Dear Ms. Malinen

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST REF: 2017-1384

I am writing to confirm that we received your information request on 11
September 2017. For your information and future communications your
request has been allocated the reference number FOI2017-1384. Please quote
this reference in any future correspondence.

We will consider your request and respond in accordance with the
requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Our duty is to
respond promptly or at least within 20 working days.

Yours sincerely

Robin Yu

Information Governance and Management
Officer                                                                          

Shared ICT Service

The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

The Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX

Tel: 020 7938 8226

Email: [1][email address] | Website: [2]http://www.rbkc.gov.uk

Dear Ms. Malinen

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST REF: 2017-1384

IOC Reference FS50715853

I apologise for the delay in responding to your request for information,
this was due to the difficulties we have had in locating some of the
information you have requested.  

1) Please provide the following relating to Council dwellings owned by the
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and managed by the KCTMO:

(i) All fire risk assessment reports carried out on all of the KCTMO
managed dwellings from 2014 to date and all enforcement or improvement
notices served

(ii) The protocol for the process on oversight for subcontracting of
building or refurbishment works in KCTMO properties

(iii) The protocol for the process of oversight between KCTMO and RBKC on
financial, legal and safety matters

2) Please confirm whether

(i) RBKC employes a member of the Institute of Clerk of Works or an
inspector of similar standing and assigned them to each construction and
refurbishment work site

(ii) If employed please confirm the level of qualification, salary
associated with this role and how much time was allocated per project/site

Our response to question 1 is as follows:

(ii) The Council has located 498 Fire Risk Assessment for properties
managed by the KCTMO.  It intends to publish these on the Council website
but there have been technical difficulties in dealing with the volume of
documents.     The FRA’s will be uploaded in batches.  In these
circumstances we are intending to disclose them to you and rely on s22 of
the FOI. 

The council considers it is in the public interest to refuse request
because each FRA needs to have an explanation before it is released in to
the public domain.  This is required to enable  residents to understand
the information contained in the FRA.  The Council considers that to
provide the information  without this detail would cause residents alarm
and distress. It is our belief that the public interest in withholding the
information outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

You can find [1]the details of enforcement notices on the London Fire
Brigade website. [2]http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/Notices.asp

(ii) The relationship between the KCTMO is set out in the Modular
Management Agreement which can be found on the KCTMO website:

[3]http://www.kctmo.org.uk/files/board-meet...

[4]http://www.kctmo.org.uk/files/board-meet...

The Council exempting the information you have requested in question 2
under 40(2) of the FOIA on the disclosure would contravene the data
protection principles.  

The Council is required to consider whether the disclosure would engage an
exemption under the Data Protection Act 1998. In this case your request
touches upon whether or not any disclosure would breach Fairness, as
described under Principle 1 Fair and Lawful Processing. In this instance
the council asserts that the information you request, namely
qualification, salary and length/nature of service details were all
provided and collated within the context of employment, with the
expectation that it would not be disclosed to the public at large. The
council further considers that breaching this expectation without a
legitimate legal purpose, constitutes a breach of the Data Protection Act.

Therefore this aspect of your request is refused as set out under section
17 of FOIA on the grounds that disclosure would breach Principle 1 of the
Act, as staff are entitled to privacy in their contractual arrangements
with their employer.

Complaints

I trust this has satisfied your request. Should you be unhappy with the
handling of your request, the Council has an internal complaints process
for handling FOIA complaints. Complaints are reviewed by the Chief
Solicitor and Monitoring Officer or her nominee. A form is available from
our website to lodge your complaint
[5]http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/councilanddemocra...
Please contact us if you do not have website access and we can provide you
with a copy of the form. Following this review, should you still be
unhappy with how your information request has been handled, you have a
further right to appeal to the Information Commissioner who is responsible
for ensuring compliance with FOIA.  

