FOI and SAR info

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Good morning

Thank you for your email.

Your enquiry has been sent to the Freedom of information Department for assistance.

Regards

Customer Service Centre
Alison, Southend-on-Sea City Council
Civic Centre
Victoria Avenue
Southend-on-Sea
Essex SS2 6EP
Email: [Southend-on-Sea City Council request email]
Web: http://www.southend.gov.uk/
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Apply for it; Book it; Find it; Pay it; Report it; Say it; View it

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The information in this e-mail and any attachments is confidential and may be subject to legal professional privilege. It is intended solely for the attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless you are the intended recipient or his/her representative you are not authorised to, and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this message or any part of it. Communications sent to or from this organisations may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.
At present the integrity of e-mail across the Internet cannot be guaranteed and messages and documents sent via this medium are potentially at risk. You should perform your own virus checks before opening any attachments.
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show quoted sections

Customer Notice: Please do not e-mail Freedom of Information requests for
Southend-on-Sea City Council to individual officers. Please instead direct
them to [1][email address] where our central team will
direct their registration and completion.

 

Dear A Bell,

 

Thank you for your request received on 31.07.2023 for information under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004.

 

Your request should receive a reply by 29.08.2023.

 

If you have any other queries, please get in touch quoting the FOI
reference number FOI 13299. Where possible please use email as telephone
contact may not always be possible.

 

Kind regards,

 

Holly Gudgin – Corporate Freedom of Information Team

Information Governance, Complaints and Resolution Hub | Information Rights
Support | Southend-on-Sea City Council

( 01702 534929 (Direct) | * [2][email address] |
8 [3]www.southend.gov.uk

Southend-on-Sea City Council, Civic Centre, Victoria Avenue, Southend on
Sea, Essex, SS2 6ER

 

 

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

The information in this e-mail and any attachments is confidential and may
be subject to legal professional privilege. It is intended solely for the
attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the intended
recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless you are the
intended recipient or his/her representative you are not authorised to,
and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this message or any
part of it. Communications sent to or from this organisations may be
subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant
legislation.

At present the integrity of e-mail across the Internet cannot be
guaranteed and messages and documents sent via this medium are potentially
at risk. You should perform your own virus checks before opening any
attachments.

Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really
need to.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.southend.gov.uk/
http://www.southend.gov.uk/

Dear A Bell,

 

Re: Freedom of Information Request – FOI 13299

 

I am writing regarding your request for information, which was received on
31.07.2023. Please accept our sincere apologies for the delay in our
response to your request.

 

In that request you asked us for information below:

 

 1. I would like all the internal foi guidance, training docs and
templates the council have relating to freedom of information requests

 

 2. Is there a central response to FOIs or is it devolved to the
departments involved and is there any quality assurance process?

 

 3. Do you have any software to assist with FOI production and/or logging
FOIs and what system do you use?

 

 4. How many FOIs were made to the Council from 1st January 2023 to 1st
July 2023

 

 5. How many were completed within the statutory deadline and give the
percentage

 

 6. I would like all the internal SAR guidance, training docs and
templates the council have relating to subject access requests

 

 7. Do you have any software to assist with searching the Council's
records to assist with processing SARs and what system do you use to
log SARs?

 

 8. How many SARs were made to the Council from 1st January 2023 to 1st
July 2023

 

 9. How many were completed within the statutory deadline and give the
percentage

 

I can confirm that the search for the information you requested has been
completed and I can advise you of the following:

 

 1. While there is no formal guide for Freedom of Information (FOI)
Requests, we follow the guidance available on the Information
Commissioners Website.

There are multiple templates we use for a variety of reasons - please see
the attached. Please note that all templates are amended as appropriate to
suit the individual request being dealt with.

 

 2. It is devolved to the Departments involved, however the central FOI
Team (Information Rights Support - Information Governance, Complaints
and Resolution Hub) provide advice and guidance on exemptions and
responses. 

 

 3. Ideagen Risk Management.

 

 4. The number of Freedom of Information Requests opened in each month for
2023 are as follows:

January = 107
February = 108
March = 124
April = 108
May = 97
June = 100
July (to end of July) = 127

 

 5. We are unable to provide a total % of the Freedom of Information
requests which were completed within the 20-working day statutory
timeframe across the timeframe you have requested for, however we are
able to advise on the ‘per month’ figures, which are as follows:

January = 41 – 48.81%
February = 77 – 60.63%
March = 84 – 62.69%
April = 62 – 70.45%
May = 46 – 63.89%
June = 64 – 59.26%
July (to end of July) = 55 – 51.89%

 

 6. While there are no formal training documents for Subject Access
Requests (SARs), there is a guide which is available to all
Southend-on-Sea City Council staff members on our intranet – please
find a copy of this guide attached. We also follow the guidance
available on the Information Commissioners Website.

 

There are multiple templates we use for a variety of reasons - please see
the attached. Please note that all templates are amended as appropriate to
suit the individual request being dealt with; additionally, please be
aware that some of the details on the templates may be out of date, such
as on the headers.

 

 7. Ideagen Risk Management for logging of SAR’s.
Departmental ICT systems to assist with the gathering of data.
Kofax Advanced software.

 

 8. The number of Subject Access Requests opened in each month for 2023
are as follows:

January = 19
February = 8
March = 14
April = 9
May = 7
June = 12
July (to end of July) = 12

 

 9. We are unable to provide a total % of the Subject Access Requests
which were completed within the statutory timeframe across the
timeframe you have requested for, however we are able to advise on the
‘per month’ figures, which are as follows:

January = 1 – 16.67%
February = 1 – 33.33%
March = 2 – 14.29%
April = 1 – 20.00%
May = 2 – 5.00%
June = 4 – 22.22%
July (to end of July) = 2 – 25.00%

 

If you wish to discuss any of the above, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the above reference number above in any future
communications.

 

If you are unhappy with the service you have received and would like a
formal review of our response, you can write to the Information Rights
Support Service via email at [1][email address].

 

If you are not content with the outcome of your review, you can make a
complaint under the Council’s complaints process by writing to the
Complaints Support Service via email at
[2][email address] or via post to Civic Centre,
Victoria Avenue, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS2 6ER.

 

You can also apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a
decision although generally the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have
exhausted the Council’s complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner
can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe
House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Holly Gudgin – Corporate Freedom of Information Team

Information Governance, Complaints and Resolution Hub | Information Rights
Support | Southend-on-Sea City Council

( 01702 534929 (Direct) | * [3][email address] |
8 [4]www.southend.gov.uk

Southend-on-Sea City Council, Civic Centre, Victoria Avenue, Southend on
Sea, Essex, SS2 6ER

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

The information in this e-mail and any attachments is confidential and may
be subject to legal professional privilege. It is intended solely for the
attention and use of the named addressee(s). If you are not the intended
recipient, please notify the sender immediately. Unless you are the
intended recipient or his/her representative you are not authorised to,
and must not, read, copy, distribute, use or retain this message or any
part of it. Communications sent to or from this organisations may be
subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant
legislation.

At present the integrity of e-mail across the Internet cannot be
guaranteed and messages and documents sent via this medium are potentially
at risk. You should perform your own virus checks before opening any
attachments.

Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really
need to.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.southend.gov.uk/
http://www.southend.gov.uk/