Thank you for your information request received today.

I am currently reviewing your request and investigating whether there is
any information available for disclosure.  The Council, in accordance with
Section 10 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’), will reply
to your request promptly and in any event not later than the twentieth
working day following the date of receipt. Subject Access Requests will be
responded to within one calendar month in line with the GDPR (General Data
Protection Regulation).

In accordance with section 8(1)(b) of the Act and related guidance from
the Information Commissioner’s Office, the Council reserves the right to
treat any request for information as invalid unless the requester supplies
their real name.  In such cases, the Council may request proof of
identity.

Kind Regards

Information Governance Officer

Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

This message has been scanned for malware by LEC Email Scanning.

Dear Mr. Murphy,

Information Request:  EFOI 16118

I refer to your information request dated 5 May 2022 received in our
office on the same day.

I write to request information on the number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) individuals who made a homeless application as legally
homeless and/or being threatened with homelessness between January 2018
and April 2022.

As part of this request, I would like the information to be broken down
into the following:

(i) The number of individuals making a homeless application while 'legally
homeless' since 2018, broken down into sexual orientation (including
transgender), per month, per year and grand total;

(ii) The number of individuals making a homeless application 'threatened
with homelessness' since 2018, broken down into sexual orientation
(including transgender), per month, per year and grand total;

(iii) The number of individuals supported into accommodation
(temporary/emergency) since 2018, broken down into sexual orientation
(including transgender), per month, per year and grand total;

(iv) The number of individuals owed a prevention and/or relief duty since
2018, broken down into sexual orientation (including transgender), per
month, per year and grand total;

(v) The number of individuals to date, still waiting to be supported into
accommodation, broken down by sexual orientation (including transgender).

I have carefully reviewed your request and investigated whether there is
any information disclosable to you. Unfortunately, Eastbourne Borough
Council is not able to give you the information because it considers it is
exempt from disclosure. I have set out the reasons for this decision
below.

Due to the volume of information you have requested the council has
determined that it is unable to provide you with this information as we
consider this information to be exempt under Section 12(1) of the Freedom
of Information Act 2000.

Section 12(1) states:

The general right of access to information held by public authorities does
not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if
the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would
exceed the ‘appropriate limit’.

The ‘appropriate limit’ has been determined by the Lord Chancellor and is
currently set at £450 for a local authority. This figure equates to a
maximum of 18 hours officer time, excluding disbursement costs, before the
local authority has the choice to either commence charging at £25 per
additional hour or not to respond to the request.

The council’s current policy is not to proceed with requests if they
exceed the ‘appropriate limit’. However, this does not indicate that the
council is not willing to respond to your request. If you were able to
modify your request in order to bring it below the appropriate limit by
being more specific about the parameters of your question the council
would be happy to provide an answer.

The council does not hold this information in a manner which enable us to
provide responses within the 18 hour time limit. There is a question
regarding sexuality on the homeless assessment form but the responses are
not transferred onto our central systems. Therefore to provide responses
to the given questions would require an examination of every assessment
and we estimate that would exceed the allotted time.

All applicants have a 'right to review'.  A review should be focused on
the original request and should identify how the council’s response failed
to answer your Information Request.  Reviews must be made in writing (or
e-mail) within 40 working days of receipt of this response and addressed
to the Information Governance Reviews Officer, to the address below.

Information Governance Reviews Officer

Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

1 Grove Road

EASTBOURNE

BN21 4TW

Email: [1][email address]

If you are not content with the outcome of your review, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) cannot make a decision unless you
have already exhausted the internal reviews procedure provided by the
Council’s Reviews Officer. 

Please contact me again, quoting your reference number, if you require any
further assistance with your current request and I will do my best to
provide the relevant help and advice.

Regards,

Kevin Rance
Information Governance Officer

Tel: +44(0)1273 471600

[2][email address]

Lewes and Eastbourne Legal Services acting on behalf of Lewes District
Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

Lewes District Council: Southover House, Southover Road, Lewes BN7 1AB 
[3]www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk. Minicom 01273 484488

Eastbourne Borough Council: 1 Grove Road, Eastbourne BN21 4TW 
[4]www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk. Text Relay 18001 01323 410000

Save a tree… please do not print this email unless you really need to

This email is confidential and for the exclusive use of the above named
addressee(s) or an authorised agent. If you are not the intended
recipient(s), you are prohibited from copying, distributing,
disseminating, or in any other way using the content of this email. If you
have received this email in error, please contact the sender using the
contact details given above.

