South Lanarkshire - FOI (2)
Here's our review request to South Lanarkshire Council - following their refusal to release general pay information about a group of male dominated LSO 3 jobs.
The post of LSO 3 covered a range of the old Manual Worker jobs - e.g refuse drivers, gardeners, gravediggers and road workers.
Prior to Single Status - none of these male jobs were graded above Manual Worker Grade 4 - while many predominantly female jobs - such as Cooks-in Charge and Home Carers - were on a higher Grade of Manual Worker 5.
But after South Lanarkshire's own 'in house' job evaluation scheme (JES) - all the male jobs all ended up much better paid than their female colleagues - the previous grades and pecking order was turned completely on its head.
How does that work - who knows?
That's why South Lanarkshire has a lot of explaining to do - starting at the Glasgow employment tribunal on 29 September 2009.
Dear South Lanarkshire Council
FOI Review Request
I refer to the letter from South Lanarkshire Council dated 5 August 2009 – your reference PER/55.
I am asking for a review of the council’s decision not to release information requested in connection with points 2 to 7.
In my view, the council’s response is unsatisfactory for the following reasons:
1. The information requested is not confidential and does not in any way constitute the personal data of council employees.
2. The information requested is generic in nature and relates to the number of posts at specified points on the Spinal Pay Column.
3. The request is for anonymised information – such data is routinely gathered and published by many public bodies as part of their equality monitoring arrangements.
4. The council’s response to Request 1 (i.e 578 individuals) is perfectly adequate and the remaining Requests (2-7) can obviously be answered in similar terms.
I look forward to hearing from you and if you require any further details or clarification at this stage, please contact me by e-mail at markirvine@compuserve.com
Kind regards
Mark Irvine
The post of LSO 3 covered a range of the old Manual Worker jobs - e.g refuse drivers, gardeners, gravediggers and road workers.
Prior to Single Status - none of these male jobs were graded above Manual Worker Grade 4 - while many predominantly female jobs - such as Cooks-in Charge and Home Carers - were on a higher Grade of Manual Worker 5.
But after South Lanarkshire's own 'in house' job evaluation scheme (JES) - all the male jobs all ended up much better paid than their female colleagues - the previous grades and pecking order was turned completely on its head.
How does that work - who knows?
That's why South Lanarkshire has a lot of explaining to do - starting at the Glasgow employment tribunal on 29 September 2009.
Dear South Lanarkshire Council
FOI Review Request
I refer to the letter from South Lanarkshire Council dated 5 August 2009 – your reference PER/55.
I am asking for a review of the council’s decision not to release information requested in connection with points 2 to 7.
In my view, the council’s response is unsatisfactory for the following reasons:
1. The information requested is not confidential and does not in any way constitute the personal data of council employees.
2. The information requested is generic in nature and relates to the number of posts at specified points on the Spinal Pay Column.
3. The request is for anonymised information – such data is routinely gathered and published by many public bodies as part of their equality monitoring arrangements.
4. The council’s response to Request 1 (i.e 578 individuals) is perfectly adequate and the remaining Requests (2-7) can obviously be answered in similar terms.
I look forward to hearing from you and if you require any further details or clarification at this stage, please contact me by e-mail at markirvine@compuserve.com
Kind regards
Mark Irvine
