The report of the 1997 inquiry into "The Trotter Affair" JK Barratt

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Hackney Borough Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Hackney Borough Council,

I would be grateful if you could send me this under the Freedom of Information.
Author: BARRATT J.K Publisher: Hackney. Social Services Department Publication year:
1998

I am uncertain as to whether the report is the same as this https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/1...
If it is the same, then Hackney Council appear to be only willing to provide it in digital form at a cost of £75. This would be seen a callous decision and a cover up of child sexual abuse by Hackney Council, so I hope it is possible to provide the report under FOI.
If not I also ask for it to be provided separate to any FOI legislation, so that the Council is free to provide the Report out of goodwill or a sense of decency, morals and ethics in digital format for survivors and others to read and learn from.
Do Hackney Council own copyright?

Yours faithfully,

Cathy Fox

Hackney Borough Council

[1]London Borough of Hackney logo

Dear Ms Fox,

FOI Ref: FOI17-0124-10213

Thank you for submitting a Freedom of Information request. Your reference
number is FOI17-0124-10213.

Your request will be responded to within 20 working days.

Yours sincerely,

Information Management Team - FOI

[2][email address]

The contents of this email are confidential to the intended recipient at
the email address to which it has been addressed. It may not be disclosed
to or used by anyone other than this addressee, nor may it be copied in
any way. If received in error, please contact Hackney Council,
www.hackney.gov.uk on 020 8356 3000 (out of hours - 020 8356 2300) quoting
the name of the sender and the addressee and then delete it from your
system. Please note that neither Hackney Council nor the sender accepts
any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan the
email and attachments (if any). No contracts may be concluded on behalf of
Hackney Council by means of email communications.Please note that Hackney
Council reserves the right to monitor emails for the purpose of monitoring
or communications relevant to the Company’s business under the
Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception Of
Communications) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/2699) ("the Regulations") for
the following reasons: to investigate or detect the unauthorised use of
the systems, e.g. that this policy is being observed, that no
discriminatory or offensive content appears in emails; to maintain an
adequate level of security for our computer systems; to detect any
computer viruses; to check mailboxes of absent employees. To exercise its
right under the Regulations, Hackney Council must have made all reasonable
efforts to inform every person who may use the system that interception
may take place and this notice to you should be regarded as such
notification..

References

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2. mailto:[email address]

Dear Hackney Borough Council,
My request has not been answered within 20 working days,. Can you say when I will receive an answer?

Yours faithfully,

Cathy Fox

Information Management, Hackney Borough Council

Dear Ms Fox

Thank you for your email.

Apologies for the delay in responding to your request. We will chase this up with the relevant service area.

Kind regards

Information Governance Team
Hackney Council
www.hackney.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear Hackney Borough Council,

Further to my reminder of a week ago that my request was overdue, but no answer has been forthcoming, I am informed by the British Library that they will not fulfill a request due to Copyright issues.
Could you tell me why I am not getting a response in line with the FOI legislation?

Yours faithfully,

Cathy Fox

Dear Hackney Borough Council,

" FOI Ref: FOI17-0124-10213

Thank you for submitting a Freedom of Information request. Your reference
number is FOI17-0124-10213.

Your request will be responded to within 20 working days."

This still has not happened, please tell me why?

Yours faithfully,

Cathy Fox

Cathy Fox left an annotation ()

I have written to the ICO re lack of reply

Information Management, Hackney Borough Council

Dear Ms Fox

 

I’m writing to let  you know that we are awaiting final approval to the
response to your Freedom of Information request.  Once it has been
approved it will be sent to you, hopefully by the end of this week if not
sooner.

 

My apologies once again for the delay.

 

Kind regards

 

N Savory 

Information Governance Team

Hackney Council

[1]www.hackney.gov.uk

 

The contents of this email are confidential to the intended recipient at
the email address to which it has been addressed. It may not be disclosed
to or used by anyone other than this addressee, nor may it be copied in
any way. If received in error, please contact Hackney Council,
www.hackney.gov.uk on 020 8356 3000 (out of hours - 020 8356 2300) quoting
the name of the sender and the addressee and then delete it from your
system. Please note that neither Hackney Council nor the sender accepts
any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan the
email and attachments (if any). No contracts may be concluded on behalf of
Hackney Council by means of email communications.Please note that Hackney
Council reserves the right to monitor emails for the purpose of monitoring
or communications relevant to the Company’s business under the
Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception Of
Communications) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/2699) ("the Regulations") for
the following reasons: to investigate or detect the unauthorised use of
the systems, e.g. that this policy is being observed, that no
discriminatory or offensive content appears in emails; to maintain an
adequate level of security for our computer systems; to detect any
computer viruses; to check mailboxes of absent employees. To exercise its
right under the Regulations, Hackney Council must have made all reasonable
efforts to inform every person who may use the system that interception
may take place and this notice to you should be regarded as such
notification..

