One Education Limited - Accounts 2013-2014
Dear Manchester City Council,
I am writing to ask under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for some information on One Education Ltd a wholly owned company of Manchester City Council.
(a) One Education Ltd commenced activities on 1st September 2011 and to their year end 31st March 2012 produced profits for the seven month period of £990,942 on a turnover of £8,120,613 (+12%) and for 2012 – 2013 on a Turnover of £13,066,757 they had a profit for the financial year of £656,202 (+5%) and for 2013 – 2014 on a turnover of £11,478,815 (-12%) they made a loss of £874,548 (-8%). Total loses in the three periods have been 2012 (-£1062,058) 2013 (-£335,758) 2014 (-£924,548).
Can you please let me know which executive member and senior officer (s) at the council oversee scrutiny for One Education Ltd, and supply copies of minutes and papers and meeting dates from oversight meetings of the council for One Education in 2013 and 2014?
(b) Can you please explain why Manchester City Council and/or One Education have never appointed an external non executive independent director of the company?
(c) There is an exceptional item for £83,945 in exceptional items for their accounts YE 31.03.14 could you explain what this was for?
(d) As the members deficit in the balance sheet has increased in the last three financial periods from 2012 (-£1062,057) 2013 (-£1397,855) 2014 (-£2,322,403) how concerned are the council and what action have you taken and will you be taking?
(e) Could you explain why One Education Ltd has taken advantage of the ASB paragraph 17 exemption for group companies for related party transactions?
(f) As the company has reported that it is in a net liabilities position and that the directors have received an undertaking that working capital will be available to them up to 31st March 2015, can you confirm if this undertaking is from the council and if yes the details of that undertaking and whether the undertaking will continue after the 31st March and for how long?
(g) Can you confirm from their YE 31.03.14 accounts under director’s remuneration whether the remuneration receivable of £170,002 and value of pension contributions of £28,220 relates to Mr. Kieran McDermott?
Yours faithfully,
Keith Atkinson
Dear Keith Atkinson
Re: Request for Information - Reference No: CHS/9SBLRJ
Thank you for your request for information received by Manchester City
Council on 31 December 2014.
Please note that it may take up to 20 working days (approximately 4 weeks)
for the Council to consider your request and to provide a formal response.
If this timescale needs to be extended to consider an exemption you will be
notified and kept informed.
If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely
Information Compliance Unit
Democratic Services
PO Box 532
Town Hall
Albert Square
Manchester
M60 2LA
Email: [Manchester City Council request email]
Website: www.manchester.gov.uk
Keith Atkinson To
<request-246096-caea608c@whatdothe FOI requests at Manchester City Council
yknow.com> <[Manchester City Council request email]>
cc
30/12/2014 21:03
Subject
Freedom of Information request - One Education Limited -
Accounts 2013-2014
Dear Manchester City Council,
I am writing to ask under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for some
information on One Education Ltd a wholly owned company of Manchester City
Council.
(a) One Education Ltd commenced activities on 1st September 2011 and to
their year end 31st March 2012 produced profits for the seven month period
of £990,942 on a turnover of £8,120,613 (+12%) and for 2012 – 2013 on a
Turnover of £13,066,757 they had a profit for the financial year of
£656,202 (+5%) and for 2013 – 2014 on a turnover of £11,478,815 (-12%)
they made a loss of £874,548 (-8%). Total loses in the three periods have
been 2012 (-£1062,058) 2013 (-£335,758) 2014 (-£924,548).
Can you please let me know which executive member and senior officer (s) at
the council oversee scrutiny for One Education Ltd, and supply copies of
minutes and papers and meeting dates from oversight meetings of the council
for One Education in 2013 and 2014?
(b) Can you please explain why Manchester City Council and/or One Education
have never appointed an external non executive independent director of the
company?
(c) There is an exceptional item for £83,945 in exceptional items for their
accounts YE 31.03.14 could you explain what this was for?
(d) As the members deficit in the balance sheet has increased in the last
three financial periods from 2012 (-£1062,057) 2013 (-£1397,855) 2014
(-£2,322,403) how concerned are the council and what action have you taken
and will you be taking?
