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Impact of Covid-19 on FOI responsiveness E&W

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Dr Karen Mc Cullagh

Dear Sir/Madam,

1. For the period 16th March – 17th July 2020 (i.e., when ICO had indicated a sympathetic approach to delay), provide precise data if available e.g., 15 out of 30 requests, and if not, provide an estimate e.g., 10%, for these questions:
(a) how many responses to FOI requests were issued within 20 working days of receipt by your organisation?
(b) how many responses to FOI review requests were issued within 20 working days of receipt of the request for an internal review?
(c) how many responses to FOI requests were issued within 21 and 60 working days of receipt by your organisation?
(d) how many responses to FOI review requests were issued within 21 and 60 working days of receipt of the request for an internal review?

2. For the period 18th July – 8th October 2020 (i.e., during the ‘preparing for recovery’ phase), provide precise data if available e.g., 15 out of 30 requests, and if not, provide an estimate e.g., 10%, for these questions:
(a) how many responses to FOI requests were issued within 20 working days of receipt by your organisation?
(b) how many responses to FOI review requests were issued within 20 working days of receipt of the request for an internal review?
(c) how many responses to FOI requests were issued within 21 and 60 working days of receipt by your organisation?
(d) how many responses to FOI review requests were issued within 21 and 60 working days of receipt of the request for an internal review?

3. During the period 1st March to 30th October 2020, provide precise data if available e.g., 15 out of 30 requests, and if not, provide an estimate e.g., 10%, for these questions:
(a) how many responses to FOI requests were issued more than 60 working days after receipt of the request?
(b) how many responses to FOI review requests were issued more than 60 working days after receipt of a request for an internal review?

4. When FOI request or review responses were issued more than 21 working days after receipt during the period 1st March and 30th October 2020, what were the main reasons for the delay? e.g., closure of premises due to Covid-19, reallocation of resources due to Covid-19, staff shortages due to Covid-19, absence of key staff due to Covid-19, limited access to necessary systems due to Covid-19, other issue related/unrelated to Covid19.

5. In relation to the FOI requests received by your organisation between 1st March and 30th October 2020, what proportion related directly to Covid-19, your organisation's Covid-19 response or impact of the pandemic on your organisation? (Provide precise data if available e.g., 15 out of 30 requests, and if not, provide an estimate e.g., 10%)

6. On 17th July 2020 the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) launched a self-assessment Freedom of Information toolkit (FOI self-assessment toolkit | ICO) to help public authorities respond to FOI requests as they prepared to recover from the coronavirus pandemic.
- Does, or has your organisation ever, use/d the toolkit? If so, please explain whether it has it had any positive outcomes.
- If your organisation has not/does not make use of the toolkit, please explain why not.

7. In response to Covid19, has the volume of information your organisation publishes:
- not changed
- significantly increased
- significantly decreased
- don’t know

8. Has your organisation taken steps to proactively publish information relating to Covid-19, your organisation's Covid-19 response or the impact of the pandemic on your organisation? If it includes a dedicated webpage, please provide a link to the webpage.

If you wish to contact me for more information before responding, please see my contact details below.

Thank you for your time and effort in responding to these questions.

Yours faithfully,

Karen

Dr Karen Mc Cullagh, Lecturer in Law
UEA Law School, 205 Earlham Hall, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7TJ

Research webpage: https://www.karenmccullagh.co.uk/covid-1...
About me: https://research-portal.uea.ac.uk/en/per...

Newport City Council

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for your request for information about :

Impact of Covid-19 on FOI responsiveness

Received on 10/06/2022

This request has been formally logged in our FOI management system and has been assigned the reference REQ10251.
You should receive a reply to your request within the statutory time limit of 20 working days.

Please remember to quote the reference number REQ10251 in any future communications.

Yours sincerely,
Information Management

Mae’r Cyngor yn croesawu gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg, Saesneg neu yn y ddwy iaith. Byddwn yn cyfathrebu â chi yn ôl eich dewis. Ni fydd gohebu yn Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi.

The Council welcomes correspondence in English or Welsh or both, and will respond to you according to your preference. Corresponding in Welsh will not lead to delay.

