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Council roles impacted by COVID

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Dear Bedford Borough Council,

For the period 12-month period commencing 24th March 2020, please advise:-

1) the number of Council employees (inc. agency workers) whom were not able to perform their "normal duties" arising from COVID pandemic restrictions
2) the sum of staffing costs paid to Council employees (inc agency workers) whilst they were not able to perform their "normal duties" arising from COVID pandemic restrictions

Yours faithfully,

Mark Crocker

Freedom of Information, Bedford Borough Council

Thank you for your e-mail requesting information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

 

We will proceed with the request which we received today. It is our
intention to have the information delivered to you as soon as possible
otherwise within the statutory 20 working days.

 

In considering the request, it may be subject to exemptions that the
Council rely on to refuse the information. Some exemptions are absolute
and some only apply where the public interest in maintaining the exemption
outweighs that of disclosing the information.
[1]https://www.bedford.gov.uk/council-and-d...

 

Please note that should you be requesting information under the
Environmental Information Regulations although we provide free access to a
wide range of information through our website, access to any public
registers which we hold and for inspecting information at our offices, we
are allowed to charge you a reasonable fee for providing certain
information.
If applicable, we will issue you with a fee notice. This will detail the
tasks involved in responding to the request, and associated costs. Further
information is available on the EIR page of Bedford Borough Council’s
website at the following link:

[2]https://www.bedford.gov.uk/council-and-d...

  

Any future correspondence you may have with the Council in relation to
this matter should be emailed to [3][Bedford Borough Council request email]

 

Any emails containing personal or sensitive data will be sent as ‘secure
e-mails’. In order for you to access a secure email you will be asked to
create an account and log into the Council’s secure e-mail reply
service. If you do receive a secure email there will be instructions
explaining how to do this.

 

References

Visible links
1. https://www.bedford.gov.uk/council-and-d...
2. https://www.bedford.gov.uk/council-and-d...
3. mailto:[Bedford Borough Council request email]

Ruby Fairley, Bedford Borough Council

Bedford BC - OFFICIAL-Unsecure

 

Dear Mr Crocker

 

Request pursuant to Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Request No.17332

 

I refer to your recent enquiry for information held by the Council.

 

Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the authority must
state whether or not the information exists and I confirm that we do hold
the information you requested, however this is not held in the format
requested.

 

Please find your request and our response below:

 

For the 12-month period commencing 24th March 2020, please advise:-

 

1.     the number of Council employees (inc. agency workers) whom were not
able to perform their "normal duties" arising from COVID pandemic
restrictions

 

The Council’s COVID-19 service disruption data is not held in a format
that enables the reporting of the number of individuals who were unable to
perform their normal duties over a 12 month period.

 

2.     the sum of staffing costs paid to Council employees (inc agency
workers) whilst they were not able to perform their "normal duties"
arising from COVID pandemic restrictions

 

The staffing costs paid to individuals who were unable to perform their
normal duties due to the COVID-19 pandemic is not recorded separately.

 

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your
own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for
the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial
publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.  For
further information regarding Re-use of Public Sector information please
see link below.

 

If you are unhappy with the way the Council has handled your request, you
may ask for an internal review.  Please email:
[1][email address]  and we will arrange for an
internal review of your case.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Mark Stephens

Director of Business Transformation & Organisational Development

Borough Hall, Cauldwell Street, Bedford  MK42 9AP

Email: [2][email address]

Website ([3]www.bedford.gov.uk)

 

Ruby Fairley

Business Management Support Officer, supporting

Mark Stephens – Director of Business Transformation & Organisational
Development

Bedford Borough Council

Room 338 Borough Hall

Cauldwell Street

Bedford 

MK42 9AP

Direct Dial: 01234 718207 (47207) 

E-mail: [4][email address]

 

website: [5]www.bedford.gov.uk

Bedford Borough Council – Working with our partners to make the Borough a
better place to live, work and visit.  For up-to-date information on the
Council follow us on Twitter: @Bedfordtweets

 

Please note my working days are Wednesday-Friday inclusive

 

 

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Dear Ruby Fairley,

If I correctly understand your response to this information request, the Council does indeed hold this information. However, you are suggesting the format in which you hold the information precludes being able to issue it to me as per my freedom of information request?

Please can you elaborate, and cite which part of the Act that applies regarding legitimising non-submission of the information.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Crocker

Ruby Fairley, Bedford Borough Council

Bedford BC - OFFICIAL-Unsecure

Dear Mr Crocker

Thank you for your email. Mark Stephens is reviewing the matter and a response will be sent to you by close of play tomorrow.

