The Cabinet meeting failed to promote the positives of Freedom Of Information.

They decided to find and discuss any negative aspect they could find.


Request to ERC -

Agenda Item 6 - Cabinet Meeting Thursday, 1 September 2022 at 10.00am.- Freedom of Information Annual Report

I am sorry this may seem a bit long but in the circumstances of the 'lost' recording I do think this important for openness and transparency.

If the Council had not stated that a recording would be available following the meeting, I would have attended in the Public Gallery for this Cabinet Meeting Agenda Item.

As you are aware the Council has declined to publish the recording of this Cabinet meeting.

This is very unfortunate as the recording can give a 'feel' for the mood of the meeting for the support(or not) for Freedom of Information, very important information on the reasons for questions/answers and an indication of why Councillors are requesting this information.

In addition to the what is in the meeting minute, would appreciate if you can clarify and give further information on the discussion of the FOI report 2021/22 at Cabinet Meeting 1 September 2022 in light of the Council declining to publish the recording of the meeting.


With your and Councils committment to openness and transparency your help in providing the requested information will be very much appreciated.


1. It is disappointing that Councillors and officials did not highlight or speak to support these particular entries in the paper and report.

Would appreciate if you can clarify why Councillors and Officials did not highlight or speak to support these particular entries in the paper and report […]
Para 3 Paper -
3. Freedom of Information provides a statutory right of access to information held by Scottish public authorities.

Para 1 of report
The Freedom of Information (FoI) (Scotland) Act 2002 and the associated Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004 provide a statutory right of access to information held by Scottish public authorities. FoI encourages openness and accountability and helps to build trust between the Council and the public that we serve.

Para 8 of report
Freedom of Information remains an important element of East Renfrewshire Council’s commitment to transparency and accountability......


ERC RESPONSE -

The paper covered these points and makes the Council’s position quite clear.


2. Councillor Anderson.......asked for clarification of the review procedure

In reply the Senior Information and Improvement Officer referred to the legislative basis of the review procedure which was carried out internally by the Chief Officer – Legal and Procurement.

To what 'legislative basis' did you refer and what clarification did you give to Councillor Anderson?

ERC RESPONSE -

I have no verbatim record of the meeting but I seem to recall that I referred to the duty under S20 /21 of FoISA to make provision for a mechanism for reviewing responses on occasions where an applicant is dissatisfied with the response to their request, and that this has to be independently assessed by an officer not involved with the initial response.


3. .....responding to Councillor O’Donnell the Senior Information and Improvement Officer clarified the definition of “failed to respond”.

What clarification regarding the definition of "failed to respond" did you give to Councillor O'Donnell?


ERC RESPONSE -

I pointed out that these are instances where no substantive response is given to an FoI request.


4. Discussion then took place in relation to fees and charges relative to FoI requests.

Was this discussion in relation to fees and charges NOT being imposed?

Would appreciate if you would expand and give clarification of what was discussed.


ERC RESPONSE -

The small number of requests which had incurred a fee notice was noted and I outlined the statutory position regarding fees and FoI. I have no further detail on that, other than that I agreed to circulate the Fees Guidance which had originally been approved by CMT in 2018.


5. Councillor O’Donnell highlighted the total number of requests received and the difficult financial position of the Council, indicating that it would be useful to know the total cost to the Council of complying with requests.

In response the Senior Information and Improvement Officer explained that a number of authorities had attempted to quantify the total cost to their organisation but because of the number of variables related to gathering and processing information across the whole organisation the total cost had never been properly quantified.

What was behind the reason for Cllr O'Donnell highlighting the total number of requests received?

Why did he indicate it would be useful to know the total cost to the Council of complying with requests.?


ERC RESPONSE -

I have no further information on this.


Why did you not draw attention to and highlight these parts of paper/report to Cllr O'Donnell?[…]


ERC RESPONSE -

These parts of the papers were not specifically relevant to a consideration of financial cost.


