Suspension of Cabinet Secretariat

The request was refused by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council.

Dear Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council,

Today Darren Carter has written to members saying 'the suspension of employees in the Cabinet Secretariat was taken by Council Managers on HR advice" and that "the suspensions have been lifted."

The said "Council Managers" can have no presumption of anonymity in respect of such a serious act. Documents identifying lower status employees should be disclosed but with their identities suitably redacted.

1. What offence are the seven employees alleged to have committed?

2. How did "Council Managers" become aware of the alleged offence? What evidence did they obtain before taking the extreme measure of suspension?

3. Please disclose all documentation with regard to the investigation from outset to conclusion including all emails, file notes and any other documentation arising in connection with this whole affair including the request for HR advice and the advice given.

4. Identify the "Council Managers" involved in this affair and their individual involvement in same.

5. When was the suspension lifted and why? Were all seven employees allowed to return to their positions without sanction? If not, why not.

Yours faithfully,

Julian Saunders

Sandwell MBC, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

Mr Julian Saunders
 
 
Your request for information has been passed to an investigating officer.
 
Your reference is FS-Case-67027833
 
 
Thank you
 
Sandwell MBC

Dear Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council,

I am informed that the person who took the very serious step of suspending seven workers was the relatively lowly Stuart Taylor, the Governance Services Manager. No Director was involved in this seemingly catastrophic decision.

Please confim the contract of employment or other delegated authority permitting Mr Taylor to act in the way that he did.

Yours faithfully,

Julian Saunders

Julian Saunders

Dear Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Suspension of Cabinet Secretariat'.

Your response is now overdue. I request an internal review.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/s...

Yours faithfully,

Julian Saunders

Sandwell MBC, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

Mr Julian Saunders
 
 
Your request for information has been passed to an investigating officer.
 
Your reference is FS-Case-69245830
 
 
Thank you
 
Sandwell MBC

Sandwell MBC, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Mr Julian Saunders,
 
Information Request - FS-Case-69245830
 
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. In response to your
request I can confirm the following:
 
 
Dear Mr Saunders, Can I first apologise for the delay in the Council
responding to your FoI request. In regard to your request where you asked
for: Dear Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, Today Darren Carter has
written to members saying 'the suspension of employees in the Cabinet
Secretariat was taken by Council Managers on HR advice" and that "the
suspensions have been lifted." The said "Council Managers" can have no
presumption of anonymity in respect of such a serious act. Documents
identifying lower status employees should be disclosed but with their
identities suitably redacted. 1. What offence are the seven employees
alleged to have committed? 2. How did "Council Managers" become aware of
the alleged offence? What evidence did they obtain before taking the
extreme measure of suspension? 3. Please disclose all documentation with
regard to the investigation from outset to conclusion including all
emails, file notes and any other documentation arising in connection with
this whole affair including the request for HR advice and the advice
given. 4. Identify the "Council Managers" involved in this affair and
their individual involvement in same. 5. When was the suspension lifted
and why? Were all seven employees allowed to return to their positions
without sanction? If not, why not. Please find the Council's response
below. The Freedom of Information Act places two responsibilities on
public authorities, the first of which is to confirm what information it
holds and secondly to then disclose that information, unless exemptions
apply. In this case consider this communication a Refusal Notice for
information that has not been released. The information is exempt by
virtue of the following exemptions Section 30 (1) (a) (b) (Investigations)
Section 40 (2) (Personal Data) S30 requires that a Public Interest Test is
carried out as part of the decision and it is the consideration of the
Council that release of information subject to internal investigations are
not in the public interest to release. Section 40 (2) is an absolute and
class based exemption if to release the information exists would breach
the third party's data protection rights. In this case to release this
personal information would not constitute fair processing of the data and
therefore would breach the first of the principles within the Data
Protection Act 1998. As this exemption is class based I am not required to
identify the harm in disclosure and in this instance I believe that the
right to privacy outweighs any public interest in release.
 
