Dinner Function Held At The House Of Commons On Feb 6th 2012
Geoff Reid made this Freedom of Information request to House of Commons This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear House of Commons,
The leader of Swindon Borough Council has recorded in his register of interests that, on the 6th of February 2012, he attended a dinner at the House of Commons and that he was attending as a guest, or accepting the hospitality of Crest Nicholson, a well known property development company.
The leader of Swindon Borough Council also recorded in his register of interests that other Councillors, MP's and Peers were present at the same dinner.
The leader of the council recorded in his register of interests that the purpose of the dinner was to discuss 'Housing Policy'.
I therefore request that the House of Commons supply the following information:
1. What was the function called, termed, referred to or named as?
2. What was the purpose of the function?
3. Which individuals, organisations and other bodies organised, hosted and paid for the function?
4. Which individuals, organisations and other bodies were responsible for inviting guests to the function?
5. When responding to questions 3 and 4: Has any individual, organisation or other applicable body referred to in your responses to my questions 3 and 4, previously applied to hold functions at the House of Commons? if so, please name both the the successful and unsuccessful applicants and specify how many functions (including the purpose and date of each function) each successful applicant has organised and/or held at the House of Commons.
6. Please supply a list of people invited to the 06/02/2012 function - including, (where applicable and the information exists or is available), their job title, rank, elected status if known* and the name of the company or other body they were representing at the function.
6. Please supply a list of people who attended the 06/02/2012 function - including, (where applicable and the information exists and is available),their job title, rank, elected status if known* and the name of the company or other body they were representing at the function.
* Elected Status meaning MP, Councillor, Lord, Mayor etc.
Yours faithfully,
Geoff Reid
Dear Mr Reid
Thank you for your request for information dated 25 July 2012, received by us on the same date.
We will endeavour to respond to your request promptly but in any case within 20 working days i.e. on or before 22 August 2012.
If you have any queries about your request, please use the request number quoted in the subject line of this email.
Yours sincerely
Alistair Duncan
IRIS Support Officer
Dear Mr Reid,
Freedom of Information request F12-303
Thank you for your request for information as detailed in your message
below.
1. What was the function called, termed, referred to or named as?
Records held by the House of Commons refer to the event as ‘Crest
Nicholson Par’.
2. What was the purpose of the function?
Information not held.
3. Which individuals, organisations and other bodies organised, hosted
and paid for the function?
This event was sponsored by Henry Smith MP and was organised by Crest
Nicholson PLC. Crest Nicholson PLC were responsible for paying the final
invoice.
The name of the individual responsible for organising the event is held by
the House of Commons, however this part of your request is refused.
Details of the individual(s) responsible for organising this event are
exempt by virtue of section 40 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(the exemption for personal information), as disclosure of this
information to the public generally, in the House’s view, would not be
consistent with data protection principles in the Data Protection Act 1998
(DPA). This is an absolute exemption and the public interest test does not
apply.
4. Which individuals, organisations and other bodies were responsible
for inviting guests to the function?
Information not held.
5. When responding to questions 3 and 4: Has any individual,
organisation or other applicable body referred to in your responses to my
questions 3 and 4, previously applied to hold functions at the House
of Commons? If so, please name both the successful and unsuccessful
applicants and specify how many functions (including the purpose and
date of each function) each successful applicant has organised and/or held
at the House of Commons.
No previous applications have been made by the organisation referred to in
questions 3 and 4.
6. Please supply a list of people invited to the 06/02/2012 function -
including, (where applicable and the information exists or is available),
their job title, rank, elected status if known*and the name of the
company or other body they were representing at the function.
Information not held.
7. Please supply a list of people who attended the 06/02/2012 function
- including, (where applicable and the information exists and is
available),their job title, rank, elected status if known* and the name of
the company or other body they were representing at the function.
Information not held.
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internal review should be addressed to: Freedom of Information Officer,
Department of HR and Change, House of Commons London SW1 0AA or
[1][House of Commons request email]. Please ensure that you specify the nature of
your complaint and any arguments or points that you wish to make.
If you remain dissatisfied, you may appeal to the Information Commissioner
at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely,
Arianne
Arianne Kitchener | IRIS Manager
Information Rights and Information Security (IRIS) Service | House of
Commons
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Geoff Reid left an annotation ()
The above FOI request relates to a recent FOI request concerning hospitality provided by the developer Crest Nicolson to the leader of Swindon Borough Council at a House of Commons dinner event in February 2012.
See also: http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ho...
It is a matter of public record that several local election candidates in Swindon made statements in their 2012 local election material concerning Crest Nicolson's intention to develop a site in Swindon known as 'Tadpole Farm'.
The candidates stated that Crest Nicolsons proposal for Tadpole Farm was 'Inappropriate Development' and pledged themselves to fighting it.
Their exact words were:
"Fighting Inappropriate Development - We'll fight the developers whose plans threaten to increase traffic levels, overburden local services and concrete our countryside. We will continue to oppose the current Tadpole Farm application"
These candidates were subsequently elected to public office and one of them appointed to the Planning Committee of Swindon Borough Council where, (despite having no previous experience of the role), his first act was to U-turn on his pre-election campaign promises and propose that the Tadpole Farm application be approved.
The application was approved on the 12th of June 2012.
Residents of areas adjacent to Tadpole Farm, and members of the Talkswindon.org forum are trying to verify that the planning process has been conducted appropriately and legally and it is regrettable that submitting FOI requests seems to be the only way to achieve this.
Why?, because some members of Swindon Borough Council seem determined to obstruct the fair, transparent and reasonable transfer and publication of information which is routinely published in other local authority areas.
Although Swindon Borough Council has answered the FOI request referred to in this annotation, I now seek clarification from the House of Commons that the answers already given by Swindon Borough Council are correct and credible.