Anti terror barriers

Kirsty Eccles made this Freedom of Information request to Lancashire County Council This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

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

Dear Lancashire County Council,

Hi, Under the FOI acts

Please provide me the total costings of the anti terror barriers you are placing in the city center.
Please provide me a copy of the invoice you received from the manufacturers of the structures.

Yours faithfully,

Kirsty Eccles

Freedom of Information, Lancashire County Council

 

 

Dear Ms Eccles,

 

Request for information

 

We are writing to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 15/12/17, in
which you request the disclosure of information.

 

We can confirm that your enquiry will now be assigned to an officer who
will commence a search for the information you require and they will
respond in due course. The deadline date for issuing you with full
response is 18/01/18. We will endeavour to provide a response well in
advance of this date, however, should we envisage any delays, or require
more details from you, we will contact you immediately.

 

If you have any queries about the above, please do not hesitate to contact
us, quoting ref. 936.1775

 

Yours sincerely

 

Information Governance Team

Legal and Democratic Service

Lancashire County Council

PO Box 78

County Hall

PR1 8XJ

[1][email address]

[2]www.lancashire.gov.uk

 

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Dear Freedom of Information,

You are late with your response and are breaking the law.
Please have the decency to respond today.

Yours sincerely,

Kirsty Eccles

Freedom of Information, Lancashire County Council

Dear Ms Eccles,

Further to your email of 15 December, we are now in a position to respond.

Lancashire does not yet hold the information you are seeking as we are yet to receive invoices for works carried out. You may wish to resubmit your request in a few weeks when we hope to have received the relevant information.

Yours sincerely,

Information Governance Team
Lancashire County Council

www.lancashire.gov.uk

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Dear Freedom of Information,
Please provide me with all documentation in regards to the barriers.
EG..Please include quotations, the final agreement and copies of contracts etc

Yours sincerely,

Kirsty Eccles

Flanagan, Jeanette, Lancashire County Council

 

 

Dear Ms Eccles,

 

Request for information

 

We are writing to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 18/01/18, in
which you request the disclosure of information.

 

We can confirm that your enquiry will now be assigned to an officer who
will commence a search for the information you require and they will
respond in due course. The deadline date for issuing you with full
response is 15/02/18. We will endeavour to provide a response well in
advance of this date, however, should we envisage any delays, or require
more details from you, we will contact you immediately.

 

If you have any queries about the above, please do not hesitate to contact
us, quoting ref. 945.70

 

Yours sincerely

 

Information Governance Team

Legal and Democratic Service

Lancashire County Council

PO Box 78

County Hall

PR1 8XJ

[1][email address]

[2]www.lancashire.gov.uk

 

 

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Freedom of Information, Lancashire County Council

 

 

Dear Ms Eccles,

 

Request for information

 

We are writing to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 18/01/18, in
which you request the disclosure of information.

 

We can confirm that your enquiry will now be assigned to an officer who
will commence a search for the information you require and they will
respond in due course. The deadline date for issuing you with full
response is 15/02/18. We will endeavour to provide a response well in
advance of this date, however, should we envisage any delays, or require
more details from you, we will contact you immediately.

 

If you have any queries about the above, please do not hesitate to contact
us, quoting ref. 945.70

 

Yours sincerely

 

Information Governance Team

Legal and Democratic Service

Lancashire County Council

PO Box 78

County Hall

PR1 8XJ

[1][email address]

[2]www.lancashire.gov.uk

 

 

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Freedom of Information, Lancashire County Council

Dear Ms Eccles

Further to your request below, we are unable to provide the documentation in regards to the barriers as this level of financial information is exempt from disclosure by virtue of section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act. This is because disclosure of the information would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of the County Council and/or other organisations with which we conduct business.

In considering the public interest test, I acknowledge that there is a general public interest in accountability and transparency in relation to the activities of public authorities. This is particularly the case where the public body is obtaining services from third parties in an effort to secure the best value for money. However, this must be balanced against the strong public interest in ensuring that the commercial interests of the county council, or those with whom we conduct business, are not unduly prejudiced. This is particularly relevant in the current economic climate, in which public authorities are facing unprecedented budgetary pressures. In the circumstances of the case we have concluded that the public interest favours maintaining the exemption.

