Failure to publish council and ARAC minutes
Dear Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment,
Despite previous requests minutes of council and audit and risk committee have not been published and repeatedly delayed. Previous response you issued indicated that for operational reasons they had not been which makes no sense at all. Transparency and accountability within public sector is fundamental and full timely disclosure of all such meetings is critical
Should publication in full be further delayed given that it is simply uploading a copy of approved minutes then please advise both council and audit and risk committee that I will seek assistance from the media which should be unnecessary
What precisely is the justification for delay in publishing.
Shocking that again that minutes needed to assure public of work carried out and decisions taken etc in an examination body have been deliberately not published. Please confirm who precisely has instructed that these minutes should not be published or delayed in being published so that if necessary I can ask media to follow up directly. All minutes of all such meetings should be published
Yours faithfully,
M. Manning
Dear Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment,
I refer to my previous request and note that for some reason minute number 155 of the council minutes have now been published but minutes of council meetings numbered 149-154 inclusive have not nor have any of the ARAC minutes since those previously published
It is unacceptable that yet again despite huge delays in publishing that when minutes are published no doubt in response to my request there are numerous minutes omitted and an explanation for both serious repeated delay and omissions of previous minutes require rectified and full disclosure to ensure public confidence
Please ensure each committee member is advised that this has been an ongoing issue repeatedly raised and if immediate disclosure not made the media will have to be engaged and I will have to assume such delays is with full agreement of each member of both ARAC and council and if that is not the case who has made decision not to publish or delay publication
Yours faithfully,
Mr Manning
Dear Mr Manning,
We acknowledge receipt of your email which we are processing under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. As per section 10 of the Act, you can expect a response no later than 20 working days from the date of receipt of your request.
There may be a fee payable for this information. This will be considered and you will be informed if a fee is payable. In this event, the fee must be paid before the information is processed and released. The 20-day time limit for responses is suspended until receipt of the payment. Should a fee be payable, we will write to you to inform you that a fee is required and the process for making payment.
For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may prevent the release of the information you have requested. We will assess whether any of the exemption categories apply to your request (as per PART 11 of the Act) and if they do, or if there is a delay due to the application of an exemption we will contact you and keep you informed.
If any further assistance on this matter is required, please do not hesitate to contact us at [CCEA request email]
Kind regards
Data Protection
Dear Mr Manning,
We acknowledge receipt of your email which we are processing under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. As per section 10 of the Act, you can expect a response no later than 20 working days from the date of receipt of your request.
There may be a fee payable for this information. This will be considered and you will be informed if a fee is payable. In this event, the fee must be paid before the information is processed and released. The 20-day time limit for responses is suspended until receipt of the payment. Should a fee be payable, we will write to you to inform you that a fee is required and the process for making payment.
For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may prevent the release of the information you have requested. We will assess whether any of the exemption categories apply to your request (as per PART 11 of the Act) and if they do, or if there is a delay due to the application of an exemption we will contact you and keep you informed.
If any further assistance on this matter is required, please do not hesitate to contact us at [CCEA request email]
Kind regards
Data Protection
Dear Data Protection Officer,
I further refer to ICO Model Publication Scheme which Public Sector Bodies are expected to follow and in particular reference to "Proactively Publish" and "make information available"
It is now quite evident that publication of minutes of Council and ARAC are continually delayed and even after repeated reminders and requests that when published they are incomplete with minutes of later meetings published after those of previous meetings which are still not published. Previous responses indicated reasons as "operational"
Given that there are many external organisations attending such meetings including Auditors and other Institutions as named on minutes and as you have previously stated both members of ARAC and Council are aware of concerns that I have expressed many times over delays in publishing minutes I must assume that all attendees of all meetings on which minutes have still not been published are equally aware and remain satisfied that continued and repeated failure not to Publish minutes is with their express approval.
This is a formal record (again) so that no member or attendee can subsequently claim that they were unaware of delays in publication that are continuous. Each organisation will be written to separately in due course seeking to clarify why as consultants and other advisors who attended such meetings are they aware of this deep concern and did they agree to permit non publication of meetings and to remind them that previous responses provided to such requests included assurance that members of ARAC and Council (and presumably anyone attending) were aware of such concerns over non publication and the importance of transparency and accountability.
Delays and omissions in publishing such minutes and reasons given such as "operational" cannot give confidence or transparency never mind simple disclosure of matters of public interest that relate to the examinations body. This matter in absence of full and complete immediate disclosure of missing minutes (they are numbered and dates so please check completeness of disclosure) will be referred to the media for their assistance. I do not propose to issue further reminders via this forum but it will act as a record of repeated efforts to simply obtain information.
