Meriden Election detail Thursday June 2017 ref Tom McNeil(Labour)

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council did not have the information requested.

Dear Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council,

Obviously, for reasons of confidence,massive effort is made to ensure votes are counted accurately at elections but the election results reported on the Council website for the Meriden Constituency 2017 seem to be confusing and I would appreciate clarification.
http://eservices.solihull.gov.uk/mginter...

The top two reported results were Caroline Spelman M.P(Conservative) 33,873, Tom McNeil(Labour) 14,675, and others 6,095 giving a total of 54,643 which is 67% of the total electorate of 81,443.
FOIQ1. The Council reports that 54,756 ballot papers were returned,but 97 were rejected as unacceptable, which calculated should leave 54,659, but why does the report say 54,643,, what happened to the 16 missing votes?
FOIQ2.The report details that 14,400 postal votes were sent out but 109158 were returned, please advise what is going on?
FOIQ3.The Labour Candidate,Tom McNeil, appears(On candidates details stated elsewhere) to be the only alien candidate,with a home address outside of the Constituency, namely address in Hackney South and Shoreditch Constituency. For reasons of transparency please disclose more precise detail,if held,of this Candidates nominated address.

Thanking you in anticipation,

Yours faithfully,
Dennis Fallon(BScHons)

FOI Information Governance Team,

Information request
Our reference: 3694096
Your reference: [FOI #504887 email]
 

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Dear Sir/Madam
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000
 
Thank you for your request for information that was received on 1 August
2018, the details of which are given below:
 
The election results reported on the Council website for the Meriden
Constituency 2017 seem to be confusing and I would appreciate
clarification. http://eservices.solihull.gov.uk/mginter...

The top two reported results were Caroline Spelman M.P(Conservative)
33,873, Tom McNeil(Labour) 14,675, and others 6,095 giving a total of
54,643 which is 67% of the total electorate of 81,443.

Q1. The Council reports that 54,756 ballot papers were returned,but 97
were rejected as unacceptable, which calculated should leave 54,659, but
why does the report say 54,643,, what happened to the 16 missing votes?

Q2.The report details that 14,400 postal votes were sent out but 109158
were returned, please advise what is going on?

Q3.The Labour Candidate,Tom McNeil, appears(On candidates details stated
elsewhere) to be the only alien candidate,with a home address outside of
the Constituency, namely address in Hackney South and Shoreditch
Constituency. For reasons of transparency please disclose more precise
detail,if held,of this Candidates nominated address.
 
We are dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000  and we aim to send a response by 31 August 2018.
 
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). 
 
Yours faithfully
 
 
Dawn Waller
Corporate Records Manager
Business Transformation Directorate
Solihull Council
[1]www.solihull.gov.uk
 
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References

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FOI Information Governance Team,

1 Attachment

Information request
Our reference: 3694096
Your reference: [FOI #504887 email]
 

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Dear Mr Fallon,
 
Thank you for your request for information received on 1 August
2018; please find our response attached.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
 
Carol Bowdery
Corporate Information Governance Officer
Corporate Information Governance Team
Solihull Council
[1]www.solihull.gov.uk
 
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Dear Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Meriden Election detail Thursday June 2017 ref Tom McNeil(Labour)'.
You advise that, regarding Q1, that"The Council is required to destroy the paperwork 12 months after each election so we no longer have the detailed records from the election count and therefore cannot answer this question" and although the removal of clutter is obviously appropriate I am very disappointed that the results were not recorded accurately and show some unexplained discrepancies.
You advise,regarding Q2, that "The figure of 109,158 returned postal votes showing on the website was a data inputting error and has now been corrected – thank you for pointing this out. The correct figure is 11,058".i am disappointed that data is being incorrectly imputted into your systems,as accuracy is fairly important.
I have not checked all your website data,I have simply chosen Meriden because of the unusual outside Labour candidate,and despite the high level of errors being unexplained I accept that original voting data has been destroyed.
I wish to appeal your response to my,Q3"The Labour Candidate, Tom McNeil, appears (On candidates details stated elsewhere) to be the only alien candidate, with a home address outside of the
Constituency, namely address in Hackney South and Shoreditch Constituency. For reasons of transparency please disclose more precise detail, if held, of this Candidates nominated address". RESPONSE "Information not held as per our response to question one above( paperwork destroyed,as per policy).There are forces within the Labour Party seeking to integrate Tom McNeil within the local political system and,in the absence of a victory in Meriden, the Labour Police and Crime Commissioner, David Jamieson, has subsequently appointed him to the PCC Team, even though the post was never apparently advertised to anyone else.I am trying to plumb the depths of Labour schemings and trying to establish if Tom McNeil gave a genuine London home address or if it was simply an address of convenience provided by the Labour Party.I would have imagined that any address provided on paper would have been converted to a computer record for the purposes of contacting him as necessary and keeping accurate records.
I do not know how the system works,it seems very shabby,please confirm that Mr McNeil`s address was not retained on a computer record,or any postal communication documents,and confirm that a valid address was submitted,or if a `maildrop address`would meet the legal requirements of the candidates personal declarations.

I am only appealing because it seems amazing that unknown candidates can suddenly appear and then disappear without any proper record.

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

Yours faithfully,
dennis fallon

FOI Information Governance Team,

Information request
Our reference: 3694096
Your reference: [FOI #504887 email]
 

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Dear Mr Fallon
 
Thank you for your request for a review received on 10 August 2018. I am
sorry that you are dissatisfied with our attempts to handle your request
under the under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
 
I can confirm the information sought does not exist.  It may be helpful if
I explain that as permitted under rule 6 of the Parliamentary Elections
Rules (as set out at Schedule 1 of the Representation of the People Act
1983) Tom McNeil the Labour Candidate for the Meriden Constituency in 2017
provided a statement that he required his home address not to be made
public. The Rules provide that in these circumstances the candidate's home
address is not to be published by the Returning Officer in any of the
published material relating to the election.   This is the reason for the
published candidate's details only making reference to 'address in Hackney
South and Shoreditch Constituency'. Therefore, even if the information
were still held we would have been unable to disclose the information to
you.
 
I hope this clarrifies the situation.
 
 
 
Yours faithfully
 
 
Andy Shipway
Corporate Information Governance Manager
Information Governance Team
Solihull Council

Tel: 0121 704 6251
[1]www.solihull.gov.uk
 
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Dear Andy,
Thank you very much for your prompt reply.
As an ordinary member of the public I foolishly thought that the democratic process would result in the `best`people running local authorities and the Government.In a Free Country we are allowed to judge the people in power and opinionate whether they display integrity or are following a self serving plan.I have an opinion,which may be wrong,that the Hackney Labour Party Office selects National candidates and allows their office address as a contact address, whilst the candidate advises " I come from a humble background in the West Midlands. My family struggled financially when I was growing up. In adult life, I have been more fortunate and so far I have had a good career as a lawyer".I note from social media that in December 2017 Tom McNeil moved to his new neighbourhood of Moseley and Kings Heath,and on June 1st 2018 he announced that PCC Jamieson had appointed him to his board, with no evidence the position was advertised for interview.Politics has a secret agenda and I am sorry to have wasted your time requesting info which does not exist.
I shall class this request as closed,information not held, thank you for your clarifications.

Yours sincerely,
dennis fallon(BScHons)