Eastfield Library

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Eastfield Town Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Eastfield Town Council,

Freedom of information request. Please provide me full information and copies of all correspondence (including emails) between 1st May 2016 and 31st March 2017 in respect of Eastfield Town Council's involvement with the library at Eastfield. This should include full details of any financial or other support you may be providing/intending to provide in the future, copies of any written agreements with North Yorkshire County Council as well as minutes of any working party or committee which deals with your library involvement. Also please confirm how much you have spent funding staff hours/support at Eastfield library for the financial years 2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17. As your website is so dismally out of date in terms of published minutes, please also supply me with copies of the minutes of full Council from 1st May 2016 to 31st March 2017. Draft minutes will be acceptable.

As you have been without a clerk for some time, it may be the case that emails have been sent from/received by Parish Councillors private email accounts - I would remind you that the Freedom Of Information Act applies to official information held in private email accounts (and other media formats) when held on behalf of the public authority and as such fall within the scope of my request. Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

Jim Taylor

Eastfield Town Council

Dear Mr Taylor,

 

Thank you very much for your Freedom of Information request, as you have
pointed out we are without a Clerk at the moment but be assured we will
respond to your request in the time permitted.

 

With kind regards

 

 

Cllr. C.Parsons
Acting Town Clerk
Tel: 01723 586655
Email: [email address]
web: www.eastfieldtowncouncil.org.uk
Open Tues 9am - 12noon
(answerphone when unavailable)

 

From: [1]Jim Taylor
Sent: 01 April 2017 17:03
To: [2]FOI requests at Eastfield Town Council
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Eastfield Library

 

Dear Eastfield Town Council,

 

Freedom of information request. Please provide me full information and
copies of all correspondence (including emails) between 1st May 2016 and
31st March 2017 in respect of Eastfield Town Council's involvement with
the library at Eastfield. This should include full details of any
financial or other support you may be providing/intending to provide in
the future, copies of any written agreements with North Yorkshire County
Council as well as minutes of any working party or committee which deals
with your library involvement. Also please confirm how much you have spent
funding staff hours/support at Eastfield library for the  financial years
2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17. As your website is so dismally out of date
in terms of published minutes, please also supply me with copies of the
minutes of full Council from 1st May 2016 to 31st March 2017. Draft
minutes will be acceptable.

 

As you have been without a clerk for some time, it may be the case that
emails have been sent from/received by Parish Councillors private email
accounts - I would remind you that the Freedom Of Information Act applies
to official information held in private email accounts (and other media
formats) when held on behalf of the public authority and as such fall
within the scope of my request. Thank you.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Jim Taylor

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[FOI #398730 email]

 

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requests to Eastfield Town Council? If so, please contact us using this
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manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #398730 email]
2. mailto:[Eastfield Town Council request email]

Eastfield Town Council

Dear Mr Taylor,

 

With regards your FOI request.

The Council  now have all the minutes from 1^st May 2016 to March 2017 on
our new website [1]eastfieldtc.wixsite.com/eastfieldtowncouncil

With regards the funding of Eastfield Library the Council have over the
past 3 years provided £10,000 p. a to maintain the 8 hours opening time
that would have been lost, with regards all other information requested we
are awaiting legal advise to ensure we comply with your request but not
breaking any confidentiality rules on third parties.

 

 

With kind regards

 

Chris

 

Cllr. C.Parsons
Acting Town Clerk
Tel: 01723 586655
Email: [email address]
web: www.eastfieldtowncouncil.org.uk
Open Tues 9am - 12noon
(answerphone when unavailable)

 

From: [2]Jim Taylor
Sent: 01 April 2017 17:03
To: [3]FOI requests at Eastfield Town Council
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Eastfield Library

 

Dear Eastfield Town Council,

 

Freedom of information request. Please provide me full information and
copies of all correspondence (including emails) between 1st May 2016 and
31st March 2017 in respect of Eastfield Town Council's involvement with
the library at Eastfield. This should include full details of any
financial or other support you may be providing/intending to provide in
the future, copies of any written agreements with North Yorkshire County
Council as well as minutes of any working party or committee which deals
with your library involvement. Also please confirm how much you have spent
funding staff hours/support at Eastfield library for the  financial years
2014/15, 2015/16 and 2016/17. As your website is so dismally out of date
in terms of published minutes, please also supply me with copies of the
minutes of full Council from 1st May 2016 to 31st March 2017. Draft
minutes will be acceptable.

