This is an automated response to thank you for your e-mail to Tunbridge
Wells Borough Council and to confirm that it will be forwarded to the
relevant department/officer to respond to.

If you have access to the Internet you may wish to see if your enquiry can
be dealt with online - the Council's website allows you to [1]report
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Customer Service Team

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

Town Hall

Royal Tunbridge Wells

Kent  TN1 1RS

This e-mail is confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. If you are not the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this e-mail in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited.

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Dear Mr Powell,

Acknowledgement

Our Ref: FOI F05058

Thank you for your recent email which we are handling in accordance with
the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I acknowledge receipt and confirm
that we will respond within 20 working days from the date of receipt.

In the meantime, if you have any further queries regarding our Freedom of
Information procedures please contact me on 01892 554153 or via e-mail to
[1][Tunbridge Wells Borough Council request email].

Yours sincerely

Lauren Martin

Freedom of Information Officer

T: 01892 554153 ext: 3153

E: [2][email address]

Town Hall, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 1RS

[3]www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk    [4]cid:image004.png@01CD6A75.83A79BD0

Help us to improve our service to you by completing our online [5]Customer
Satisfaction Survey

This e-mail is confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. If you are not the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this e-mail in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited.

If you have received this e-mail in error please notify Tunbridge Wells Borough Council IT Help Desk on telephone +44 (0)1892 526121 extension
3118 or e-mail to [email address].

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5. http://www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/feedback

Dear Mr Powell,

Re: FOI F05058

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request and please accept my
apologies for the delay in responding.

Please clarify when Shelia Coburn placed an endorsement on J E Baring & Co
website and if this was behalf of the council.

Having spoken with Sheila Coburn I can confirm that this was a personal
comment that was made.

Was this endorsement for J E Baring & Co which is Solicitors Partnership
practice or J E Baring & Co Limited or J E Baring & Co a non-limited
company?

The comment was made in relation to the company who published the comment
J E Baring & Co, SRA number 46559.

Please provide her legal qualifications to be able to make an accurate
appraisal on the abilities of a company providing legal services to the
council and confirm whether or not this work has been tendered out.

The comment was made based on previous experience with the J E Baring &
Co. We rely on the following exemption under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000, s40(5). We consider that the decision made via the following
link applies here.

[1]https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...

If you are dissatisfied with the information provided or the way in which
we have dealt with your request, you can make a complaint under the
Council's Complaints Procedure.   Please write to John Scarborough, Head
of Legal Partnership and Monitoring Officer at the Town Hall, Royal
Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 1RS or via e-mail to [2][email address] 
requesting a review of the decision. You can find details of our
Complaints Procedure on our website at
[3]http://www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/council...

We will aim to deal with your complaint within 20 working days. If you
remain dissatisfied following our review, you can then appeal to the
Information Commissioner’s address at the following address:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tel: 01625 545745

[4]www.ico.org.uk

Yours sincerely

Lauren Martin

Freedom of Information Officer

T: 01892 554153 ext: 3153

E: [5][email address]

Town Hall, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 1RS

[6]www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk    [7]cid:image004.png@01CD6A75.83A79BD0

Help us to improve our service to you by completing our online [8]Customer
Satisfaction Survey

show quoted sections

This is an automated response to thank you for your e-mail to Tunbridge
Wells Borough Council and to confirm that it will be forwarded to the
relevant department/officer to respond to.

If you have access to the Internet you may wish to see if your enquiry can
be dealt with online - the Council's website allows you to [1]report
problems and make [2]payments, as well as providing [3]comprehensive
information about our services.

Please do not reply to this automated response.

Customer Service Team

Tunbridge Wells Borough Council

Town Hall

Royal Tunbridge Wells

Kent  TN1 1RS

This e-mail is confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. If you are not the intended recipient, be advised that you have received this e-mail in error and that any use, dissemination, forwarding, printing or copying of this e-mail is strictly prohibited.

If you have received this e-mail in error please notify Tunbridge Wells Borough Council IT Help Desk on telephone +44 (0)1892 526121 extension
3118 or e-mail to [email address].

