Equal Pay Claims
Dear Durham County Council,
Please could you provide the following information under the Freedom of Information Act?
Having read the following article on the BBC News website (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-379...), John Hewitt was quoted as stating: "The legal advice is unequivocal - the status quo is not an option. There is a real and substantial risk from costly equal pay claims which are already materialising and which use teaching assistants as the comparator - most people are not paid for hours and weeks they don't work - so addressing this is also an issue of fairness."
Could you therefore provide -
1) A copy of the 'unequivocal' legal advice which Mr Hewitt is referring to.
2) A copy of the council's legal advice confirming that this is an equal pay issue, under the Equality Act 2010.
2) The number of equal pay claims made to the council in the past 5 years, including the date they were made.
3) The number of equal pay claims that Mr Hewitt refers to, which uses the teaching assistants as the coparator. Including the date the claims were made.
Thanks in advance.
Yours faithfully,
Mr Hedley
REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
This letter is our acknowledgement of your request received 08-NOV-16.
Please note the reference number in the subject line of this email and
refer to it in any future correspondence. The case officer dealing with
your request is:
Lawrence Serewicz Tel. 03000 268038
Depending on the type of request, it will be handled under the Freedom of
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If you have any questions or need further information, then please
contact:
The Information Management Team
Durham County Council
Assistant Chief Executive’s Office
Room 4/143-148
County Hall
Durham
DH1 5UF
Tel. 03000 268038
Email: [1][Durham County Council request email]
Further information is also available from the Information Commissioner
at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545 745
Fax: 01625 524 510
Email: [2][email address]
[3]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
Yours sincerely,
The Information Management Team
Dear Mr Hedley
Please see response to your request for information.
Yours faithfully
The Information Management Team
Durham County Council
Dear Durham County Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Durham County Council's handling of my FOI request 'Equal Pay Claims'.
Whilst I appreciate and thank you for the information provided in answer to my 3rd and 4th question, I feel that Durham County Council are wrong to withhold the information asked for in the 1st and 2nd question. I feel that the public interest in this information outweighs the public interest in maintaining an exception. I therefore ask you to review.
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,
Mr Hedley
Our new reference number: IR20165108MH
Dear Mr Hedley,
Following your email below, we will now carry out an Internal Review for the above request. To allow us to track your internal review more easily and provide a timely response, we have logged it under a new reference number, as above. A response from the review will be provided within 20 working days or no later than 40 working days in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
The case officer dealing with your request is:
Julie Hodgson Tel. 03000 268037
Yours sincerely,
The Information Management Team
Durham County Council
Dear Mr Hedley,
Please find attached our response to your Freedom of Information request.
Kind regards,
Julie Hodgson BA (Hons) PC foi
Freedom of Information and Data Protection Officer
Transformation and Partnerships
Durham County Council
Room 143 - 148
County Hall
Durham
DH1 5UF
Direct Tel: 03000268037
Switchboard: 03000260000
[1]www.durham.gov.uk
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