High Hedge Act

The request was successful.

Dear Aberdeen City Council,

Could you kindly send me all relevant communications around High Hedges made to officials and members of the Scottish Government pertaining to the High Hedge Act Scotland (2013).

Yours faithfully,

Sam Andrew

Foi Enquiries, Aberdeen City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Andrew,

 

Thank you for your request for information, made under Section 1(1) of the
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act (FOISA), and received on 10 July
2017.

 

We would like to ask you to clarify your request so that we can identify
and locate the information which you have requested. Under Section 1(3) of
the FOISA, we do not have to supply you with the requested information
until you have provided us with more detail in this respect.

 

Could you kindly send me all relevant communications around High Hedges
made to officials and members of the Scottish Government pertaining to the
High Hedge Act Scotland (2013).

 

We would be extremely grateful if you could clarify what you mean by
‘relevant’ communications? We would also be extremely grateful if you
could clarify the timeframe you are interested in, for example, the last
year?

 

Clarifying these points will help us to be sure we are providing, where
possible, the information you are interested in.  Please note we will keep
your request on file for 20 working days whilst we await your
clarification.  It can often be helpful to discuss your request with a
member of our team who may be able to help you frame your request or
explain more about how ACC holds its information; if this is something you
feel may be helpful please do call us, and we will be happy to assist you.

 

We look forward to hearing from you.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Grant Webster

Information Compliance Officer

 

 

Information Compliance Team

Customer Service

Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
3rd Floor North

Business Hub 17
Marischal College
Broad Street
ABERDEEN AB10 1AQ

[1][Aberdeen City Council request email]

Tel 03000 200 292

 

*03000 numbers are free to call if you have ‘free minutes’ included in
your mobile call plan.

Calls from BT landlines will be charged at the local call rate of 10.24p
per minute (the same as 01224s).

[2]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Aberdeen City Council request email]
2. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/

Dear Foi Enquiries,

Thank you for your prompt reply.

I request that correspondence between Aberdeen City Council and the Scottish Government e.g. emails, letters that have been sent between these parties that relate to the legislation of the High Hedge Act (2013) Scotland are shared. I cannot detail the dates of said emails and correspondence unless ACC provide me with an index of correspondence which is unlikely to exist. This would include any correspondence with the Ministers that have presided over the Act since 2013. Clearly I cannot provide a timeline or a correspondence of who wrote what to whom but ACC will be aware of some dialogue assuming some dialogue happened. This would also ideally include any minutes of meetings that have been held in conjunction with the Scottish Government around the High Hedge Act presumably there would have been a roll out of the Act etc back in 2013 and there would have been some consultancy done between the Government and the Local Authorities to ensure that the Act could be reasonably have been implemented by the authorities.

There is no need to publish transcripts in relation to Post Scrutiny review since these are already publicly available clearly.

I would request any minutes of meetings held between those council officials who preside over the Local Authorities jurisdiction of the High Hedge Act Scotland to be made available e.g. meetings occurring between multiple councils where legislative matters around the enactment of the High Hedge Act have been discussed assuming that these have occurred as was anecdotally sited during the High Hedge scrutiny.

I would like to see a paper trail relating to ACC's review of what they legally consider constitutes a 'hedge' that ACC's legal team conducted around October 2016 under Mr Kevin Wright's lead.

I would like my high hedge application and high hedge rejection notification sent by Marjoram Bernadette dated 12 June 2017 (addressed to 86 Ashley Road) to be published.

I see little value in digging through a huge tranche of emails between myself and Aberdeen City Council but should Aberdeen City Council wish to publish all of these I believe they could and I would have no objection to this. I believe any documents would have my own personal information blacked out as standard protocol. Similarly I do not wish personal names of individuals within an organisation to be named on the correspondence unless individuals were to specifically want there name included I'm happy it can remain anonymous. Just stating that it is from ACC to denied High Hedge applicant June 2017 suffices.