References

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2. http://www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/residen...
3. http://www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Powell,

Re: FOI F05058

Following your correspondence below I have now passed your Freedom of Information request through to review stage. Your request and our response will be reviewed by the Monitoring Officer and a final response provided within 20 working days from the date of receipt.

In the meantime, if you have any further queries regarding our Freedom of Information/ Environmental Information Regulations procedures please contact me on 01892 554153 or via e-mail to [Tunbridge Wells Borough Council request email].

Yours sincerely

Lauren Martin
Freedom of Information Officer

T: 01892 554153 ext: 3153
E: [email address]
Town Hall, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN1 1RS

www.tunbridgewells.gov.uk

Help us to improve our service to you by completing our online Customer Satisfaction Survey

show quoted sections

Sent on behalf of John Scarborough

Dear Mr Powell,

Re: FOI F05058 Review

Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your
correspondence on 25 May. You have requested a review of the response
provided to your information request on 25 May.

I have understood your request for review to be in relation to the
exemption applied where you have requested information on a particular
officers legal qualifications. I understand from your correspondence that
you would also like confirmation on whether the work which is carried out
by J E Baring & Co was put out for tender.

I consider that s40(5) ‘Personal data’ of the Freedom of Information Act
2000 was correctly applied in our response to you on 25 May. Section 40(5)
of the Act states that,  “The duty to confirm or deny – (a) does not arise
in relation to information which is (or if it were held by the public
authority would be) exempt information by virtue of subsection (1), and
(b) does not arise in relation to other information if or to the extent
that either- (i) the giving to a member of the public of the confirmation
or denial that would have to be given to comply with section 1(1)(a) would
(apart from this Act) contravene any of the data protection principles or
section 10 of the Data Protection Act 1998 or would do so if the
exemptions in section 33A(1) of that Act were disregarded, or

(ii) by virtue of any provision of Part IV of the Data Protection Act 1998
the information is exempt from section 7(1)(a) of that Act (data subject’s
right to be informed whether personal data being processed).”

I consider that the confirmation or denial of an officers particular
qualifications would breach the first data protection principle. The first
data protection principles is that “Personal data should only be disclosed
in fair and lawful circumstances.” I first considered whether the
information you are requesting is personal data. Personal data is defined
by the Data Protection Act 1998 as any information which relates to a
living individual who can be identified from that data or from that data
along with any other information in the possession or is likely to come
into the possession of the data controller. I am satisfied that the
information is personal data as if held it ‘relates to’ an identifiable
living person. Secondly I have considered whether disclosure of the
officers qualifications if held would be fair.  In considering this I have
considered that qualifications are an aspect of private life therefore
officers would not reasonably expect the council to release such
information to the wider public and in this case the qualifications are
not relevant to the business of the council as a legal qualification is
not necessary for the role in question. There is concern that if such
information were to be disclosed then the officer in question may be
subject to scrutiny which could cause distress.

In considering these issues I do not consider that there is a wider public
interest in confirming or denying whether this information exists.

I can confirm that the work was not put out to tender.

In relation to your other queries I can provide the following response;

The  SRA number that you say belongs to the company has only very recently
appeared on their website, is this the reason the council has delayed in
answering this request.

Whilst providing the information to your Freedom of Information request we
have not been in discussion with J E Baring & Co. As to whether they had
previously displayed their SRA number on their website or whether they had
only recently published this information, I am unable to comment as this
does not concern Tunbridge Wells Borough Council and we are unaware of
when in time this was published to their website.

Prior to this there was neither a company number or a SRA number showing ,
so the question remains which company was she endorsing. J E Baring & Co 
solicitors partnership or  J E Baring & Co  Limited  or J E Baring & Co a
non-limited company ?

I consider that we have already provided a response to this query in our
response on 25 May.

If you remain dissatisfied following our review, you can appeal to the
Information Commissioner’s address at the following address:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tel: 01625 545745

[1]www.ico.org.uk

Yours sincerely

TW logo_colour_14mm (for email signatures).jpgJohn Scarborough | Head of
Legal Partnership and Monitoring Officer (TWBC)
Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, Town Hall, Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent
TN1 1RS

E-mail: [2][email address] | Tel: 01892 554257

References

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2. mailto:[email%20address]