Your Sincerely

Senior Information Governance and Management Officer

Information Management

Information Technology 

[6]Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea || [7]Westminster City Council

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References

Visible links
1. file:///tmp/the%20details%20of%20enf
2. http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/Notices.asp
3. http://www.kctmo.org.uk/files/board-meet...
4. http://www.kctmo.org.uk/files/board-meet...
5. http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/councilanddemocra...
6. http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/
7. http://www.westminster.gov.uk/

Dear Ms. Malinen

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST REF: 2017-1384

IOC Reference FS50715853

Since sending my response to your FOI request 2017 -13-84 on 23 April I
have had an update from the Housing department.  It now appears that the
Council will not be publishing 498 Fire Risk Assessments.  There are
technical difficulties in doing this and the Council will focus on
publishing up to date FRA’s for its housing stock.

In view of this we are updating the response to your request – we are
still refusing to provide the information but are now relying on the
exception at regulation 12(4)(b) of the EIR, which states a public
authority may refuse to disclose information if the request is “manifestly
unreasonable”.  We consider that dealing with the request would create a
unreasonable diversion of resources and would be found “vexatious” if it
was subject to the Freedom of Information Act.

In applying this exemption we have taken into account the substantial
volume of information you have requested. To comply with your request each
document would need to be reviewed and exempt information, such as
personal data, redacted.  A review of a few of the FRA’s leads us to
believe that they do contain potentially exempt information and that this
cannot easily be isolated because it would be scattered through each
document.  This would divert officers from other duties at a time when the
council is still dealing with the unprecedented consequences of the
Grenfell tragedy. 

Reviewing and redacting the FRA’s would also divert Officers from the task
of publishing FRA’s of the Council’s housing stock.  Below is a link to
the portal for regularly publishing FRAs:

[1]https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/housing/housing-...

We invite you to refine your request to a particular estate or block
and/or limit the time period of your request.  This would be a much less
onerous burden on the Council. 

The council considers it is in the public interest to refuse the request
because it is committed to publishing up to date FRA’s.  To release
historical documents  into the public domain without preparing them in the
manner described above would cause residents alarm and distress. It is our
belief that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs
the public interest in disclosure.

Complaints

Should you be unhappy with the handling of your request, the Council has
an internal complaints process for handling FOIA complaints. Complaints
are reviewed by the Chief Solicitor and Monitoring Officer or her nominee.
A form is available from our website to lodge your complaint
[2]http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/councilanddemocra...
Please contact us if you do not have website access and we can provide you
with a copy of the form. Following this review, should you still be
unhappy with how your information request has been handled, you have a
further right to appeal to the Information Commissioner who is responsible
for ensuring compliance with FOIA.  

Your Sincerely

Senior Information Governance and Management Officer

Information Management

Information Technology 

On behalf of the Director of Law

Bi Borough Legal Services

Tel: 07887650825 

[3]Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea || [4]Westminster City Council

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References

Visible links
1. https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/housing/housing-...
2. http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/councilanddemocra...
3. http://www.rbkc.gov.uk/
4. http://www.westminster.gov.uk/

Dear Ms Malinen,

I am writing in response to your email below. Your request for an Internal Review has been received on 17th of May 2018 and has been passed to the Legal department who will conduct an internal review and respond to you.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any queries.

Regards,

Information Management Team
Information Technology
The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
The Town Hall, Hornton Street, London W8 7NX
Email: [RBKC request email]

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Dear Ms Malinen

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST REF: 2017-1384

IOC Reference FS50715853

I have been passed your email of 17 May in which you requested a review of
the Councils response to question 2 of your freedom of information request
as follows:

2) Please confirm whether

(i) RBKC employes a member of the Institute of Clerk of Works or an
inspector of similar standing and assigned them to each construction and
refurbishment work site

(ii) If employed please confirm the level of qualification, salary
associated with this role and how much time was allocated per project/site

The Council exempted this information under section 40(2) of the FOIA on
the basis that disclosure would contravene the data protection principles.

I am authorised by the Monitoring Officer to conduct this review and
 having done this I have established that the correct response to your
request is:

The Council does not employ, in house, any clerk of works or inspectors of
a similar standing on construction and refurbishment sites. 

I apologise for this misunderstanding.

This concludes my review.  You have the right to complain  to the
Information Commissioner at:

The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF

Telephone 0303123 1113

Website: https://ico.org.uk/

Janette Mullins

Senior Solicitor

On behalf of the Director of Law

Bi-borough Legal Services

Kensington and Chelsea Council

Westminster City Council

Email:  [email address]

Tel: 07887650825 DX: 84015 Kensington High Street 2

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