Housing Paedophiles

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

Common Law Jurisdiction

Dear Craven District Council,

How many paedophiles have been given social housing in Craven since and including January 1st 2010?

"Bart Joseph"
Yours faithfully,

Common Law Jurisdiction

accesstoinfo, Craven District Council

Thank you for contacting CravenDistrict Council. We confirm that we have received your correspondence.

If you have made a request for information held by the Council, we will formally acknowledge your request as soon as possible. We will also write to you if we need any further information to enable us to answer your request. If we do not need any further information, we will aim to respond to you within the relevant timescale for handling such requests as advetised on the Council's website.

If there is anything that you would like to discuss with us in the meantime, you can contact us during normal office hours on 01756 700600.

accesstoinfo, Craven District Council

Thank you for your request for information received 16 January 2017. This is being dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act. You asked for:-

How many paedophiles have been given social housing in Craven since and including January 1st 2010?

Council’s response

On this occasion the Council will not be processing your response further. This is because your request does not comply with Section 8(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information Act. This means that to comply with your request the Council requires that you give your real name.

If you would like to submit your request again using a name that satisfies the above requirement the Council will be pleased to consider it.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me, quoting the reference number above.

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by emailing [Craven District Council request email] or by writing to the Freedom of Information Officer, Craven District Council, Belle Vue Square, Broughton Road, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 1FJ. Any request for a review should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted at the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

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Common Law Jurisdiction

Dear accesstoinfo,

Good to see the usual lack of attention to detail by Craven DC. If you read it properly there are two things you could use as names.

Under both Common Law and Statute Law there is nothing to say you can't be called Bart Joseph or Common Law Jurisdiction.

I expect confirmation by midday tomorrow that you will be complying otherwise you will receive a recorded call from a living man.

If you persist to refuse then I will escalate the matter to the relevant ombudsmen/authority that you fall under.

"Bart Joseph"
Yours sincerely,

Common Law Jurisdiction

accesstoinfo, Craven District Council

Thank you for your request for information received on 16 January 2017. This request will be dealt with in accordance with either the Freedom of Information Act (‘the Act’) or the Environmental Information Regulations (‘the Regulations’) (whichever is appropriate). You asked for:-

As set out in the e-mail below:

You can expect a reply by 13 February 2017 unless I need to come back either to you to clarify your request or the Council needs more time to deal with your request. In this latter eventuality, for requests dealt with under the Act, delays can sometimes arise where the public interest needs to be considered. In the case of requests dealt with under the Regulations, a delay can arise if the Council believes that the complexity and volume of the information requested means that it is impractical to comply with the request by the date specified, or to make a decision to refuse to do so.

If you have any queries about this letter please contact me quoting the reference number above.

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review by emailing [Craven District Council request email] or by writing to the Freedom of Information Officer, Craven District Council, Belle Vue Square, Broughton Road, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 1FJ. Any request for a review should be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted at the Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Website: https://ico.org.uk/

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Claire Willoughby, Craven District Council

1 Attachment

Dear Sir,

 

Further to your request for information from this Council dated 15 January
2017, you asked: ‘how many paedophiles have been given social housing in
Craven since and including January 1st 2010?’

 

I confirm that the information you have requested is not held by this
Council.

 

If you are not happy with this response you may request an internal review
by emailing [Craven District Council request email] or by writing to the Freedom of
Information Officer, Craven District Council, Belle Vue Square, Broughton
Road, Skipton, North Yorkshire, BD23 1FJ. Any request for a review should
be submitted within two months of the date of this letter.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision.
Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have
exhausted our own complaints procedure. The

Information Commissioner’s Office can be contacted at the Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF.

 

Website: https://ico.org.uk/

 

Claire Willoughby
Housing Options Manager

t: 01756 706466
e: [1][email address]

1 Belle Vue Square, Broughton Road, Skipton, BD23 1FJ
[2]www.cravendc.gov.uk
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References

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1. Click to send email to Claire Willoughby
mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.cravendc.gov.uk/

Common Law Jurisdiction

Dear Claire Willoughby,

You stated:
"15 January
2017, you asked: ‘how many paedophiles have been given social housing in
Craven since and including January 1st 2010?’

I confirm that the information you have requested is not held by this
Council."

Now, I don't want to be insulting or vexatious here, but I know that you could provide this information. You may not have collated it yet, but Craven DC is heavily involved in the local Choice Based Lettings scheme. Thus at the very least you can pull up a list of how many applicants on that scheme who are known paedophiles were housed via that scheme in said timeframe.

The answer you gave, you could argue is not a lie, but it is at the least misleading as there is information you can provide.

I await your answer with baited breath.
Yours sincerely,

Common Law Jurisdiction

Common Law Jurisdiction

Dear Craven District Council,

Will Craven DC be disclosing what information they hold about paedophiles receiving social housing in the area? Please don't deny that you hold any information on this. You might not have a full list of every paedophile given social housing within the time frame I specified, but you can disclose what data you have. You may choose to filter your housing register for known paedophiles and then filter down how many were housed in the time frame. There is information that you can provide.

Yours faithfully,

Common Law Jurisdiction

David Roper-Newman, Craven District Council

1 Attachment

Please see the Council's response to your request of today.

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Common Law Jurisdiction

Dear David Roper-Newman,

Are we seriously going through this again? Craven DC have already tried this once in this request and I believe you should have the request logged as Bart Joseph.