(e) Could you explain why One Education Ltd has taken advantage of the ASB
paragraph 17 exemption for group companies for related party transactions?
(f) As the company has reported that it is in a net liabilities position
and that the directors have received an undertaking that working capital
will be available to them up to 31st March 2015, can you confirm if this
undertaking is from the council and if yes the details of that undertaking
and whether the undertaking will continue after the 31st March and for how
long?
(g) Can you confirm from their YE 31.03.14 accounts under director’s
remuneration whether the remuneration receivable of £170,002 and value of
pension contributions of £28,220 relates to Mr. Kieran McDermott?
Yours faithfully,
Keith Atkinson
-------------------------------------------------------------------
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Dear Manchester City Council,
May I please enquire with you what is happening with my FOI request that I sent to you last year on the 31st December 2014?
This afternoon I checked with the Information Commissioners Office and he pointed me to the following from the act.
The Freedom of Information Act says:
A public authority must comply with section 1(1) promptly and in any event not later than the twentieth working day following the date of receipt.
I would now be grateful if you could swiftly attend to my request.
Yours faithfully,
Keith Atkinson
Dear Mr Atkinson
Thank you for your email.
Please accept our apologies for the delay in providing a response to your
request. I will make enquiries with the department providing the
information to establish when the Council will be able to issue you with a
response.
Yours sincerely
Cath Cryer
Information Compliance Unit
Democratic Services
PO Box 532
Town Hall
Albert Square
Manchester
M60 2LA
Email: [Manchester City Council request email]
Website: www.manchester.gov.uk
Dear Mr Atkinson,
Please find attached the Council's response to your recent request for
information, please accept my apologies for our delay in responding to you.
Yours sincerely,
Rachel Rosewell
Head of Finance
Children and Families Directorate
Manchester City Council, Town Hall Extension, Manchester, M60 2LA
www.manchester.gov.uk
(See attached file: CHS9SBLRJ One Education Ltd January 2015.doc) (See
attached file: One Education 2013-14 signed accounts Companies House.pdf)
Dear Manchester City Council,
Thank you for your reply to my Freedom of Information request.
Overall your answers have been disappointing.
Could you please clarify and /or supply from your answers the following
Re question (a)
a) In this question I was asking who is the executive member (Councillor) that is responsible for One Education? Please state if there isn’t one. I also asked which executives oversee scrutiny for One Education? Your answer was Richard Paver and Sharon Kemp. As they are both Directors of One Education are you stating that they are both Directors of the company and additionally the Senior Officers of the council who oversee scrutiny of this wholly owned private company?
As regards the supply of copies of minutes and papers and meeting dates then please supply board papers and minutes for One Education for the whole of 2013 and the whole of 2014. Could you confirm from your answer whether any meetings and papers / minutes have occurred separately within the council in relation to oversight of One Education Ltd and if so please supply?
Re question (b) it was asked
(b) Can you please explain why Manchester City Council and/or One Education have never appointed an external non executive independent director of the company?
You replied
The legislation does not require giving an explanation for actions/in action.
The answer you have given is not particularly helpful. It is on public record from Manchester City Council minutes I believe in 2011 that a condition of setting up One Education Ltd would be to have at least one external non executive independent director of the company which seems quite sensible for external oversight and councillors voted on this premise. As this was agreed and approval voted upon by councillors it is unreasonable for you not to provide an answer. Therefore can you please give a reason as to why an appointment has not been made and if it will occur and when it will occur?
Re question (d) it was asked
(d) As the members deficit in the balance sheet has increased in the last three financial periods from 2012 (-£1062,057) 2013 (-£1397,855) 2014 (-£2,322,403) how concerned are the council and what action have you taken and will you be taking?
You replied
This is not a request for information held by the City Council.
Is the question not deserving of a more substantive reply as the council must have a concern when this matter involves tax payers money and freedom of information is about being open?
Yours faithfully,
Keith Atkinson
Dear Mr Atkinson
Thank you for your email received by the Council on 5th February 2015.