Regards

Ruby

Ruby Fairley
Business Management Support Officer, supporting
Mark Stephens – Director of Business Transformation & Organisational Development
Bedford Borough Council
Room 338 Borough Hall
Cauldwell Street
Bedford 
MK42 9AP
Direct Dial: 01234 718207 (47207) 
E-mail: [email address]
 
website: www.bedford.gov.uk
Bedford Borough Council – Working with our partners to make the Borough a better place to live, work and visit.  For up-to-date information on the Council follow us on Twitter: @Bedfordtweets
 
Please note my working days are Wednesday-Friday inclusive

show quoted sections

Dear Ruby Fairley,

Many thanks for the note back. However, I interpreted from your message dated 29th April that I would receive a response back by close of play 30th April? Apologies if I've got that wrong - but I don't seem to have received a further response. Please advise.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Crocker

Ruby Fairley, Bedford Borough Council

I am currently out of the office, returning on Wednesday 12 May 2021. I
will respond to your email on my return. Please note my normal working
days are Wednesday-Friday inclusive. If your query is urgent, please
contact Joanna Leigh on 01234 718536 or [email address]

 

If your query relates to Enabling Services, please email
[email address] or telephone 01234 718208

 

Many thanks

 

QuestionstoHR, Bedford Borough Council

Bedford BC - OFFICIAL-Unsecure

 

Dear Mr Crocker

 

Request pursuant to Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Request No.17332
Updated Response

 

I refer to your below enquiry for information held by the Council. 
Further to your subsequent emails dated 27^th & 28^th April 2021, we are
hereby providing an updated response as set out below.

 

Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the authority must
state whether or not the information exists and I confirm that we do hold
some of the information you requested.

 

Please find your request and our response below:

 

For the 12-month period commencing 24th March 2020, please advise:

 

1.     the number of Council employees (inc. agency workers) whom were not
able to perform their "normal duties" arising from COVID pandemic
restrictions

 

The Council holds COVID-19 service disruption data, but not in a format
that enables the reporting of the number of individuals who were unable to
perform their normal duties over a 12 month period without extensive
manual intervention.

 

Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not oblige the
Council to comply with a request for information if it estimates that the
cost of complying with the request would exceed the “appropriate limit.”
 This appropriate limit has been set in the Freedom of Information and
Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 which
provides that for a local authority the appropriate limit is £450. This is
calculated by reference to a maximum of 18 hours being taken and the cost
of staff time being set in the Regulations as £25 per hour.

             

The Regulations also say that in calculating the amount the Council may,
“for the purpose of its estimate, take account only of the costs it
reasonably expects to incur in relation to the request in:

 

(a) determining whether it holds the information

(b) locating the information, or a document which may contain the
information

(c) retrieving the information, or a document which may contain the
information, and

(d) extracting the information from a document containing it.”

 

The Council has therefore decided to refuse Question 1 of your request.

 

2.     the sum of staffing costs paid to Council employees (inc agency
workers) whilst they were not able to perform their "normal duties"
arising from COVID pandemic restrictions

 

The staffing costs paid to individuals who were unable to perform their
normal duties due to the COVID-19 pandemic is not recorded separately and
therefore not held by the Council.

 

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your
own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for
the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial
publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.  For
further information regarding Re-use of Public Sector information please
see link below.

 

If you are unhappy with the way the Council has handled your request, you
may ask for an internal review.  Please email:
[1][email address]  and we will arrange for an
internal review of your case.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Mark Stephens

Director of Business Transformation & Organisational Development

Borough Hall, Cauldwell Street, Bedford  MK42 9AP

Email: [2][email address]

Website ([3]www.bedford.gov.uk)

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear Bedford Borough Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Bedford Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Council roles impacted by COVID'.

Thank you for the response. If I understand correctly, the Council holds the information requested but the fact it is in a format that is different, it will take more than an estimated 18 hours to adjust the formatting? Please confirm.

Perhaps you could share the information that you have in the format available re: impact of COVID on employee "normal roles"?

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

Yours faithfully,

Mark Crocker

Freedom of Information, Bedford Borough Council

Thank you for your e-mail requesting information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

 

We will proceed with the request which we received today. It is our
intention to have the information delivered to you as soon as possible
otherwise within the statutory 20 working days.

 

In considering the request, it may be subject to exemptions that the
Council rely on to refuse the information. Some exemptions are absolute
and some only apply where the public interest in maintaining the exemption
outweighs that of disclosing the information.
[1]https://www.bedford.gov.uk/council-and-d...

 

Please note that should you be requesting information under the
Environmental Information Regulations although we provide free access to a
wide range of information through our website, access to any public
registers which we hold and for inspecting information at our offices, we
are allowed to charge you a reasonable fee for providing certain
information.
If applicable, we will issue you with a fee notice. This will detail the
tasks involved in responding to the request, and associated costs. Further
information is available on the EIR page of Bedford Borough Council’s
website at the following link:

[2]https://www.bedford.gov.uk/council-and-d...

  

Any future correspondence you may have with the Council in relation to
this matter should be emailed to [3][Bedford Borough Council request email]

 

Any emails containing personal or sensitive data will be sent as ‘secure
e-mails’. In order for you to access a secure email you will be asked to
create an account and log into the Council’s secure e-mail reply
service. If you do receive a secure email there will be instructions
explaining how to do this.

 

References

Visible links
1. https://www.bedford.gov.uk/council-and-d...
2. https://www.bedford.gov.uk/council-and-d...
3. mailto:[Bedford Borough Council request email]

Freedom of Information, Bedford Borough Council

Bedford BC - OFFICIAL-Unsecure

Dear Mr Crocker,

Thank you for your email. As we have several Freedom of Information requests made by yourself, are you able to provide me with the date of your original request, or if possible, the FOI number given to you when your response was sent out to you, to ensure that we are logging the correct request to go for an Internal Review. Once this has been received, I can start the internal review process.

Kind regards
Freedom of Information
Bedford Borough Council

show quoted sections

We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are Mark Crocker please sign in and let everyone know.