References

Visible links
1. http://www.hackney.gov.uk/

Information Management, Hackney Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Fox

 

My apologies for the delay in responding to you.

 

Please find attached the response to your Freedom of Information request.

 

Kind regards

 

Noelle Savory

Information Governance Team

Hackney Council

[1]www.hackney.gov.uk

 

 

The contents of this email are confidential to the intended recipient at
the email address to which it has been addressed. It may not be disclosed
to or used by anyone other than this addressee, nor may it be copied in
any way. If received in error, please contact Hackney Council,
www.hackney.gov.uk on 020 8356 3000 (out of hours - 020 8356 2300) quoting
the name of the sender and the addressee and then delete it from your
system. Please note that neither Hackney Council nor the sender accepts
any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan the
email and attachments (if any). No contracts may be concluded on behalf of
Hackney Council by means of email communications.Please note that Hackney
Council reserves the right to monitor emails for the purpose of monitoring
or communications relevant to the Company’s business under the
Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception Of
Communications) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/2699) ("the Regulations") for
the following reasons: to investigate or detect the unauthorised use of
the systems, e.g. that this policy is being observed, that no
discriminatory or offensive content appears in emails; to maintain an
adequate level of security for our computer systems; to detect any
computer viruses; to check mailboxes of absent employees. To exercise its
right under the Regulations, Hackney Council must have made all reasonable
efforts to inform every person who may use the system that interception
may take place and this notice to you should be regarded as such
notification..

References

Visible links
1. http://www.hackney.gov.uk/

Dear Hackney Borough Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Hackney Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'The report of the 1997 inquiry into "The Trotter Affair" JK Barratt'.

My request has been refused for reasons given in full at the end of this email.

I ask for internal review as

1. My request has not been answered as required under the FOI.
"It is our understanding that Hackney Council may hold the copyright to the report, however we are unable to confirm this."

Please state whether you hold the information and send the recorded information or give the exemption as required by the FoI Act.

2. The Answer given in parts is incorrect.
It was stated
"On the British Library website explore.bl.uk, type “Trotter Affair” in the Main Catalogue option. Copies of the Report can be purchased either as an encrypted download or in paper form from the website. "

I made clear in the additional email of 1 Mar that " I am informed by the British Library that they will not fulfill a request due to Copyright issues. "

Yet this information was ignored and I was still fobbed off By Hackney Council with the unlawful answer "It is our understanding that Hackney Council may hold the copyright to the report, however we are unable to confirm this."

I am unable to to attend in person due to chronic illness. I wish to buy a copy from the British Library at the expensive but still more reasonably £30, but I am unable to due to copyright issues that Hackney Council will not sort out.

Here is some more detail from the British Library.
"Event Unable to fulfil.
Sorry, we are unable to fulfil your order because of copyright restrictions. You can check for alternative delivery options on our website."

The only option of availability, is to buy it from Hackney Council as the thoroughly unreasonable price of £74.50 plus postage for a 150 page report.

So firstly Hackney Council, having failed to protect children from child sexual abuse and who were heavily cirticised in this report is making the callous decision not to provide this free so that survivors can achieve some truth and healing.

Secondly Hackney Council are deliberately not answering the FOI as required by law re copyright, and not providing clarity on copyright to British Library. Therefore Hackney Council is making it impossible to buy at a more reasonable £30 from the British Library, and forcing people to buy from Hackney Council themselves!

By claiming copyright they are actually seeking to profit from people getting the report trying to find out about child sexual abuse that the Council had a duty to protect the children from.

Thirdly the Hackney Council seek to make further profit by charging an additional £44 than it should be available from the British Library if Hackney Council were to sort out the Copyright issue.