The few specific correspondences between the council and myself that I would wish to have published for any interested party to review though are as follows;
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Sam Andrew [mailto:[email address]]
Sent: 26 September 2016 19:30
To Mr Kevin Wright

and returned

From: Kevin Wright <[email address]>
Sent: Tuesday, September 27, 2016 1:27 PM
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Sam Andrew [mailto:[email address]]
Sent: 28 June 2017 15:22
To: Sinclair Laing

and returned

Sinclair Laing <[email address]>
Reply| Wed 6/28, 2:39 PM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Sam Andrew
To: Bernadette Marjoram
Sent: 9 July 2017 20:32PM

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yours sincerely,

Sam Andrew

Foi Enquiries, Aberdeen City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Andrew,

 

Information enquiry reference EIR-17-0983.

 

Many thanks for your recent clarification of your information request,
which we received on 11 July 2017. We understand your request to be:

 

Please provide all correspondence between Aberdeen City Council and the
Scottish Government that relate to High Hedge (Scotland) Act 2013. This
would include any correspondence with the Ministers that have presided
over the Act since 2013.

 

Please provide any minutes of meetings that have been held in conjunction
with the Scottish Government around the High Hedge Act. Presumably there
would have been a roll out of the Act back in 2013 and there would have
been some consultancy done between the Government and the Local
Authorities to ensure that the Act could be reasonably have been
implemented by the authorities

 

Please provide any minutes of meetings held between those council
officials who preside over the Local Authorities jurisdiction of the High
Hedge Act Scotland e.g. meetings occurring between multiple councils where
legislative matters around the enactment of the High Hedge Act have been
discussed assuming that these have occurred as was anecdotally sited
during the High Hedge scrutiny

 

I would like to see information on ACC’s review of what they legally
consider constitutes a ‘hedge’ that ACC’s legal team conducted around
October 2016 under Mr Kevin Wright’s lead

 

The scheduled date for our response to your request for information is on
or before 9 August 2017.

 

Please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any queries in the
meantime.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Grant Webster

Information Compliance Officer

 

 

Information Compliance Team

Customer Service

Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
3rd Floor North

Business Hub 17
Marischal College
Broad Street
ABERDEEN AB10 1AQ

[1][Aberdeen City Council request email]

Tel 03000 200 292

 

*03000 numbers are free to call if you have ‘free minutes’ included in
your mobile call plan.

Calls from BT landlines will be charged at the local call rate of 10.24p
per minute (the same as 01224s).

[2]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Aberdeen City Council request email]
2. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/

Dear Foi Enquiries,

Thank you.

There were also a few specific emails that I wanted issued that relate to the execution of the High Hedge by ACC. Can you confirm that these too will be issued with names blackened out and replaced by ACC anonymous.

Yours sincerely,

Sam Andrew

Foi Enquiries, Aberdeen City Council

Dear Mr Andrew,

 

Thank you for your email.

 

In relation to the emails requested, these appear to be in relation to
your own high hedge application etc. As this request is in relation to
your own personal information, they do not fall within the scope of FOISA
and, if held, would likely be exempt from release. If you wish to request
information about yourself, you can make a subject access request under
the Data Protection Act. Please let us know if you would like to do that
and we will be happy to process for you. Your request will then be
forwarded to the Service department for action and they will respond to
you directly. 

 

ACC is only allowed to deal with a Subject Access Request under the Data
Protection Act 1998.  It cannot disclose information about an applicant’s
own personal information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
2002 (FOISA) or the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004
(EIRs), as releasing this information under FOISA or the EIRs means that
ACC would be putting your personal information into the public domain and
would form a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998.  ACC's response to a
Subject Access Request is treated as private and confidential.  On this
basis, a request for your own personal information is exempt under Section
38(1)(a) (personal information of which the applicant is the data subject)
of FOISA or excepted under Regulation 11(1) (personal information of which
the applicant is the data subject) of the EIRs.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Grant Webster

Information Compliance Officer

 

 

I would like my high hedge application and high hedge rejection
notification sent by Marjoram Bernadette dated 12 June 2017 (addressed to
86 Ashley Road) to be published.

