Our Ref: GL009
21 May 2021
Sent by email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear Ms Quinlan
REQUEST UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002 (“The
Act”)
Thank you for your correspondence of 22 April 2021 where you asked for information
relating to Whiteinch Library
. For reference, the full details of your request are set out in
the Annex to this letter.
Culture & Sport Glasgow (trading as Glasgow Life) is treating your request as a request
for information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. We can confirm
that Glasgow Life holds some of the information that you have requested.
Glasgow Life’s response to each of your questions are set out in the Annex to this letter.
On inspecting our records it would appear that some of the information requested is
covered by an exemption(s) contained within the Act. The reasons for this are contained
within the attached Annex. The Annex also explains why some of the requested
information has not been provided to you.
Right of Review
If you are dissatisfied with the way Glasgow Life has dealt with your request you are
entitled to require Glasgow Life to review its decision. Please note that for a review to
take place you must:
Lodge a written requirement for a review within 40 working days of the date of
this letter
Include your full name, a correspondence address, a description of the original
request and the reason why you are dissatisfied.
Include the reference number as provided at the top of this letter.
Address your request to the following Director
Director of Cultural Services
Glasgow Life
38 Albion Street
Glasgow G1 1LH
Email: xxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
You will receive notice of the results of the review within 20 working days of receipt of
your request. The notice will state the decision reached by the reviewing officer as well
as details of how to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner if you are still
dissatisfied with Glasgow Life’s response. You must request an internal review by
Glasgow Life before a complaint can be directed to the Scottish Information
Commissioner.
For your information, an appeal can be made to the Scottish Information Commissioner
by contacting his office as follows if you do remain dissatisfied with the outcome of the
Glasgow Life’s review decision:
Address:
Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, KY16 9DS.
Email:
xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxxx
Telephone:
01334 464610
You can also use the Scottish Information Commissioner’s online appeal service to make
an application for a decision: www.itspublicknowledge.info/appeal
If you wish to submit a complaint in relation to the manner in which Glasgow Life has
handled your request for information then you can do so by requesting that the Glasgow
Life review its decision. Details of how to request a review are set out in the above
paragraph “Right of Review”.
Yours sincerely
Information Compliance Team
Glasgow Life
https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/the-small-print/privacy-statement-for-glasgow-life
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ANNEX
Glasgow Life’s response to your information request is noted below (numbered for
ease of reference).
1.
A copy of the equality impact assessment carried out in relation to the proposed closure/
relocation of Whiteinch Library. As you may be aware, all of Glasgow Life’s venues required to close in 2020 as a
result of the Coronavirus and associated legislation. As part of the Glasgow City
Council’s budget for 2021/22 the decision was made to reopen over 90 Glasgow Life
managed venues, Whiteinch Library was not one of the venues.
Whilst no decision has been taken as to when some libraries may reopen, no
decision has been made that they shall close permanently.
Glasgow Life manage library facilities on behalf of Glasgow City Council. Please
note that Glasgow City Council are responsible for any decisions made to
permanently close any libraries.
In March 2021, Glasgow City Council provided more financial certainty for Glasgow
Life by providing a £100 million safety net. This allowed us to agree with the Council
more than 90 venues which can reopen as restrictions allow. This fixed operating
budget is nearly 15% lower than the budget we operated to before the pandemic. It
is now fully used on the venues identified for reopening, and services identified for
restart. Additional funding would be required to enable us to open more venues but
please note Glasgow City Council has not made any decision regarding the
permanent closure of venues.
Information on Whiteinch Library services is available on our website here:
https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/news/update-on-maryhill-and-whiteinch-libraries
We can advise that no Equality Impact Assessment has been completed with regard
to Whiteinch Library. We are therefore unable to comply with this part of your
request in terms of section 17(1)(b) of the Act.
By way of advice and assistance, we can advise that Glasgow Life has undertaken
a high-level Equality Impact Assessment of Glasgow Life’s budget proposals. This
document was considered as part of the overall budget proposals by Glasgow City
Council on 11 March 2021 and can be found here:
http://www.glasgow.gov.uk/councillorsandcommittees/viewSelectedDocument.asp
?c=P62AFQDNDXZ3DNDNT
2.
Any reports compiled regarding the proposed closure/relocation of the library dated
within the last three years.
As explained above no decision has been made to close Whiteinch Library
permanently. As part of the Glasgow City Council’s budget for 2021/22 the decision
was made to reopen over 90 Glasgow Life managed venues, Whiteinch Library was
not one of the venues.
We would advise that Glasgow Life does hold some of the information you have
requested regarding the proposed relocation of the library and also information
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relating to discussions surrounding Whiteinch Library. We consider some of the
information requested in part 2 of your request to be exempt from release under FOI
in terms of sections 30(c), 30(b)(ii) and 33(1)(b) of the Act. We also consider that the
information held by Glasgow Life relating to discussions surrounding Whiteinch
Library would be exempt for the same reasons. This is explained further below.
