FOI Request Response

Dear Requester,

Further to your request, please find attached a link to the council’s constitution and related roles which
appear in the public domain.  Please refer to Part 3, Section 4, Scheme of Delegation to Officers, Part 3,
Section 5, Proper Officers and Part 7, Management Structure currently available via [1]this link.

Please note that we do not disclose any information regarding roles not in the public domain under Section 40
of the FOI Act.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your Freedom of Information request you may request an internal
review which would be handled under the Council’s complaints procedure. Internal review requests should be
made within 40 working days of our initial response to your request. After this deadline the Council are not
obliged to accept internal reviews. Details of the Council’s complaints procedure can be found on the
Council’s website at:

[2]https://secured.knowsley.gov.uk/Document...

Should you make a complaint under this procedure but remain dissatisfied, I am also required to inform you
that you can appeal against the decision by contacting the Information Commissioner.  The Commissioner’s
postal address is Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow SK9 5AF. The telephone number for the Information
Commissioner’s

Office is 0303 123 1113 or 01625 545745. The e-mail address is: [3][email address].

Kind regards,

Customer Liaison Team

Knowsley Council

Archway Road

Huyton

Knowsley

Merseyside

L36 9UX
Customer Liaison Team
Knowsley Council
Archway Road
Huyton
Merseyside
L36 9UX
[4]www.knowsley.gov.uk

This e-mail and any attachments are confidential. It may contain
privileged information and is intended for the named recipient(s) only. It
must not be distributed without consent. If you are not one of the
intended recipients, please notify the sender immediately and do not
disclose, distribute, or retain this email or any part of it and do not
take any action based on it.
Unless expressly stated, opinions in this email are those of the
individual sender, and not of Knowsley MBC. Legally binding obligations
can only be created for, or be entered into on behalf of, Knowsley MBC by
duly authorised officers or representatives.
Knowsley MBC excludes any liability whatsoever for any offence caused, any
direct or consequential loss arising from the use, or reliance on, this
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any attachments are virus free. You must therefore take full
responsibility for virus checking and no responsibility is accepted for
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References

Visible links
1. http://councillors.knowsley.gov.uk/ecCat...
2. https://secured.knowsley.gov.uk/Document...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.knowsley.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Humphreys

Thank you for taking the time to contact Knowsley Council with the details of your complaint.

We will give you a full response within 15 working days. If this is not possible, we will write to you within this time to explain why and let you know how long a full response will take.

If you need any further information please see contact details above.

For your information I have attached the link to the complaint procedure below, if you do not have access please contact the customer liaison team for a paper copy.

https://secured.knowsley.gov.uk/Document...

Yours sincerely

Gillian Ryan
Business Support Assistant
Democratic Services and Business Support
Telephone: 0151 443 5624
Knowsley Council,
Huyton Municipal - Fourth Floor,
Archway Road,
Huyton,
Knowsley
L36 9YU

This e-mail and any attachments are confidential. It may contain privileged information and is intended for the named recipient(s) only. It must not be distributed without consent. If you are not one of the intended recipients, please notify the sender immediately and do not disclose, distribute, or retain this email or any part of it and do not take any action based on it.

Unless expressly stated, opinions in this email are those of the individual sender, and not of Knowsley MBC. Legally binding obligations can only be created for, or be entered into on behalf of, Knowsley MBC by duly authorised officers or representatives.

Knowsley MBC excludes any liability whatsoever for any offence caused, any direct or consequential loss arising from the use, or reliance on, this e-mail or its contents. We believe but do not warrant that this e-mail and any attachments are virus free. You must therefore take full responsibility for virus checking and no responsibility is accepted for loss or damage arising from viruses or changes made to this message after it was sent. Knowsley MBC reserves the right to monitor and/or record all e-mail communications through its network in accordance with relevant legislation.

Dear Thomas Humphreys

Re: Freedom of Information Request Reference 6146 – Internal Review (6773)

Thank you for your request for internal review, received on 9 January
2023, into the response received on the same date.

