Information about your dealings with Stonewall [Extraneous material removed]

The request was partially successful.

Dear Vale of Glamorgan Council,

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Please provide any information that you hold answering to any of the following descriptions:

1. Any application you made in 2019 or 2020 to be a “Stonewall Diversity Champion” or to be included on Stonewall’s “Workplace Equality Index,” including any attachments or appendices to those applications. Please redact personal details if necessary.

2. Any feedback you received in 2019 or 2020 from Stonewall in relation to either application or programme.

3. Any other communication you have received from Stonewall in 2019 or 2020 unless privileged or otherwise exempt from disclosure (but if you claim privilege or exemption in relation to any material, please say in broad terms what the material is and the basis on which you claim to be entitled to withhold it).

4. Full details of any equality impact assessment you carried out connected with any of these applications (including any equality impact assessment carried out prior to an earlier application of the same kind, if no further assessment was done).

5. Details of the total amount of money you paid to Stonewall (i) in 2019; (ii) in 2020, whether or not as payment for goods or services.

6. Whether you intend to continue your membership of any Stonewall scheme in the future, and if so which.

Yours faithfully,

H R

Vale of Glamorgan Council

Dear H R

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST

Thank you for your request for information about:

Information about your dealings with Stonewall #DontSubmitToStonewall

Your request was received on 04/02/2021 and is being handled under the
terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Your query has been given the reference 00202032

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case I will
let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before I will proceed to deal with your request.
You will receive the information requested within 20 working days unless
the Council does not hold the information or there is a reason for it to
be withheld. I will write to you in any event.
If you have any requirements regarding the format any information should
be supplied in, e.g. the language to be used, audio, large print and so
on, then if you have not already done so please let me know.

If you have any queries or concerns then please do not hesitate to contact
me. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.
Further information about your rights is also available from the
Information
Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office - Wales

Second Floor, Churchill House

Churchill Way,

Cardiff

CF10 2HH

029 20678400 / Fax:029 20678399

[email address]

Yours sincerely

Information Governance Officer

Democratic Services

Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg

tel / ffôn: 01446 700111

mob / sym:

e-mail / e-bost: [email address]
[email address]

 

 

Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really
need to.

Ystyriwch yr amgylchedd. Peidiwch ag argraffu'r neges hon oni bai fod gwir
angen.

 

Visit our Website at [1]www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk

Ewch i'n gwefan yn [2]www.bromorgannwg.gov.uk

 

[3]Find us on Facebook / Cewch ddod o hyd i ni ar Facebook

[4]Follow us on Twitter /Dilynwch ni ar Twitter

 

Correspondence is welcomed in Welsh or English / Croesewir Gohebiaeth yn y
Gymraeg neu yn Saesneg.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/
2. http://www.bromorgannwg.gov.uk/
3. http://en-gb.facebook.com/valeofglamorga...
4. http://twitter.com/vogcouncil

FOI Unit, Vale of Glamorgan Council

Dear H R

Thank you for your request for information regarding the Vale of Glamorgan Council's dealings with Stonewell, which we received on the 4th of February 2021.

Please see details of our response below.

1. Any application you made in 2019 or 2020 to be a "Stonewall Diversity Champion" or to be included on Stonewall's "Workplace Equality Index," including any attachments or appendices to those applications. Please redact personal details if necessary.

Not supplying - Section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)

2. Any feedback you received in 2019 or 2020 from Stonewall in relation to either application or programme.

Not supplying - Section 43 of the FOIA

3. Any other communication you have received from Stonewall in 2019 or 2020 unless privileged or otherwise exempt from disclosure (but if you claim privilege or exemption in relation to any material, please say in broad terms what the material is and the basis on which you claim to be entitled to withhold it).

Not supplying - Section 43 of the FOIA

4. Full details of any equality impact assessment you carried out connected with any of these applications (including any equality impact assessment carried out prior to an earlier application of the same kind, if no further assessment was done).