Disclaimer/Ymwadiad

This email contains information intended for the addressee only and may be confidential, the subject of legal or professional privilege, or be otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient of this message, please notify the sender immediately and do not disclose, distribute or copy the email to any other party. This email and any attached file are the property of Newport City Council.

When you email Newport City Council, you consent to the Council monitoring and reading any such emails for the purposes of security and legislative compliance. For the full disclaimer please access http://www.newport.gov.uk/disclaimer.

Mae'r e-bost hwn yn cynnwys gwybodaeth y bwriedir ar gyfer y derbynnydd yn unig a gall fod yn gyfrinachol, yn destun ragorfraint gyfreithiol neu broffesiynol, neu fel arall wedi’i diogelu rhag cael ei rhyddhau. Os nad chi yw derbynnydd bwriadedig y neges hon, a fyddech cystal â rhoi gwybod i'r anfonwr ar unwaith a pheidio â datgelu, dosbarthu neu gopïo’r e-bost i unrhyw barti arall. Mae’r e-bost hon ac unrhyw ffeiliau atodedig yn eiddo i Gyngor Dinas Casnewydd.

Pan fyddwch yn anfon e-bost at Gyngor Dinas Casnewydd, rydych yn cydsynio i’r Cyngor fonitro a darllen unrhyw e-byst o’r fath at ddibenion cydymffurfio â diogelwch ac â deddfwriaeth. I weld yr ymwadiad llawn ewch i http://www.newport.gov.uk/ymwadiad

NCC - Information Management, Newport City Council

Dear Dr Karen Mc Cullagh,

 

Thank you for your recent request for information which I have enclosed
below for ease of reference. Your request has been treated in accordance
with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and/or the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004.

 

Your Request: REQ10251

 

I can confirm that we hold information that falls within the scope of your
request. The answers to your questions have been provided in Red Text
below.

 

1. For the period 16th March – 17th July 2020 (i.e., when ICO had
indicated a sympathetic approach to delay), provide precise data if
available e.g., 15 out of 30 requests, and if not, provide an estimate
e.g., 10%, for these questions:

(a) how many responses to FOI requests were issued within 20 working days
of receipt by your organisation?  182 Out of 202

(b) how many responses to FOI review requests were issued within 20
working days of receipt of the request for an internal review?  This
information is not recorded.

(c) how many responses to FOI requests were issued within 21 and 60
working days of receipt by your organisation? 20 out of 202

(d) how many responses to FOI review requests were issued within 21 and 60
working days of receipt of the request for an internal review? This
information is not recorded.

 

2. For the period 18th July – 8th October 2020 (i.e., during the
‘preparing for recovery’ phase), provide precise data if available e.g.,
15 out of 30 requests, and if not, provide an estimate e.g., 10%, for
these questions:

(a) how many responses to FOI requests were issued within 20 working days
of receipt by your organisation? 201 Out of 220

(b) how many responses to FOI review requests were issued within 20
working days of receipt of the request for an internal review?  This
information is not recorded.

(c) how many responses to FOI requests were issued within 21 and 60
working days of receipt by your organisation? 19 out of 220

(d) how many responses to FOI review requests were issued within 21 and 60
working days of receipt of the request for an internal review? This
information is not recorded.

 

3. During the period 1st March to 30th October 2020, provide precise data
if available e.g., 15 out of 30 requests, and if not, provide an estimate
e.g., 10%, for these questions:

(a) how many responses to FOI requests were issued more than 60 working
days after receipt of the request? 14 out of 542

(b) how many responses to FOI review requests were issued more than 60
working days after receipt of a request for an internal review? This
information is not recorded.

 

4. When FOI request or review responses were issued more than 21 working
days after receipt during the period 1st March and 30th October 2020, what
were the main reasons for the delay? e.g., closure of premises due to
Covid-19, reallocation of resources due to Covid-19, staff shortages due
to Covid-19, absence of key staff due to Covid-19, limited access to
necessary systems due to Covid-19, other issue related/unrelated to
Covid19.

Closure of premises due to covid-19, limited access to paper documents
held on site.

 

5. In relation to the FOI requests received by your organisation between
1st March and 30th October 2020, what proportion related directly to
Covid-19, your organisation's Covid-19 response or impact of the pandemic
on your organisation? (Provide precise data if available e.g., 15 out of
30 requests, and if not, provide an estimate e.g., 10%) Approximately less
than 10%

 

6. On 17th July 2020 the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) launched
a self-assessment Freedom of Information toolkit (FOI self-assessment
toolkit | ICO) to help public authorities respond to FOI requests as they
prepared to recover from the coronavirus pandemic. 

