Total Annual Figures for Compromise Agreements, etc.
Paul Cardin made this Freedom of Information request to Staffordshire County Council This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear Staffordshire County Council,
Please supply Annual totals for the followig:
As far as records go back, the annual figures for the total
of current employees / ex-employees (including teaching staff) of the Council who have signed compromise agreements directly related to the resolving of dispute(s) / grievance(s) / internal and external investigation(s) / whistleblowing incident(s).
In addition to this, annual figures for the number of current employees / ex-employees (including teaching staff) who have agreed, following the matter being raised and made conditional as part of a compromise agreement drawn up by the body acting as the Council's legal team, to sign and forgo their right to approach the council in the future with Freedom of Information and/or DPA Subject Access requests under the relevant Acts.
Please provide the figures in the following format e.g. 2006 - 2; 2007 - 4; 2008 - 1; 2010 - 6; etc.
Please note that I do not seek or require any personal information such as names and addresses – only the total figures for each subject area.
Yours faithfully,
Paul Cardin
Dear Staffordshire County Council,
By law, I believe the authority should have responded promptly and
by 1st February 2011.
Although I have received no response, to assist, and as an act of good faith, I would like to reduce the scope of the original request as follows:
Please exclude all COT3 Agreements and all compromise agreements
drawn up in the following circumstances:
1. Purely redundancy situations
2. Purely PILON (pay in lieu of notice) situations
3. Equal pay claims
4. TUPE situations
5. Purely voluntary severance situations
Further to this, please reduce the time period to the years between
2005 and 2010 i.e. the last six years.
I am researching this particular area and aim to view trends and
movements both regionally and nationally. It would benefit myself
and the authority if the figures reached were as accurate as
possible.
When responding, please give figures in calendar year format e.g.
2005 - 1; 2006 - 3; 2007 - 2; etc.
Yours faithfully,
Paul Cardin
Dear Mr Cardin,
I apologise but I will not be able to provide a full response to your
Freedom of Information request by today's deadline date.
I will however, be able to respond to your full request in the next
couple of days.
I am able to confirm that no staff (present or ex) have signed an
agreement to forgo their statutory rights to make Freedom of Information
requests or Subject Access Requests under the Data Protection Act 1998.
Please feel free to contact me in the mean time if you have any queries.
Regards,
Michelle K Wiles
Access to Information Officer
Information Governance Unit
1a Bailey Street
Stafford
ST17 4BG
Tel: 01785 85(4123) Fax: 01785 278362
Email: [email address]
www.staffordshire.gov.uk
Dear Mr Cardin,
Re Freedom of Information Act 2000
Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 7th
January.
We have completed the search of our records and please find a copy of
the information you requested, attached. I apologise for the delay in
sending this to you.
If you have any queries or require any further information please do not
hesitate to contact me.
In the first instance if you have any comments relating to how your
request has been handled by our authority, please contact Philip Jones,
Head of Information Governance, Information Governance Unit, 1a Bailey
Street, Stafford, ST17 4BG.
If you have any further comments relating to how your request has been
handled by our authority, please contact the Information Commissioner,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Yours Sincerely
Michelle K Wiles
Access to Information Officer
Information Governance Unit
1a Bailey Street
Stafford
ST17 4BG
Tel: 01785 85(4123) Fax: 01785 278362
Email: [email address]
www.staffordshire.gov.uk
Dear Wiles, Michelle (L&D),
Thanks very much for your response.
As the declared figures look a little 'on the high side', please can you confirm that you received my message of 5th February 2011 which significantly reduced the scope of the original request? And that you acted on this, excluding the quoted circumstances, rather than the original request alone?
Many thanks in advance,
Yours sincerely,
Paul Cardin
Dear Mr Cardin,
The response was in response to your original request.
I am currently requesting the information for your second request as it
changed the initial enquiry, I understood from your email that you
wished for both to be answered.
Please feel free to contact me in the mean time if you have any queries.
Regards,
Michelle K Wiles
Access to Information Officer
Information Governance Unit
1a Bailey Street
Stafford
ST17 4BG
Tel: 01785 85(4123) Fax: 01785 278362
Email: [email address]
www.staffordshire.gov.uk
Dear Mr Cardin
Thank you for your email, as below.
Please find attached the revised figures as requested.
If you have any queries or require any further information please do not
hesitate to contact me.
In the first instance if you have any comments relating to how your
request has been handled by our authority, please write to Philip Jones,
Head of Information Governance, Information Governance Unit, 1a Bailey
Street, Stafford, ST17 4BG.
If you have any further comments relating to how your request has been
handled by our authority, please contact the Information Commissioner,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Yours Sincerely
Michelle K Wiles
Access to Information Officer
Information Governance Unit
1a Bailey Street
Stafford
ST17 4BG
Tel: 01785 85(4123) Fax: 01785 278362
Email: [email address]
www.staffordshire.gov.uk
Dear Wiles, Michelle (L&D),
Thanks for your efforts and for the time you have devoted to this query.
Please can you respond to the second part of the original request i.e.
"In addition to this, annual figures for the number of current
employees / ex-employees (including teaching staff) who have
agreed, following the matter being raised and made conditional as
part of a compromise agreement drawn up by the body acting as the
Council's legal team, to sign and forgo their right to approach the
council in the future with Freedom of Information and/or DPA
Subject Access requests under the relevant Acts."
many thanks in advance,
Yours sincerely,
Paul Cardin
Dear Mr Cardin,
Thank you for your email.
As per my response on the 7th Feb I am able to confirm that no staff
(present or ex) have signed an agreement to forgo their statutory rights
to make Freedom of Information requests or Subject Access Requests under
the Data Protection Act 1998.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any further queries.
Regards,
Michelle K Wiles
Access to Information Officer
Information Governance Unit
1a Bailey Street
Stafford
ST17 4BG
Tel: 01785 85(4123) Fax: 01785 278362
Email: [email address]
www.staffordshire.gov.uk
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Paul Cardin left an annotation ()
Staffordshire County Council were one of the slowest respondents of the 345 councils asked, taking 41 working days (over twice the statutory period) to respond positively and in full.
Please link here to read about the further aspects of this request:
www.easyvirtualassistance.co.uk/page4.html
...including councils who have attempted to prevent individuals from exercising their statutory FOI / DP querying rights.
There is a growing trend for the use of compromise agreements, not just in the area of disputes or whistleblowing, but also in general redundancy or equal pay claims. Some councils have yet to answer this query - and to date, 65 working days have elapsed