Your request is being dealt with as an internal review in accordance with
the Council’s Access to Information Complaint Procedure. The procedure is
available on the Council's web site at:
http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/200031...
Please note your request will be handled as speedily as possible and a
response should be issued no later than 5th March 2015.
Yours sincerely
Cath Cryer
Information Compliance Unit
Democratic Services
PO Box 532
Town Hall
Albert Square
Manchester
M60 2LA
Email: [Manchester City Council request email]
Website: www.manchester.gov.uk
Dear Manchester City Council,
May I state that I was not asking for an Internal Review, I have merely asked for clarifications and I have also clarified the question asked by yourselves on the minutes/papers.
Can I please ask that you attend to my last communication as it is simply a continuance of my initial request.
Yours faithfully,
Keith Atkinson
Dear Mr Atkinson
Thank you for your email seeking clarification on some points in the
response to your Freedom of Information request.
We have updated our records as per your email and re-assigned your request
with reference number CHS/9SBLRJ/1.
Yours sincerely
Cath Cryer
Information Compliance Unit
Democratic Services
PO Box 532
Town Hall
Albert Square
Manchester
M60 2LA
Email: [Manchester City Council request email]
Website: www.manchester.gov.uk
Dear Manchester City Council,
I am unclear from your response as to what will be happening next. Section 16 of the act does require public bodies to assist requesters.
As the minutes & papers remain outstanding from my request could you please provide a date upon which I shall be receiving them.
I would also be grateful for a date when the clarifications that I have sought will be answered.
I look forward to your early reply.
Yours faithfully,
Keith Atkinson
Dear Manchester City Council,
May I please receive a response from you?
Yours faithfully,
Keith Atkinson
Dear Mr Atkinson
Thank you for your email.
I can advise that the Council are dealing with the issues you raised with
the response to your Freedom of Information request. I will make enquiries
with the department providing the information to establish when the Council
will be able to issue you with a response.
Yours sincerely
Cath Cryer
Information Compliance Unit
Democratic Services
PO Box 532
Town Hall
Albert Square
Manchester
M60 2LA
Email: [Manchester City Council request email]
Website: www.manchester.gov.uk
Dear Manchester City Council,
Thank you for the update to my request.
Yours faithfully,
Keith Atkinson
Dear Manchester City Council,
May I please remind you that my email of the 4th February has still not been answered?
Yours faithfully,
Keith Atkinson
Dear Manchester City Council,
May I please remind you that it is well over the prescribed time limit for a public body to respond. My request for elucidation was made on the 4th February, you responded on the 17th February stating that you were making enquiries with the department providing the information to establish when the Council will be able to issue me with a response.
Can I ask you what has happened since you made those enquiries and why I have not received a response in the statutory time frame? There are aspects of my request of the 30th December 2014, some 51 working days ago that have still not been supplied such as minutes and papers of meetings.
Yours faithfully,
Keith Atkinson
Dear Mr Atkinson
Thank you for your email.
Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to your request. I
can advise that the Council are dealing with your request and a response
will be issued as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely
Cath Cryer
Information Compliance Unit
Democratic Services
PO Box 532
Town Hall
Albert Square
Manchester
M60 2LA
Email: [Manchester City Council request email]
Website: www.manchester.gov.uk
Dear Cath Cryer / Manchester City Council,
Thank you for your latest reply.
I note that your unit is called the Information Compliance Unit. That is an interesting concept. Compliance in this sense is complying with the Freedom of Information Act 2000. But as you don't, is your unit in breach of the Trades description Act 1972?
Which officer at the council is in control of the 'Compliance Unit'?
It is to be noted that as someone who looks after freedom of information for the council you did not respond to the question I asked you in my last communication. For you to actually read my last chase up email and my question to you contained within it, you have clearly decided to ignore answering the question. I regard that as unprofessional, rude and evasive.
The Freedom of Information Act is about open government and transparency is it not?
I think if I looked after FOIA requests for Manchester City Council and I was aware of the FOIA legislation I would not ignore questions from requesters as you have done.