 

As you have been without a clerk for some time, it may be the case that
emails have been sent from/received by Parish Councillors private email
accounts - I would remind you that the Freedom Of Information Act applies
to official information held in private email accounts (and other media
formats) when held on behalf of the public authority and as such fall
within the scope of my request. Thank you.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Jim Taylor

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[FOI #398730 email]

 

Is [Eastfield Town Council request email] the wrong address for Freedom of Information
requests to Eastfield Town Council? If so, please contact us using this
form:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...

 

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...

 

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

 

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/eastfieldtc.wixsite.com/eastfieldtowncouncil
2. mailto:[FOI #398730 email]
3. mailto:[Eastfield Town Council request email]

Dear Eastfield Town Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Eastfield Town Council's handling of my FOI request 'Eastfield Library'.

Your response is incomplete. You have provided (via a website) the minutes, but you have not provided "copies of all correspondence (including emails) between 1st May 2016 and 31st March 2017 in respect of Eastfield Town Council's involvement with the library at Eastfield. This should include full details of any financial or other support you may be providing/intending to provide in the future, copies of any written agreements with North Yorkshire County Council as well as minutes of any working party or committee which deals with your library involvement."

It is noted you are "awaiting legal advise to ensure we comply with your request but not
breaking any confidentiality rules on third parties".

Please expedite my request for an internal review. I would have asked the questions at the Annual Parish Assembly, but as you are holding it on 2nd June, it is not a legally convened meeting. See LGA 1972, Sch 12, s14(1).

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

Yours faithfully,

Jim Taylor

Dear Eastfield Town Council,
It is now over 2 months since I requested an Internal Review. If I do not hear from you by the end of July with the results of the review, then I will have no option but to take this matter to the ICO.
Your much-vaunted website is not up to date either - where are the minutes for the May meeting? Why is the unaudited annual return for 2016/17 not published on the website?

By virtue of the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2015, if a council has a website (or uses the website of another organisation to publish information) , annual return information must be published on that website.

Furthermore the Smaller Authorities Transparency Code that, annually, no later than the 1 July, in the year immediately following the accounting year to which it relates, the following documents must be published on a website which is accessible free of charge:

End of year accounts (Statement of Accounts in annual return)
Annual governance statement (in annual return)
Internal audit report (in annual return)

You have not complied with this legislation and it will be brought to the attention of the auditors. As you seem to still be Clerk-less, it would perhaps be good if the councillors who are trying to do a Clerk's job ensured the Council complied with law.
Yours faithfully,

Jim Taylor

Eastfield Town Council

Dear Mr Taylor,

 

Apologies for delay in response, we have been advised to ask NYCC if they
are happy for us to share the agreement between themselves and Eastfield
Town Council to supply a paid member of staff in MTB Community Library,
which is the only agreement we have signed at the moment.

With regards the audited accounts, I have checked the website and found
that some of the pages were missing, I had though the pdf documents had
all merged into one, this has now been rectified.

All documents are in the process of being  updated on the website.

 

 

Cllr. C.Parsons
Acting Town Clerk
Tel: 01723 586655
Email: [email address]
web: www.eastfieldtowncouncil.org.uk
Open Tues 9am - 12noon
(answerphone when unavailable)

 

From: [1]Jim Taylor
Sent: 17 July 2017 21:41
To: [2]FOI requests at Eastfield Town Council
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Eastfield Library

 

Dear Eastfield Town Council,

It is now over 2 months since I requested an Internal Review. If I do not
hear from you by the end of July with the results of the review, then I
will have no option but to take this matter to the ICO.

Your much-vaunted website  is not up to date either - where are the
minutes for the May meeting? Why is the unaudited annual return for
2016/17 not published on the website?

 

By virtue of the Accounts and Audit  Regulations 2015, if a council has a
website (or uses the website of another organisation to publish
information) , annual return information must be published on that
website.

 

Furthermore the Smaller Authorities Transparency Code that, annually, no
later than the 1 July, in the year immediately following the accounting
year to which it relates, the following documents must be published on a
website which is accessible free of charge:

 

End of year accounts  (Statement of Accounts in annual return)

    Annual governance statement (in annual return)

    Internal audit report (in annual return)

 

You have not complied with this legislation and it will be brought to the
attention of the auditors. As you seem to still be Clerk-less, it would
perhaps be good if the councillors who are trying to do a Clerk's job
ensured the Council complied with law.