It is however now necessary that you again confirm for avoidance of doubt that ALL those who attended Council and ARAC meetings have confirmed their approval that it is reasonable to delay publication or not publish at all. This is important given many are paid by Public Sector to provide advice and services (perhaps even Audit services) and the Public would expect such minutes to be published. They may also in many instances also be advising Public organisations on Governance matters which include publication of minutes.
Yours sincerely,
Mr Manning
Dear Mr Manning,
We are responding to your email dated 10 December 2022 which we processed
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Any minutes of meetings of CCEA Council or the Audit and Risk Assurance
Committee which have not been published on the CCEA website at the date of
your request are exempt from release at this stage under Section 22 of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Information Intended for Future
Publication). We have already provided explanations regarding the timing
of the publication of this information and the issues and challenges
around this in responses to previous FOI Requests dated 21 January 2022
and 29 July 2022 and Internal Review responses dated 11 February 2022 and
22 August 2022. A Public Interest Test has been carried out which supports
the application of this exemption and a summary of the factors considered
in the Public Interest Test are as follows.
Factors Favouring Applying the Exemption
• The CCEA Publication Scheme commits to publishing minutes of Council
and ARAC meetings. The Publication Scheme does not specify timescales
for publication nor does the application of a Section 22 exemption
require timescales to be specified.
• There is a requirement for minutes to be fully ratified before they
are published which necessitates a time delay. The Publication Scheme
rightly does not contain timescales for publication for this reason.
• The finite resources involved in publishing minutes faces competing
demands from other aspects of Council Secretariat business.
• The resourcing of the Council Secretariat function faces competing
demands from other CCEA functions, many of whom are tasked with
delivering statutory duties.
Factors Favouring Disclosure
• CCEA is a designated Public Authority in receipt of public funding and
as such there is a public interest in ensuring financial
accountability.
• There is a public interest in the accountability and transparency of
the decision making processes within CCEA.
• Disclosure may improve the public understanding of CCEA and the
current issues being dealt with and therefore allow more effective
challenge.
• Disclosure may increase trust and confidence in CCEA and provide a
basis to share and improve best practice.
Requesting an internal review
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to request an internal review. Internal review requests should be
submitted within 40 working days of receiving this response and should be
addressed, by email or by post to:
Complaints Co-ordinator
CCEA
29 Clarendon Road
Belfast
BT1 3BG
or
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Feedback
CCEA is committed to ensuring a high quality of service to its customers.
As such, CCEA wishes to gather customer views on its Request for
Information service and to use that information as a means of improving
this service. We would be grateful if you would complete the following
short questionnaire. All responses will be treated confidentially. We
will not share the information you provide with any 3rd party.
https://research.ccea.org.uk/index.php/3...
The CCEA Privacy Notice explains when and why we collect personal
information, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it
to others and how we keep it secure. The Privacy Notice can be found at:
https://ccea.org.uk/legal/privacy-policy
Best wishes
Data Protection Officer
Dear Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Northern Ireland Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment's handling of my FOI request 'Failure to publish council and ARAC minutes'.
The explanation provided for factors considered persuasive to non publication are simply ridiculous and I will deal with each one in order as stated
1. Times for publication are not specified in the legislation referred. So despite minutes of latter meetings been published you are trying to suggest minutes of meetings that took place many months previous can be delayed. That is a nonsense and the given many months have lapsed I consider the delay unreasonable
2. The second reason you state refers to the need for the minutes to be ratified. This again is ridiculous for many reasons as below
(A) it implies disagreement over minutes of various previous meetings which were that the case absolutely would raise significant issues over company secretarial and governance issues.
(B) It would be necessary and critical to have minutes of meetings that have been published to state disagreement over previous unpublished minutes which should be a contemporaneous record and no material dispute
(C) Furthermore passage of time would make it impossible to have a recollection of such meetings in terms of day approval at some point in the future. Finally on this point the minutes published show previous minutes approved so they are ratified. Are you trying to tell the public that the council and ARAC committees held meetings ( various) and disagreements exist over accuracy of recording of such meetings
3. You refer to finite resources as a reason for non disclosure and therefore can you please explain how a simple uploading of approved minutes require any other than a simple document upload. This makes no sense whatsoever and is embarrassing to be reason stated.
4. You also refer to competing demands of company secretary department . The only reason that could be relevant if no one attended to take minutes in which case the entire formal record of meetings would be called into question. I refer to previous comments above as this reason appears to be nonsense and alarming if a genuine reason
It appears you do not know which reason to state as a reason but if minutes of meetings have not been ratified that raises a serious issue and actual recordings should be made and / or independent note takers appointed and not allow this to persist.