- Does, or has your organisation ever, use/d the toolkit? If so, please
explain whether it has it had any positive outcomes.

- If your organisation has not/does not make use of the toolkit, please
explain why not.

We have not used the toolkit as we continued to provide an FOI service
throughout the pandemic.

 

7. In response to Covid19, has the volume of information your organisation
publishes:

- not changed

- significantly increased

- significantly decreased

- don’t know

 

8. Has your organisation taken steps to proactively publish information
relating to Covid-19, your organisation's Covid-19 response or the impact
of the pandemic on your organisation? If it includes a dedicated webpage,
please provide a link to the webpage.

The below webpage has been updated regularly throughout the pandemic and
so information has changed based on the situation at the time.

[1]Coronavirus (COVID-19) | Newport City Council

 

I hope this provides the information you were looking for; if there is any
further information that we can provide, please submit a further request.
If you have any queries about this email or if you are unhappy with the
service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a
complaint or request a review of our decision, please contact me.

 

If you are not content with the subsequent outcome of your complaint, you
may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.
Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the
Councils complaints procedure. To contact the Information Commissioner
click [2]HERE.

 

For future reference, all Freedom of Information requests can now be
submitted via the link below.

 

[3]www.newport.gov.uk/foi

 

Kind regards,

Jodi

Information Management

 

 

Mae’r Cyngor yn croesawu gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg, Saesneg neu yn y ddwy
iaith. Byddwn yn cyfathrebu â chi yn ôl eich dewis. Ni fydd gohebu yn
Gymraeg yn arwain at oedi.

The Council welcomes correspondence in English or Welsh or both, and will
respond to you according to your preference. Corresponding in Welsh will
not lead to delay.

Disclaimer/Ymwadiad

This email contains information intended for the addressee only and may be
confidential, the subject of legal or professional privilege, or be
otherwise protected from disclosure. If you are not the intended recipient
of this message, please notify the sender immediately and do not disclose,
distribute or copy the email to any other party. This email and any
attached file are the property of Newport City Council.

When you email Newport City Council, you consent to the Council monitoring
and reading any such emails for the purposes of security and legislative
compliance. For the full disclaimer please access
http://www.newport.gov.uk/disclaimer.

Mae'r e-bost hwn yn cynnwys gwybodaeth y bwriedir ar gyfer y derbynnydd yn
unig a gall fod yn gyfrinachol, yn destun ragorfraint gyfreithiol neu
broffesiynol, neu fel arall wedi’i diogelu rhag cael ei rhyddhau. Os nad
chi yw derbynnydd bwriadedig y neges hon, a fyddech cystal â rhoi gwybod
i'r anfonwr ar unwaith a pheidio â datgelu, dosbarthu neu gopïo’r e-bost i
unrhyw barti arall. Mae’r e-bost hon ac unrhyw ffeiliau atodedig yn eiddo
i Gyngor Dinas Casnewydd.

Pan fyddwch yn anfon e-bost at Gyngor Dinas Casnewydd, rydych yn cydsynio
i’r Cyngor fonitro a darllen unrhyw e-byst o’r fath at ddibenion
cydymffurfio â diogelwch ac â deddfwriaeth. I weld yr ymwadiad llawn ewch
i http://www.newport.gov.uk/ymwadiad

References

Visible links
1. https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...
2. https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
3. http://www.newport.gov.uk/foi

Dr Karen Mc Cullagh

Dear Jodi,

Re: Your Reference: REQ10251

Thank you for responding to my request for information. The answers are very helpful.
I have one request: could you let me know what your answer was for question 7 - the red ink is changed to black when a response is processed through the whatdotheyknow site, so I can't identify your answer.

Yours sincerely,

Karen
Dr Karen Mc Cullagh

NCC - Information Management, Newport City Council

Good morning,

Our answer to question 7:

7. In response to Covid19, has the volume of information your organisation publishes:
- not changed

Kind regards,
Jodi
Information Management

show quoted sections

We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are Dr Karen Mc Cullagh please sign in and let everyone know.