KCC - Childrens Services in Meltdown - Cover Up

The request was partially successful.

Dear Kent County Council,

As you know the appointment of Mr Dunkley as Head of Children's Services continues to be investigated.
There were some serious concerns over that appointment, additionally more information has come to light which causes significant concerns, especially given KCC's responses to the FOI requests.
The evasion and lack of transparency by Kent County Council is causing serious concerns, and attracting (rightly), media interest. In the Pubic interest

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/politics/new...
https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/news/2017/07/...

KCC confirmed that they were aware Mr Dunkley's contract was ended prematurely, by mutual consent with Norfolk Council
KCC have been non-transparent, in their responses suggesting 'no favours' changed hands. This remains disturbing and is being investigated.

This FOI asks.

1. Of the Twenty Five Thousand Pounds (£25,000) of Public Money it cost to replace Mr Dunkley (his contract terminating early,, by 'mutual consent' - confirmed).

a. How much of this money did Mr Dunkley receive (£25,000 paid)
b. KCC have conceded (online on KCC Website), Mr Dunkley declared interests in the SAME COMPANY that was paid these sums. Therefore such interests and detailed questions must be provided by KCC.

2. Further to the £25,000 paid to the firm Mr Dunkley declare(d) a personal interest to, and was 'active' within.

a. How much money did Mr Dunkley receive, (if anything) for PLACING his REPLACEMENT with Norfolk DC, given he was 'close friends' of his replacement, whom worked together.

3. How much 'Golden Welcome' was awarded by KCC to Mr Dunkley for STARTING with KCC SCS?

4.How much money was paid by KCC to RECRUIT Mr Dunkley

5. Which Agency did KCC use to Recruit Mr Dunkley

6. For 'THAT' recruitment. How much money/favours was paid (by favour or otherwise) to Mr Dunkley by the 'firm' used to recruit Mr Dunkley

Regards

Yours faithfully,

Mr Elliott

 

Information request
Our reference: 4764866

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Dear Mr Elliot
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
Thank you for your email which we received on 16 January 2019.
 
Kent County Council acknowledges your request for information under 
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.  Assuming KCC holds this information,
we will endeavour to supply the data to you as soon as possible but no
later than 13 February 2019 (20 working days from date of receipt).
 
We will advise you as soon as possible if we do not hold this information
or if there are exemptions to be considered and/or any costs for providing
the information.
 
Please quote our reference - 4764866 in any communication regarding this
particular request.
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Kelly Leeson
Strategic and Corporate Services

 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

1 Attachment

 

Information request
Our reference: 4764866

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Dear Mr Elliot
 
Thank you for your request for information received on 16 January 2019.
 
Please find attached our response to your request.
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Carly Wattle
Information Access Officer
Strategic and Corporate Services
+443000417061

 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

Dear Kent County Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Kent County Council's handling of my FOI request 'KCC - Children's Services in Meltdown - Cover Up'.

1. It is clear further that KCC are covering up public Interest serious concerns and colluding with the Head Of Children's Services. This may involve now need the Police to become involved.

KCC do hold the information requested, and given the Director must disclose his interests when employed, this is a serious breach by KCC. Additionally, the Transparency required 'declared interest' to be made, which Mr Dunkley has done to KCC but KCC are NOW UNWILLING to provide the details of that declared interests which is covering up significant issues which may or may not prove to be illegal.

2. Your refusal to provide information regarding costs is NOT accepted. The reason being that this is again further evidence of collusion between a Head of a Dept and FOI within the council. Why? Because Norfolk District Council rightly have provided me with the costs they paid to 'relieve Mr Dunkley from his duties. Likewise thew public MUST be told how much you paid to hire him. This is NOT commercially sensitive.

Your evasion is becoming a serious concern, and this is a matter for the Leader of the Council, not ICO. Please advise it has been escalated.

