Water Fluoridation Feasibility Report 2019 North East of England

The request was successful.

Dear Durham County Council,

During 2019, Northumbrian Water submitted its most recent Water Fluoridation Feasibility Report to Durham County Council and to Public Health England. The report relates to Durham County and to other parts of the North East of England which could be involved in the fluoridation of drinking water in the North East.

I require a copy of this most recent feasibility report.

Yours faithfully,

Joy Warren

Durham County Council

Dear Joy Warren
 
Request for Information
 
Thank you for your request received on 18 November 2019. This
correspondence is our acknowledgement of your request. Please note the
reference number and refer to it in any future correspondence.

Depending on the type of request, it will be handled under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, or
the Data Protection Act (DPA).

For Freedom of Information Act 2000 or Environmental Information
Regulations 2004, the statutory deadline is 20 working days. However, in
some cases, for Environmental Information Regulations 2004 the deadline
may be extended to 40 working days. If this is the case, we will write to
explain that to you.

For the DPA, the statutory deadline is one month. However, in some cases
the deadline can be extended. If this is the case, we will write to you
and explain why we are extending the deadline.

If you combine a FOI/EIR request with a DPA request, we will log each as a
separate request.

If we hold this information, we will let you know and in most cases supply
it to you.  You may request a particular format for receiving the
information and we will do our best to accommodate. In most cases, we will
respond by email or letter in 12 point Arial font.  If you have a
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In some cases, the information you request will be exempt from disclosure.
What this means is that the legislation allows the Council to refuse to
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why and we will explain how to appeal that decision.

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We may also need to contact you to clarify your request. We are obliged to
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If you have any questions or need further information, then please
contact:
 
The Information Management Team
Durham County Council
Assistant Chief Executive’s Office
Room 4/140
County Hall
Durham
DH1 5UF
Email: [email address]
 
 

Further information is also available from the Information Commissioner
at:
 
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
 
Telephone: 0303 123 1113 
Fax: 01625 524 510
Email: [email address]
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
 
Yours faithfully
The Information Management Team
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
 
Durham County Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
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Julie Hodgson,

Dear Joy Warren,

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION – APOLOGY

 

We regret that we have been unable to provide the information to your
request, reference number: 863369) within the 20 day deadline.

 

Rest assured that every effort is being made to provide the information
and we shall endeavour to respond to you as soon as possible.

 

Your request is currently with the service area, we will contact the
service area to remind them of the request and provide it to you as soon
as it is available.

 

In the meantime, please accept our sincere apologies and please contact
the relevant case officer – Julie Hodgson Tel. 03000 268037, should you
wish to discuss this matter further.

 

We wish to take this opportunity to thank you for your patience.

 

 

 

Julie Hodgson

Freedom of Information and Data Protection Officer

Transformation and Partnerships

Durham County Council

Room 4/143 – 148

County Hall

Durham

DH1 5UF

 

Direct:  03000268037

Switch: 03000 260000

 

show quoted sections

Dear Durham County Council,

The required reply to this request is long overdue. Please let me have a copy of the Feasibility Report as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Joy Warren

Info Rights,

Dear Joy Warren,
Please accept our sincere apologies. We are working on providing you with a response to your request and hope to have this finalised and sent to you as soon a as possible.

Kind regards,
Julie Hodgson
Freedom of Information and Data protection
Transformation and Partnerships
Durham County Council
Room 4/143 – 148
County Hall
Durham
DH1 5UF

Direct: 03000268037
Switch: 03000 260000

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Dear Julie Hodgson,

My request to see a copy of the final Durham County Water Fluoridation feasibility report from Northumbrian Water is long overdue. You have neither refused this request nor sent me the required feasibility study. This is most irregular and will be reported to the ICO without going via your internal review as is my right under the legislation. Please reply by Tuesday, 28th January "close of play" at the latest.

