FOI Request; Legal Fees
Dear Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,
Between January 1st 1995 and December 8th 2009:
1.How much was spent in legal fees by the council - including solicitors' wages, expenses and court fees (everything legal) regarding children with special needs (including social services legal fees and special education legal fees)
2. How many times have private lawyers been brought in by RBKC during this period and what is the total of the private legal fees?
Yours faithfully,
Liz R
Dear Ms R
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REF: 2009-749
I am writing to confirm that we received your information request on 8
December 2009. For your information and future communications your request
has been allocated the reference number FOI2009-749. Please quote this
reference in any future correspondence.
We will consider your request and respond in accordance with the
requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Our duty is to
respond promptly or at least within 20 working days.
Yours sincerely
Robin Yu
Information Protection Assistant
FOIA Team, Business Protection Unit
Information Systems Division (ISD)
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX
Tel: 020 7938 8226
Web: [1]http://www.rbkc.gov.uk
Dear Ms R
Freedom of Information Act request Ref: 2009-749
Thank you for your request, could you assist us by clarifying your
questions please?
1) We do not hold this information in the way you requested. We would
have to check the records related to every child with special
educational needs to discover this information and that would take
over the fees limit. We might be able to investigate how many special
educational needs cases were taken to SENDIST in the last 6 years and let
you have the legal fees and disbursements.
Would you be happy for us to continue in this manner?
2) Is this is connection with special educational needs or in general?
We will not take any further action on your request until your response.
Please contact me if you would like to discuss further or require any
assistance.
Yours sincerely
Robin Yu
Information Protection Assistant
FOIA Team, Business Protection Unit
Information Systems Division (ISD)
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX
Tel: 020 7938 8226
Web: [1]http://www.rbkc.gov.uk
Dear Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea's handling of my FOI request 'FOI Request; Legal Fees'.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fo...
Yours faithfully,
Liz R
Dear Ms R,
Could you explain your reason(s) for your request for internal review
please?
I asked for clarification of your request this morning as per our duty to
advise and assist an applicant under Section 16(1) of the Act.
If you wish to continue with your request for internal review then I will
forward your request to the Town Clerk as per the Council's FOI internal
reviews procedure and I will close your FOI request.
Yours sincerely
Robin Yu
Information Protection Assistant
FOIA Team, Business Protection Unit
Information Systems Division (ISD)
Room N108, First Floor, KTH
Tel: 020 7938 8226
[1]ISD on the Intranet
Dear Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,
I was referring to all children and their families within RBKC, every child matters, and the Childrens' act the Town Clerk will understand- yes please refer to the Town Clerk as per the Council's FOI internal review, thank you for this information
Yours faithfully,
Liz R
Dear Ms R,
Thank you for your clarification of the information you require.
However, I am still confused as to why you have requested an internal
review. The Town Clerk will reject your request for internal review unless
you provide a reason.
We can continue with your request now we have clarification. If you still
require an internal review then please provide a reason why.
Yours sincerely
Robin Yu
Information Protection Assistant
FOIA Team, Business Protection Unit
Information Systems Division (ISD)
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX
Tel: 020 7938 8226
Web: [1]http://www.rbkc.gov.uk
Dear Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,
'all children and their families within RBKC' is what I meant yes- sorry it wasn't clear- if you can do that without internal review that's OK with me, thank you
Yours faithfully,
Liz R
Dear Ms R,
Could you confirm for question 2 of this request whether you are looking
for information on occasions when private lawyers have been brought in, in
connection with Special Education Needs or in general?
Thank you
Robin Yu
Information Protection Assistant
FOIA Team, Business Protection Unit
Information Systems Division (ISD)
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX
Tel: 020 7938 8226
Web: [1]http://www.rbkc.gov.uk
Dear Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,
Mr.Yu
I'm sorry I'm not making myself clear. Yes I mean all, both private and government including local government (*RBKC Legal) legal costs as per original request regarding all special needs children (see original request)
Please don't hesitate to contact me for further clarification, this a childrens' matter
Thanks
Yours faithfully,
Liz R
Dear Ms R
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REF: 2009-749
I am responding to your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000,
which we received on 8 December 2009 for information held by the Council.
