Library statistics 2021

The request was refused by Bexley Borough Council.

Dear Bexley Borough Council,

FAO The Library Service.

Hello, I have two freedom of information (FOI) queries that should be quick. This is being sent to all UK library services so be assured you aren't being singled out! If the operating of the library service has been outsourced to a separate organisation then please fulfil this request by retrieving the response from that body.

1. Does the library service complete annual library statistics to be sent to CIPFA? And specifically, have these been completed for the financial year 2020/2021?

2. If the answer to the above is Yes, please include a copy of your 2020/2021 CIPFA library statistics return in your response. This should be sent in the same format as was sent to CIPFA (e.g. an Excel spreadsheet).

It is important that this should be an exact copy of the data sent to CIPFA. I am not requesting any data that is owned by CIPFA, such as their own aggregated reports. As the data is compiled by the library service it is public library data, and subject to Freedom of Information.

To try and cover any concerns about the second part of this request, I have answered a number of potential worries below. Please have a quick look through these before responding!

- Data Format. The data should be sent as structured data in spreadsheet format. Guidelines from the Information Commissioner's Office specify that it is reasonable to request data in a re-usable and "Machine-readable" formats. For example, if the data were exported to a PDF file then that would not be acceptable, as that is a document rather than structured data.

- FOI exemption: accessible by other means. Occasionally, requesters in the past have been told that this data could be exempt from FOI as it accessible from CIPFA when it is published. However this fails the test of being 'reasonably' accessible due to the high cost for a member of the public. This exemption would certainly be overturned on appeal.

- FOI exemption: commercial interest. Commercial interest exemptions do exist in FOI legislation but this would not apply to a single third party (e.g. CIPFA) who use public data. Their commercial interests are in the value they provide in reporting on that data.

Thank you in advance!

Yours faithfully,

Dave Rowe

Bexley Council, Bexley Borough Council

Information request
Our reference: 10685328

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Dear Mr Rowe
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
Thank you for your request for information that was received on 16
September 2021 concerning:

1. Does the library service complete annual library statistics to be sent
to CIPFA? And specifically, have these been completed for the financial
year 2020/2021?
2. If the answer to the above is Yes, please include a copy of your
2020/2021 CIPFA library statistics return in your response. This should be
sent in the same format as was sent to CIPFA (e.g. an Excel spreadsheet).
It is important that this should be an exact copy of the data sent to
CIPFA.
 
We are dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 and we aim to send a response by 14 October 2021 (which is 20 working
days beginning on the first working day after the date we received your
request).
 
In some cases, a fee may be payable. If we decide a fee is payable, we
will send you a fee notice and we will require you to pay the fee before
proceeding with your request.
 
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 may restrict the release of some or
all of the information you have requested. We will carry out an assessment
and if any exemptions apply to some or all of the information then we
might not provide that information to you. We will inform you if this is
the case and advise you of your rights to request an internal review and
to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.
 
We will also advise you if we cannot provide you with the information
requested for any other reason together with the reason(s) why and details
of how you may appeal (if appropriate).
 
 
Regards,

Hazel Watson
Complaints and FOI Officer
London Borough of Bexley , Civic Offices , 2 Watling Street , Bexleyheath
, Kent , DA6 7AT
Tel: 0203 045 4700
Email: [email address]
www.bexley.gov.uk

Bexley Council, Bexley Borough Council

1 Attachment

Information request
Our reference: 10685328

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Dear ‎Mr Rowe‏
 
Thank you for your request for information received on 16 September 2021.
 
Please find attached our response to your request.
  

Regards,

Paul Fisher
Library Services Manager
London Borough of Bexley Civic Offices 2 Watling Street Bexleyheath Kent
DA6 7AT
Tel: 020 3045 4562
Email: [email address]
www.bexley.gov.uk

Dear Bexley Borough Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Bexley Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Library statistics 2021'.

You have refused the request based upon one exemption: "We consider that the qualified exemption set out in Section 43 (Prejudicial to commercial interests) applies to the information requested. Therefore, we have decided to withhold the information."

You have given 2 reasons for this in the public interest test. I will take those in turn, and then add an additional response.

1. "The request is not directly for the performance data of the library service, but rather for: “"a copy of your 2020/2021 CIPFA library statistics return”. "

I think this is largely splitting hairs. For the benefit of doubt, I am requesting the data that has been compiled and collected for the purposes of annual statistics for the year 2020/2021. This is a collection of measures and definitions that have been built up over years by public sector library staff as part of a working group. It also aligns with many performance measures as defined in the relevant ISO International standard. As a matter of public data, it is an important set of data and so I think it is reasonable to request the raw data that you have collected for the purpose of that dataset, rather than make individual data item requests such as the number of loans.

2. "The spreadsheet requested is a copyrighted document that contains formula and dataset format that if disclosed may affect Cipfa's commercial interests, as the form in which this information is collected relates directly to plans for publication of the data."

I believe these are largely copyright considerations, which is covered by guidance on intellectual property rights, given by the ICO:

"Copyright does not act as a statutory bar to disclosure for the purposes of section 44 of FOIA. This is because section 50 of the CDPA provides that where the copying or publishing of information is specifically authorised by an Act of Parliament copyright will not be infringed"

In fact, examples of the spreadsheet libraries complete are also readily available to the pubic through previous FOI requests, there is nothing that would constitute anything like a trade secret, or something which the disclosure of could damage CIPFA's commercial interests.

I think you will need to expand further on what commercial prejudice is likely to result, as expressing that is a requirement of the exemption. CIPFA provide added-value analysis on top of the public data. There would be no bar to them continuing to do so. The release of added value commercial reports happens every year and is well known, but is not accessible to the public. I am neither requesting those reports, nor interfering with them. Neither am I requesting information which would disclose anything that isn't widely available knowledge about CIPFA. All I am requesting is the underlying data that you have compiled, in the most readily convenient format that you hold it in.