Yours sincerely,

Joy Warren

Info Rights,

Dear Joy Warren,

Please accept our apologies for the delay. We did send you an apology letter when we went overdue and from that point have continued to chase the service area for a response. I will do so again today.
Apologies for the inconvenience caused.

Julie Hodgson
Freedom of Information and Data Protection Officer

show quoted sections

Dear Julie Hodgson

That is absolutely not good enough. You are now in contravention of the L:aw. I demand that you send me the feasibility (assessment) report as soon as you receive this message..

Your continued prevarication is illegal.

Yours sincerely,

Joy Warren

Dear Julie Hodgson,

I have not received a refusal to send me a copy of the Final Feasibility Report written by Northumbrian Water and your Legal Services continues to unjustifiably delay a reply. I therefore have no choice but to refer this issue to the Information Commissioners Office

Yours sincerely,

Joy Warren

Durham County Council

2 Attachments

Dear Joy Warren,
 
Thank you for your request for information received on 18 November 2019.
Please accept our apologies for the delay.
 
Our response to your request is attached.
 
Yours faithfully
 
 
Julie Hodgson
Freedom of Information and Data Protection Officer
Information Management Team
03000 268037
[email address]
 

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Survey:
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Health&origUCRN=&Source=iCasework
 
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Durham County Council
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which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
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has misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
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References

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Dear Durham County Council,

This morning, I sent off a complaint to the ICO regarding your Legal Services Section's tardiness in releasing the Final Technical Water Fluoridation report which was received by Durham County Council sometime in the latter half of 2019.

Your Legal Section has now compounded its contempt of the FoI law by sending me a draft desk study dating back to February 2017. If this is the most recent feasibility study, then someone in Public Health England is overcharging DCC for work which PHE claims to have been done by Northumbrian Water during 2018-2019.

There is a more recent report and this was referred to in Durham County Council's Joint Scrutiny Committee meeting on 6th February at which I was present. At the meeting, a figure of £4 million + for capital cost of fluoridation equipment was announced by Gill O'Neill, Deputy Director of PHE Durham County. The Draft study dated February 2017 listed equipment as costing £400K for each Water Treatment Works. That means that 10 Water Treatment Works would require equipment and that's not possible.

Your most recent letter together with Appendix A is being sent to the ICO as added evidence that this request for information under the FoI Act is being treated with ridicule.

Yours sincerely,

Joy Warren

Durham County Council

Dear Joy Warren
 
Thank you for your request for a review received on 11 February 2020. I am
sorry that you are dissatisfied with our attempts to handle your request
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
 
I can confirm that we are considering your concerns and we will aim to
provide you with a response by 10 March 2020.
 
Yours faithfully
 
 
Julie Hodgson
Freedom of Information and Data Protection Officer
Information Management Team
03000 268037
[email address]
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
 
Durham County Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error
has misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email.
Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states these to be the views of
Durham County Council
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Durham County
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.

Dear Durham County Council,

Why are you proposing that I wait a further 20 days until 10th March 2020 when you have delayed this request for almost three months?

I have not requested an internal review because I have not received a decision. Your delaying tactics have been rather obvious and I have referred this issue to the ICO.

I require you to send me the final Technical Water Fluoridation feasibility report dated 2019 and preferably by 5pm on 12th February 2020.

Yours sincerely,

Joy Warren

Joy Warren left an annotation ()

This FoI request has been referred for scrutiny by the ICO (11/02/20).

Durham County Council

2 Attachments

Dear Joy Warren,
 
Please find attached our response to your Freedom of Information request
for Internal Review.
 
Yours faithfully
 
 
Julie Hodgson
Freedom of Information and Data Protection Officer
Information Management Team
03000 268037
[email address]
 
 
Survey:
https://doitonline.durham.gov.uk/service...
Health&origUCRN=&Source=iCasework
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.
 
Durham County Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error
has misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email.
Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states these to be the views of
Durham County Council
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Durham County
Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising from
the use of this email or attachments.