FOI Request handling, Data for Jan 2009 - Jan 2010 inclusive
Dear Croydon Borough Council,
(1) Please provide the number of FOI Requests received each month by the council for calendar year 2009 and January 2010, and the overall total.
(2) Please confirm whether it is council policy to acknowledge all FOI Requests, and how quickly.
If it is, provide the % which met that target in each month and overall.
If not, explain how the council considers this complies with ICO guidance and the council's duties under the Act, in particular §16 to be helpful.
(3) For each month and the whole period, include how many received the council's response
(a) within 15wd,
(b) in 16-20 wd,
(c) after 20wd,
and (d) any still awaiting response.
(4) Include also how many were met
(a) in full,
(b) partly,
(c) rejected, with a note of the numbers for each reason for rejection - not held, too costly, fees notices etc.
(5) Include how many were referred to Internal Review, how long these took as per (3) above, and the outcome
(6) Lastly for each month and total, include the number of requests that had ICO involvement, distinguishing between numbers where the ICO asked the council to respond due to delay by the council, or where the ICO made a ruling after the council process was exhausted.
Itemise each of these presumably very few cases individually with full dates and outcome.
Please provide this electronically, preferably in an XLS spreadsheet.
Yours faithfully,
James Muldoon
Dear Mr Muldoon
Thank you for your email dated 15 February 2010 in which you have
requested, among other matters the number of FOI requests received each
month by the council for calendar year 2009 and January 2010, and the
total overall total.
We are considering your request under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, and hope to respond within the statutory 20 working
days.
In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, either
myself or a colleague will let you know the likely charges before
proceeding.
If you have any queries about this email, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
Yours sincerely
Valerie Morris
Contract Monitoring Officer
Chief Executive's Office
Democratic & Legal Services Division
5th Floor South Side
Taberner House
Park Lane Croydon
CR9 3JS
Tel: 0208 686 4433 ext. 62676
Fax: 0208 760 5679
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Dear Morris, Valerie,
I note that 4 weeks have passed since your acknowledgement of my FOI Request, yet you have still to even confirm if you have the information.
Under the FOI Act, the council is obliged to respond to a Request promptly, and in any event within 20 working days.
The 20 working day period has now expired.
Could you kindly explain where there is any particular reason for the delay, and confirm that in any event a full response will be provided without further delay?
Yours sincerely,
James Muldoon
Dear Mr Muldoon
I refer to your email dated 15 February 2010 in which you have requested,
among other matters the number of FOI requests received each month by the
council for calendar year 2009 and January 2010. We have considered your
request under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and
sincerely apologise for the delay in replying.
I must start by saying that the Council receives a large volume of FOI
requests from members of the public.
(1) In 2009, we received a total of 881 FOI requests. Between 01 January
2010 and 31 January 2010, the Council received 92 FOI requests which have
increased to 747 FOI requests by September 2010. As the Council continues
to provide detailed and complete responses, we have received a very few
number of requests for internal reviews compared to the number of FOI
requests received.
(2) The Council has a policy of acknowledging all FOI requests within 5
working days of receipt of the request; we are now working on
acknowledging all requests on or before the second working day of receipt
of the request. We have a 100% record of acknowledging FOI requests within
these timescales.
You have also requested the following information.
(3) For each month and the whole period, include how many received
the council's response
(a) within 15wd,
(b) in 16-20 wd,
(c) after 20wd,
and (d) any still awaiting response.
(4) Include also how many were met
(a) in full,
(b) partly,
(c) rejected, with a note of the numbers for each reason for
rejection - not held, too costly, fees notices etc.
(5) Include how many were referred to Internal Review, how long these
took as per (3) above, and the outcome
(6) Lastly for each month and total, include the number of requests that
had ICO involvement, distinguishing between numbers where the ICO asked
the council to respond due to delay by the council, or where the ICO made
a ruling after the council process was exhausted.
Itemise each of these presumably very few cases individually with full
dates and outcome.
The information you have requested in questions 3 - 6 above is held by the
Council but not in a recorded and readily accessible format. These
information are contained in an excel spreadsheet and in respective
individual FOI folders. Accordingly, it would require officers of the
council accessing each of those 973 FOI request folders separately in
order to provide the information to you.
Accordingly we believe that the time required to carry out this exercise
will exceed the appropriate limit of £450. This cost includes officers'
time in going through its database and folders to extract the information
requested from the said folders stored on its system and time spent to
redact any exempt information. Section 12 of the Freedom of Information
Act 200 provides an exemption to disclosure of information which will
exceed the appropriate limit; therefore we will not be processing your
request further,
Nevertheless, pursuant to our duty to provide advice and assistance as
provided in Section 16 FOIA we herewith attach a summary of FOI requests
received by the Council from January 2009 - 30 July 2010. The attachments
provide some of the information you have requested.
The Council is aware of the importance of ensuring strict compliance with
the FOIA. Our staff are trained to process FOI requests in accordance with
the FOIA. The Council is committed to improving its services by providing
a high quality service to its customers whom it seeks to continuously
improve through constant training and awareness updates to all employees.
If you are dissatisfied with the way the department has handled your
request under the Freedom of Information Act you may ask for an internal
review. Your request for internal review should be submitted to us within
40 working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request
received after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the
Council
You can do this by outlining the details of your complaint by either:
emailing us at [1][Croydon Borough Council request email]
faxing us on 020 8760 5661
writing FOI Complaints, London Borough of Croydon, Democratic & Legal
Services, Croydon CR9 3JS
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
Yours sincerely
James Derby
Corporate Solicitor
Legal & Democratic Services
London Borough of Croydon
Taberner House
Park Lane
CR9 3JS
Tel: 020 8760 5768 Ext. 61359
Fax: 020 8760 5
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James Muldoon left an annotation ()
No reply received to Internal Review so referred to ICO on 18-9-10