Receipt and processing of Freedom of Information Act requests II

Cotham School, Bristol did not have the information requested.

Chair of the Governing Body and the nominated FOI Contact
Cotham School
Cotham Lawn Road, Cotham, Bristol BS6 6DT
.
.
.

Please provide me with the following:

i. Details of any policy or procedure documents held by the school with regard to the processing of FOI requests

ii. Your FOI Publication Scheme

I recognise that the school is currently opearating considerably under capacity and that the vast majority of the pupils are not attending school. I also recognise that none of the staff of the school are furloughed. Accordingly, there should be no shortage of staff time available to ensure that the above information is provided promptly as required by the Freedom of Information Act. Taking all of this in to account, I would consider any response period longer than seven working days to be a failure to comply with Freedom of Information Act 2000 s10 (1) "Time for compliance with request: ... a public authority MUST comply with [FOI requests] PROMPTLY and in any event not later than the twentieth working day following the date of receipt."

I hope to receive your email response within the next few days.

Paul Woodstock

Dear Cotham School

A reminder that I still waiting for a response to my FOI request dated 20 June.

The information requested should be easily to hand, and so I do not understand the delay in processing this FOI request.

The opportunity is taken to remind you that the school has a statutory obligation to provide the information promptly - you have failed to do so.

Yours faithfully

Paul Woodstock

Cotham School Info, Cotham School, Bristol

Dear Mr Woodstock
You will now have received the response to your request for a review.
Both that response and the response I provided made it clear that your
request exceeds section 12 and the cost of providing the information will
be in excess of the limit of £450.00. We have suggested some suitable ways
that you can streamline your request for the information you requested but
have not received a subsequent request from you following our review and
those suggestions.
We await to hear from you with a streamlined request.
Regards
Allison Crossland
Business Manager

show quoted sections

Dear Alison Crossland

There seems to be some confusion regarding my FOI requests for very basic information from the school.

On 20 June I made a FOI request entitled "Receipt and processing of Freedom of Information Act requests II" you can access all the correspondence via https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r... The request was for only two pieces of information:
i. Details of any policy or procedure documents held by the school with regard to the processing of FOI requests
ii. Your FOI Publication Scheme

I have not received any refusal notice for this FOI request, and I have not asked for an Internal Review related to this request.

These documents should be easy to locate, and should most certainly not cost more than £450.00 to retrieve.

Please now provide the information requested on 20 June.

Paul Woodstock

Paul Woodstock left an annotation ()

The Publication Scheme as at the date of my FOI request has been provided in response to a different FOI request:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/p...

The current Publication Scheme is available at:
https://www.cotham.bristol.sch.uk/attach...

Dear Cotham School,

Still awaiting a response to my FOI request of 20 June entitled "Receipt and processing of Freedom of Information Act requests II' that asked for just two pieces of information:
i. Details of any policy or procedure documents held by the school with regard to the processing of FOI requests
ii. Your FOI Publication Scheme

The school has recently published a "Freedom of Information Policy" on the school website at: www.cotham.bristol.sch.uk/attachments/do... I am still awaiting, however, "Details of any policy or procedure documents held by the school with regard to the processing of FOI requests"

You are reminded that my FOI request of 20 June included:
" Freedom of Information Act 2000 s10 (1) "Time for compliance with request: ... a public authority MUST comply with [FOI requests] PROMPTLY and in any event not later than the twentieth working day following the date of receipt."
The school has not responded promptly, and has not responded within twenty working days.

When do you anticipate being able to respond to this simple FOI request??

Paul Woodstock

Cotham School Info, Cotham School, Bristol

This is an automated response.  Thank you for your message which will be
passed on as appropriate. 

As you will be aware, the school is currently partially closed under the
Government’s guidance in relation to COVID-19.  The school will be
informing parents regularly via the school website, text and/or email of
any changes to the guidance affecting schools and their operation. 

Responses to Freedom of Information Requests, Subject Access Requests or
any other GDPR related requests are likely to suffer delays during this
pandemic.  The ICO cannot extend statutory timescales but understand there
may be delays and will not penalise organisations unable to provide
responses within the required deadlines.

 

We will endeavour to fulfil our obligations as much as we can but, given
the circumstances, we apologise in advance if we are unable to meet our
usual standards.

Update:  The School is now closed for the Summer Holiday.

