Full copies of minutes from Bristol Energy Meetings (2015-2019)

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Bristol City Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Bristol City Council,

Could I have the full copies of minutes of meetings with Bristol Energy from 2015 through to 2019, please?

Yours faithfully,

Joanna Booth

No Reply @ Bristol, Bristol City Council

Dear Joanna Booth 
This is a courtesy email to let you know your Public Information
Request has been received on : 05/08/2019. 
Your unique reference number is "CRN00239928 ". Please keep this
number safe, as you may be required to provide it in the future. 
If you need to add further information concerning your case or
require an update about your response date, please email
[email address
Regards,
Customer Relations Team

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"No Reply @ Bristol" <noreply@bristol.gov.uk>, Bristol City Council

Dear Ms Booth
Thank you for submitting your Public Information Request dated 05/08/2019. Your unique reference for this case is CRN00239928 , please use should you need to get in touch with us in the future. 
The details of the case raised are as follows

show quoted sections

"Customer Relations Team" <complaints.feedback@bristol.gov.uk>, Bristol City Council

You sent us a Freedom of Information request on 05/08/2019

Your request number is CRN00239928

Our reply to your request is:  

 
Thank you for your information request which we received on 05 August 2019.
 
I have processed your request under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (‘EIR’) as the
information requested is environmental according to the definition in regulation 2 of the EIR. Section 39 of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’) exempts environmental information from the Act, but requires
us to consider it under the EIR. 
 
In your email you requested the following information: 
   

“Could I have the full copies of minutes of meetings with Bristol Energy from 2015 through to 2019, please?”

 
I can confirm that Bristol City Council holds some information which meets the description of what has been
requested. However, we are withholding it on the following grounds:
 
Regulation 12(5)(e) - Confidentiality of commercial or industrial information
 
The EIR exception at Regulation 12(5)(e) provides that information is exempted if its disclosure would
adversely affect the confidentiality of commercial or industrial information where such confidentiality is
provided by law to protect a legitimate economic interest. The regulation is set out in the following link:
[1]http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004/....  
 
The information that you have requested contains details which relate to Bristol Energy’s business plan
performance including current and future business strategy. We have consulted with Bristol Energy and they
informed us that disclosure of this information is highly likely to cause prejudice to their commercial
interests as it would be used by their competitors to gain a competitive advantage. We consider that we owe
a duty of care to third parties providing us with sensitive commercial information not to disclose the
information to the wider public.
 
This exception is subject to a public interest test which means that consideration must be given to whether
the public interest favouring disclosure is greater than the public interest in maintaining the exemption.
Public interest means what is in the best interests of the wider public not what is of interest to the
public. We have weighed up the benefits to the public of releasing the information against the factors for
not releasing it. On balance we find that due to the likelihood of significant harm to Bristol Energy’s
commercial interests, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in
disclosure of the withheld information.
 
There is a set of publically available minutes of meetings which have taken place between the Overview and
Scrutiny Management Board and Bristol Energy, and these can be found at the following links.
 
[2]https://democracy.bristol.gov.uk/documen...
 
 
Regards,
 
Bristol City Council.
 
 
 
 

This response should answer your request in full.

If you’re not satisfied with our response, or if you want to appeal against any exemptions:

Email: [3][Bristol City Council request email]
Write to: Customer Relations (100TS), PO Box 3176, Bristol, BS3 9FS

If you’re still not satisfied with our response:

You can complain to the Information Commissioner. 
Find out how to do this on the Information Commissioner Office website
 (link to [4]http://ico.org.uk/concerns)

Copyright

You do not own the copyright to any of the information we give you. Copyright may be owned by the council or
by a third party.

You are not allowed to:

·         make a copy of the information

·         use the information commercially

If you want to copy or use the information in any way you should ask us for permission in writing first. We
can’t give permission if it is from a third party.

 

Kind regards

Bristol City Council

Privacy statement

 

Information about how Bristol City Council uses, stores and processes personal data, can be found on
[5]www.bristol.gov.uk/about-our-website/privacy

 

For the purposes of this scheme, Bristol City Council will only be collecting, storing and processing
business and organisational data, and will only be sharing this non-personal data  with organisations /
charities as agreed.

