Employee totals
Dear Sir or Madam,
Iam making a request for all the information to which I am
entitled under the Freedom Of Information Act. In order to assist
you with this request, I am outlining my query as specifically as
possible. If however this request is too wide or too unclear, I
would be grateful if you could contact me by e-mail, as I
understand that under the act, you are required to advise and assist requesters.
I would like to know:
1. On the 1st March 2008 how many persons were employed by all seven councils who which preceeded the new unitary.
This figure to include temporary contracts,those on maternity/paternity leave and those on part-time working.
2.1. On the 1st April 2009 how many persons were employed by all seven councils who which preceeded the new unitary.
This figure to include temporary contracts,those on maternity/paternity leave and those on part-time working.
I understand that under the FOI Act, I should be entitled to a response within 20 working days. I look forward to hearing from you
in the near future.
Please note that your full reply to the above questions should be
sent by e-mail to the return address shown in the heading to this
message. This is because both the request and its response are
published for public scrutiny on the web site through which this
request has been made.
Thank you for your assistance in this matter.
Yours faithfully,
Mr. Bob Watson
Dear Mr Watson,
Thank you for your request for information on the number of persons
employees by the Councils. Your request was received on 2nd April and I
am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I will
let you know the likely charges before proceeding.
If you have any queries about this matter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
Regards
John Harrison
Complaints and Freedom of Information Officer
Support Services
Corporate Services Directorate
County Hall
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 2EF
01670 534025
[email address]
Northumberland made the following annotations
Mr Watson
I write in response to your Freedom of Information enquiry concerning the
number of persons employed by the 7 Councils which preceded the
introduction of the new Authority and the number of persons employed as at
1st April 2009.
The only figures which I'm able to provide for the former District
Councils are in terms of 'Full time Equivalent' , in order to make
comparison meaningful I'll express my response in comparable terms.
1. As of 1st April 2008 there were 7669 (FTE) County Council employees
and a total of 1,511.3 (FTE) in the District Councils. The information in
respect of employees of the former 6 District Councils was provided to us
some time ago and I regret that I'm unable to confirm its validity. I've
provided the figures for April and not March as you requested as the only
information which I have for the District Councils is for April.
2. As of 1st April 2009 there were a total of 9179 (FTE) employees of the
new County Council.
I have to admit that I'm surprised that the figures for the 2 years are as
close and can only assume that the reason is that we're dealing with full
time equivalent and not actual numbers of employees.
I trust this information addresses your request. Should you require any
further details, please contact us via [1][email address]
Regards
John Harrison
Complaints and Freedom of Information Officer
Support Services
Corporate Services Directorate
County Hall
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 2EF
01670 534025
[email address]
Northumberland made the following annotations
References
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1. mailto:[email address]
Dear Harrison, John,
Sorry Johnh but I was being as explicit as I could be. The figures of people involved must be somewhere in the finance and payroll system surely.
To say a council does not know how many people they have employed is somewhat mind-boggling is it not?
Could you return it to payroll, for a starting point, quite simply how many pay advices have they sent out - that would give an indication 'FTE' figures cover a multitude of sins.
According to your figures the number of jobs lost stands at just 1.3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Regards
Bob
Yours sincerely,
bob watson
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 Northumberland County Council's handling of my FOI request 'Employee totals'.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/em...
Yours sincerely,
bob watson
Mr Watson
I acknowledge receipt of your e-mail and confirm that and I am instigating an internal review into the handling of your request.
Regards
John Harrison
Dear John,
I would be obliged if you would inform me who this request was copied to, on e-mail,or hard copy, amongst Councillors at County Hall.
A simple matter, I believe, to do an audit on the e-mail system but one which should be possible under the Data Protection Act or indeed the Computer Misuse Act.
Yours sincerely,
bob watson
Mr Watson
In response to your enquiry, I would inform you that no Councillors were contacted in relation to your original request.
Enquiries were confined to Officers.
In relation to your request for an internal review I can inform you that I have made extensive further enquiries and hope to be able to respond to you with the information requested in the near future.
Regards
John Harrison
Mr Watson
Further to your original request regarding staffing numbers and following
your request for an internal review I am able to provide you with the
following information which whilst not exactly in line with your enquiry
details staffing numbers pre and post Local Government re-organisation:
Posts on Payroll at March 2009 ( pre LGR) 6637
Posts on Payroll at April 2009 (post LGR) 6150
Reduction in posts on payroll 487
Number of posts not on payroll ( ie Vacancies)
pre April 2009 now deleted from structures 236
Total net reduction 487+236= 723
These numbers exclude schools and fire services.
I apologise that we're unable to fulfil your original request as the
requested information is simply not available and hope that the above will
suffice.
Regards
John Harrison
Complaints and Freedom of Information Officer
Support Services
Corporate Services Directorate
County Hall
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 2EF
01670 534025
[email address]
Northumberland made the following annotations
Dear John,
Thanks for this as you say it doesnt answer the question over the reduction in posts in 2008/9 which was my main concern - particularly those in District Councils which I thought would have shown up in Oracle through payroll which migrated across at the begining of the year.
I got from Andrew Tebbut that the 840 posts gone so far were FTE.
Yours sincerely,
bob watson
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