 

The few specific correspondences between the council and myself that I
would wish to have published for any interested party to review though are
as follows;

 

From: Sam Andrew [[1]mailto:[email address]]

Sent: 26 September 2016 19:30

To Mr Kevin Wright

 

and returned

 

From: Sam Andrew [[2]mailto:[email address]]

Sent: 28 June 2017 15:22

To: Sinclair Laing

 

and returned

 

From: Sam Andrew

To: Bernadette Marjoram

Sent: 9 July 2017 20:32PM

 

Information Compliance Team

Customer Service

Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
3rd Floor North

Business Hub 17
Marischal College
Broad Street
ABERDEEN AB10 1AQ

[3][Aberdeen City Council request email]

Tel 03000 200 292

 

*03000 numbers are free to call if you have ‘free minutes’ included in
your mobile call plan.

Calls from BT landlines will be charged at the local call rate of 10.24p
per minute (the same as 01224s).

[4]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[Aberdeen City Council request email]
4. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/

Dear Foi Enquiries,

Yes please if you can release in that manner it would be most appreciated as that will testify what officials have done in this case for the record to all whom may wish to review the adequacy of such responses.

Yours sincerely,

Sam Andrew

Foi Enquiries, Aberdeen City Council

Dear Mr Andrew,

 

Thank you for your email which we received on 13 July 2017.

 

As you are asking for a copy of information about yourself, Aberdeen City
Council (ACC) will treat your request as a Subject Access Request (SAR)
under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA).

 

Your request has been forwarded to the Service department for action and
they will respond to you directly. 

 

Please do not hesitate to contact us, should you have any questions or
concerns in the meantime.

 

Your sincerely

 

Grant Webster

Information Compliance Officer

 

FURTHER INFORMATION

 

ACC is only allowed to deal with a Subject Access Request under the Data
Protection Act 1998.  It cannot disclose information about an applicant’s
own personal information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
2002 (FOISA) or the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004
(EIRs), as releasing this information under FOISA or the EIRs means that
ACC would be putting your personal information into the public domain and
would form a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998.  ACC's response to a
Subject Access Request is treated as private and confidential.  On this
basis, a request for your own personal information is exempt under Section
38(1)(a) (personal information of which the applicant is the data subject)
of FOISA.

 

If you are unhappy with this response to your request for information, or
the way in which your request has been handled  under FOISA , you can
submit a complaint or request a review of our response. You should do this
40 working days after receipt of this information. To complain or request
a review, please write to:

 

Information Compliance Team
Communications and Promotion
Office of Chief Executive
Aberdeen City Council
3^rd Floor North

Business Hub 17

Marischal College
Broad Street
ABERDEEN AB10 1AQ

Email: [1][Aberdeen City Council request email]

 

Your request for review must include your name, an address, and your
reason(s) for requesting a review. You should also include the reference
number for your original request for information.

               

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your request for review, you
can apply directly to the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner
(OSIC) for a decision. Generally, OSIC cannot make a decision unless you
have been through the Council’s review procedure. The Scottish Information
Commissioner can be contacted at:

 

The Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St Andrews

Fife

KY16 9DS

[2]www.itspublicknowledge.info 

 

Should you wish to appeal against the Scottish Information Commissioner's
decision, there is an appeal to the Court of Session on a point of law
only. Any such appeal must be made within 42 days after the date of the
decision has been issued.

 

 

Information Compliance Team

Customer Service

Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
3rd Floor North

Business Hub 17
Marischal College
Broad Street
ABERDEEN AB10 1AQ

[3][Aberdeen City Council request email]

Tel 03000 200 292

 

*03000 numbers are free to call if you have ‘free minutes’ included in
your mobile call plan.

Calls from BT landlines will be charged at the local call rate of 10.24p
per minute (the same as 01224s).

[4]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Aberdeen City Council request email]
2. http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/
3. mailto:[Aberdeen City Council request email]
4. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/

CHIFOI, Aberdeen City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Andrew

I understand that you wish to make a Subject Access Request.

Please could you complete the attached Subject Access Request Form and return this to me together with proof of ID (copies will suffice). There will be no charge for this information.

Many thanks.

