Council Constitution

Waiting for an internal review by South Norfolk District Council of their handling of this request.

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please provide copies of all versions of the SNDC Constitution authorized by the Council since 2000 identifying date of version and/or date of adoption.

Yours faithfully,

Stuart Hardwicke Carruthers

Right2Know,

Dear Mr Carruthers

Thank you for your request that is being considered. You may be aware
that we have 20 working days in which to respond to FOI requests and you
will therefore hear from me again by 21 August or earlier if possible.

For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions, which may
prevent release of the information you have requested. There will be an
assessment and if any of the exemption categories apply then some or all
of the information may not be released. You will be informed if this is
the case, including your rights of appeal.

There may be a fee payable for `reasonable disbursement' costs such as
postage and photocopying. This will be considered and you will be informed
if a fee is payable. In this event the fee must be paid before the
information is processed and released. The 20 working day time limit for
responses is suspended until receipt of the payment.

If you have any queries or concerns then please let me know. If you do
contact us again concerning this request, please quote FOI 09-185.

Regards

Emma Nangle
Information Rights Officer
South Norfolk Council
Long Stratton Norwich
NR15 2XE
tel: 01508 533747
email: [email address]
website: [1]www.south-norfolk.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Right2Know,

I would have thought that all versions of the Council's constitution would be available on the Council's website since 2000 so that citizens were able to identify if it had been breached.. and the Council had not sought to change the constitution to disguise the breach. It would raise serious questions about the role of the Monitoring Officer

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Right2Know,

Dear Mr Carruthers,

Further to your request below, under section 14(1), the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 states that "Section 1(1) does not oblige a public
authority to comply with a request for information if the request is
vexatious."

In my opinion, your questions below are not serious requests for recorded
information and are designed to cause disruption or annoyance, they all
lack any serious purpose or value and thus they fall under section 14(1)
and will not be answered. In my view, this request is unreasonable and
vexatious, and is therefore outside the scope of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

I intend to follow the latest guidance (version 4) of the Information
Commissioner's guidance on vexatious requests which states that,

"You will not need to issue a new refusal notice if you have already given
the same person a refusal notice for a previous vexatious or repeated
request and it would be unreasonable to issue another one."

As you know, several of your previous FOI requests have been classed as
vexatious and one, FOI 08-103 has been appealed to the Information
Commissioner. In light of that appeal, I consider that a further internal
review would not be appropriate and I confirm therefore we will not be
holding an internal panel.

If you wish to take this further, you will need to appeal to the
Information Commissioner, and I attach the contact details below for your
information:

Office of the Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Tel: 01625 545745
Email: [email address]
Website: [1]http://www.ico.gov.uk/

Emma Nangle
Information Rights Officer
South Norfolk Council
Long Stratton Norwich
NR15 2XE
tel: 01508 533747
email: [South Norfolk District Council request email]
website: [2]www.south-norfolk.gov.uk

_____________________________________________
From: Emma Nangle On Behalf Of Right2Know
Sent: 27 July 2009 09:56
To: 'Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS'
Subject: FoI Request, Council Constitution: FOI 09-185

Dear Mr Carruthers

Thank you for your request that is being considered. You may be aware
that we have 20 working days in which to respond to FOI requests and you
will therefore hear from me again by 21 August or earlier if possible.

For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions, which may
prevent release of the information you have requested. There will be an
assessment and if any of the exemption categories apply then some or all
of the information may not be released. You will be informed if this is
the case, including your rights of appeal.

There may be a fee payable for `reasonable disbursement' costs such as
postage and photocopying. This will be considered and you will be informed
if a fee is payable. In this event the fee must be paid before the
information is processed and released. The 20 working day time limit for
responses is suspended until receipt of the payment.

If you have any queries or concerns then please let me know. If you do
contact us again concerning this request, please quote FOI 09-185.

Regards

Emma Nangle
Information Rights Officer
South Norfolk Council
Long Stratton Norwich
NR15 2XE
tel: 01508 533747
email: [email address]
website: [3]www.south-norfolk.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of South Norfolk District Council's handling of my FOI request 'Council Constitution'.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/co...

Yours faithfully,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Right2Know,

Dear Mr Carruthers

Further to your email below, as previously stated, following the
guidance on vexatious requests provided by the Information Commissioner,
there is no requirement to issue a further refusal notice and as many of
your requests have been declared vexatious, I intend to continue to
follow the procedure as laid out in my email below; that is to await the
outcome of the appealed vexatious request (FOI 08-103) to the ICO.

As you know, I am answering all the FOI requests from you that I deem to
be reasonable and I have not imposed a blanket policy on your requests;
I am only declaring those requests vexatious which could be seen as
being designed to cause disruption or annoyance, lack any serious
purpose or value or where the request can fairly be seen as obsessive.

Please refer to the ICO if you wish to take this matter further. Please
note I will not respond to any further correspondence from you on this
particular request.

Regards

Emma Nangle
Information Rights Officer
South Norfolk Council
Long Stratton Norwich
NR15 2XE
tel: 01508 533747
email: [South Norfolk District Council request email]
website: www.south-norfolk.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS

Dear Right2Know,

You are wrong in your interpretation of the ICO's guidance. Every information request has to be considered individually.

Obviously, you might wish to acknowledge as you already have the Council does not meet the requirements of the Local Government Act 1972 and Representation of the People Act 1983.. and is merely members of a local association of a political party who have no authority or authorisation..

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Hardwicke CARRUTHERS