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References

Visible links
1. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url...
2. https://democracy.bristol.gov.uk/documen...
3. mailto:[Bristol City Council request email]
4. http://ico.org.uk/concerns
5. http://www.bristol.gov.uk/about-our-webs...

Dear Bristol City Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Bristol City Council's handling of my FOI request 'Full copies of minutes from Bristol Energy Meetings (2015-2019)'.

You have provided details of the public interest test you did on whether you could release the information in light of the confidential nature that Bristol Energy assured you was in the minutes.
I put to you that the following impact on the Bristol council tax payers should be included in whether we have the right to see their minutes.

The pay to their eight directors is over half a million pounds a year, they have posted £12.2m losses in the last financial year, their net liabilities are £27.4m in 2019, the council have vowed to cover their financial losses for the next 12 months, and there is no prospect of making a profit in the next five years.

This extraordinary cost to the city [including the council and council tax payers] is surely of interest to the wider public. [see link to their public accounts https://democracy.bristol.gov.uk/documen... ]

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,

Joanna Booth

"Customer Relations Team" <complaints.feedback@bristol.gov.uk>, Bristol City Council

Dear Joanna Booth
Thank you for submitting your Internal Review Public Information
Request dated 02/10/2019. Your unique reference for this case is
CRN00239928 , please use should you need to get in touch with us in
the future. 
 

You should receive a formal response on or before 30/10/2019 12:26

If you have not heard anything by this date then please contact
[1][email address] quoting CRN00239928 and we will
look into the matter for you. 
Yours sincerely
Customer relations team

Privacy statement

 

Information about how Bristol City Council uses, stores and processes
personal data, can be found on

[2]www.bristol.gov.uk/about-our-website/privacy

 

For the purposes of this scheme, Bristol City Council will only be
collecting, storing and processing business and organisational data,
and will only be sharing this non-personal data  with organisations /
charities as agreed. 

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Consultations: http://www.bristol.gov.uk/consult

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.bristol.gov.uk/about-our-webs...

Dear "Customer Relations Team" <[email address]>,

Thank you for your reply. I have not received a response so will be submitting a complaint to the ICO.

Yours sincerely,

Joanna Booth

Bristol City Council

 
Dear Joanna Booth
 
Case 3483641
 
Thank you for your enquiry received on 10 December 2019. Your enquiry will
be forwarded to the relevant service and you'll receive a response from
them in due course.
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Customer Relations Team
 
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
 
Bristol City Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error has
misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email. Any views expressed in
this email are those of the individual sender, except where the sender
specifically states these to be the views of Bristol City Council. 
 
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Bristol City
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.

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Dear Bristol City Council,

I have received no reply and will now be going back to the ICO for them to pursue it with you, again.

Yours sincerely,

Joanna Booth

Bristol City Council

Dear Ms Booth
 
We apologise for the delay in responding to your request for information.
We are working to get the information to you as quickly as possible.

 
Regards
 
Customer relations team

show quoted sections

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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #594887 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
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For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:
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Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
be delayed.

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
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Bristol City Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error has
misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email. Any views expressed in
this email are those of the individual sender, except where the sender
specifically states these to be the views of Bristol City Council. 
 
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Bristol City
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.

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Dear Bristol City Council,

It has now been six months since your reply. Please provide the minutes from the meetings. The council's funding choices have meant a loss in the whereabouts of £30m for the public in relation to Bristol Energy and so there is a very important public interest dimension to this request.

Many thanks for your help.

Yours sincerely,

Joanna Booth

Bristol City Council

Thank you for your submission.

Information request

show quoted sections

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References

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1. [FOI #594887 email] (opens in a new window)
mailto:[FOI #594887 email]?subject=Information+request-10309478

Bristol City Council

 
Dear Ms Booth
 
 
 
Thank you for your request for information that was received on 18
September 2020.
 
We are dealing with your request and we aim to send a response by 16
October 2020.
 
If you have any further queries about your request please contact
[1][email address].
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Customer Relations Team
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
 
Bristol City Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee. If you are
not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error has
misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email. Any views expressed in
this email are those of the individual sender, except where the sender
specifically states these to be the views of Bristol City Council.
 
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Bristol City
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.

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1. mailto:[email address]

Dear Bristol City Council,

Thank you for your reply. Do note that this request is over 13 months old and way overdue. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/f...

Yours sincerely,

Joanna Booth