All our Network computers operate virus-scanning but we make no guarantee
that any attachment to this email is free from computer viruses. You are
advised to check all attachments using your own virus-scanning software
before opening or executing them.

All written communications sent by and to Eastbourne Borough Council are
subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. You should therefore be
aware that this email or the information contained in it may be disclosed
without notice to a third party making a request for information about the
subject matter of this email.

This outbound message has been scanned for malware by Forcepoint for Lewes &
Eastbourne Councils.

References

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1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/
4. http://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/

Dear Mr. Murphy,

Information Request: EFOI 16141

I refer to your information request dated 9 May 2022 received in our
office on the same day.

“…. However, I am willing to refine my request to ask for the following:

(i) The number of individuals supported into accommodation
(temporary/emergency) since 2018, broken down into sexual orientation
(including transgender), per month, per year and grand total;

(ii) The number of individuals owed a prevention and/or relief duty since
2018, broken down into sexual orientation (including transgender), per
month, per year and grand total;”

I have carefully reviewed your request and investigated whether there is
any information disclosable to you. Unfortunately, Eastbourne Borough
Council is still not able to give you the information because it considers
it is exempt from disclosure. I have set out the reasons for this decision
below.

Due to the volume of information you have requested the council has
determined that it is unable to provide you with this information as we
consider this information to be exempt under Section 12(1) of the Freedom
of Information Act 2000.

Section 12(1) states:

The general right of access to information held by public authorities does
not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if
the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would
exceed the ‘appropriate limit’.

The ‘appropriate limit’ has been determined by the Lord Chancellor and is
currently set at £450 for a local authority. This figure equates to a
maximum of 18 hours officer time, excluding disbursement costs, before the
local authority has the choice to either commence charging at £25 per
additional hour or not to respond to the request.

The council’s current policy is not to proceed with requests if they
exceed the ‘appropriate limit’. However, this does not indicate that the
council is not willing to respond to your request. If you were able to
modify your request in order to bring it below the appropriate limit by
being more specific about the parameters of your question the council
would be happy to provide an answer.

As previously advised, the council does not hold this information in a
manner which enables us to provide responses within the 18 hour time
limit. Although you have reduced the number of questions in your request
it is still the case that to provide responses would require an
examination of every single assessment for the period specified and we
estimate that would exceed the allotted time.

All applicants have a 'right to review'. A review should be focused on the
original request and should identify how the council’s response failed to
answer your Information Request. Reviews must be made in writing (or
e-mail) within 40 working days of receipt of this response and addressed
to the Information Governance Reviews Officer, to the address below.

Information Governance Reviews Officer

Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

1 Grove Road

EASTBOURNE

BN21 4TW

Email: [1][email address]

If you are not content with the outcome of your review, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) cannot make a decision unless you
have already exhausted the internal reviews procedure provided by the
Council’s Reviews Officer.

Please contact me again, quoting your reference number, if you require any
further assistance with your current request and I will do my best to
provide the relevant help and advice.

Regards,

Kevin Rance
Information Governance Officer

Tel: +44(0)1273 471600

[2][email address]

Lewes and Eastbourne Legal Services acting on behalf of Lewes District
Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

Lewes District Council: Southover House, Southover Road, Lewes BN7 1AB 
[3]www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk. Minicom 01273 484488

Eastbourne Borough Council: 1 Grove Road, Eastbourne BN21 4TW 
[4]www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk. Text Relay 18001 01323 410000

Save a tree… please do not print this email unless you really need to

This email is confidential and for the exclusive use of the above named
addressee(s) or an authorised agent. If you are not the intended
recipient(s), you are prohibited from copying, distributing,
disseminating, or in any other way using the content of this email. If you
have received this email in error, please contact the sender using the
contact details given above.

All our Network computers operate virus-scanning but we make no guarantee
that any attachment to this email is free from computer viruses. You are
advised to check all attachments using your own virus-scanning software
before opening or executing them.

All written communications sent by and to Eastbourne Borough Council are
subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. You should therefore be
aware that this email or the information contained in it may be disclosed
without notice to a third party making a request for information about the
subject matter of this email.

This outbound message has been scanned for malware by Forcepoint for Lewes &
Eastbourne Councils.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/
4. http://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/