3. It is clear that you DO have the information held, and are not telling the truth. It is in the public interest, and whilst you state no Golden Welcome was given. You are asked to provide details of 'starter payments' that were made to Mr Dunkley (AKA Golden Welcome)

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

Yours faithfully,

Mr Elliott

Kent County Council

Dear Mr Elliott
 
Thank you for your request for a review received on 14 February 2019. I am sorry that you are dissatisfied with our attempts to handle your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
I can confirm that we are considering your concerns and we will aim to provide you with a response by 14 March 2019.

Best regards

Caroline Dodge | Information Governance Manager | Information Resilience & Transparency Team | Kent County Council | Room 2.87, Sessions House, Maidstone, ME14 1XQ | Phone 03000 416033 | Fax 03000 420303 | Access to Information | Please see our Information Rights Privacy Notice for details of how we process your personal data in line with our data protection obligations |

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Kent County Council

Dear Mr Elliott

 

Thank you for your email. I am sorry that you are unhappy with our
handling of your request for information.

 

You asked six questions which I have paraphrased below.

 

1. Of the Twenty Five Thousand Pounds (£25,000) of Public Money it cost to
replace Mr Dunkley (his contract terminating early,, by 'mutual consent' -
confirmed).

a. How much of this money did Mr Dunkley receive (£25,000 paid) b. KCC
have conceded (online on KCC Website), Mr Dunkley declared interests in
the SAME COMPANY that was paid these sums. Therefore such interests and
detailed questions must be provided by KCC.

2. Further to the £25,000 paid to the firm Mr Dunkley declare(d) a
personal interest to, and was 'active' within.

a. How much money did Mr Dunkley receive, (if anything) for PLACING his
REPLACEMENT with Norfolk DC, given he was 'close friends' of his
replacement, whom worked together.

3. How much 'Golden Welcome' was awarded by KCC to Mr Dunkley for STARTING
with KCC SCS?

4.How much money was paid by KCC to RECRUIT Mr Dunkley

5. Which Agency did KCC use to Recruit Mr Dunkley

6. For 'THAT' recruitment. How much money/favours was paid (by favour or
otherwise) to Mr Dunkley by the 'firm' used to recruit Mr Dunkley

 

We advised you that we did not hold the information to answer questions 1,
2 and 6. We advised you in our response to question 3 that Mr Dunkley was
not paid a “golden welcome”. We stated that the answer to question 4 was
commercially sensitive, but we answered question 5.  

 

I have now reviewed your request and can confirm that Kent County Council
does not hold information about any payments made to Mr Dunkley, either
directly or indirectly, by his former employers or their
agents/representatives. Likewise, KCC does not hold any information about
the recruitment of Mr Dunkley’s successor at Norfolk County Council, nor
does it hold any information about what the recruitment agency, Penna,
paid Mr Dunkley if anything at all.

 

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives you a right of access to
official information held by public authorities, like KCC, subject to any
exemptions to disclosure. However, it puts no obligation on public
authorities to create information (if it does not exist) or obtain that
information from elsewhere.

 

In relation to your question 4, Kent County Council did not pay money to
recruit Mr Dunkley but instead to support the recruitment process for the
role of Corporate Director for Children Young People and Education. To
identify that information would reveal commercially sensitive information
as our original request set out. However, having reviewed your request and
in the interests of transparency, I can signpost you to the information on
the Council’s website about invoices that are over £250 at
[1]https://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-counci....
This information is publicly available and is provided in a number of
formats by financial year that allow you to search, should you wish, for
payments made to Penna during the relevant periods.

 

If you remain unhappy, your next course of action should be to appeal to
the Information Commissioner, who oversees compliance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. Details of what you need to do, should you wish to
pursue this course of action, are available from the Information
Commissioner’s website [2]http://ico.org.uk/concerns, or you can phone the
ICO Helpline on 0303 123 1113.

 

Best regards

 

Caroline Dodge | Information Governance Manager | Information Resilience &
Transparency Team | Kent County Council | Room 2.87, Sessions House,
Maidstone, ME14 1XQ | Phone 03000 416033 | Fax 03000 420303 |  [3]Access
to Information | Please see our [4]Information Rights Privacy Notice for
details of how we process your personal data in line with our data
protection obligations |  

 

 

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