I therefore also submit that the Barratt report is not reasonably accessible to me as it is overpriced from Hackney Council compared to elsewhere.
Due to Hackney Councils actions the Report from the British Library is unavailable at a much cheaper price.
Hackney Councils action, all taken as a whole could well be seen as deliberately trying to restrict access to the report, cover up child sexual abuse and liability by the council and even profit from the report on child sexual abuse that hackney were culpable for.
Further there may be issue of fraud by the council regarding the non release of copyright information to perpetuate the status quo, and the covering up child sexual abuse may involve criminal offences.

Further you have totally ignored my question "If not I also ask for it to be provided separate to any FOI legislation, so that the Council is free to provide the Report out of goodwill or a sense of decency, morals and ethics in digital format for survivors and others to read and learn from. "

I ask you once again to release the report under FOI or as a non FOI request. The cost to the council would be approximately 2 hours of your employees time, surely a small price to to pay for making the first step to healing for many survivors.

Hackney Councils reasons for refusal

"The report you’ve asked for is available from Hackney Council and the British Library.

We have checked our own archives and you can search for a copy online at www.hackney.gov.uk/c-archives-webcat.htm, then type “Barratt” in the simple search option. We can provide photocopies of the document at a charge of £0.50 per page plus additional charge for postage and package. The Barratt Report has 149 pages – a total cost of £74.50.

On the British Library website explore.bl.uk, type “Trotter Affair” in the Main Catalogue option. Copies of the Report can be purchased either as an encrypted download or in paper form from the website. From the results of the search click “I want this”; select the Go option by “My Home or Office”, and on the next page, select your preferred form of document delivery.

You can access a reference copy of the report by visiting either Hackney Archives or the British Library’s Reading Rooms facilities. Details of locations and opening hours are listed below:

Hackney Archives
https://www.hackney.gov.uk/archives-visi...

The British Library Boston Spa
http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/quickinfo/loc/b...

The British Library St Pancras
http://www.bl.uk/aboutus/quickinfo/loc/s...

It is our understanding that Hackney Council may hold the copyright to the report, however we are unable to confirm this.

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,

Cathy Fox

Dear Information Management,

I have received no reply or acknowledgement to my request for an internal review which is now passed the date expected. Can you tell me what the council is doing

Yours sincerely,

Cathy Fox

Dear Information Management,

I asked for an internal review on 8th April. I have had no response or acknowledgement since then.
Can you tell me why?

Yours sincerely,

Cathy Fox

Dear Information Management,
Can you tell me when i will receive the internal review? Hackney Council is in breach of the FOI act as you well know

Yours sincerely,

Cathy Fox

Dear Information Management,

Hackney Council is in breach of the law. Can you tell if Hackney Council are going to comply with the FOI Act or if Hackney Council is blatantly going to continue ignoring the law. If individuals in Hackney Council do not reply, then they are responsible and agree to be openly and mercilessly publically shamed for failing to do their public duty.

Yours sincerely,

Cathy Fox

Dear Information Management,

You are way overdue replying, you have failed in your duty to comply with the FOI Act, you have faield to reply to the last 3 emails.
Can you tell me why Hackney Council chooses to ignore their duties under the FOI ACt?

Yours sincerely,

Cathy Fox

Information Management, Hackney Borough Council

2 Attachments

Dear Ms Fox

 

Please find attached the response to your FoI appeal.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Kim Starbuck

Information Management Officer – Governance

London Borough of Hackney

020 8356 4938

[1]www.hackney.gov.uk

 

The contents of this email are confidential to the intended recipient at
the email address to which it has been addressed. It may not be disclosed
to or used by anyone other than this addressee, nor may it be copied in
any way. If received in error, please contact Hackney Council,
www.hackney.gov.uk on 020 8356 3000 (out of hours - 020 8356 2300) quoting
the name of the sender and the addressee and then delete it from your
system. Please note that neither Hackney Council nor the sender accepts
any responsibility for viruses and it is your responsibility to scan the
email and attachments (if any). No contracts may be concluded on behalf of
Hackney Council by means of email communications.Please note that Hackney
Council reserves the right to monitor emails for the purpose of monitoring
or communications relevant to the Company’s business under the
Telecommunications (Lawful Business Practice) (Interception Of
Communications) Regulations 2000 (S.I. 2000/2699) ("the Regulations") for
the following reasons: to investigate or detect the unauthorised use of
the systems, e.g. that this policy is being observed, that no
discriminatory or offensive content appears in emails; to maintain an
adequate level of security for our computer systems; to detect any
computer viruses; to check mailboxes of absent employees. To exercise its
right under the Regulations, Hackney Council must have made all reasonable
efforts to inform every person who may use the system that interception
may take place and this notice to you should be regarded as such
notification..

