now mid February, have these cases now been updated? If not, when do you anticipate the closure of these 14 cases?
Do I need to ask again here or can you update the file when the completed information arrives?
Yours sincerely,
Stuart Wiffin
Dear Stuart,
Thank you for your question.
I can now tell you that the number of 2020 cases still under investigation
is now 8. I have no data as to when the other cases will be closed.
Please send another FOI request, in due course, for updated statistics.
Kind regards,
Stephen
Stephen Witkowski Information Governance Advisor (Archives and
Disclosure) | IGRM
British Council | Bridgewater House | 58 Whitworth Street | Manchester |
M1 6BB
Your personal details will be held by the British Council and will only be
used for the purposes of administering your enquiry. For further
information, please see our [1]privacy policy.
Dear IG_Disclosures,
What have been the results of the 6 cases finished since you reported the first results?
Yours sincerely,
Stuart Wiffin
Case Reference: FOI_2021_13
16 February 2021
Dear Stuart
Thank you for your request for information dated 15 February concerning
2020 data on grievances. Your request has been handled under the terms of
the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000 and has been passed to me for
reply.
For your ease of reference, I have restated your questions below in bold
and have provided our response beneath.
What have been the results of the 6 cases finished since you reported the
first results?
We are withholding the information that you have requested as the
exemption under section 40 (Personal information) sub-section (2) applies.
Section 40(2) allows a public authority to withhold information relating
to third parties if any of the conditions set out in sections 40(3A),
40(3B) and 40(4A) are satisfied.
Due to the low numbers the individuals could be identified therefore
disclosure of this information would breach the first data protection
principle listed under section 35 of the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018,
where the processing of personal data must be fair and lawful.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be
submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your
original letter and should be addressed to:
Information Governance Advisor (Disclosures)
Information Governance and Risk Management
British Council
Bridgewater House
58 Whitworth Street
Manchester
M1 6BB
Email: [email address]
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have a
right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision at:
The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone: 0303 123 1113
Website: www.ico.org.uk
Yours sincerely,
Stephen
Stephen Witkowski Information Governance Advisor (Archives and Disclosure)
| Information Governance and Risk Management Team
[1][email address]
[2]https://www.britishcouncil.org/organisat...
Dear IG_Disclosures,
Have all 14 cases now been investigated? If so, could you supply the results as it would no longer be possible to identify individual cases.
Yours sincerely,
Stuart Wiffin
Dear Stuart,
Thank you for your reply.
On the 15th February, I sent you an email stating the number of cases that
had completed their investigations. This number has no changed in the week
since I sent that email.
In addition, the information you seek on the results may not be shared
with you as the low number of cases involved could make it possible to
identify the parties involved. The information would be exempt from
disclosure as per Section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act, 2000.
To remind you. If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request,
you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests
should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the
response to your original letter and should be addressed to:
Information Governance Advisor (Disclosures)
Information Governance and Risk Management
British Council
Bridgewater House
58 Whitworth Street
Manchester
M1 6BB
Email: [email address]
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have a
right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision at:
The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone: 0303 123 1113
Website: www.ico.org.uk
Yours sincerely
Stephen
Stephen Witkowski Information Governance Advisor (Archives and Disclosure)
| Information Governance and Risk Management Team
[1][email address]
[2]https://www.britishcouncil.org/organisat...
Dear IG_Disclosures,
Why haven't these cases been investigated? Are they going to be investigated?
Yours sincerely,
Stuart Wiffin
Dear Stuart,
The further questions you have asked cannot be considered under Freedom of
Information legislation as they do not constitute requests for recorded
information. If you wish to pursue your further queries relating to this
matter, please outline your full concerns and submit them as an enquiry
through the ‘[1]contact us’ section of our website. This will ensure that
your concerns are addressed by the most appropriate department.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be
submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your
original letter and should be addressed to:
Information Governance Advisor (Disclosures)
Information Governance and Risk Management
British Council
Bridgewater House
58 Whitworth Street
Manchester
M1 6BB
Email: [2][email address]
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have a
right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision at:
The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone: 0303 123 1113
Website: [3]www.ico.org.uk
Yours sincerely
Stephen
Stephen Witkowski Information Governance Advisor (Archives and Disclosure)
| Information Governance and Risk Management Team
[4][email address]
[5]https://www.britishcouncil.org/organisat...
Dear IG_Disclosures,
ok but this was where I started 6 years ago. Asking the BC for details and I was told I could only get the details from an FOI request. Now the details are only available from the website. I'd prefer to leave this open until I get a reply.
Yours sincerely,
Stuart Wiffin
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