The legislation of the FOIA 2000 is there for a purpose to be adhered to. Why do Manchester City Council feel it is acceptable to breach United Kingdom Law?
Further you are fully aware that in the frankest terms of the English Language, your reply means absolutely nothing other than to offer an apology for lateness in breaching UK law and to pronounce that you have no date by which you will respond to my request which despite the knowledge that you have, you know you are breaching the FOIA and you are doing so with complete impunity in the knowledge that there is absolutely no repercussions from the Information Commissioners Office for breaking the law and therefore it does not matter to the council as there are no consequences.
Please respond by return with the date by which the council will respond to the outstanding questions some of which are over 60 days old.
Yours faithfully,
Keith Atkinson
Dear Manchester City Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Manchester City Council's handling of my FOI request 'One Education Limited - Accounts 2013-2014' first made to the Council on 30th December 2014.
May I please know the name of the officer at the council who undertook the original 30th December 2014 request and the name of the officer who will be conducting the Internal Review please? It is now fifty five working days since I requested copies of minutes which have still not been supplied nor have I received the elucidations I sought.
Can I also alert you to Freedom of Information Good Practice Guidance No. 5 and sections 45 and 50 of the act. The spirit of the Code of practice is that internal reviews should be completed as soon as possible, but no longer than 20 working days is expected or quicker.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/o...
Yours faithfully,
Keith Atkinson
Dear Mr Atkinson
Thank you for your emails received by the Council on 17th March 2015.
Your request is being dealt with as an internal review in accordance with
the Council’s Access to Information Complaint Procedure. The procedure is
available on the Council's web site at:
http://www.manchester.gov.uk/info/200031...
Please note your request will be handled as speedily as possible and a
response should be issued no later than 16th April 2015.
Yours sincerely
Cath Cryer
Information Compliance Unit
Democratic Services
PO Box 532
Town Hall
Albert Square
Manchester
M60 2LA
Email: [Manchester City Council request email]
Website: www.manchester.gov.uk
Dear Mr Atkinson
I write in response to your email below dated 14 March 2015.
I understand that you have an ongoing request for information under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the FOIA”) to which you are awaiting a
further response, and that this is the context in which your email was
sent.
Manchester City Council is committed to complying with its obligations
under the FOIA and other legislation and codes relating to transparency in
local government. The FOIA provides individuals with a right to request
recorded information that is held by a public authority. A public
authority should, in most cases, confirm or deny whether it holds the
requested information and where it does hold the requested information,
provide it to the applicant unless it is exempt under the FOIA and, where
relevant, the public interest favours maintaining the exemption rather than
disclosing the information. The FOIA, however, does not place an obligation
upon a public authority such as the Council to produce information in order
to respond to an FOI request; where a public authority does not hold
information, then to comply with the FOIA the authority simply has to
confirm that to be the case. Whilst requests for information are often
formulated by applicants as questions, the FOIA provides a right of access
to information, and is not a regime which requires a public authority to
provide responses to questions where it does not hold information to answer
them. Bearing that context in mind, I have sought to address the concerns
you have raised in your email.
The Information Compliance Unit is responsible for logging requests under
the FOIA and assigning them to the relevant service area. It does not hold
or indeed have unrestricted access to all information held by the Council,
but rather will facilitate requests under the FOIA where information is
held by other areas of the Council. The Information Compliance Unit is
managed by the Group Manager Democratic Services (Legal) Group.
Unfortunately, there may be occasions where a complete response is not
issued within the statutory timescale under the legislation, or where an
applicant is not satisfied with the response received. In such cases, the
Council offers an internal review which is best practice recommended by the
Information Commissioner’s Office. An internal review will involve a senior
officer of the Council who was not previously involved in handling the FOIA
request reviewing the Council’s response and making a decision about
whether the response complied with the FOIA or whether it should have been
handled different. In some cases the outcome of an internal review might be
that information is disclosed, or it could be that the reviewing officer
agrees with the original response. In the event that an applicant remains
dissatisfied with the outcome of the Council’s internal review, they may
ask the Information Commissioner to make a decision. The Information
Commissioner does have powers to order public authorities to disclose
information in response to an FOIA request.