Yours faithfully,

 

Jim Taylor

 

show quoted sections

Dear Eastfield Town Council,
It is good to see that some additional minutes are now on the website. However the link to the 26th June minutes takes you to the minutes for the 22nd May meeting.
I note that the agenda for the meeting of 26th June is unsigned and none of the supporting papers (ie. those shown on the agenda as 'enclosed') are contained within the agenda pack you have put online. Please rectify this omission.

Yours faithfully,

Jim Taylor

Eastfield Town Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Taylor,

 

Thank you for pointing out the errors on our website I am rectifying them
today, I also have pleasure in attaching the Library Staff Agreement
between Eastfield Town Council and North Yorkshire County Council as
requested. (Please note we are still waiting for the signed copy from
NYCC)

 

Many thanks

Chris

 

Cllr. C.Parsons
Acting Town Clerk
Tel: 01723 586655
Email: [1][email address] or [email address]
web: eastfieldtc.wixsite.com/eastfieldtowncouncil
Open Tues 9am - 12noon
(answerphone when unavailable)

 

From: [2]Jim Taylor
Sent: 21 July 2017 20:11
To: [3]FOI requests at Eastfield Town Council
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Eastfield Library

 

Dear Eastfield Town Council,

It is good to see that some additional minutes are now on the website.
However the link to the 26th June minutes takes you to the minutes for the
22nd May meeting.

I note that the agenda for the meeting of 26th June is unsigned and none
of the supporting papers (ie. those shown on the agenda as 'enclosed') are
contained within the agenda pack you have put online.  Please rectify this
omission.

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Jim Taylor

 

show quoted sections

Dear Eastfield Town Council,
I require a full copy of the agreement with NYCC - the one you have provided only has three pages - the title page, a page containing paragraphs 2.1 to 3.3 inclusive and a page containing paragraphs 7.1 to 7.2 inclusive. Please provide the full document.

Yours faithfully,

Jim Taylor

Dear Eastfield Town Council,
On 25th July you said "Thank you for pointing out the errors on our website I am rectifying them
today, "

It would seem the rectification is a work in progress. The agenda for 26th June is now signed although none of the supporting papers are included with it. The agenda for 31st July is online - again minus the supporting papers. However the link to the June minutes still takes you to the May minutes.

Yours faithfully,

Jim Taylor

Dear Eastfield Town Council,

It's now over 2 months - I am still waiting for the missing pages from the agreement with NYCC - and the website still has the errors I mentioned (June minutes missing - as are the ones for July to September, plus the agenda for September is incomplete as the accompanying papers are missing).

Yours faithfully,

Jim Taylor

Eastfield Town Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Taylor,

 

Please find attached a copy of the complete Staffing Agreement between
NYCC and ETC , to provide staff hours for More Than Books Community
Library.

 

 

Kind Regards

 

Cllr. C.Parsons
Acting Town Clerk
Tel: 01723 586655
Email: [email address]
web: www.eastfieldtowncouncil.org.uk
Open Tues 9am - 12noon
(answerphone when unavailable)

 

From: [1]Jim Taylor
Sent: 07 October 2017 23:06
To: [2]FOI requests at Eastfield Town Council
Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Eastfield Library

 

Dear Eastfield Town Council,

 

It's now over 2 months - I am still waiting for the missing pages from the
agreement with NYCC - and the website still has the errors I mentioned
(June minutes missing - as are the ones for July to September, plus the
agenda for September is incomplete as the  accompanying papers are
missing).

 

Yours faithfully,

 

Jim Taylor

 

Dear Eastfield Town Council,
Thank you for providing the full copy of the agreement. Now can you please get your website sorted - let's start with the minutes. The link to the full council June minutes take you to the 22nd May minutes. The link to the 21st August minutes take you to the 31st July minutes. The 21st August minutes are not online.

Yours sincerely,

Jim Taylor

Dear Eastfield Town Council,
Thank you for sorting out your website's missing files and broken links. Now please can you get the supporting papers to the agenda published on the website. Anywhere on the agenda that it refers to a report being "enclosed", then that report should be scanned and published online with the agenda. That's what the Transparency Regs require - as you would know if you had a properly qualified Clerk.

Yours sincerely,

Jim Taylor