Directors's perks and interests
Dear British Waterways Board,
Please provide details (type, nature and origin) of all perks, gifts, free trips, and such like that have been received by the directors of BW over the last 3 years. Please also provide similar information in relation to your employee Sally Ash.
Please provide details of interests held by the directors of BW, such as share ownership, in organisations outside and owned by BW. Such interests may include interests in development, construction, and or maintenance companies. Or any other company supplying, or likely to supply, services to or do carry out business with BW. Please provide similar for your employee Sally Ash
Please provide details of any perks, gifts or free trips etc provided to your directors, and Sally Ash, from any Olympic related organisation or contractor.
Yours faithfully,
Mike Wells
Dear Mr Wells
Thank you for your request for information dated 24th March 2011.
I understand that you have requested the following information:
1. provide details (type, nature and origin) of all perks,
gifts, free trips, and such like that have been received by the
directors of BW over the last 3 years. Please also provide similar
information in relation to your employee Sally Ash.
2. provide details of interests held by the directors of BW,
such as share ownership, in organisations outside and owned by BW.
Such interests may include interests in development, construction,
and or maintenance companies. Or any other company supplying, or
likely to supply, services to or do carry out business with BW.
Please provide similar for your employee Sally Ash
3. provide details of any perks, gifts or free trips etc
provided to your directors, and Sally Ash, from any Olympic related
organisation or contractor.
We will review the information that we hold relating to your request and a
response will be sent as soon as possible but in any case within 20
working days of the receipt of your request on 21^st March 2011
Yours Sincerely
Chris Gray
Information officer
British Waterways
01942 405732
Dear Chris Gray,
I note that British Waterways' response to my request for information is now late.
I would be very grateful if you could supply me with the information requested as soon as possible.
If BW is unable to provide this information I would ask you to please outline the reasons for not doing so as soon as possible.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Mike Wells
Dear Mr Wells
Further to my correspondence with you of 25^th March 2011 I am responding
to your request for all documents regarding:
I am sorry for the lateness and the lack of information but due to the two
sets bank holidays a number of staff who have access to the requested
information are on leave . As soon as I receive the information on their
return I will pass it on to you.
1. provide details (type, nature and origin) of all perks,
gifts, free trips, and such like that have been received by the
directors of BW over the last 3 years. Please also provide similar
information in relation to your employee Sally Ash.
Still awaiting information
2. provide details of interests held by the directors of BW,
such as share ownership, in organisations outside and owned by BW.
Such interests may include interests in development, construction,
and or maintenance companies. Or any other company supplying, or
likely to supply, services to or do carry out business with BW.
Please provide similar for your employee Sally Ash
BW Directors have no direct shareholdings in British Waterways investments
and Joint ventures. All investments are held with BW.
Apart from directorships of joint ventures, Pommy Sarwal ( BW
non-executive board member) is a director of Port of London and Steve
Dunlop ( BW Director) is a trustee of The Waterways Trust
3. provide details of any perks, gifts or free trips etc.
provided to your directors, and Sally Ash, from any Olympic related
organisation or contractor.
There is no information recorded on Sally Ash regarding perks gifts free
trips, I am still waiting information regarding the directors and as
soon as I receive it I will pass it on to you
If we haven’t reasonably met your expectations in relation to a request
for information or you believe we may not have acted in accordance with
the above legislation you should write in the first instance to Kelly
Radley Head of Customer Relations, 64 Clarendon Road, Watford, Herts WD17
1DA outlining your concerns and asking for a review to be undertaken.
Your correspondence will be acknowledged and a review of your case will be
undertaken by one of British Waterways’ directors.
Should you remain unsatisfied by the response you receive you are able to
contact the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF [1]www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us.aspx.
Yours Sincerely
Chris Gray
Information Officer
British Waterways
01942405732
From: Chris Gray
Sent: 25 March 2011 09:45
To: '[FOI #66322 email]'
Subject: FW: Freedom of Information request - Directors's perks and
interests FOIA73/11 Mr Wells
Dear Mr Wells
Thank you for your request for information dated 24th March 2011.
I understand that you have requested the following information:
1. provide details (type, nature and origin) of all perks,
gifts, free trips, and such like that have been received by the
directors of BW over the last 3 years. Please also provide similar
information in relation to your employee Sally Ash.
2. provide details of interests held by the directors of BW,
such as share ownership, in organisations outside and owned by BW.
