Assistant Director of Law (Monitoring Officer)

The request was partially successful.

Dear North East Lincolnshire Council,

A website which provides the public with information about individuals' profiles regarding the companies they serve (and have served) as director reveals that North East Lincolnshire's Assistant Director of Law, on a salary of £83,681 and the council's Monitoring Officer has been a director in 11 companies and currently a director in 5 companies.

Currently appointed as director of;

Children's Links
Linking Up Limited
Joint Services Major Events Team-North East Lincolnshire Limited
Trade Nel Limited
Develop Nel Limited

Resigned from;

Lincolnshire Tourism
Lincolnshire Tourism Management Services Limited
Bury Technologies (UK) Limited
Healthcare Property Consultants Limited
White Slate Limited
East Midlands Shared Services Limited

Further,

It is disclosed in the council's Register of Declarations of Interests that in respect of both 'Children's Links' and 'Linking Up Limited', those appointments relate to paid employment.

With the recent spate of unlawful decisions made by NELC it seems inappropriate that a local authority's Monitoring Officer who is responsible for the lawfulness of the councils decisions and actions has only available to him a fraction of his time that he may dedicate to overseeing these matters.

I therefore would like disclosing the number of hours per week that NELC's Assistant Director of Law is paid for, and

the number of hours per week that NELC's Assistant Director of Law actually dedicates to serving NELC

Yours faithfully,

AKA NTS

Dear North East Lincolnshire Council,

I have noticed that this local authority usually acknowledges requests for information on the same day that they are submitted (if submitted on a normal working day). Has North East Lincolnshire Council received this request?

Yours faithfully,

AKA NTS

PPD - FOI, North East Lincolnshire Council

Dear Sir/Madame

 

I am pleased to acknowledge your request for information, which has been
allocated the reference number 9893_1516.

Your request has been passed to the relevant department for processing and
you can expect your response within the 20 working day limit. If it will
take us longer than 20 working days to respond to you, we will inform you
of this and provide you with the expected date for receiving a response.

Further information about how we will deal with your Freedom of
Information requests is available on our website at:
[1]http://www.nelincs.gov.uk/council/the-co....

Please feel free to contact me if you require any further information or
assistance quoting the reference number above.

 

Yours sincerely on behalf of North East Lincolnshire Council

 

Feedback Officer

Resources Directorate

 

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PPD - FOI, North East Lincolnshire Council

Dear AKA NTS 

 

Your information request 9893/1516, concerning the North East Lincolnshire
Council’s Assistant Director of Law, asked for:

 

·         The number of hours per week that North East Lincolnshire
Council’s Assistant Director of Law is paid for; and

 

·         The number of hours per week that North East Lincolnshire
Council’s Assistant Director of Law actually dedicates to serving North
East Lincolnshire Council.

 

I wish to confirm that North East Lincolnshire Council holds the
information you have requested. The number of hours per week the Assistant
Director of Law is paid for is 37 hours, the number of hours the Assistant
Director of Law ‘actually dedicates to serving North East Lincolnshire
Council’ would be on average not less than 50 hours per week.

 

Your request identifies that the Assistant Director of Law has been a
director in 11 companies and currently a director in 5 companies. To
assist your understanding of this I am pleased to provide the following
details:

 

·         Trade NEL Limited and Develop NEL Limited are both non-trading
North East Lincolnshire Council companies. The Assistant Director of Law
involvement relates directly to his role at North East Lincolnshire
Council and involves no remuneration.

 

·         Children's Links is a national children's charity. The Assistant
Director of Law has never received any remuneration from this office and
also does not claim expenses. The Assistant Director of Law  is also a
guarantee member of Children's Links.

 

·         Linking Up Limited is a childcare voucher operator wholly owned
by Children's Links. Again the Assistant Director of Law has never
received any remuneration from this office and also does not claim
expenses.

 

·         Joint Services Major Events Team-North East Lincolnshire
Limited, the Assistant Director of Law’s appointment was for the purpose
of establishing the company. Now the Armed Forces company has been
established the Assistant Director of Law has resigned from this post. No
remuneration received or expenses have been claimed by the Assistant
Director of Law in relation to this appointment.

 

For the other 6 companies (Lincolnshire Tourism, Lincolnshire Tourism
Management Services Limited, Bury Technologies (UK) Limited, Healthcare
Property Consultants Limited, White Slate Limited and East Midlands
Shared Services Limited) which the Assistant Director of Law is no longer
a director, I can confirm that he has not received any remuneration or
claimed any expenses in relation to these whilst employed by North East
Lincolnshire Council.

 

The Freedom of Information Act provides a right of access to the
information held by public authorities such as North East Lincolnshire
Council. In your request you have made the comment ‘With the recent spate
of unlawful decisions made by NELC it seems inappropriate that a local
authority's Monitoring Officer who is responsible for the lawfulness of
the councils decisions and actions has only available to him a fraction of
his time that he may dedicate to overseeing these matters.’ The inclusion
of this comment in the request, does not appear to be made with the
intention to obtain information or assist with the identification or
clarification of the information required, rather it appears to be made to
state personal opinions and make unfounded accusations. Section 14 (1) of
the Freedom of Information Act states that a public authority is not
obliged to comply with a request for information if that request is
vexatious. We therefore ask that in future when you are requesting
information, you do not include personal opinions or statements, as their
inclusion could result in the refusal of your request on the basis on
section 14 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act.

 

If you believe that your request for information has not been handled in
accordance with the Freedom of Information Act, you have the right to
request an internal review by the Council. Please be clear about which
elements of the Council’s response or handling of the request you are
unhappy with, and would like the Council to address during the internal
review process.  If following this you are still dissatisfied you may
contact the Office of the Information Commissioner. If you wish to request
an internal review, please contact me and I will make the necessary
arrangements.

 

Yours sincerely on behalf of North East Lincolnshire Council

 

Paul Ellis

Team Manager - Information Governance and Data Protection

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Dear PPD - FOI,

Thank you for replying so promptly.

This FOI has, if nothing else, highlighted the need for NELC to be more careful in what it publishes on its website.

For example, it would be less ambiguous if under item 1 of its Register of Declarations of Interests, it re-worded the following:

"Details of any paid employment (other than your employment with the authority), and any limited company of which you are a partner."

http://www.nelincs.gov.uk/GetAsset.aspx?...

Yours sincerely,

AKA NTS

Outtogetthetruthout left an annotation ()

Cause his names under new ltd companys now a days along with all of them in the council they all have shares !! in them under anagram names theres even dodgy websites set up!!