References

Visible links
1. http://www.hackney.gov.uk/

Dear Information Management,

It appears as though Hackney council have a blind spot. You still have not addresses this question
"If not I also ask for it to be provided separate to any FOI legislation, so that the Council is free to provide the Report out of goodwill or a sense of decency, morals and ethics in digital format for survivors and others to read and learn from."
Why do you keep ignoring it. is it because it would show up Hackney to be a council devoid of any morals ?
You have also avoided this question in the review
"Do Hackney Council own copyright?" Are you finally saying that you do own the copyright, asfter all theis delay copyright as you say " With regard to the Copyright, at the request of the British Library, the Council is currently sending off permission for the report to be copied for private study and non-commercial research. "
Who carried out the internal review , and please send me a copy of Hackneys guidance and procedure for internal reviews of FOI and Environmental Information Regualtions

Yours sincerely,

Cathy Fox

Dear Information Management,
This request is overdue
Dear Information Management,

It appears as though Hackney council have a blind spot. You still have not addresses this question
"If not I also ask for it to be provided separate to any FOI legislation, so that the Council is free to provide the Report out of goodwill or a sense of decency, morals and ethics in digital format for survivors and others to read and learn from."
Why do you keep ignoring it. is it because it would show up Hackney to be a council devoid of any morals ?
You have also avoided this question in the review
"Do Hackney Council own copyright?" Are you finally saying that you do own the copyright, asfter all theis delay copyright as you say " With regard to the Copyright, at the request of the British Library, the Council is currently sending off permission for the report to be copied for private study and non-commercial research. "
Who carried out the internal review , and please send me a copy of Hackneys guidance and procedure for internal reviews of FOI and Environmental Information Regualtions

Yours sincerely,

Cathy Fox

Yours sincerely,

Cathy Fox

Information Management, Hackney Borough Council

Dear Ms Fox,

Thank you for chasing us on your follow-up to the Internal Review response which was issued on 9th August. Unfortunately nobody on the team received your response of 13th August. We think this is because the officer who sent out the review was on sick leave and has since left the organisation.

You asked two further questions in follow-up to the review. Please note that neither of these questions relate to the statutory requirements of the Freedom of Information Act.

1. You asked why we had not addressed your question "If not I also ask for it to be provided separate to any FOI legislation, so that the Council is free to provide the Report out of goodwill or a sense of decency, morals and ethics in digital format for survivors and others to read and learn from. "

First, may we apologise for not addressing this in your original response. This question is not one that can be addressed under the Freedom of Information Act and did not, therefore, require a reply from a statutory point of view. However, we can respond as follows: While the London Borough of Hackney recognises the public benefit from making commissioned research publicly available, there are significant costs in retrospectively digitising reports for which we do not already hold a digital copy. There are many reports in our archives which could be of benefit to citizens and we have to judge whether it is right for us to bear the costs for an individual request for digitisation as opposed to spending the money on other services.

2. You also asked why we had originally said that we were unable to ascertain the copyright, then subsequently said that we were granting permission to the British Library. At the time of the original request it was decided that the evidence was not definitive enough as to whether this commissioned report was fully the copyright of London Borough of Hackney. We subsequently decided that the balance of likelihood was that we did own the copyright and have since issued the British Library with permission to copy the report for private study or non-commercial research.

If you would like to take this review further, in relation to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, you are welcome to make a formal complaint to the Information Commissioner:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745 if you prefer to use a national rate number

If you wish to take your query further outside of the Act, you may raise a complaint using the Council procedure. The details of how to do this are here: https://www.hackney.gov.uk/complaints

Kind regards

Information Management
ICT Services
London Borough of Hackney 
www.hackney.gov.uk

find out more about our work at: http://blogs.hackney.gov.uk/hackit/
 

Dear Information Management,
Please tell me what the "significant" costs are there are significant costs in digitising the Trotter Report ?

I think costs would be about £30 max and, are easily justified as it would help release information about child sexual abuse that was the fault of Hackney Counicl and show that Hackney are committed to being open about this .
Otherwise as victims of child sexual abuse are unlikely to be able to afford it , then Hackney council is deliberately hiding theri part in this disgusting affair.

Yours sincerely,

Cathy Fox