Section 30(c) – prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs:
Please be advised that some of the information which you have requested is, in our
opinion, exempt from a request under section 1 of the Act because of the exemption
contained in section 30(c) of the Act. In other words, in our opinion disclosure of
this information, would or would be likely to, substantially prejudice, the effective
conduct of public affairs. These are working documents, updated to take into
account on-going changes in budgets, evidence gathering, views, priorities and
oversight as well as the evolving nature of the COVID-19 pandemic. The content of
these documents is contingent on many different factors and may be updated to
take into account these on-going changes. If this type of information were released
into the public domain, we are of the view that it would substantially prejudice our
ability to plan on-going services. While we believe the exemption contained in section 30(c) of the Act applies to this
information, we would still be obliged to release the information unless the public
interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the
information. Glasgow Life acknowledges the significant public interest in openness
and transparency and therefore recognises that any request under section 1 of the
Act is potentially in the public interest. However, we also believe that the public
interest in public authorities being able to plan their on-going services outweighs
this public interest in openness and transparency.
Section 30(b)(ii) – prejudice to the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes
of deliberation:
Some of the information which you have requested is, in our opinion, exempt from
a request under section 1 of the Act because of the exemption contained in section
30(b)(ii) of the Act. In other words, in our opinion disclosure of this information,
would or would be likely to, substantially prejudice, the free and frank exchange of
views for the purposes of deliberation. Glasgow Life’s planning process can only
be carried out with the free and frank exchange of views of the staff members
concerned. We are of the view that disclosure of this information at this time could
substantially inhibit those involved from giving their views freely, to the substantial
prejudice of the quality of the decision-making process.
While we believe the exemption contained in section 30(b)(ii) of the Act applies in
this case, we would still be obliged to release the information unless the public
interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the
information. Glasgow Life acknowledges the significant public interest in openness
and transparency and therefore recognises that any request under section 1 of the
Act is potentially in the public interest. However, it is also in the public interest to
ensure that our staff are able to make these types of decisions without inhibition.
Section 33(1)(b) of the Act – commercial prejudice:
We are of the view that some of the information consists of financial information
(which includes budgetary details and operational costs) and as such is exempt
from a request under section 1 of the Act because of the exemption contained in
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section 33(1)(b) of the Act. In other words, we believe that disclosure of the
information would, or would be likely to, substantially prejudice the commercial
interests of Glasgow Life. We are of the view that disclosure of this information
would, or would likely to, substantially prejudice Glasgow Life if it were to be
released into the public domain.
While we believe the exemption contained in section 33(1)(b) of the Act applies in
this case, we would still be obliged to release the information unless the public
interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the
information. Glasgow Life acknowledges the significant public interest in openness
and transparency and therefore recognises that any request under section 1 of the
Act is potentially in the public interest. In the circumstances we feel that the specific
public interest in safeguarding the legitimate commercial interests of Glasgow Life
outweighs the general public interest in openness and transparency.
3.
Equalities data collected from people who joined the library in Whiteinch in the last three
years.
On inspecting our records it would appear that Glasgow Life does not hold the
information which you have requested. Neither does anyone else hold it on our
behalf. Accordingly we are unable to comply with this aspect of your request and
therefore refuse this part of your request in terms of section 17(1)(b) of the Act.
4.
Documents from any surveys/ property inspections carried out on the library building in
the last three years.
5.
Any quotations received for carrying out works required to the building dated in the last
three years.
6.
Any accessibility report or assessment carried out to the building in the last three years.
With regards to parts 4, 5 and 6 of your request we can confirm that Whiteinch
Library requires a range of upgrade works, although it should be noted that the
building is safe to use. We have investigated indicative costs of the works that
would be required in the building over the next three year period, these works would
require to be substantiated by technical surveys. This information is provided in the
attached cyclic maintenance costs document.
In addition to this programme of works, a range of overlay works would also be
required to provide a Covid safe building in line with Scottish Government
guidelines.
7.
Number of attendees of Bounce and Rhyme groups and Conversational English groups
in the last three years.
Whiteinch
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
Library
Attendances Attendances Attendances
Bounce N
No data
Rhyme /
1,355
1,649
reported
Bookbug
No data
No data
ESOL
22
reported
reported
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Copyright Notice
Please note that the information provided in response to your request is, unless otherwise
indicated, copyright © Glasgow Life 2021. It is supplied to you in terms of the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002. Any further use by you of this information must comply
with the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as amended and/or the
Copyright and Rights in Databases Regulations 1997. In particular, any commercial use
or re-use of the information provided requires the prior written consent of Glasgow Life.
Requests for such consent should be addressed to:
Director of Finance and Corporate Services
Glasgow Life
38 Albion Street
Glasgow G1 1LH
Email: xxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
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