Barbara Pajkowski
Service Administration Officer
Directorate Support Unit
Communities, Housing & Infrastructure
Aberdeen City Council
Business Hub 11
Second Floor West
Marischal College
Broad Street
Aberdeen AB10 1AB
Tel: (01224) 523350
Fax: (01224) 523764
Email: [email address]

Aberdeen City Council Website
www.aberdeencity.gov.uk
Tel: 03000 200 292

show quoted sections

Foi Enquiries, Aberdeen City Council

3 Attachments

Dear Mr Andrew,

 

Thank you for your information request of 11 July 2017.  Aberdeen City
Council (ACC) has completed the necessary search for the information
requested.

 

Please provide all correspondence between Aberdeen City Council and the
Scottish Government that relate to High Hedge (Scotland) Act 2013.

 

This would include any correspondence with the Ministers that have
presided over the Act since 2013.

Correspondence between Aberdeen City Council, the Scottish Government and
ministers that have presided over the Act since 2013 already exists in the
public domain. The relevant documents can be accessed via the Scottish
Parliament website at the following links;

 

[1]http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2009/12... (Document Aberdeen
City Council HH107 and HH515)

 

[2]http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentary...

 

There is no further correspondence held which falls within the criteria of
your request.

 

As all correspondence between Aberdeen City Council and the Scottish
Government that relate to High Hedge (Scotland) Act 2013 is otherwise
accessible at the links provide above, it is exempt from disclosure.  In
order to comply with its obligations under the terms of Regulation 13 of
the EIRs, ACC hereby gives notice that we are refusing your request under
the terms of Regulation 6(1)(b)  - Information Already Publicly Available
- of the EIRs.

 

Please provide any minutes of meetings that have been held in conjunction
with the Scottish Government around the High Hedge Act

 

Presumably there would have been a roll out of the Act back in 2013 and
there would have been some consultancy done between the Government and the
Local Authorities to ensure that the Act could be reasonably have been
implemented by the authorities

Minutes of meetings and consultation responses associated with the High
Hedges (Scotland) Act held in conjunction with the Scottish Government and
Aberdeen City Council already exist in the public domain.  The relevant
documents can be accessed via the Scottish Parliament website at the
following links;

 

[3]http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2009/12... (Document Aberdeen
City Council HH107 and HH515)

 

[4]http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentary...

 

As minutes of meetings/consultancy that have been held in conjunction with
the Scottish Government around the High Hedge Act is otherwise accessible
at the links provide above, it is exempt from disclosure.  In order to
comply with its obligations under the terms of Regulation 13 of the EIRs,
ACC hereby gives notice that we are refusing your request under the terms
of Regulation 6(1)(b)  - Information Already Publicly Available - of the
EIRs.

 

Please provide any minutes of meetings held between those council
officials who preside over the Local Authorities jurisdiction of the High
Hedge Act Scotland

Internal meetings with accompanying minutes are limited to a report to the
Communities, Housing and Infrastructure Committee regarding the setting of
High Hedge (Scotland) Act application fees.  The report and committee
minutes already exist in the public domain; the relevant documents can be
accessed via the Aberdeen City Council website at the following link;

 

[5]https://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/i...

 

The minute of the above committee refer to the request that officers
monitor the level of applications submitted, including the reasons for
non-submission, and that a report be submitted in twelve months’ time in
this regard, which would also consider whether the level of fee was
appropriate, taking into account data on the number of applicants who had
been prevented from submitting an application due to the fee level.  This
report was submitted as a bulleting on 19th March 2015, a copy is
attached. See document CH&I Bulletin High Hedge 2015Mar19.

 

As minutes of meetings held between those council officials who preside
over the Local Authorities jurisdiction of the High Hedge Act Scotland is
otherwise accessible at the links provide above, it is exempt from
disclosure.  In order to comply with its obligations under the terms of
Regulation 13 of the EIRs, ACC hereby gives notice that we are refusing
your request under the terms of Regulation 6(1)(b)  - Information Already
Publicly Available - of the EIRs.

