Transparency and Award of Public Funds £40,000 Maidstone Borough Council

Waiting for an internal review by Local Government Association of their handling of this request.

Dear Local Government Association,

Transparency and Award of Public Funds £40,000 Maidstone Borough Council

1.Can you please provide all recorded information and/or policy relating to transparency that you require as a membership, which works on on behalf of your member council to support, promote and improve of local government, that your members must follow.

2. Is the following a member of Local Government Association

MAIDSTONE BOROUGH COUNCIL
Maidstone House, King Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME15 6JQ
Company Age 18 Years
Company Status ACTIVE 2625039
Company Type Non-Limited Business
Senior Executive MRS ALISON BROOM
Position Chief Executive
https://companycheck.co.uk/nonLimitedCom...

3.Are they required to be transparent when awarding Public Funding?

4. Are local authorities(councils) entitled to conceal a contract or who they have arrangements with and are funding from public funds

MBC Legal Fees Contract - J E Baring & Co CA29830
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/m...

By way of explanation the questions have been asked, as we would like to know how to find out who £40,000 of public funds have been awarded to and through, what precise legal entity tax must be paid, as there appears to be several and multiple variants of the "trading name"; a partnership, a non-trading dissolved limited company, a trading limited company and on further investigation a non-limited business:

J E BARING & CO
63-66 HATTON GARDEN, LONDON, EC1N 8LE
Company Status ACTIVE 3483212
Company Type Non-Limited Business
Senior Executive MR ALLAN HOOPER
Position Manager
https://companycheck.co.uk/nonLimitedCom...

It is also confusing and non-transparent to be awarded public funds via a contract if there is no actual contract in place and the above is being concealed.

Yours faithfully,

Ed Boyce

FOI and DPA, Local Government Association

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Boyce,

 

Thank you for your request for information below. We will respond to you
as soon as possible and certainly within the statutory timescales.

 

Kind Regards,

Annabel

 

Annabel Shearing

IT and Business Management Apprentice

Local Government Association

 

Phone: 020 7664 3209

Email: [1][email address]

18 Smith Square, London, SW1P 3HZ

 

 

From: Ed Boyce <[FOI #762056 email]>
Sent: 03 June 2021 11:07
To: FOI and DPA <[email address]>
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Transparency and Award of Public
Funds £40,000 Maidstone Borough Council

 

Dear Local Government Association,

Transparency and Award of Public Funds £40,000 Maidstone Borough Council

1.Can you please provide all recorded information and/or policy relating
to transparency that you require as a membership, which works on on behalf
of your member council to support, promote and improve of local
government, that your members must follow.

2. Is the following a member of Local Government Association

MAIDSTONE BOROUGH COUNCIL

Maidstone House, King Street, Maidstone, Kent, ME15 6JQ

Company Age 18 Years

Company Status ACTIVE 2625039

Company Type Non-Limited Business

Senior Executive MRS ALISON BROOM

Position Chief Executive

[2]https://companycheck.co.uk/nonLimitedCom...

3.Are they required to be transparent when awarding Public Funding?

4. Are local authorities(councils) entitled to conceal a contract or who
they have arrangements with and are funding from public funds

MBC Legal Fees Contract - J E Baring & Co CA29830

[3]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/m...

By way of explanation the questions have been asked, as we would like to
know how to find out who £40,000 of public funds have been awarded to and
through, what precise legal entity tax must be paid, as there appears to
be several and multiple variants of the "trading name"; a partnership, a
non-trading dissolved limited company, a trading limited company and on
further investigation a non-limited business:

J E BARING & CO

63-66 HATTON GARDEN, LONDON, EC1N 8LE

Company Status ACTIVE 3483212

Company Type Non-Limited Business

Senior Executive MR ALLAN HOOPER

Position Manager

[4]https://companycheck.co.uk/nonLimitedCom...

It is also confusing and non-transparent to be awarded public funds via a
contract if there is no actual contract in place and the above is being
concealed.

Yours faithfully,

Ed Boyce

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Dear Local Government Association,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Local Government Association's handling of my FOI request 'Transparency and Award of Public Funds £40,000 Maidstone Borough Council'.

An internal review is requested because the LGA has not responded apart from acknowledging this FOIA request on 4 June 2021.

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

Yours faithfully,

Ed Boyce

Ed Boyce left an annotation ()

Why will Maidstone Borough Council also not confirm precisely which outsourced legal entity it has instructed and shared personal data of natural individuals with through MID KENT SERVICES (partnership agent) without a data sharing contract in place?

Dear FOI and DPA,

Why are Maidstone Borough Council ignoring the internal review 1.8.2021 and breaking the law, is it not unethical to conceal which legal entity has received £40,000 of public funding?

It is crucial in the interest of public policy that the correct legal name of the entity is shown to be receiving public funds.

Please also confirm whether MBC Legal Fees Contract for £40,000 was awarded on the 1.12.2016 directly to Mr Allan Hooper a partner at ‘J E Baring & Co’ a solicitors firm.

Yours sincerely,

Ed Boyce

Dear FOI and DPA,

When can a response to the internal review be expected requested on 1 August2021 after FOIR 3 June 2021 .

A reasonable onlooker would find it unethical for LGA to turn a blind eye as an association of public authorities and national membership body for local authorities which works on behalf of its member councils to support, promote and improve local government. When it is allowing council(s) to instruct external solicitors who do not necessarily sign legal documentation and correspondence in a proper legal capacity and your membership council’s can simply be allowed to bypass the law including the Data Protection legislation and GDPR when sharing natural persons data that may also be construed as unlawful when concealing not only exactly who they have instructed and paid tax payers funds to, but also be entitled by the LGA to continue with this concealment.

Yours sincerely,

Ed Boyce