I note that further to your email of 4 February 2015 in response to the
Council’s FOI response, you were informed that an internal review would be
conducted. However, you were of the view that your email should not be
treated as an internal review. Your email of 5 February 2015 was therefore
referred to the relevant service area so that they may provide a
substantive response to the issues raised therein. Whilst the Information
Compliance Unit has corresponded with you, as the Council’s public point of
contact for FOI requests, it is not the responsibility of the Information
Compliance Unit to respond substantively to your FOI request. The service
area has been asked to respond to the outstanding elements of your FOI
request.
If you remain dissatisfied with the Council’s response to your request, or
the way in which you request has been handled, this would ordinarily be
treated as an internal review. I note that you have now requested an
internal review and you will receive further communication separately once
the internal review has been conducted. Following the conclusion of the
internal review, you may contact the Information Commissioner directly
regarding your request. Information about the enforcement powers of the
Information Commissioner can be accessed via their website or by contacting
them. The Information Commissioner can be contacted via telephone, post or
email:
The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 (national rate).
[email address]
www.ico.org.uk
The Information Compliance Unit has notified the Children & Families
Directorate that your request remains outstanding and that a complete
response should be sent to you as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely
Rebecca Taylor
Senior Solicitor (Information Governance)
Democratic Services Legal Team
PO Box 532
Town Hall
Albert Square
Manchester
M60 2LA
Email: [Manchester City Council request email]
Website: www.manchester.gov.uk
Keith Atkinson To
<request-246096-caea608c@whatdothe [Manchester City Council request email]
yknow.com> cc
14/03/2015 00:02 Subject
Re: Fw: Request for Information - reference number CHS/9SBLRJ/1
Dear Cath Cryer / Manchester City Council,
Thank you for your latest reply.
I note that your unit is called the Information Compliance Unit. That is an
interesting concept. Compliance in this sense is complying with the Freedom
of Information Act 2000. But as you don't, is your unit in breach of the
Trades description Act 1972?
Which officer at the council is in control of the 'Compliance Unit'?
It is to be noted that as someone who looks after freedom of information
for the council you did not respond to the question I asked you in my last
communication. For you to actually read my last chase up email and my
question to you contained within it, you have clearly decided to ignore
answering the question. I regard that as unprofessional, rude and evasive.
The Freedom of Information Act is about open government and transparency is
it not?
I think if I looked after FOIA requests for Manchester City Council and I
was aware of the FOIA legislation I would not ignore questions from
requesters as you have done.
The legislation of the FOIA 2000 is there for a purpose to be adhered to.
Why do Manchester City Council feel it is acceptable to breach United
Kingdom Law?
Further you are fully aware that in the frankest terms of the English
Language, your reply means absolutely nothing other than to offer an
apology for lateness in breaching UK law and to pronounce that you have no
date by which you will respond to my request which despite the knowledge
that you have, you know you are breaching the FOIA and you are doing so
with complete impunity in the knowledge that there is absolutely no
repercussions from the Information Commissioners Office for breaking the
law and therefore it does not matter to the council as there are no
consequences.
Please respond by return with the date by which the council will respond to
the outstanding questions some of which are over 60 days old.
Yours faithfully,
Keith Atkinson
Dear Ms Taylor,
Thank you for your latest response. I wish you well in your new appointment at the council and your previous employment with the Commissioner’s Office should be of great assistance.
I do appreciate from my original request that the council have albeit later than the act allows provided some answers.
I note from your response the following “...................” and have responded accordingly.
“Manchester City Council is committed to complying with its obligations under the FOIA and other legislation and codes relating to transparency in local government”.
Being committed can be quite a flaky term. Being fully compliant with the Freedom of Information act is altogether a completely different term. I can see that Manchester City Council have been on the Information Commissioners Office FOI watch for poor compliance (http://central-government.governmentcomp...).
One can see from this very public web site of the 971 requests that Manchester City Council does not appear to be too ‘Hot’ when it comes to compliance with the act and it is interesting to see how many times the line “I apologise for the delay responding to your request” is used in response to requests. Presumably some departments in the council are better than others at responding.