 

e.g. meetings occurring between multiple councils where legislative
matters around the enactment of the High Hedge Act have been discussed
assuming that these have occurred as was anecdotally sited during the High
Hedge scrutiny

Aberdeen City Council have attended a number of workshops where
legislative matters around the enactment of the High Hedge Act have been
discussed.

 

This included two workshops hosted by the National Improvement Service for
Local Government in Scotland (Improvement Service); the initial meeting
(March 2014) related to the implementation of the Act, the second meeting
was held one year after the implementation of the Act (March 2015). 
Aberdeen City Council have no records to suggest minutes were taken during
this event and are not aware of minutes being circulated post event.

 

In addition Aberdeen City Council has attended the Scottish Tree Officer
Group (STOG).  STOG is an informal gathering of local authority staff that
deal with arboricultural related matters; no minutes are taken of these
meetings.

 

I would like to see information on ACC’s review of what they legally
consider constitutes a ‘hedge’ that ACC’s legal team conducted around
October 2016 under Mr Kevin Wright’s lead

The Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004, regulation 10
5(d) permits a local authority to refuse to make environmental information
available to the extent that its disclosure would, or would be likely to,
prejudice substantially the confidentiality of the proceedings of any
public authority where such confidentiality is provided for by law.  The
information requested comprises legal advice which embraces the rules
applying to legal professional privilege. This advice has been given in
context of legal advisor and client and is therefore subject to legal
advice privilege.

 

It is our consideration that the above exemption applies in relation to
the information requested.  However; it is our further consideration that
on this occasion we are willing to release the information.

 

An opinion was sought from Aberdeen City Council’s legal team in relation
to changes made to the High Hedges (Scotland) Act 2013 – Guidance to Local
Authorities.  Correspondence relating to the request for an opinion and
our legal teams response is enclosed.  See document High Hedge Act
Guidance – legal opinion.

 

We hope this helps with your request.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Grant Webster

Information Compliance Officer

 

INFORMATION ABOUT THE HANDLING OF YOUR REQUEST

 

As the information which you requested is environmental information, as
defined under Regulation 2(1) of the Environmental Information (Scotland)
Regulations 2004 (the EIRs), ACC considered that it was exempt from
release through FOISA, and must therefore give you notice that we are
refusing  your request under Section 39(2) of FOISA (Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002).  However, you have a separate right to
access the information which you have requested under Regulation 5 of the
EIRs, under which ACC has handled your request. Please refer to the
attached PDF for more information about your rights under the EIRs.

 

 

Information Compliance Team

Customer Service

Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
3rd Floor North

Business Hub 17
Marischal College
Broad Street
ABERDEEN AB10 1AQ

[6][Aberdeen City Council request email]

Tel 03000 200 292

 

*03000 numbers are free to call if you have ‘free minutes’ included in
your mobile call plan.

Calls from BT landlines will be charged at the local call rate of 10.24p
per minute (the same as 01224s).

[7]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2009/12...
2. http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentary...
3. http://www.gov.scot/Publications/2009/12...
4. http://www.parliament.scot/parliamentary...
5. https://committees.aberdeencity.gov.uk/i...
6. mailto:[Aberdeen City Council request email]
7. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/

Dear Foi Enquiries,

Thank you for this information.

There was correspondence between my MSP Kevin Stewart and ACC around my enquiry which I was excluded from the correspondence at the time. Can this be made available to me this was what I was eluding too and this information definitely does exist.

I note on the 13th July I received a reply around getting some information sent to me perhaps this includes above. Can you perhaps please explain.

Yours sincerely,

Sam Andrew

Foi Enquiries, Aberdeen City Council

Dear Mr Andrew,

 

Thank you for your email which we received on 1 August 2017.

 

Any information held by Aberdeen City Council about or relating to you
can’t be released through Environmental or Freedom of Information
legislation as it will be published on our website. By releasing any
information relating to a particular person through Environmental or
Freedom of Information, we will be in breach of the Data Protection Act.

 

I will forward on your email to the officer handling your subject access
request (DPA-17-0999).