Kind regards

PARKING - May we remind visitors there is no on site parking at the
school. Parking is available offsite in accordance with the Cotham
Residents Parking Scheme.
[1]https://www.bristol.gov.uk/parking/cotham

The contents of all e-mail and any attachments are strictly private and
confidential and may contain information which is subject to legal
privilege. Such e-mail may not be used or disclosed under any
circumstances by anyone who is not a named recipient. Please return the
e-mail if you are not the intended or named recipient. Unauthorised use of
the email or its contents is prohibited and may be unlawful. Incoming and
outgoing e-mail is subject to continuous and ad hoc filtering, scrutiny
and reporting. The school accepts no liability whatsoever for any damage,
loss or expense arising from this e-mail and/or from the accessing of any
files attached to this email. This e-mail may not necessarily reflect the
views or intentions of Cotham School or its governing body, which
therefore does not accept any liability whatsoever for any claims, loss or
damages of whatsoever nature, arising directly or indirectly, as a result
of the reliance on such information by anyone. Unless the intention to
contract has been expressly manifested in this message by a duly
authorised representative of the school, this message shall not be
construed as a solicitation to contract nor an offer or acceptance of any
contractual obligations. The addressee's address will not be disclosed to
others for commercial intent. Please notify the school should you not wish
to receive e-mail from the school.

Cotham School: a company limited by guarantee
Registered in England: Company Number: 07732888
Registered Office: Cotham School, Cotham Lawn Road, Cotham, Bristol, BS6
6DT 

References

Visible links
1. https://www.bristol.gov.uk/parking/cotham

Cotham School Info, Cotham School, Bristol

Dear Mr Woodstock
School is now closed for the school holidays and any communication
regarding FOI's would not normally be considered and responded to until
school is back in operation, this will be from 1st September as there are
no working days between 20th July and 31st August.
 
However, as we have been communicating with you since your request in June
and providing information to you, I am responding out of courtesy to
conclude this matter.
Please see below:
The school considers this request concluded please do advise if there are
any outstanding matters. 
Regards
Allison Crossland

show quoted sections

Dear Allison Crossland,

Thank you for your reply.

I am still awaiting "Details of any policy or procedure documents held by the school with regard to the processing of FOI requests", that I requested on 20 June. This matter is not closed, as the school is yet to provide the information requested.

This was clarified in my message of 21 July: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...

I hope that this can now be provided.

Yours sincerely

Paul Woodstock

Cotham School Info, Cotham School, Bristol

Dear Mr Woodstock
The school does not have any other policy or procedure documents regarding
FOI’s. There is nothing to provide to you under this part of your request.
Regards
Allison Crossland
Business Manager

show quoted sections

Allison Crossland,

I note that you advise that you do not hold the information requested. Not sure why it has taken since 20 June, so many requests, and a complaint to ICO to establish this.

Paul Woodstock

Cotham School Info, Cotham School, Bristol

This is an automated response.  Thank you for your message which will be
passed on as appropriate. 

As you will be aware, the school is currently partially closed under the
Government’s guidance in relation to COVID-19.  The school will be
informing parents regularly via the school website, text and/or email of
any changes to the guidance affecting schools and their operation. 

Responses to Freedom of Information Requests, Subject Access Requests or
any other GDPR related requests are likely to suffer delays during this
pandemic.  The ICO cannot extend statutory timescales but understand there
may be delays and will not penalise organisations unable to provide
responses within the required deadlines.

 

We will endeavour to fulfil our obligations as much as we can but, given
the circumstances, we apologise in advance if we are unable to meet our
usual standards.

Update:

It is now the summer school holidays and the school is closed.

This inbox will be checked intermittently and where possible your email
will be answered. 
Some emails will be responded to when school reopens on 1st September 2020

Kind regards

PARKING - May we remind visitors there is no on site parking at the
school. Parking is available offsite in accordance with the Cotham
Residents Parking Scheme.
[1]https://www.bristol.gov.uk/parking/cotham

The contents of all e-mail and any attachments are strictly private and
confidential and may contain information which is subject to legal
privilege. Such e-mail may not be used or disclosed under any
circumstances by anyone who is not a named recipient. Please return the
e-mail if you are not the intended or named recipient. Unauthorised use of
the email or its contents is prohibited and may be unlawful. Incoming and
outgoing e-mail is subject to continuous and ad hoc filtering, scrutiny
and reporting. The school accepts no liability whatsoever for any damage,
loss or expense arising from this e-mail and/or from the accessing of any
files attached to this email. This e-mail may not necessarily reflect the
views or intentions of Cotham School or its governing body, which
therefore does not accept any liability whatsoever for any claims, loss or
damages of whatsoever nature, arising directly or indirectly, as a result
of the reliance on such information by anyone. Unless the intention to
contract has been expressly manifested in this message by a duly
authorised representative of the school, this message shall not be
construed as a solicitation to contract nor an offer or acceptance of any
contractual obligations. The addressee's address will not be disclosed to
others for commercial intent. Please notify the school should you not wish
to receive e-mail from the school.

Cotham School: a company limited by guarantee
Registered in England: Company Number: 07732888
Registered Office: Cotham School, Cotham Lawn Road, Cotham, Bristol, BS6
6DT 

References

Visible links
1. https://www.bristol.gov.uk/parking/cotham