No written equality impact assessment was carried out. However, in considering the benefits of becoming a Stonewall Diversity Champion, we felt that we would be able to learn from the process and apply what we learnt to make improvements for staff with other protected characteristics. This process has begun for Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff.

5. Details of the total amount of money you paid to Stonewall (i) in 2019; (ii) in 2020, whether or not as payment for goods or services.

2019/20 - £2,950 + VAT
2020/21 - £3,250 + VAT

6. Whether you intend to continue your membership of any Stonewall scheme in the future, and if so which.

We will continue membership in 2021.

We have considered your request and would advise we are unable to provide you with the information requested in questions 1,2 and 3 as we consider this to be exempt from disclosure in accordance with Section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000(FOIA).

Section 43(2) refers to information being exempt from disclosure if its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it). Section 43 is a qualified exemption subject to the public interest test however we consider that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosing it. In reaching this conclusion we have taken into account the following factors:

Favouring withholding:
. The Council has a duty to protect the commercial interests of our suppliers, contractors and consultants;
. If information was disclosed this would distort the procurement process and so could make it more difficult for the Council to ensure it selected those bids which provide best value for money.

Favouring disclosing:
. Openness and transparency i.e. the public have a clear interest in knowing the terms of contracts awarded to public authorities given that contracts involve the spending of public money.

In accordance with Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and for the reasons stated above, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice to provide the information requested in questions 1, 2 and 3.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to request a review of our decision you should write to: The Monitoring Officer, Civic Offices, Holton Road, Barry, CF63 4RU.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.

Information Commissioner's Office - Wales
Second Floor, Churchill House
Churchill Way,
Cardiff
CF10 2HH
029 20678400 / Fax:029 20678399
[email address]

Yours sincerely

Information Governance Officer
Democratic Services
Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg
tel / ffôn: 01446 700111
mob / sym:
e-mail / e-bost: [email address] or [email address]
 
 
Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.
Ystyriwch yr amgylchedd. Peidiwch ag argraffu'r neges hon oni bai fod gwir angen.
 
Visit our Website at www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk
Ewch i'n gwefan yn www.bromorgannwg.gov.uk
 
Find us on Facebook / Cewch ddod o hyd i ni ar Facebook
Follow us on Twitter / Dilynwch ni ar Twitter
 
Correspondence is welcomed in Welsh or English / Croesewir Gohebiaeth yn y Gymraeg neu yn Saesneg.

show quoted sections

Dear Vale of Glamorgan Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Vale of Glamorgan Council's handling of my FOI request 'Information about your dealings with Stonewall [Extraneous material removed]'.

You have said that you won't supply information to most of the questions due to Section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), but do not state why this applies.
If you have refused to disclose the requested information on the grounds that it would be prejudicial to business interests, but have not demonstrated the likelihood of this prejudice occuring.
As you may be aware, ICO guidance states that when applying a Section 43 exemption, an authority "must show that because [the information] is commercially sensitive, disclosure would be, or would be likely to be, prejudicial to the commercial activities of a person (an individual, a company, the public authority itself or any other legal entity)".
This response does not appear to have included such details, so I am requesting that you conduct an internal review, and, if the exemption is upheld, show how the release would be prejudicial to commercial activities, and of whom.

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

Yours faithfully,

H Rowlands

FOI Unit, Vale of Glamorgan Council

Dear H Rowlands

Case ref: 00202032

Thank you for your email where you are requesting an internal review of this case.

Your request has been logged and passed to the Monitoring Officer who will conduct a full review of the case. A response will be sent to you when the investigation has been completed which will be within 40 working days.

Kind regards

Information Governance Officer
Democratic Services
Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg
tel / ffôn: 01446 700111
mob / sym:
e-mail / e-bost: [email address] or [email address]
 
 
Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.
Ystyriwch yr amgylchedd. Peidiwch ag argraffu'r neges hon oni bai fod gwir angen.
 