Such interests may include interests in development, construction,
and or maintenance companies. Or any other company supplying, or
likely to supply, services to or do carry out business with BW.
Please provide similar for your employee Sally Ash
3. provide details of any perks, gifts or free trips etc
provided to your directors, and Sally Ash, from any Olympic related
organisation or contractor.
We will review the information that we hold relating to your request and a
response will be sent as soon as possible but in any case within 20
working days of the receipt of your request on 21^st March 2011
Yours Sincerely
Chris Gray
Information officer
British Waterways
01942 405732
Dear Chris Gray,
Thank you for your reply.
I understand that the number of bank holidays over this past month must be problematic. I look forward to receiving the information in due course.
Yours sincerely,
Mike Wells
Dear British Waterways Board,
Can you please ensure when responding that you include details (including name of the hire boat operator) of any canal holidays taken and details of who paid for the trip / holidays, or if they were offered as gifts who provided the gift. I understand that at least two directors and your employee Sally Ash have or will be taking such holidays.
BW has now declared that Pommy Sarwal is a director of Port of London. I note from your last annual accounts that BW has borrowings from Port of London Properties of some £12.9m. Please provide details any arrangement or management fees paid to Mr Sawal in respect of this loan.
My understanding is that BW has restrictions placed on its borrowings by government. Please provide copies of documents showing that government agreed to this loan or that it is not subject to such restrictions.
Please also supply documents showing the purpose of the loan, how it is secured, its initial repayment period and any extensions. Please also provide detials of how this loan may be effected by a transfer of BW to charitable status.
Yours faithfully,
Mike Wells
Dear British Waterways Board,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of British Waterways Board's handling of my FOI request 'Directors's perks and interests'. The reason I am requesting a review is that much of the information I requested is now significantly overdue.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/di...
Yours faithfully,
Mike Wells
Dear British Waterways Board,
I note that I have not received a reply to my request for an internal review of this request for information. I have not received a confirmation that you have received my request for an internal review.
Please can you confirm you have received my request for an internal review and also clarify when I may expect to receive the results of that review.
Please note my use of the word interests in the context of this request for information also includes directorships, trusteeships, part time positions and advisory roles in outside organisations and companies.
Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
Mike Wells
Dear Mr Wells,
Thank you for your e-mail yesterday and I apologise that your e-mail of 26th May was not acknowledged.
Unfortunately my colleague Chris Gray is no longer with BW and your e-mail arrived during our transition period; I'm afraid that it must have been overlooked.
I will now arrange for one of BW’s directors to review your FOI request and they will respond to you in due course.
Kind regards,
Sarina Young
Customer Service Co-Ordinator
British Waterways | The Kiln | Mather Road | Newark | NG24 1FB | Tel: 01636 675740 | Mob: 07785 295 274 | Fax: 01636 705584 |
Follow the BW Customer Service team on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BWCustServ
Dear Information Request,
Please can you tell me when, by BW's reckoning, I can expect the outcome of the internal review of this request for information?
Yours sincerely,
Mike Wells
Dear British Waterways Board,
I believe that I would normally have received a response to my request for an internal review.
Please can you tell me:
1)why I have not received a response?
2)when I can expect a response?
3)when I can expect a full response to my initial request for information?
Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
Mike Wells
For anyone following this request for information....
The Information Commissioner has issued a decision notice against BW.
the link to this Decision Notice is below:
http://www.ico.gov.uk/tools_and_resource...
Yours sincerely,
Mike Wells
Allan Richards left an annotation ()
With regard to -
BW has now declared that Pommy Sarwal is a director of Port of London. I note from your last annual accounts that BW has borrowings from Port of London Properties of some £12.9m. Please provide details any arrangement or management fees paid to Mr Sawal in respect of this loan.
I am informed by a trustee of CART that although the POLP loan only appears in BW's accounts in 2007, it was actually taken out in 2001 for the purpose of property speculation (rather that to discharge BW's primary duty of maintaining the waterways).
Mr Sarwal was not a director of either BW or PLA at the time that the loan was taken out.
However, he was a director of both bodies when the loan was renegotiated in 2011/12.
Dear Information Request,
Below is a copy of an email I just sent to the ICO complaining about BW / CART's lack of compliance with the ICO's decision notice.
Mike Wells
Dear ICO
Regarding the case outlined below - BW / CART have not complied with your decision notice. Can you please take this further.