I can confirm that the handling of your original request and the response
has now been reviewed. I can also confirm I was not involved in your
original request.

Having considered the request you submitted and the response you received
carefully I have found that:

· You received a response to your request for information within the
20-working day deadline set out under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(FOI).

· The request complied with the requirements under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOI) at section 8(1).

· The original response did not adequately address your specific questions
and the Section 40 exemption was not explained sufficiently. Consequently,
the response has not complied with Section 1(1) and Section 17(1) of the
Act.

· The original response provided you with additional information already
published in the public domain complying with Section 16 of the Act (the
duty to provide advice and assistance).

Further detail

The Council received your request as set out below:

A full organisational chart, including all departments, job titles, and
clearly showing line manager names of everyone in your
Property/Regeneration / Capital Works & Asset Departments. Specifically,
the names of the people in the below positions or the equivalent.

• Director of Property

• Director of Regeneration

• Assistant Directors of Assets & Property, Regeneration

• Head of Property

• Head of Asset Management

• Head of Regeneration

• Head of Capital Works

• Head of Development

• Head of Planning

The original response provided a link to the Councils constitution and
related roles in the public domain. It then advised under Section 40 of
the Act the Council does not disclose any information regarding roles
which are not in the public domain. It then advised of the internal review
process and the right to complaint to the Information Commissioner’s
Office.

Section 1(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires that a
requester is to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it
holds the information of the description specified in the request and if
that is the case have that information communicated to him unless an
exemption applies.

The Council failed to comply with Section 1(1) as the response issued did
not answer the questions asked and did not confirm what information is and
isn’t held.

The Council has also failed to comply with Section 17(1) of the Act
specifically sections (b) and (c) by not specifying the part of Section 40
being relied upon and explaining why it applies. 

Whilst the links to what was available within the public domain did not
link to what was specifically requested it was intended to provide advice
and assistance in line with Section 16 of the Act.

However, for the above reasons, I conclude that the response fell short of
addressing the questions asked and for this reason I uphold the original
response.

Please accept my apologies for the incorrect response provided and below
you will find a revised response to your request:

The Council do not hold a full organisation chart for the departments
listed in your request. However, please find attached those organisation
charts which are held, and which fall within the scope of your request.

These organisation charts are for the following services:

• Major Development Team
• Assets

Please be aware that in relation to the attached organisation charts, some
information has been redacted to remove staff names below a certain level
of seniority. Such names have been redacted and withheld under Section
40(2) of the Act as it is considered to be personal data within the
meaning of the Data Protection Act (DPA) 2018. This is an absolute
exemption and there is no requirement to conduct a Public Interest Test.
Disclosure of such information would breach principle (a) of Article 5(1)
of the UK GDPR where personal data must be processed fairly and lawfully.
Additionally, the conditions as set out in Article 6(1) of the UK GDPR are
not met. We do not consider that it would be fair to disclose such
information and nor would the individuals have a reasonable expectation
that such personal information would be disclosed into the public domain.
Such information is therefore exempt under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of
Information (FOI) Act by virtue of Section 40(3)(a)(ii).

A Management Structure for the Council is also proactively published and I
have provided a link to this [1]here to be helpful in line with Section 16
of the Act.

With regards to the Councils Planning department, no specific organisation
chart is held. However, in line with Section 16 of the Act, we have
detailed in the table below the job roles within the service.

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Planning Job Roles │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│Head of Planning (Vacant) │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│Lead Development Manager │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│Group Manager Majors & Planning Policy │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│Lead Officer Planning Policy │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│Principal Planning Officer x 3 │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│Senior Planner x 5 │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│Career Grade Planning Officer x 3 │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│Technical Support Manager │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│Technical Assistant x3 │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│Technical Assistant Monitoring │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│Technical Assistant - Street Naming and Numbering │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│Enforcement Officer │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│S106 Monitoring Officer │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│Principal Conservation & Design Officer │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

With regards to your request for the specific names of the people in the
specified positions or their equivalent. As advised above, Section 40(2)
of the Act applies to staff names below a certain level of seniority.
However, names have been provided for the relevant positions below and for
any Heads of Service where they have consented to their names being
disclosed:

Please note there are three services within the Council that deal with
property/ regeneration related matters – Housing & Property, Assets and
Major Development Team.