You requested:
Between January 1st 1995 and December 8th 2009:
   Â
1. How much was spent in legal fees by the council - including solicitors'
wages, expenses and court fees (everything legal) regarding children with
special needs (including social services legal fees and special education
legal fees)
We are unable to provide this information as the cost involved in locating
and retrieving it would exceed the appropriate limit as defined in the
Freedom of Information Act. The question is too broad to be able to
respond to. We would have to check the records related to every child with
special educational needs to locate this information.
I previously informed you that we might be able to investigate how many
special educational needs cases were taken to SENDIST in the last 6
years and let you have the legal fees and disbursements. However, you
decided not to take up this option.
Section 12 of the FOI Act makes provision for public authorities to refuse
requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed
the appropriate limit, which for local authorities is set at £450. This
represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours determining
whether the Council holds the information, locating, retrieving and
extracting the information.
As we estimate that it will take in excess of 18 hours to locate, retrieve
and extract this information. We are therefore refusing to supply the
information requested.
   Â
2. How many times have private lawyers been brought in by RBKC during this
period and what is the total of the private legal fees?
Legal Services' recording system shows that since 1995 in relation to
special educational needs, we have incurred fees of £10,787 for
professional legal advice, of which £2,750 was
paid to counsel. Our record of disbursements only goes back to
November2005 so there may have been additional expenditure before
that date.
Copyright
Please note, all material provided by the Royal Borough of Kensington and
Chelsea in response to your request for information is for your personal,
non-commercial use. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea reserves
all rights in the copyright of the information provided. Any unauthorised
copying or adaptation of the information without express written
confirmation from the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea will
constitute an infringement of copyright. Any intention to re-use this
information commercially will require consent. Please forward any requests
for re-use of information to the FOI officer ([1][RBKC request email]).
Complaints
I trust this has satisfied your request. Should you be unhappy with the
handling of your request, the Council has an internal complaints process
for handling FOI Act complaints. Complaints are reviewed by the Town Clerk
and Chief Executive or his nominee. A form is available from our website
to lodge your complaint
[2]http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/councilanddemocra...
Please contact us if you do not have website access and we can provide you
with a copy of the form.
Following this review, should you still be unhappy with how your
information request has been handled, you have a further right to appeal
to the Information Commissioner who is responsible for ensuring compliance
with the FOI Act.
Yours sincerely
Robin Yu
Information Protection Assistant
FOIA Team, Business Protection Unit
Information Systems Division (ISD)
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX
Tel: 020 7938 8226
Web: [3]http://www.rbkc.gov.uk
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[RBKC request email]
mailto:[RBKC request email]
2. http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/councilanddemocra...
http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/councilanddemocra...
3. http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/
http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/
Dear Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,
Please clarify- it was established - House of Lords judgement in G.
v LB that - that the Children' Act has primacy over the FOI Act, I therefore request and internal review for full costs as per my original request please
Yours sincerely,
Liz R
Dear Ms Robilliard
You asked for a review of the Council's decision not to disclose
information relating to the cost of legal fees by the Council. Your email
of 5 January 2010 refers.
I have completed a review of the Council's previous decision and I have
found that the Council's previous analysis that in practical terms the
scope of your request is too broad to allow us to easily reply.
I have therefore concluded that the review of this decision does not
change the position and the Council is unable to disclose the information
that you have requested.
If you wish to take the matter further, you have a right of appeal to the
Information Commissioner.
Yours sincerely
Derek Myers
Town Clerk and Chief Executive
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Dear Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea,
The Childrens' Act takes primacy over everything else and how can an audited Departments' financial record be 'too broad' to be able to provide information? Please send contact details of auditors of the legal department/s, names and dates covering the dates of the information requested within this thread request please- this is in fact also a request for an internal review as RBKC should have this information available Mr.Myers, you are head of RBKC, you must know such things are mandatory in the interests of the public?
Yours faithfully,
Liz R
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