 

In relation to your Subject Access Request, I have been advised that the
officer handling it is still waiting on information from you (completed
Subject Access Request form, some form of ID) before they can process your
request.

 

It will also be necessary for you to provide us with a personal email or
postal address. Aberdeen City Council will be unable to provide you with
any personal information to this current address.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Grant Webster

Information Compliance Officer

 

Information Compliance Team

Customer Service

Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
3rd Floor North

Business Hub 17
Marischal College
Broad Street
ABERDEEN AB10 1AQ

[1][Aberdeen City Council request email]

Tel 03000 200 292

 

*03000 numbers are free to call if you have ‘free minutes’ included in
your mobile call plan.

Calls from BT landlines will be charged at the local call rate of 10.24p
per minute (the same as 01224s).

[2]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Aberdeen City Council request email]
2. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/

Dear Foi Enquiries,

What is the workaround to this situation then - block out names and personal details clearly must be an option or perhaps if viewed still as a private matter even with my permission this is not possible the documents can simply be sent to me for my personal perusal and this will be done when my ID email / postal address is furnished?

Can you confirm if there was any further legal review work documented on the case subsequent to the emails dated in September last year.

Can I ask how does FOI work as I believe that I had asked for these legal works before via ACC but repeatedly got no response to the request it does seem perverse that if the documents are there for everyone they can only be accessed via one specific mechanism and a simple request to the person concerned is not sufficient.

Yours sincerely,

Sam Andrew

Foi Enquiries, Aberdeen City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Andrew,

 

Subject Access Request

As you are asking for a copy of information about yourself, Aberdeen City
Council (ACC) must treat your request as a Subject Access Request (SAR)
under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA).

 

ACC is only allowed to deal with a Subject Access Request under the Data
Protection Act 1998.  It cannot disclose information about an applicant’s
own personal information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
2002 (FOISA) or the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004
(EIRs), as releasing this information under FOISA or the EIRs means that
ACC would be putting your personal information into the public domain and
would form a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998.  ACC's response to a
Subject Access Request is treated as private and confidential.  On this
basis, a request for your own personal information is excepted under
Regulation 11(1) (personal information of which the applicant is the data
subject) of the EIRs.

 

I am aware you have a Subject Access Request currently ongoing and the
service are waiting for you to respond before they can process it but to
try and make everything clear, I would recommend that we start your
request again so that it covers the full scope of the information you are
interested in. I have captured below your SAR as I understand it:

 

I would like my high hedge application and high hedge rejection 
notification sent by Marjoram Bernadette dated 12 June 2017 (addressed to
86 Ashley Road) to be provided to me.

 

The few specific correspondences between the council and myself that I 
would wish to have provided to me are as follows;

 

From: Sam Andrew [[1][1]mailto:[email address]]

Sent: 26 September 2016 19:30

To Mr Kevin Wright

and returned

 

From: Sam Andrew [[2][2]mailto:[email address]]

Sent: 28 June 2017 15:22

To: Sinclair Laing

and returned

 

From: Sam Andrew

To: Bernadette Marjoram

Sent: 9 July 2017 20:32PM

 

There was correspondence between my MSP Kevin Stewart and ACC around my
enquiry at the time. Can this be made available to me?

 

I’d be extremely grateful if you could confirm that the above request is
what you are looking to receive? I’d also appreciate it if you could
provide us with a personal email or postal address.

 

Further Legal Work request

In relation to confirmation of any further legal work, I have contacted
the relevant officer to check and will let you know once I have got a
response from them.

 

Previous Requests for Information

In relation to previous requests made for information regarding legal
work, any request for information received by any officer should be
considered under either Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, the
Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 or the Data
Protection Act 1996 (dependent on what the request is for). Each of these
Acts requires a local authority to respond to a request in some way within
a defined timeframe.

 

If you have requested information from Aberdeen City Council and have not
received a response, you can request a review. You should do this within
40 working days after the date ACC were due to respond. To request a
review, please write to:

 

Information Compliance Team
Customer Service
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
3^rd Floor North

Business Hub 17

Marischal College
Broad Street
ABERDEEN AB10 1AQ

Email: [3][Aberdeen City Council request email]

 

Your request for review must include your name, an address, and your
reason(s) for requesting a review.

