Recent EDDC appeal against Information Commisioner
Dear East Devon District Council,
Appeal to the First Tier Tribunal against a
ruling by the Informational Commissioner, (EA/2013/0072; East Devon
v Information Commissioner and Jeremy Woodward).
Please let me know;-
Which EDDC employee made the decision to appeal,and who authorized the EDDC appeal in this case?
Who authorized the expenditure, both internally and externally?
How many meetings were held wit the external legal advisers to EDDC?
Yours faithfully,
R Thurlow
Dear Mr Thurlow,
Thank you for your request for information.
You asked:
Please let me have the external and internal costs to date and the projected future costs incurred in the EDDC appeal to the First Tier Tribunal against a ruling by the Informational Commissioner, (EA/2013/0072; East Devon v Information Commissioner and Jeremy Woodward).
These costs should include;-
The costs of external legal fees and advice The EDDC staff involved and the time that they spent on the Appeal process All incidental costs such as subsistence, travel,payments to other bodies etc.
Our response is as follows:
Costs incurred by the Council to date are £12,453.65. We have not quantified officer time spent on the appeal process but can confirm that staff involved in the process include our Deputy Chief Executive, Monitoring Officer, Re-location Project Manager and officers from our Legal and Organisational Development teams, together with other officers as required.
There have been no face-to-face meetings with our barrister other than his one-day attendance at the court hearing in Exeter in August 2014. All other communication has been via email, phone or in writing.
We cannot quantify future costs though anticipate that these will be minimal as the final decision is due to be handed down within the next few weeks.
I hope this is helpful.
If you feel dissatisfied with our response to your request, please contact our Monitoring Officer at [email address]
You may also approach the Information Commissioner for advice at www.ico.gov.uk
Regards
Mrs Kate Symington
Information and Complaints Officer
East Devon District Council
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Dear Mr Thurlow,
Thank you for your request for information. You asked:
Which EDDC employee made the decision to appeal,and who authorized the EDDC appeal in this case?
Who authorised the expenditure, both internally and externally?
How many meetings were held with the external legal advisers to EDDC?
Our response is as follows:
The decision to appeal was a collective decision involving suitably qualified and senior officers within the authority. The appeal decision notice was signed off by our Monitoring Officer at the time Denise Lyon. Officers involved in this decision also included our Deputy Chief Executive and officers from the office re-location executive group.
Expenditure on the appeal has been costed to our re-location project budget
No meetings have been held with our external legal adviser other than during his attendance at the one-day court hearing in Exeter. Other contact with him has been via email, phone and in writing.
I hope this is helpful.
If you feel dissatisfied with the way we have responded to your request, please contact our Monitoring Officer at [email address]
You may also approach the Information Commissioner for advice at www.ico.gov.uk
Regards
Kate
Mrs Kate Symington
Information and Complaints Officer
East Devon District Council
01395 517417
www.eastdevon.gov.uk
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Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/eastdevon
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