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Housing & Property │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬───────────────┤
│Head of Housing & Property │Barry Fawcett │
├────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼───────────────┤
│Executive Director Regeneration & Economic Development │Dale Milburn │
└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴───────────────┘

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Assets │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬──────────────────┤
│Head of Assets │Andrew Lawman │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│Assistant Executive Director Governance & Assets │Jemma Jones │
├─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼──────────────────┤
│Executive Director Resources │James Duncan │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴──────────────────┘

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Major Development Team │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────┤
│Head of Land & Development │Jonathan Lowe│
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────┤
│Assistant Executive Director Development & Infrastructure │Tony Clark │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────┤
│Executive Director Regeneration & Economic Development │Dale Milburn │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────┘

┌────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Planning  │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬─────────────┤
│Head of Planning  │Vacant │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────┤
│Assistant Executive Director Development & Infrastructure │Tony Clark │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────────┤
│Executive Director Regeneration & Economic Development │Dale Milburn │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────────┘

I trust the above addresses the issues you have raised, and the revised
response provides a satisfactory response to your request.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office for a decision.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9
5AF [2]www.ico.org.uk

Kind Regards

Elise​​ White
Data Protection Officer
Legal Services

This e-mail and any attachments are confidential. It may contain
privileged information and is intended for the named recipient(s) only. It
must not be distributed without consent. If you are not one of the
intended recipients, please notify the sender immediately and do not
disclose, distribute, or retain this email or any part of it and do not
take any action based on it.
Unless expressly stated, opinions in this email are those of the
individual sender, and not of Knowsley MBC. Legally binding obligations
can only be created for, or be entered into on behalf of, Knowsley MBC by
duly authorised officers or representatives.
Knowsley MBC excludes any liability whatsoever for any offence caused, any
direct or consequential loss arising from the use, or reliance on, this
e-mail or its contents. We believe but do not warrant that this e-mail and
any attachments are virus free. You must therefore take full
responsibility for virus checking and no responsibility is accepted for
loss or damage arising from viruses or changes made to this message after
it was sent. Knowsley MBC reserves the right to monitor and/or record all
e-mail communications through its network in accordance with relevant
legislation.

References

Visible links
1. https://councillors.knowsley.gov.uk/docu...
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/

Your FOI request has been completed

Dear Thomas Humphreys

Your FOI with Reference Number : 6146 has been completed please click on the link
below to view it

[1]https://knowsleytransaction.mendixcloud....
Customer Liaison Team
Knowsley Council
Archway Road
Huyton
Merseyside
L36 9UX
[2]www.knowsley.gov.uk

This e-mail and any attachments are confidential. It may contain
privileged information and is intended for the named recipient(s) only. It
must not be distributed without consent. If you are not one of the
intended recipients, please notify the sender immediately and do not
disclose, distribute, or retain this email or any part of it and do not
take any action based on it.
Unless expressly stated, opinions in this email are those of the
individual sender, and not of Knowsley MBC. Legally binding obligations
can only be created for, or be entered into on behalf of, Knowsley MBC by
duly authorised officers or representatives.
Knowsley MBC excludes any liability whatsoever for any offence caused, any
direct or consequential loss arising from the use, or reliance on, this
e-mail or its contents. We believe but do not warrant that this e-mail and
any attachments are virus free. You must therefore take full
responsibility for virus checking and no responsibility is accepted for
loss or damage arising from viruses or changes made to this message after
it was sent. Knowsley MBC reserves the right to monitor and/or record all
e-mail communications through its network in accordance with relevant
legislation.

References

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1. https://knowsleytransaction.mendixcloud....
2. http://www.knowsley.gov.uk/