I trust you will fulfil your obligations?

Yours sincerely,

Common Law Jurisdiction

Common Law Jurisdiction

Dear Craven District Council,

Are you fulfilling this request or not? A simple yes or no will do.

"Bart Joseph"
Yours faithfully,

Common Law Jurisdiction

Common Law Jurisdiction

Dear Craven District Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Craven District Council's handling of my FOI request 'Housing Paedophiles'.

You are being obstructive. I want to know to the best of your knowledge how many paedophiles you can confirm have been given social housing in the area since and including January 1st 2010. You are heavily involved in the local Choice Based Lettings scheme so will have most if not all of the details regarding social housing lets.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h...

Yours faithfully,

Common Law Jurisdiction

David Roper-Newman, Craven District Council

1 Attachment

Please see attached acknowledgement.

David Roper-Newman
Information Governance Officer and Community Safety Co-ordinator
t: 01756 706336
e: [email address]

Craven District Council
1 Belle Vue Square, Broughton Road, Skipton, BD23 1FJ
www.cravendc.gov.uk

This e-mail, including any attachments, is confidential
and intended only for the attention and use of the named addressee(s). It may
contain information covered by legal, professional or other privilege. If you
are not an addressee, please inform the sender immediately and destroy this
e-mail. Do not read, copy, use, retain or disclose this e-mail or any part of
it. Its contents do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of Craven
District Council. All reasonable precautions have been taken to ensure no
viruses are present in this e-mail. Craven District Council cannot accept
responsibility for loss or damage arising from the use of this e-mail or
attachments and recommend that you subject these to virus checking
procedures prior to use.

Please be aware that all communications sent to or from Craven District
Council may be subject to recording and/or monitoring in accordance with
relevant legislation.

show quoted sections

accesstoinfo, Craven District Council

1 Attachment

Please see the Council’s response to your request for an internal review
of a recent decision.

 

 

Common Law Jurisdiction

Dear accesstoinfo,

I will be forwarding this to the ICO as you do hold information on housing paedophiles. You are trying to be clever with words to avoid outright lying, but I think you have actually outright lied in the below statement:

"Issues arising

The question to be considered is what information the Council holds on applicants
for social housing? It is true that when making applications, applicants are asked
whether they have any criminal convictions, and if so the nature of the offences.
However applicants are not asked whether they are ‘paedophiles’.

Decision following Internal Review

Because the Council does not collect or hold the information that you have
requested, the reviewing officer has confirmed the Council’s original decision that the
information that you requested is not held by the Council."

You ask for full details of offences before housing offenders. Whilst you don't directly ask if they are a paedophile, asking for disclose of offences will ultimately reveal convicted paedophiles.

Housing sex offenders are very sensitive lets and not common. They involve a lot of documentation and careful thought. It won't be difficult to get a number for me without exceeding the spend limit on FOI requests. In fact you are probably wasting more money by being deliberately obtuse in not answering the request correctly.

A source of knowledge I have with first hand experience of your system has also told me that you do get details of those convicted of child sex offences and given that they are not common lets there wouldn't be that much data to search through. Please stop lying and trying to be clever with words.

The information is on the CBL system. I know it and you know it. One can only wonder why you don't want to disclose this information.

We will see what the ICO say.

"Bart Joseph"
Yours sincerely,

Common Law Jurisdiction

Common Law Jurisdiction left an annotation ()

Referred to ICO:
Hello ICO

It is with disappointment (towards Craven District Council and not yourselves), that I find myself having to contact you again.

I don't say this lightly, but in the FOI linked below it is my belief that Craven District Council have lied and if necessary I can ask someone with knowledge of the Choice Based Lettings system that the council use if they would be willing to testify to you that Craven DC are lying.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h...

I would advise that you read the full chain of events as the whole request has been met with what I would term obtuseness by Craven DC.

I would like to elaborate on the below portion of their response:
""Issues arising

The question to be considered is what information the Council holds on applicants
for social housing? It is true that when making applications, applicants are asked
whether they have any criminal convictions, and if so the nature of the offences.
However applicants are not asked whether they are ‘paedophiles’.

Decision following Internal Review

Because the Council does not collect or hold the information that you have
requested, the reviewing officer has confirmed the Council’s original decision that the
information that you requested is not held by the Council."

I already know for a fact they do hold records of those convicted for child sex offences and they admit above that they ask the nature of offences. Craven DC then go on perplexingly after admitting this to say they don't have the data.

Again from a source who will remain nameless the process of letting a property to someone who is a known child sex offender (paedophile) is what is often called a highly sensitive letting. Lots of documentation has to be collected and lots of agencies involved. The cases you would hope won't total that many and I would expect the staff involved in the Housing department at Craven DC could probably give you a very accurate answer to the question without even needing to search the records.

The council have tried to be constructive with their words to avoid directly lying, but I think they have even failed at that and actually lied, but either way they have been very obstructive.

To pre-empty Craven DC's next move, I don't think the cost to carry out this request will be too great at all. In fact it wouldn't surprise me if this whole process has cost more than them answering the question will.

I await your response. If Craven DC do say to you they don't have the information please let me know if you want a witness to testify that they do hold the information.

To summarise they can disclose the amount of paedophiles housed via the CBL scheme in the given time period.

"Bart Joseph"