Is this worth fighting? PPS Helston

Le_Kirk

I think it may be easier to speak about the clarification letter as we don’t seem to have made our point clear.

He is a master of understatement!

nosferatu1001

They really utterly failed to make any point clear

Give them a call
But make it clear you WILL follow up the call with an email to confirm the details of the call, so you have it on record.

Coupon-mad

Remember this in case they say the ORDER can only be provided under FOI with a delay:

A council Order is a public document that a LA has to provide to 'any interested party' without cost or delay.

It is your right to view any Traffic (or Parking Places, for car parks) Order.

So, if they want to class your final question as a FOI request fair enough, let them separate that request to FOI. The one asking for minutes of meetings, etc. is under 'FOI'.

The other questions are NOT Freedom of Info, they are a normal request that cannot be treated as if it's an FOI matter.

didgeridoooo

Thanks all. CM - yes good point. I will follow up to 'close that door' regarding splitting off the last question into a FOIA request, if they want to be complete cretins about it (I won't include that bit, inside voice only )

didgeridoooo

I would like a response in writing please. Telephone calls do not avoid confusion, they often add it. Hence why all important contracts, laws, deeds etc are written down rather than chatted about over a telephone call. In this case, given the Council's apparent attempt to stall or avoid acceding to my lawful request for a public document which any authority is obliged to provide to ‘any interested party’ upon request 'without cost or delay’, a telephone call would be less than appropriate. I require a written response, ideally providing the information requested, but if not, providing clear lawful reasons for your refusal.

Your own signature reads: "Please let us know if you need any particular assistance from us, such as facilities to help with mobility, vision or hearing, or information in a different format.[FONT=Calibri, sans-serif]”[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri, sans-serif]
[/FONT]I await your response to my lawful request for public information.

P.S. - If it is your contention that my final request (on my list) is covered by FOIA, I will allow you to deal with that under that framework. However the rest of the information requested is not covered by that, it is all public information which you are obliged to provide.

didgeridoooo

"

Our clarification letter was to advise you that your request, whilst made under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), will be logged and dealt with accordingly. However under the FOIA we are obliged to release information in accordance with General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act (DPA). Whilst releasing information under the FOIA we may be obliged to redact information to remain compliant with the set regulations and Acts and thus you may receive documents with suitable redactions. As you mentioned in your original email you were submitting the request for use in court our suggestion was you may wish to ask your solicitor to submit the same request but using Schedule 2 of the DPA. Contrary to your previous email, documents released under this schedule are generally not redacted and offer a fuller disclosure. It was our intention to help and offer assistance in the matter as per the FOIA, not ‘stall or avoid’ the FOI you submitted.

You have stated you do not have a solicitor so we will continue to proceed with the FOIA request in the normal manner, an email confirming the request has already been sent to you. The FOI request has not been delayed in any form by this exchange of emails.

Again if there is anything else please feel free to contact us again.

Kind regards

Pete

Pete Cokell | Information Management Advisor"

Coupon-mad

Tell him you did not make it under the FOI.

Tell him only the final question should be logged as an FOI request.

Ask him for a timely reply to the other questions as you have a right to see any Order (revoked or current) just by walking into any Council Offices to be shown the public document on the spot, at no cost (or 10p for a photocopy).

So ask which council office holds this Parking Places Order for you to inspect and get a copy of, or can he simply get a staff member to send you a link to it and to answer your other non-FOI questions, please, by return or within a short period (not FOI timeline).

didgeridoooo

Ok, I am in a bad mood today, I admit it.

"Well your translation of your “clarification letter” makes it a little more clear, thank you!

It had two identical paragraphs so it didn’t seem very clear to me and certainly didn’t seem to be saying what you have suggested. Despite your calling it a “clarification letter”, it sounds like it could have been worded for more clearly :

“We have received your request and we will provide the requested information. Please note some data may be redacted, subject to GDPR. If you wish to use Schedule 2 of DPA via your solicitor, you may receive the documents without redactions.”

I do however understand that brevity and succinctness doesn’t come naturally to civil servants as it’s far from conducive to ‘empire building’ now is it.

Oh well, we got there in the end. Thanks for clarifying the clarification of a response to a clear request for information, a process which took up my morning quite nicely, if only I earned a wage for this joyful experience.

Also, you didn’t acknowledge my point that this may have been a partial FOIA request (the last point only), but the rest of it is not a FOIA request and therefore the information should be provided in a timely manner, not on FOIA timescales.

I look forward to receiving the requested information. "

Coupon-mad

Ask about inspecting the TRO at Council offices if they are refusing to provide it in a timely manner as required, to any interested party (this is not a matter for FOI).

didgeridoooo

"Whilst not enshrined in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) an authority would not be correct in ‘picking and choosing’ which parts of an information request should be responded to under the FOIA or not. It could be seen that the Authority is trying to avoid allowing the requestor a clear route of complaint to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) in relation to the request. For transparency reasons we treat, like others, a request in its entirety.
As stated before your FOI request is being processed as we speak.

Kind regards

Pete

Pete Cokell | Information Management Advisor"