6. In addition, also responding to Councillor O’Donnell, the Chief Executive explained that there was a charging regime in place and that staff were encouraged to charge for the information provided where possible. However she further explained that the whole charging process in relation to FoI was challenging. Details on the charging process would be circulated to members of the Cabinet for information.

To what query/question was the Chief Executive responding to Cllr O'Donnell?


ERC RESPONSE -

I have no further information on this.



Can you confirm it is Council Policy for Staff to seek to charge for every FOI request and initially ask themselves how can I charge for this FOI and impose as many fees as I can?

ERC RESPONSE -

This is not Council Policy. See the reference to the guidance note above



Is this encouragement one of ERC Chief Executive proposals for further charging for Council services?

'Lorraine McMillan, ERC Chief Executive proposes further charging for Council services needs to be considered.

Extract from

MINUTE of JOINT CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE (FIRST TIER) Minute of Meeting held at 2.00pm in the Council Chamber, Council Headquarters, Giffnock on 16 June 2022.

Para 4. third para down -

'Having commented on the income generated from the garden waste scheme which had also resulted in a number of jobs being saved, the Chief Executive commented that

the further use of charges needed to be considered, acknowledging the difficulties of doing so when residents were facing cost of living pressures.' '


ERC RESPONSE -

I have no information on this point.


7. Councillor Devlin questioned whether the Council received a disproportionately high number of requests from any groups or individuals. In response the Senior Information and Improvement Officer explained that the Council could refuse requests that were considered to be vexatious. However the standard for determining a request as vexatious was high.

Additionally, the source of requests was not a matter that could be taken into account in deciding whether to deal with it.

What did Councillor Devlin actually ask? What did he mean? What did he see as a problem?

To what groups or individuals was Councillor Devlin referring?

Did Councillor name these groups or individuals?


ERC RESPONSE -

I have no further comment, other than to confirm that no specific groups of individuals were referenced.

Are you aware of the Council receiving a disproportionately high number of requests from any groups or individuals?

ERC RESPONSE -

The Council deals with each request with regard to the relevant statutory framework and in consideration of guidance issued by the Scottish Information Commissioner.


8. The Chief Executive also gave some further explanation of some of the work that needed to be undertaken in processing FoI requests which had an impact on the time it took to deal with them. This included the need for documents to be reviewed to ensure non-related information was not released, and also for decisions on the information to be released to be taken by senior staff.

Can you clarify this explanation.

ERC RESPONSE -

This was simply an illustration of the volume of work which can be involved in dealing with FoI.



9. In addition, in response to Councillor Devlin, the Chief Executive highlighted the impact of the review process on the workload of the Chief Officer – Legal and Procurement.

What was cllr Devlin's query?

How does the review process impact on the workload of the Chief Officer - Legal and Procurement?

ERC RESPONSE -

Again, I have no verbatim record but if I recall correctly Cabinet queried the process for reviews and it was confirmed that these are all carried out by the Chief Legal Officer. Last year Mr Mahon deal with 27 reviews. This involves a detailed and robust process: digesting the review request, accessing and examining all information held, comparing that against the information already disclosed, assessing the reasons for any information withheld, considering the applicability of exemptions, drafting the response and, where necessary, coping and issuing further information.

//


Historically, the Cabinet use this Report to discuss negatives.

They frequently want to know the names of those who make FOI requests -

'Councillor Devlin questioned whether the Council received a disproportionately high number of requests from any groups or individuals.'


Rarely do they promote and talk up the positives of Freedom of Information regarding openness, transparency and scrutiny -

Freedom of Information provides a statutory right of access to information held by Scottish public authorities.

The Freedom of Information (FoI) (Scotland) Act 2002 and the associated Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004 provide a statutory right of access to information held by Scottish public authorities.

FoI encourages openness and accountability and helps to build trust between the Council and the public that the Council serve.

Freedom of Information is an important element and should promote East Renfrewshire Council’s commitment to transparency and accountability.