Are there matters in the unpublished meetings that CCEA would prefer are not disclosed at this time.
Mr Manning
[ GIVE DETAILS ABOUT YOUR COMPLAINT HERE ]
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/f...
Yours faithfully,
Mr Manning
Dear Mr Manning
Thank you for your email which will now proceed to an Internal Review. Your request will be passed on to a CCEA Officer who has had no previous involvement in your request. You will be informed of the outcome within 20 working days. Please note that you may be contacted during this time for more information.
As indicated in CCEA's response to your original FOI request, please send any further communications on this matter to [email address].
Yours sincerely
Complaints co-ordinator
Dear Mr Manning,
We are responding to your email dated 19 December 2022 which we processed
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Any minutes of meetings of CCEA Council or the Audit and Risk Assurance
Committee which have not been published on the CCEA website at the date of
your request are exempt from release at this stage under Section 22 of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (Information Intended for Future
Publication). We have already provided explanations regarding the timing
of the publication of this information and the issues and challenges
around this in responses to previous FOI Requests dated 21 January 2022
and 29 July 2022 and Internal Review responses dated 11 February 2022 and
22 August 2022. A Public Interest Test has been carried out which supports
the application of this exemption and a summary of the factors considered
in the Public Interest Test are as follows.
Factors Favouring Applying the Exemption
• The CCEA Publication Scheme commits to publishing minutes of
Council and ARAC meetings. The Publication Scheme does not specify
timescales for publication nor does the application of a Section 22
exemption require timescales to be specified.
• There is a requirement for minutes to be fully ratified
before they are published which necessitates a time delay. The Publication
Scheme rightly does not contain timescales for publication for this
reason.
• The finite resources involved in publishing minutes faces
competing demands from other aspects of Council Secretariat business.
• The resourcing of the Council Secretariat function faces
competing demands from other CCEA functions, many of whom are tasked with
delivering statutory duties.
Factors Favouring Disclosure
• CCEA is a designated Public Authority in receipt of public
funding and as such there is a public interest in ensuring financial
accountability.
• There is a public interest in the accountability and
transparency of the decision making processes within CCEA.
• Disclosure may improve the public understanding of CCEA and
the current issues being dealt with and therefore allow more effective
challenge.
• Disclosure may increase trust and confidence in CCEA and
provide a basis to share and improve best practice.
Requesting an internal review
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to request an internal review. Internal review requests should be
submitted within 40 working days of receiving this response and should be
addressed, by email or by post to:
Complaints Co-ordinator
CCEA
29 Clarendon Road
Belfast
BT1 3BG
or
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Feedback
CCEA is committed to ensuring a high quality of service to its customers.
As such, CCEA wishes to gather customer views on its Request for
Information service and to use that information as a means of improving
this service. We would be grateful if you would complete the following
short questionnaire. All responses will be treated confidentially. We
will not share the information you provide with any 3rd party.
https://research.ccea.org.uk/index.php/3...
The CCEA Privacy Notice explains when and why we collect personal
information, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it
to others and how we keep it secure. The Privacy Notice can be found at:
https://ccea.org.uk/legal/privacy-policy
Best wishes
Data Protection Officer
Mr Manning,
We acknowledge receipt of the email below. The only point we would wish to
address relates to you seeking confirmation that Council and ARAC
attendees "have confirmed their approval that it is reasonable to delay
publication or not publish at all". We are happy to state again that that
there has never been any suggestion that CCEA does not intend to publish
the minutes of ARAC and Council meetings as set out in the CCEA
Publication Scheme, and that CCEA remains committed to the principles of
openness and transparency.
We are happy to provide this clarification.
Data Protection Officer
Dear Mr Manning,
Please see attached the outcome of your internal review request.
Feedback
CCEA is committed to ensuring a high quality of service to its customers.
As such, CCEA wishes to gather customer views on its complaints service
and to use that information as a means of improving this service. We would
be grateful if you would complete the following short questionnaire
(please select complaint in question 1). All responses will be treated
confidentially. We will not share the information you provide with any 3rd
party.
https://research.ccea.org.uk/index.php/3...
The CCEA Privacy Notice explains when and why we collect personal
information, how we use it, the conditions under which we may disclose it
to others and how we keep it secure. The Privacy Notice can be found at:
https://ccea.org.uk/legal/privacy-policy
Yours sincerely
Complaints co-ordinator
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