Visit our Website at www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk
Ewch i'n gwefan yn www.bromorgannwg.gov.uk
 
Find us on Facebook / Cewch ddod o hyd i ni ar Facebook
Follow us on Twitter / Dilynwch ni ar Twitter
 
Correspondence is welcomed in Welsh or English / Croesewir Gohebiaeth yn y Gymraeg neu yn Saesneg.

show quoted sections

FOI Unit, Vale of Glamorgan Council

Dear H Rowlands

I refer to your request for an internal review of a request you made regarding Information about the Vale of Glamorgan Council's dealings with Stonewall.

I have now reviewed same and note your comments, however before commenting on each part of the request I would say in generality that the access to information legislation in the UK provides a general right to access information held by public authorities and the release of information under same is regarded as a release into the public domain. Accordingly the legislation builds in safeguards or exemptions where it is not appropriate to release information in the public domain particularly if it relates to third parties and that release may prejudice them or breach their rights of privacy to correspondence or communications.

In that context I am mindful that in relation to your request it relates to one specific organisation and the focus of your questions is in relation to that organisation and the Council's communications and dealing with same. That organisation would not be subject to the provisions of the public access legislation and accordingly could not be compelled to provide access to same.

I note the officer dealing with this matter applied an exemption as set out in section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act in relation to commercial interests.

For ease of reference I set out below the wording of Section 43 provides as follows:

43 Commercial interests.
.
(1) Information is exempt information if it constitutes a trade secret.

(2) Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it).
.
(3) The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that, compliance with section 1(1)(a) would, or would be likely to, prejudice the interests mentioned in subsection (2).

In your appeal you have kindly set out the number of questions and made reference to the ICO guidance. In summary you ask why this applies and how it would prejudice the organisation.

In applying this to your questions 1 to 3 of your original request I would comment as follows:

1. Any application you made in 2019 or 2020 to be a "Stonewall Diversity Champion" or to be included on Stonewall's "Workplace Equality Index," including any attachments or appendices to those applications. Please redact personal details if necessary.

This would relate to information submitted to Stonewall once it is submitted it becomes their property and accordingly would be confidential to them. I am mindful that Stonewall does not publish this and accordingly it would not be appropriate to release same into the public domain. I note the statutory provision above provides a wide provision in that the requirement in that it would or would be likely to prejudice them or indeed the Council. In the context of the submission I do not consider that it would be appropriate to release this into the public domain. It would show information in relation to the organisation's questions and information in relation to the authority. I note the exemption specifically mentions prejudice to the authority holding it.

2. Any feedback you received in 2019 or 2020 from Stonewall in relation to either application or programme.

This information would have been received by the Council it would be a review and prepared by the time and resources of the organisation. It may set out their methodology and approach and accordingly if third party were to see same it may be to their commercial benefit and be of disadvantage to the organisation in question that expended time and effort in preparing same. Again Stonewall does not publish this and we therefore believe it would not be appropriate to disclose this information.

3. Any other communication you have received from Stonewall in 2019 or 2020 unless privileged or otherwise exempt from disclosure (but if you claim privilege or exemption in relation to any material, please say in broad terms what the material is and the basis on which you claim to be entitled to withhold it).

Any other information that we receive which is not privileged or otherwise exempt is generic and I understand that Stonewall publishes this type of information and is available on it's website.

I trust this clarifies the Council's position in the application of Section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and of course the information available on it's website would be covered by Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 namely information already reasonably accessible.

Our response to questions 4, 5 and 6 remains the same as in our previous response to you.

Finally I would advise If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to refer the matter to The Information Commissioner whose contact details I set out below.

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office - Wales Second Floor, Churchill House Churchill Way, Cardiff
CF10 2HH
029 20678400 / Fax:029 20678399
[email address]

Yours sincerely

Monitoring Officer
Vale of Glamorgan Council

show quoted sections