Licenced Betting Offices in Salford 2007-13
Dear Salford City Council,
Please could you release to me information on how many Licensed Betting Offices were licensed in the borough in each year from 2007 to 2013.
For clarity: I wish to understand the total number of bookmakers licenced in each year 2007-13 and how that has changed over time. Some councils make their current register available online, unfortunately this gives just the current number not the historic trend.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Richardson
Dear Salford City Council,
Has there been any progress on this request which is now over the 20 day limit suggested by the ICO?
Please note that I want to understand the number of bookmakers operating in each year and so I need to know how many licences were issued in each year and also how many ended by being revoked/surrendered or lapsed.
Yours faithfully,
Richard Richardson
Sorry I am currently out of the office until Tuesday 13 May. My current working days are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I will get back to you ASAP upon my return. If the matter is urgent you can ring 0161 793 3880 and speak to a member of the team
Dear Mr Richardson
Please find attached your Freedom of Information response. Please accept
our apologies for the delay in responding.
Regards
Carolyn
Carolyn Haslam
Business Support and Corporate Information Resource Team
Civic Centre
Chorley Road
Swinton
M27 5BY
[1][email address]
DISCLAIMER: The information contained in this communication/message from [email address] sent on Mon May 12 09:26:02 2014 is confidential. It is intended solely for the addressee(s) [FOI #203282 email]
Access to this message by anyone else is unauthorised. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, or distribution of the message, or any action or omission taken by you in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful.
As a public body, Salford City Council may be required to disclose this email [or any response to it] under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, unless the information in it is covered by one of the exemptions in the Act.
Please immediately contact the sender, [email address] if you have received this message in error.
For the full disclaimer please access http://www.salford.gov.uk/e-mail. Thank you.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
Dear Haslam, Carolyn,
Thanks for this reply
2007 – 2
2008 – 3
2009 – 2
2010 – 3
2011 – 1
2012 – 0
2013 – 2
Unfortunately it does not seem to be correct - I have an alternate source that there are 43 bookmakers in Salford now. My question may be slightly ambiguous so I will try to clarify.
I want to understand how many bookmakers were operating in each year which involves adding in the running total of all bookmaker licences issued (starting 1st September 2007 when the register became the councils responsibility) and then taking off any licences that have been revoked/lapsed or surrendered.
This response with a running total of 13 is clearly not the full picture and it does not meet the original request. It may exclude all fast tracked licences issued in September 2007 and may exclude details of licences that have ended but it is certainly not all the information I am seeking or the whole picture of licenced bookmakers in Salford.
Please could you look again at this request,(this is not a request for Internal Review BTW) - hopefully my clarification of the request will help.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Richardson
Dear Mr Richardson
Please find enclosed our response to your further question.
Kind regards
Lynn
Dear Faulkner, Lynn,
Thanks for this but I am struggling to reconcile the two responses:
"We can advise of the following number of betting offices licensed by year:
2007 – 2
2008 – 3
2009 – 2
2010 – 3
2011 – 1
2012 – 0
2013 – 2
Further to your email yesterday we are able to confirm the following:
The figures (as at todays date) below, show those betting offices which are still active (43 in total), and those that aren't (12). They also show the figures for each year since 2007.
These figures include those betting shops which were "fast tracked" when the law changed in 2007, and new ones issued since then.
Active inactive
2007 31 9
2008 33 10
2009 36 12
2010 39 12
2011 40 12
2012 40 12
2013 42 12
2014 43 12"
The distinction between active and inactive is unclear to me. No other council has classified licences this way and the totals do not seem to reconcile, well in part they seem to follow each other but not for 2008 and it is unclear how the inactive figure is derived at all as it does not seem to relate to closed shops or future shops or a mixture of the two.
I am grateful that you are trying to analyse this data in the way that I want but I seem not to be making myself clear.
Given that you are certainly willing to help but I am not getting results that inspire confidence or seem to reconcile why don't we try a different approach?
If you could supply me with an extract of the gambling premises licences that shows bookmakers including date licenced and if appropriate date revoked/lapsed/surrendered I can calculate the total operating myself?
Yours sincerely,
Richard Richardson
Dear Mr Richardson
After a conversation with the business area regarding your email I would ask you to contact:
VERONICA FARRELLY
LICENSING OFFICER
SALFORD CITY COUNCIL
TURNPIKE HOUSE
631 ECCLES NEW ROAD
SALFORD
M50 1SW
e-mail: [email address] Phone No: 0161 925 1073 Office No: 0161 925 1080.
Hopefully Ms Farrelly will be able to assist you further. In the meantime I am going to close your FOI.
Kind regards
Lynn
Dear Salford City Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Salford City Council's handling of my FOI request 'Licenced Betting Offices in Salford 2007-13'.
My FOI request has been closed without a satisfactory response. Instead I have been asked to contact an individual employed by the council. Whilst i appreciate that this may well be the person best placed to deal with the request this approach to an FOI request via a forum committed to open communication whatdotheyknow.com is just unsatisfactory.
The appropriate response is to get the person with the appropriate information to respond to the FOI request
I remain grateful for the effort made already on this request and do not doubt the good intentions of all those trying to help but it is just not right to close an FOI request and instead ask the requester to egage in private email correspondence.
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,
Richard Richardson
Dear Mr Richardson ,
I write to acknowledge your request for an internal review into the handling of your request for information.
You should receive a letter explaining the results of the investigation within 21 working days or, if the investigation is not completed, the likely timescale for its completion.
This process will be independent of any initial decision taken and officers involved in the initial decision will not be involved in the decision making process of this appeal.
Regards,
Paula Egerton
Principal Information Governance Officer
Business Support and Corporate Information Resources Team
Salford City Council
Tel: 0161 793 3880
Dear Egerton, Paula,
Has there been any progress with this Internal review of my FOI request, Acknowledged on the 21st June. The Internal Review is now overdue.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Richardson
Richard Richardson left an annotation ()
As a benchmark for assessing Salford you might like to know that I have asked for the same info from all 326 English councils - 9 are outstanding, 3 Internal reviews. All 22 Welsh and 30 of 32 Scottish councils/boards have also answered. 14 Councils answered fully within a single working day.
Dear Mr Richardson,
Many apologies for the delay in response. I have been on leave, and unfortunately due to limited resources my colleagues were unable to pick up this request in my absence. I have now attached our response to your request for an Internal Review, and hopefully attach the information you require.
Regards,
Paula
Paula Egerton
Principal Information Governance Officer
Business Support and Corporate Information Resources Team
Salford City Council
Tel: 0161 793 3880
We work to defend the right to FOI for everyone
Help us protect your right to hold public authorities to account. Donate and support our work.
Donate Now
Anthony Dowd left an annotation ()
ANOTHER delayed response by Salford City Council