 
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be
submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your
request, and should be addressed to:
 
Information Management Unit
Sandwell Council House
Freeth Street
Oldbury
West Midlands
B69 3DE
 
Email – [Sandwell Council request email]
 
If you are not content with the outcome of an internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
 
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
 
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Sandwell MBC

Julian Saunders

Dear Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Suspension of Cabinet Secretariat'.

I had technically requested an internal review given your failure to respond to my original request. However, the ICO have asked me to apply again for internal review in the light of your substantive response (such as it is.)

Council employees are regularly named in SMBC documents and reports. They have no reasonable expectation of anonymity when doing the normal job they are paid for us by us taxpayers save where security or other issues require. It is senior managers involved in this fiasco and it needs to be said what the (false) allegations were and who made the decision to suspend the seven in the absence of Jan Britton and, seemingly, other persons at Director level.

Stuart Taylor is already identified in this saga. He is an employee way below Director level and it seems inconceivable that he has been given the delegated power to suspend seven secretaries. Did he have delegated powers to take this course of action or not?

You moved the goalposts to say that "council managers" were responsible for the suspensions. Who were they and did they have the requisite delegated powers to take such drastic action?

Today I have received confirmation that the seven secretaries had apparently innocent of the allegations against them that led to their suspension. Further they have received compensation but subject to them signing confidentiality clauses. This is wholly unacceptable and it is clearly in the public interest that the truth about what happened here is disclosed not least because some sort of disciplinary action is required against the "Council Managers" who made such a catastrophic decision based on false evidence.

The taxpayer has had to pay for this shambles and deserves to know the truth. I await the internal review.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/s...

Yours faithfully,

Julian Saunders

Sandwell MBC, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

Mr Julian Saunders
 
 
Your request for information has been passed to an investigating officer.
 
Your reference is FS-Case-76135478
 
 
Thank you
 
Sandwell MBC

Sandwell MBC, Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Mr Julian Saunders,
 
Information Request - FS-Case-76135478
 
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. In response to your
request I can confirm the following:
 
 
Dear Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, Today Darren Carter has
written to members saying 'the suspension of employees in the Cabinet
Secretariat was taken by Council Managers on HR advice" and that "the
suspensions have been lifted." The said "Council Managers" can have no
presumption of anonymity in respect of such a serious act. Documents
identifying lower status employees should be disclosed but with their
identities suitably redacted. 1. What offence are the seven employees
alleged to have committed? 2. How did "Council Managers" become aware of
the alleged offence? What evidence did they obtain before taking the
extreme measure of suspension? 3. Please disclose all documentation with
regard to the investigation from outset to conclusion including all
emails, file notes and any other documentation arising in connection with
this whole affair including the request for HR advice and the advice
given. 4. Identify the "Council Managers" involved in this affair and
their individual involvement in same. 5. When was the suspension lifted
and why? Were all seven employees allowed to return to their positions
without sanction? If not, why not. Response The Council does not accept
the premise inferred by question 1 . No offence has been committed by the
employees in question In regard to Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4 and Q5, I can confirm
that the information you have requested is held by the Authority, however
we believe that S30(1) of the FOIA applies and that the information being
requested was incorporated into an investigation undertaken by the Council
and as such is covered by S30(1). In applying Section 30(1) a Public
Interest Test is required. I believe that while Councils, as all public
bodies, are required to be open and transparent, there remain times when
information collected during internal investigations are not placed in the
public domain. By disclosing internal investigations the Council believes
that this would prejudice future investigations as people will be less
willing to provide information if they knew it would be disclosed into a
public forum. Further the Council also considers that Q1, Q2, Q3 and Q5
contain personal information and further to S40(2) of the FOIA, the
Council will not be disclosing the requested information.
 
 
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be
submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your
request, and should be addressed to:
 
Information Management Unit
Sandwell Council House
Freeth Street
Oldbury
West Midlands
B69 3DE
 
Email – [Sandwell Council request email]
 
If you are not content with the outcome of an internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
 
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
 
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Sandwell MBC
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Julian Saunders

Dear Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council,

Your response is totally unsatisfactory and I have made formal complaint to the ICO.

Yours faithfully,

Julian Saunders