               

I’ve also attached a guidance note from the Scottish Information
Commissioner with tips on how to make Information Requests

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Grant Webster

Information Compliance Officer

 

Information Compliance Team

Customer Service

Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
3rd Floor North

Business Hub 17
Marischal College
Broad Street
ABERDEEN AB10 1AQ

[4][Aberdeen City Council request email]

Tel 03000 200 292

 

*03000 numbers are free to call if you have ‘free minutes’ included in
your mobile call plan.

Calls from BT landlines will be charged at the local call rate of 10.24p
per minute (the same as 01224s).

[5]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk

 

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email
2. mailto:[email
3. mailto:[Aberdeen City Council request email]
4. mailto:[Aberdeen City Council request email]
5. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/

Dear Foi Enquiries,

Many thanks for your reply.

I have replied to the items below - unfortunately these boxes don't permit red text as my replies done in word are in red for ease.

We are nearly there I think so many thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Sam Andrew

Subject Access Request

As you are asking for a copy of information about yourself, Aberdeen City
Council (ACC) must treat your request as a Subject Access Request (SAR)
under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA).

ACC is only allowed to deal with a Subject Access Request under the Data
Protection Act 1998. It cannot disclose information about an applicant’s
own personal information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
2002 (FOISA) or the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004
(EIRs), as releasing this information under FOISA or the EIRs means that
ACC would be putting your personal information into the public domain and
would form a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998. ACC's response to a
Subject Access Request is treated as private and confidential. On this
basis, a request for your own personal information is excepted under
Regulation 11(1) (personal information of which the applicant is the data
subject) of the EIRs.

I am aware you have a Subject Access Request currently ongoing and the
service are waiting for you to respond before they can process it but to
try and make everything clear, I would recommend that we start your
request again so that it covers the full scope of the information you are
interested in. I have captured below your SAR as I understand it:

Ok but please let’s avoid delay. Thank you for diligence in articulating this that is greatly appreciated.

I would like my high hedge application and high hedge rejection
notification sent by Marjoram Bernadette dated 12 June 2017 (addressed to
86 Ashley Road) to be provided to me.

The few specific correspondences between the council and myself that I
would wish to have provided to me are as follows;

From: Sam Andrew [[1][1]mailto:[email address]]

Sent: 26 September 2016 19:30

To Mr Kevin Wright

and returned

From: Sam Andrew [[2][2]mailto:[email address]]

Sent: 28 June 2017 15:22

To: Sinclair Laing

and returned

From: Sam Andrew

To: Bernadette Marjoram

Sent: 9 July 2017 20:32PM

If the above information cannot be posted online it is not of value. The whole purpose of this exercise was to give scrutiny clear indication on how my case has been handled for their consideration. As the information cannot as it seems be posted even with my personal information removed there is no requirement to send.

There was correspondence between my MSP Kevin Stewart and ACC around my
enquiry at the time. Can this be made available to me?

I am aware that there was correspondence between Kevin Stewart and Peter Leonard. This occurred in July / August time of last year I already have one letter from Kevin to CEO and one letter back from Peter to Kevin. I just need confirmation this was the extent of the communication I don’t have the emails that presumably went with these letters etc with personal comments if they existed etc for instance.

I’d be extremely grateful if you could confirm that the above request is
what you are looking to receive? I’d also appreciate it if you could
provide us with a personal email or postal address.
[email address]
86 Ashley Rd, Aberdeen, AB106RJ

Further Legal Work request

In relation to confirmation of any further legal work, I have contacted
the relevant officer to check and will let you know once I have got a
response from them.

Yes very much so – has only 1 legal review been done by ACC on this matter and was the email sent really the extent of that dialogue as it seems very light touch given the extent to which this issue has drifted. Any legal review either before or subsequent to the one you have sent is key to understand how those determinations have been drawn and what depth of review and how impartial is key so all emails, written communications good. For instance also the Environmental Planners note was a follow up note so there were other communications before that if these were written I would request copies. If case specific to me then to send these on that is fine.