Regards Mike Wells
Case Ref: FS50410346
Date: 06/06/2012
Public Authority: British Waterways
Summary: The complainant requested details about British Waterways’ Directors’ ‘perks’, gifts or free trips over the last three years, to include those provided by any organisation or contractor related to the Olympics, and for details of the Directors’ interests such as share ownership. He also asked for all the above information to be provided in respect of a named British Waterways employee. Whilst a partial response was provided to the complainant on 28 April 2011, this was outside the statutory timeframe of 20 working days. No substantive response has been forthcoming in relation to the remainder of the request and to the complainant’s subsequent clarification of his request. The Information Commissioner’s decision is that British Waterways did not deal with the request for information in accordance with the FOIA. British Waterways breached section 10(1) of FOIA by failing to provide a response to the request within the statutory timeframe of 20 working days. The Information Commissioner requires the public authority to confirm or deny whether the requested information is held in respect of the request, to comply with section 1(1)(a); if information is held in respect of the request, either provide the information to comply with section 1(1)(b), or withhold the information by issuing a valid refusal notice(s) under section 17(1) of FOIA.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 1 - Complaint Upheld, FOI 10 - Complaint Upheld
View PDF of Decision Notice FS50410346
Yours sincerely,
Mike Wells
From: Information Request
Sent: 20 August 2012 17:49
To: '[FOI #66322 email]'
Subject: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST - DIRECTORS’ PERKS AND INTERESTS
Dear Mr Wells,
Further to the ICO decision notice please find attached a full response to
your request for information dated 24 March 2011.
Kind regards
Kelly
Kelly Radley
Internal Communications & Customer Services Manager
Direct line: 01908 351858 (internal DDI: 1058)
Please visit our [1]website to find out more about the Canal & River Trust
and download our ‘Shaping our Future document' on the [2]About Us page.
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The Canal & River Trust is a new charity entrusted with the care of 2,000
miles of waterways in England and Wales. Get involved, join us - Visit /
Donate / Volunteer at www.canalrivertrust.org.uk
Canal & River Trust is a charitable company limited by guarantee
registered in England & Wales with company number 7807276 and charity
number 1146792. Registered office address First Floor North, Station
House, 500 Elder Gate, Milton Keynes MK9 1BB.
Elusen newydd yw Glandŵr Cymru sy’n gofalu am 2,000 o filltiroedd o
ddyfrffyrdd yng Nghymru a Lloegr. Cymerwch ran, ymunwch â ni - Ewch i
Rhoddion a Gwirfoddoli yn www.glandwrcymru.org.uk
Mae Glandŵr Cymru yn gwmni cyfyngedig drwy warant a gofrestrwyd yng
Nghymru a Lloegr gyda rhif cwmni 7807276 a rhif elusen gofrestredig
1146792. Swyddfa gofrestredig: First Floor North, Station House, 500 Elder
Gate, Milton Keynes MK9 1BB.
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Mike Wells left an annotation ()
I have now taken the matter to the Information Commissioner's Office. In order to keep all information in one place and for any other interested parties I am copying the important part of my complaint to the ICO below. Mike Wells
SENT TO THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER
I made a request for information regarding directors perks and interests. Some information was supplied albeit late. I asked for clarification of some of the information, this was not forthcoming. I therefore requested an internal review. The date by which I should have received a response to my request for an internal review has passed. I have reminded BW about this and prompted them for a response both to my initial request for information and to my request for an internal review. Neither has been forthcoming which is why I am now taking this matter to the ICO.
IN particular I am keen to be provided with the information copied in this section below ...
"Can you please ensure when responding that you include details
(including name of the hire boat operator) of any canal holidays
taken and details of who paid for the trip / holidays, or if they
were offered as gifts who provided the gift. I understand that at
least two directors and your employee Sally Ash have or will be
taking such holidays.
BW has now declared that Pommy Sarwal is a director of Port of
London. I note from your last annual accounts that BW has
borrowings from Port of London Properties of some £12.9m. Please
provide details any arrangement or management fees paid to Mr Sawal
in respect of this loan.
My understanding is that BW has restrictions placed on its
borrowings by government. Please provide copies of documents
showing that government agreed to this loan or that it is not
subject to such restrictions.
Please also supply documents showing the purpose of the loan, how
it is secured, its initial repayment period and any extensions.
Please also provide detials of how this loan may be effected by a
transfer of BW to charitable status."