“The FOIA provides individuals with a right to request recorded information that is held by a public authority”.
I believe that other than question ‘D’ which deserves a public scrutiny answer as public funds are involved, that all I have asked for has been recorded information held by a public authority and I am not asking you to produce anything which should not already exist. However, you should also remember the ICO guidance which states that even though the Act requires you to provide recorded information, this doesn't prevent you providing answers or explanations as well, as a matter of normal customer service. This context should be borne in mind by the council. The FOIA is about open government.
In relation to information you have recorded you have not for example addressed the following:-
a) Request of 30th December 2014 for minutes and papers remains outstanding some 60 working days after the request and 3 times the statutory allowance of 20 days. There is no transparent reason why these should not have been supplied. If you do not respond until the last day of the requested Internal review it will have been approx 80 working days.
b) 11 March 2015 I asked ‘what has happened’ to my request since your response dated 17th February which will have been recorded by the council. But no answer provided.
c) You were asked which officer at the council controls the Compliance Unit. That information must exist yet you have not provided it other than to say it is a group manager. The ‘who’ I requested was for clarity the name not a position.
d) I asked who the original officer is that undertook the request made on the 30th December and who the officer is that will undertake the Internal Review. You will have that as recorded information but have not provided it to me.
e) I asked on the 30th December 2014 which executive member has responsibility for One Education Ltd. You have that recorded information but have not provided it.
“Unfortunately, there may be occasions where a complete response is not issued within the statutory timescale under the legislation”.
I believe that no requester would have an issue with the above statement (even though none of my request was completed in the statutory time frame and then incomplete when it did come) if public bodies kept them fully informed within the statutory timeframes as the act requires. It is when they breach the act in the absence of prior communication which causes unnecessarily time and effort in requesters having to chase up the authority.
“I note that further to your email of 4 February 2015 in response to the Council’s FOI response, you were informed that an internal review would be conducted”.
I clearly at that point did not request an internal review. It was the council’s decision to do that which was quite suspicious. I was merely asking for elucidation. Had I wanted an internal review at that point I would have requested one and invoked your practice under section 45 of the act. You will also know that the whatdoyouknow web site has a specific area to request Internal Reviews which I had to eventually engage on the 17th March 2015.
Poor practice in FOIA handling leads to inefficiency and unnecessary cost to a council and their tax payers. Perhaps it is time Manchester re-engineered it's system for how it handles FOI requests? The more open a council is the less cost it incurs of the public purse!
Yours faithfully,
Keith Atkinson
Dear Ms Taylor / Manchester City Council,
May I please remind you that my internal review request is still outstanding and you have breached the Information Commissioner's guidance on time to respond to an internal review request.
Yours faithfully,
Keith Atkinson
Many thanks
Selda San Ridley
Information Governance, Intelligence and Engagement Officer
Children and Families Directorate
Manchester City Council, Level 4 Desk 4/135
Town Hall Extension, Manchester, M60 2LA
( 0161 234 3654 Internal (8003654)
7 0161 2747058 (Fax)
* [email address]
Secure mailbox: [email address]
Secure team mailbox: [email address]
: [1]www.manchester.gov.uk
P Please consider the environment before printing this email
Dear Mr Atkinson,
Please find attached Manchester City Council's response to your request for
clarification and a review of the Council's handling of your FOI request
and accept my sincere apologies for the long delay in responding to your
requests.
(See attached file: CHS9SBLRJ-IR (One Education Limited - Accounts
2013-2014).doc)
(See attached file: 2013.zip)(See attached file: 2014.zip)(See attached
file: Item_6_Register_of_Significant_Partnerships_2014.doc.pdf)(See
attached file: One Education 2013-14 signed accounts Companies House.pdf)
Yours sincerely
John Edwards
Director of Education and Skills
Children and Families Directorate
Tel: 0161 234 3859 / 3654
[email address]
Manchester City Council | P.O.Box 536 | Town Hall | Albert Square |
Manchester | M60 2AF
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