Previous Requests for Information

In relation to previous requests made for information regarding legal
work, any request for information received by any officer should be
considered under either Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, the
Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 or the Data
Protection Act 1996 (dependent on what the request is for). Each of these
Acts requires a local authority to respond to a request in some way within
a defined timeframe.

If you have requested information from Aberdeen City Council and have not
received a response, you can request a review. You should do this within
40 working days after the date ACC were due to respond. To request a
review, please write to:

Grant – I would ask the officials concerned if they are aware that holding back information such as the legal review is denying my right to freedom of information. I have asked for this legal review documentation many times but some of the individuals concerned have at various times said that they will stop communicating with me. So does this mean that even if I write to request something that I’m legally entitled too they will not action it for instance? I don’t want to make a big deal of this but there is an element of not providing the documentation when requested that has gone on hence I have had to use this FOI specific channel to get information I otherwise will not be sent it seems which is rather bureaucratic but if that’s what those officials expect me to have to do then that is what I shall have to do unfortunately.

Information Compliance Team
Customer Service
Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
3^rd Floor North

Business Hub 17

Marischal College
Broad Street
ABERDEEN AB10 1AQ

Email: [3][Aberdeen City Council request email]

Your request for review must include your name, an address, and your
reason(s) for requesting a review.

I’ve also attached a guidance note from the Scottish Information
Commissioner with tips on how to make Information Requests

Ok many thanks – hopefully not much to go.

Yours sincerely,

Grant Webster

Information Compliance Officer

Information Compliance Team

Customer Service

Corporate Governance
Aberdeen City Council
3rd Floor North

Business Hub 17
Marischal College
Broad Street
ABERDEEN AB10 1AQ

[4][Aberdeen City Council request email]

Tel 03000 200 292

*03000 numbers are free to call if you have ‘free minutes’ included in
your mobile call plan.

Calls from BT landlines will be charged at the local call rate of 10.24p
per minute (the same as 01224s).

[5]www.aberdeencity.gov.uk

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail (including any attachment to it) is
confidential, protected by copyright and may be privileged. The
information contained in it should be used for its intended purposes only.
If you receive this email in error, notify the sender by reply email,
delete the received email and do not make use of, disclose or copy it.
Whilst we take reasonable precautions to ensure that our emails are free
from viruses, we cannot be responsible for any viruses transmitted with
this email and recommend that you subject any incoming email to your own
virus checking procedures. Unless related to Council business, the
opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and they do not
necessarily constitute those of Aberdeen City Council. Unless we expressly
say otherwise in this email or its attachments, neither this email nor its
attachments create, form part of or vary any contractual or unilateral
obligation. Aberdeen City Council's incoming and outgoing email is subject
to regular monitoring.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email
2. mailto:[email
3. mailto:[Aberdeen City Council request email]
4. mailto:[Aberdeen City Council request email]
5. http://www.aberdeencity.gov.uk/

Dear Foi Enquiries,

Thanks for your help on this.

Did we get a reply yet on whether or not there was further legal work done in addition to what was sent?

I was hoping for the emails between MSP Kevin Stewart and Peter Leonard on my case.

I was hoping for any emails from MSP Kevin Stewart to Kevin Wright or Sinclair Laing but if memory serves me correctly we don't think these exist - is that correct?

My email is

[email address]

Unfortunately I'm finding it difficult to follow all of above as the text doesn't colour code.
Sending this just to ensure we've a common understanding of where we are.

Many thanks.

Yours sincerely,

Sam Andrew

Dear Foi Enquiries,

Many thanks Grant for all your help.

I received a very nice note back from ACC on Friday. I agree with ACC that many of these points have become repetitive. Whilst I would encourage ACC to review the FOI items as things like conflict of interest are clearly of huge concern with the ACC position that there should be no independent assessment made of their determinations.

Since though there are points that are repeated I wish to close down all FOI requests given ACC have come forth and acknowledged a reply to many of these items raised already which is appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Sam Andrew