Policies relating to service complaints, data protection and freedom of information

The request was successful.

Dear Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council,

Other than the general advice and guidance on your website, I am unable to find your formal policies on the investigation of complaints against the council, for data protection and for freedom of information.

Please provide electronic copies of these documents plus details of the authority traceable to the constitution they were issued and which cabinet portfolio or council committee is responsible for oversight of the policy.

Yours faithfully,

Phil Kershaw

FOI Information Governance Team,

Information request
Our reference: 2802496
 

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Dear ‎Mr Kershaw,‏
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoIA)
 
Thank you for your request, which is being processed under the above
legislation.
 
However, in respect of the electronic documents you are seeking we are not
sure what you mean by 'plus details of the authority traceable to the
constitution they were issued'. Please could you clarify what this means?
 
We will not be able to take this matter further until we receive this
additional information; please let us know by 05/10/2017. If we do not
hear from you by this date, we shall assume that you no longer wish to
pursue this request and will consider it closed. 
 
Yours sincerely,
 
 
Carol Bowdery
Corporate Information Governance Officer
ICT and Information Governance
Solihull Council
[1]www.solihull.gov.uk
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

References

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

Dear FOI Information Governance Team,

Further for your request for clarification, I am seeking confirmation that the policies were issued after approval by the appropriate cabinet member or council committee or, if issued by an officer or officers, they had delegated authority to do so.

All such approvals should be traceable to constitutional arrangements.

Yours sincerely,

Phil Kershaw

Carol Bowdery,

1 Attachment

Information request
Our reference: 2802496
 

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Dear Mr Kershaw,
 
Please find our response attached to this email. 
 
Yours sincerely,
 
 
Carol Bowdery
Corporate Information Governance Officer
ICT and Information Governance
Solihull Council
[1]www.solihull.gov.uk
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

References

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

Dear Carol Bowdery,

FOI REQUEST 2802496

The response received on 2 October does not supply the documents I requested.

For the avoidance of doubt, please provide

1. Your policy on dealing with any service complaint made against the council.

2. Your data protection policy.

3. Your freedom of information policy.

The element of the request relating to the approval status of each of these policies still stands.

I hope this clarifies the situation.

Yours sincerely,

Phil Kershaw

Carol Bowdery,

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Kershaw,
 
Thank you for your email, please see our response below:
 
In your original request you asked for:

Other than the general advice and guidance on your website, I am unable to
find your formal policies on the investigation of complaints against the
council, for data protection and for freedom of information.

Please provide electronic copies of these documents plus details of the
authority traceable to the constitution they were issued and which cabinet
portfolio or council committee is responsible for oversight of the policy.

We confirmed in our response of 2^nd October 2017, that this information
did not exist, as formal policies had not been written.

You have now asked for further information, as follows (our responses are
in bold type):

1. Your policy on dealing with any service complaint made against the
council. We can confirm that Solihull Council holds the information you
requested. However, under Section 21 FoIA, we are not required to provide
this, if it is already reasonably accessible to you.

Some of the information is already available on our website using the
following link: [1]http://www.solihull.gov.uk/About-the-Cou...
Please also see the attached document for the current corporate complaints
policy.

2. Your data protection policy.We do not have an overarching Data
Protection Policy (which describes the existing law and stating that it
must be adhered to); therefore, the information is not held. We are
advising you of this, as required by Section 1(1)(a) FoIA.

To explain further, rather than creating an overarching policy, the
approach taken has been to create a specific policy for specific aspects
of the Data Protection Act when guidance is needed, for example for CCTV.

3. Your freedom of information policy. Please see the attached document;
the approval process is outlined in the version control.
 
We trust that this information is helpful; this request is now closed.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
 
Carol Bowdery
Corporate Information Governance Officer
Corporate Information Governance Team
Solihull Council
[2]www.solihull.gov.uk

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Dear Carol Bowdery,

FOI REQUEST 2802496

The response received on 2 October does not supply the documents I
requested.

For the avoidance of doubt, please provide

1. Your policy on dealing with any service complaint made against the
council.

2. Your data protection policy.

3. Your freedom of information policy.

The element of the request relating to the approval status of each of
these policies still stands.

I hope this clarifies the situation.

Yours sincerely,

Phil Kershaw

Dear Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Policies relating to service complaints, data protection and freedom of information'.

In my original request I asked to see copies of policies (in the plural) relating to information and data protection . This was mis-read and I had to clarify this request.

Your second reply dated 2 October refers to a number of data protection policies but you have not provided copies.

Please would you do so.

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

Yours faithfully,

Phil Kershaw

Andy Shipway,

Information request
Our reference: 2802496
 

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Dear Mr Kershaw
 
Thank you for your request for a review received on 13 October 2017. 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 27 October 2017.
 
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Andy Shipway
Corporate Information Governance Manager
Information Governance Team
Solihull Council

Tel: 0121 704 6251
[1]www.solihull.gov.uk
 
NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

References

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

Shipway, Andrew (Business Transformation Directorate - Solihull MBC), Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council

6 Attachments

Dear Mr Kershaw

 

I have completed my review of your appeal. On 20 September you submitted a
request that stated:

“Other than the general advice and guidance on your website, I am unable
to find your formal policies on the investigation of complaints against
the council, for data protection and for freedom of information. Please
provide electronic copies of these documents plus details of the authority
traceable to the constitution they were issued and which cabinet portfolio
or council committee is responsible for oversight of the policy.”

This was originally taken to mean that you wanted the Council’s policies
on dealing with Freedom of Information and Data Protection complaints and
responded to accordingly. You later responded and clarified that your
request had been misread and specified that you wanted the three policies
listed below.

“1. Your policy on dealing with any service complaint made against the
council.
2. Your data protection policy.
3. Your freedom of information policy.”

 

In response you were supplied with a copy of the Corporate Complaints and
Customer Feedback Policy and Freedom of Information Policy. Both of these
have version control near the front that show the development and approval
process. It was explained that an overarching Data Protection Policy does
not exist and that the approach taken is to create specific policy for
specific aspects of the Act. An example of CCTV was provided. I therefore
do not uphold your appeal on the basis that you have been provided with
the information you asked for and where it did not exist have been
informed of this.

 

Although it was not clear from your original request that you wanted such
a wide variety of policies I note that you reference the fact that a
number of specific policies are mentioned (such as CCTV) and you have
complained that you were not provided with copies of these policies.
Rather than process another FOI request I have attached the wide variety
referred to in the hope they are of assistance to you. Please note not all
the documents are policy, some are guidance documents.

 

I hope you find the attached information of use. If you remain
dissatisfied with my review you have a further right of appeal to the
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Telephone: 0303 123 1113 (local rate) or 01625 545 745
(national rate). Website: www.ico.org.uk.

 

 

Yours sincerely