Dear Sir/Madam,

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION - FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 / ENVIRONMENTAL
INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2004

Thank you for your email requesting information from Wakefield Council. 

Please note, responses may take longer than usual due to the current
Coronavirus situation.

Your request will now be validated and logged for processing.  For your
request to be valid under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act it will
need to include your full name and describe the information you are
requesting clearly, we will write to you to seek clarification should this
be required.  It is our intention to have the response delivered to you
within 20 working days from the working day your request is received. 
Please note, requests received on non-working days, such as weekends and
bank holidays, will be recorded as being received on the next working
day. 

All requests submitted under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 may be
subject to exemptions, which the Authority is entitled to apply to refuse
requests in full or parts of requests.  Further information around the
exemptions that may be applied can be found via the following link: 
[1]https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/gui....

In some situations the decision to withhold information, or not, will be
based on a public interest test.  You will be advised of the
considerations and decisions as well as your rights of appeal within your
response. 

Requests submitted under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR)
2004 may be subject to exceptions, which the Authority is entitled to
apply to refuse requests in full or parts of requests.  Further
information around the exceptions that may be applied can be found via the
following link: 
[2]https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/gui....

Please note, you do not have to specify whether you are making your
request under the FOI Act or under EIR.  The officer dealing with your
request will ensure it is processed under the relevant legislation during
the validation process. 

If you are requesting information in relation to a deceased person and
have not yet provided the required proof of eligibility and identity, your
request will not be processed until we received these.  Please provide one
of the following to confirm your eligibility to access the records:

·         Grant of probate and certified copy of the last will & testament

·         Letters of administration (if the deceased died intestate)

We will also require proof of your identity if you are requesting a
deceased persons records.  If you have not done so already, please provide
one of the following as proof of your identity:

·         Valid UK Driving Licence

·         Valid Current UK Passport

·         Birth certificate OR Certificate of Registry of Birth OR
Adoption certificate

Wakefield Council publish a number of Data Sets in relation to different
topics.  You may wish to access the following links to check whether the
information you require is already published.

Data Mill North

[3]https://datamillnorth.org/publisher/wake...

Any queries or concerns in relation to this matter should be sent to the
Senior Information Governance Officer, Information Management Team, County
Hall, Wakefield WF1 2QW or e-mailed to
[4][Wakefield City Council request email].

Yours sincerely

Corporate Information Governance Team,

Legal Services

Wakefield Council, County Hall, Wakefield WF1 2QW

Email: [5][Wakefield City Council request email]  

Tel: 01924 306112

References

Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/gui...
2. https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/gui...
3. https://datamillnorth.org/publisher/wake...
4. mailto:[Wakefield City Council request email]
5. mailto:[Wakefield City Council request email]

Dear Dr McCullagh,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000- REQUEST FOR INFORMATION 

Thank you for your email requesting information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 which we received on 9 June 2022.  It is our
intention to have the response delivered to you no later than 7 July 2022.

I would like to inform you that all requests submitted under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 might be subject to exemption(s), which the
Authority is entitled to apply to refuse the request.

Any future correspondence you may have in relation to this matter should
be marked Private & Confidential and sent to the Senior Information
Governance Officer, Information Management Team, County Hall, Wakefield
WF1 2QW or e-mailed to [1][Wakefield City Council request email].

Yours sincerely,

Information Governance Officer

Corporate Information Governance Team,

Legal and Governance,

Wakefield Council, County Hall, Wakefield WF1 2QW

Email: [2][Wakefield City Council request email]

Tel: 01924 306112

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Dear Dr McCullagh,

Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Request for Information

I am writing in respect of your recent enquiry for information held by the
Authority under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.

Please find the response to your request 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? 270 out of 300.

(b) how many responses to FOI review requests were issued within 20
working days of receipt of the request for an internal review? 1.

(c) how many responses to FOI requests were issued within 21 and 60
working days of receipt by your organisation? 26 out of 300.

(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? 0.

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? 230 out of 248.

(b) how many responses to FOI review requests were issued within 20
working days of receipt of the request for an internal review? 1.

.

(c) how many responses to FOI requests were issued within 21 and 60
working days of receipt by your organisation? 15 out of 248.

(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? 0.

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? 9 out of 700.

(b) how many responses to FOI review requests were issued more than 60
working days after receipt of a request for an internal review? 0.

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. This information is not held.

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%) 22 out of 675.

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. No.

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

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

- not changed

- significantly increased

- significantly decreased

- don’t know

Significantly increased.

During the height of the pandemic, Wakefield Council produced dedicated
communications campaigns to guide the public through the necessary health
interventions and government restrictions.  From March 2020 to March 2022
various communications campaigns ran to help the public during these
difficult times.

At the start of the pandemic, communications were devised to help the
public understand the best health interventions as well as providing
signposting to various helplines such as access to food banks, mental
health support and general support for those who felt isolated during the
lockdown.

When lockdown was lifted, our communications followed the government
plans. We had a variety of campaigns which supported the public back to
their daily lives with caution when restrictions were lifted. Our Let’s
Keep Going campaign was a key campaign that followed the government road
map for reopening March 21 onwards. It was shortlisted for two national
awards, receiving bronze at the COVID response awards. Other campaigns
including supporting the NHS vaccine campaign followed, in accordance with
government communications.

At the moment we keep a watchful eye and plan to produce a respiratory
campaign in time for the autumn when rates may increase again.

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.

Yes, we have proactively published a range of information. Internally to
staff and stakeholders about how to manage COVID in the workplace, to
encourage the uptake of the vaccine and to reassure staff of the safety
precautions in place in their place of work. We have not published the
impact of COVID  on the organisation. Please see attached copies of the
various communications plans as referred to in the response to question 7.

Please also see below the link to the relevant section of the Council’s
website;

[1]www.wakefield.gov.uk/covid-19

I trust that this information is satisfactory for your purposes, and thank
you for your kind co-operation.

Yours sincerely

Senior Information Governance Officer

Information Governance Team

Legal and Governance

Wakefield Council

Tel: 01924 306112

E-mail: [2][Wakefield City Council request email]

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You are most welcome.

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