In the event that you wish to complain about the manner in which your enquiry has been handled, you should write in the first instance to The Freedom of Information Officer, Lancashire County Council, PO Box 78, County Hall, Preston PR1 8XJ, or email [Lancashire County Council request email] and the matter will be referred to the Head of Information Governance for review and reconsideration.

If, after this stage, you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner, whose contact details are as follows:

The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113
Email: [email address]
Website: http://www.ico.org.uk

If you have any queries regarding any of the above, or you require any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Kind regards

Information Governance Team
Lancashire County Council

www.lancashire.gov.uk

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Dear Lancashire County Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Lancashire County Council's handling of my FOI request 'Anti terror barriers'.

In your initial reply you stated....
"Lancashire does not yet hold the information you are seeking as we are yet to receive invoices for works carried out. You may wish to resubmit your request in a few weeks when we hope to have received the relevant information."

In your second response you refused outright to provide me with the information I requested.

Contradictory?...I feel this is the case.

As a tax payer I have the right to know how my money is spent. This is your final chance to provide me with the documentation I requested. If you refuse, I shall pass this file directly to the ICO and publish their findings Nationally

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

Yours faithfully,

Kirsty Eccles

Dear Lancashire County Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Lancashire County Council's handling of my FOI request 'Anti terror barriers'.

I have been waiting since 13th February for a response.

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

Yours faithfully,

Kirsty Eccles

Freedom of Information, Lancashire County Council

Dear Ms Eccles,

 

We write further to your request for an internal review of the handling of
your requests for information regarding 'anti terror barriers'.

 

The initial response of 17 January (our ref. 936.1775) correctly stated
that the information you were seeking (total costings) was not held at the
time.  The fundamental obligation under section1 of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 ('the Act') is to confirm or deny whether the
requested information is held; at the time of your request the information
was not held, hence why you were advised to resubmit a request at a later
date.  We cannot speculate as to possible exemptions that may apply to
information that is not yet held, and the response of 17 January was in no
way confirmation that the information, once held, would be disclosed.  We
note you claimed the response was issued late; the response of 17 January
was issued after 19 working days, within the statutory requirement of 20
working days.

 

Your subsequent request of 18 January (our ref. 945.70) was for "all
documentation" regarding the barriers, to include "quotations, the final
agreement and copies of contracts etc"; this is a more specific request
for particular detailed information, as opposed to the initial request for
'total costs'.  This detailed information was refused on 13 February by
virtue of s43 of the Act, on the grounds that disclosure into the public
domain of such specific financial and contractual information would
prejudice commercial interests.  This response was issued after 18 working
days, within statutory requirements.

 

Having reviewed your original requests and the responses issued, we are
satisfied that the responses were appropriate; initially on the grounds
that the total cost information you requested was not held at the time
your request was made, and subsequently that your more specific request
for detailed information was refused on the grounds of prejudice to
commercial interests.  We are satisfied that the application of the s43
exemption was appropriate, and that the public interest test favoured
maintaining the exemption.  The refusal is accordingly upheld.

 

If you wish to resubmit a request for the total costs we may be able to
disclose this information; however, this will only be considered in the
event that you do submit such a request.

 

We apologise for the delay in issuing the response to this internal
review; whilst there is no statutory timescale for completing internal
reviews, we endeavour to complete them within 20 working days, as per
guidance issued by the ICO.  On this occasion we were unable to complete
the internal review within 20 working days due to high workloads, for
which we apologise.

 

If you remain dissatisfied with this response, you may refer the matter to
the Information Commissioner's Office, contact details for which have been
supplied previously.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Information Governance Team

Lancashire County Council

 

[1]www.lancashire.gov.uk

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Dear Freedom of Information,

You have ten working days to provide me with the information I requested or I shall pass this file to the ICO.
The choice is yours.

Yours sincerely,

Kirsty Eccles