Further to this, I believe you are incorrectly interpreting the spirit of the commercial prejudice exemption. The data requested is core library data, collected by the library service. This includes public information such as the number of loans, the number of borrowers, etc. CIPFA use this data for their commercial activities, but the raw data remains fundamental to public libraries. Logically you could also attempt the same exemption if I simply asked for the number of libraries you have. But I don't think any reasonable person would consider that to be prejudicing commercial interests. What you are arguing for is for CIPFA to have exclusive access to public library data for their commercial activities. That is unreasonable.

If you look at briefing notes for the exemption, you will find examples that illustrate situations where organisations could have their commercial activities prejudiced. For example, the exemption could apply if I were requesting information about CIPFAs performance. Or if they were subject to a competitive tendering process and I requested their particular rates, in order to undercut them.

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

Yours faithfully,

Dave Rowe

Bexley Council, Bexley Borough Council

Information request
Our reference: 10685328

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Dear Mr Rowe
 
Thank you for your request for a review received on 19 October 2021. I am
sorry that you are dissatisfied with our attempts to handle your request
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
We will provide you with a written response by 16 November 2021. If there
are any delays in providing you with a response we will let you know.
 
In the meantime if you have any further queries about your complaint, you
can contact me on the telephone number given above.
 
Regards,

Lorraine Hand
Complaints and Freedom of Information Officer
London Borough of Bexley , Civic Offices , 2 Watling Street , Bexleyheath
, Kent , DA6 7AT
Tel: 0203 045 3855
Email: [email address]
www.bexley.gov.uk

Dear Bexley Council,

Your reference:10685328

You said that:

"We will provide you with a written response by 16 November 2021. If there are any delays in providing you with a response we will let you know."

Could you send an update on this please?

Yours sincerely,

Dave Rowe

Dear Bexley Council,

Before I appeal this with the ICO for you simply not responding, could you respond to this request please?

Yours sincerely,

Dave Rowe

Freedom of Information, Bexley Borough Council

Good morning Mr Rowe,

Thank you for your email and I was sorry to read that you have not had a response.
I have chased this now and asked for it to be dealt with urgently.

Kind regards,

Hazel Watson
Complaints & FOI Officer

London Borough of Bexley
Civic Offices
2 Watling Street, Bexleyheath, Kent DA6 7AT
Tel: 020 3045 3411
Email: [email address]

show quoted sections

Thank you Hazel

Just a reminder, this is the response in November to my request for a review (Your reference: 10685328)

"Thank you for your request for a review received on 19 October 2021. I am sorry that you are dissatisfied with our attempts to handle your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

We will provide you with a written response by 16 November 2021. If there are any delays in providing you with a response we will let you know."

These are legal deadlines, and I am still waiting for this months later. Please do chase this up.

Yours sincerely,

Dave Rowe

Freedom of Information, Bexley Borough Council

Hi Ginny

We have received the email below.

Please can you respond directly to Mr Rowe and cc the FOI mailbox into your reply for audit purposes.

Many thanks

Lorraine

show quoted sections

Bexley Council, Bexley Borough Council

Information request
Our reference: 10685328

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Dear Mr Rowe
 
Having considered your request to disclose a copy of Bexley's 2020/2021
CIPFA library statistics return in the same format as was sent to CIPFA.
We believe this information is exempt from disclosure under Section 43
subsection 2 of the Freedom of Information Act (Act).

Section 43(2) of the Act enables Bexley Council to withhold information if
we believe that its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the
commercial interests of any person, including the public authority holding
it.

This information is commercially sensitive to Chartered Institute of
Public Finance and Accountancy and it is important for their
competitiveness that they can undertake their commercial activities in
relation to public libraries performance data.

Where the Council decides that the information requested is exempt from
disclosure under section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act, it must
then apply what is known as a 'public interest test'. This requires the
Council to decide whether, in all the circumstances of the case, the
public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest
in disclosing information.

In applying the public interest test, we considered the arguments for and
against disclosure. When considering factors, which would favour
disclosing the information, the Council had to assess whether disclosure
of the information would:

* Allow for more informed debate on the issue
* Promote accountability and transparency for our decisions and in our
spending of public money
* Assist the public to understand and challenge our decisions.

Against these considerations, the Council must balance the likelihood of
disclosure having an adverse effect on the commercial interest of the
organisation concerned and the Council itself. Releasing the information
would have negative impact on the Council's ability to benefit from the
services provided by the organisation in question and impact our ability
to deliver services on a cost-efficient basis.

It would also impact on the company's competitive advantage because the
release of the information may compromise the organisation's ability to
provide this service in the future by adversely impacting on their
commercial activity of collating, analysing, and providing library service
statistics

Having considered the arguments for and against disclosure, the Council
decided that the public interest in this case served best by maintaining
the exemption and not disclosing the information requested.

The Council considers that the possible benefits of disclosure are
outweighed by the real risk of causing prejudice to the commercial
interests of the companies concerned and the Council itself. In this case,
there is an overriding public interest in ensuring that companies are able
to compete fairly and in ensuring there is competition for public sector
contracts.

If you remain unhappy with the way your request for information has been
handled, you have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone 0303 123 1133
[1]www.ico.org.uk
 
 
Yours sincerely

Ginny Hyland
Head of Libraries and Communities
London Borough of Bexley , Civic Offices , 2 Watling Street , Bexleyheath
, Kent , DA6 7AT
 

References

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1. http://www.ico.org.uk/