History Repeating Itself?

After rattling North Lanarkshire's cage over its failure to respond to my FoI Review Request, someone within the Council clearly received a well deserved 'boot up the arse' because I have since received a response, one which is laughable and absurd in equal measure.

Because the Council is trying to argue that the release of this information "would prejudice substantially the effective conduct of public affairs" before going on to add that the "Council is currently participating in negotiations relative to equal pay and the disclosure of this report has been concluded by the Council as being likely to be prejudicial to the negotiation process".

Now this really is quite bizarre because how can a minute of the Council's Corporate Management Team from 11 August 2005 be relevant to the effective conduct of public affairs nine years later in 2014?

Unless, of course, the Council has something to hide.

If this is the case, then North Lanarkshire is heading down the same road as South Lanarkshire Council by denying perfectly valid FoI requests, but this 'strategy' ended in disaster at the UK Supreme Court where, as regular readers know, the Council lost the case and made a complete fool of itself.

In any event, I am now drafting my appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner and will post this on the blog site soon - so watch this space. 

Time's Up! (27 August 2014)  

North Lanarkshire Council failed to respond to my FoI Review Request by close of play yesterday which is unprecedented behaviour for a public body in Scotland, in my experience.

So the next step is for me to register an appeal with the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC), the independent body which adjudicates on any disputes about requests made under  the Freedom of Information (Scotland) 2002.

As regular readers know North Lanarkshire failed to respond to my original FoI request registered back in June 2014 and the Council has now also ignored my FoI Review Request which is a bizarre behaviour, I have to say.

So I can only assume that someone within the Council is really desperate to prevent the publication of the minute of its Corporate Management Team (CMT) meeting which was held on 11 August 2005.

Now experience tells me that this is likely to be because North Lanarkshire has something potentially damaging to hide, but that just makes me all the more determined to drag this information out into the open - where it belongs, of course.

Because what possible reason could Scotland's fourth largest council have for trying to keep top secret and under wraps, the record of a CMT meeting which took place over nine years ago? Especially when a key principle of Job Evaluation is that the process should operate in a fair and transparent way.

Maybe someone within North Lanarkshire will short circuit this nonsense by leaking a copy of the document, let's hope so.

But in the meantime I'll be putting an appeal in motion to SIC as I said I would in an email to the Council's chief executive, Gavin Whitefield, dated 29 July 2014.  
   

Counting the Days (25 August 2014)

In a few days time I am due to get an answer from North Lanarkshire Council to my FoI Review Request and if I don't get a proper response then I think it's probably fair to say that the Council has something to hide.

In which case I'll be registering an appeal with the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC) quicker than you can say - "What's the big deal about a minute of the Council's Corporate Management Team dated 11 August 2005?"

Now I don't know the answer to that question, but one way or the other I hope to be able to share it with readers soon.

What's the Big Secret? (22 August 2014)

Compare and contrast the response of the Scottish Government to my recent FoI request to that of North Lanarkshire Council.

In the Scottish Government's case they acknowledge receipt of my request while confirming that they will respond within the 20 working days laid down in the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

In the case of North Lanarkshire I've had to submit a formal Review Request as the Council has failed to respond at all to my original request for information about a minute of its Corporate Management Team dated 11 August 2005.

So what's the big secret?

The Scottish Government
Riaghaltas na h-Alba
SCOTlAND SCOTLAND

Our ref: Fol/14/01382 

21 August 2014 

Dear Mr Irvine 

FOISA Acknowledgment

Thank you for your requests dated 19 August 2014 under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA) asking to;

1 Please confirm the names of all Scottish councils which have applied to the Scottish Government for extra 'borrowing consents' to meet the costs of their outstanding equal pay claims? 

2 Please confirm the names of the councils which have made successful requests to date and the amounts of money involved in each case? 

3 Please confirm if this facility is still available to Scottish councils in 2014 and the process to be followed in making such a request to the Scottish Government? 

We received your request on 20 August 2014 and will respond in accordance with FOISA by 17 September 2014

If you have any queries, please contact me quoting case number Fo1/14/01382. 

Yours Sincerely, 


Louise Hester 

Scottish Government 

Freedom of Information (18 August 2014)

I've had to submit an FoI 'Review Request' to North Lanarkshire Council because of the Council's failure to respond to my original request within working 20 days as required by the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Now I'm quite surprised about this I have to say because up until now North Lanarkshire has behaved quite well in relation to my FoI requests, unlike some other nearby councils I could mention.

So why has NLC come over all coy about releasing a copy of a report to the Council's Corporate Management Team meeting held on 11 August 2005 which dealt with the costs and other issues regarding North Lanarkshire's Job Evaluation Scheme (JES)?

I suspect there is something quite damning contained in this report, but one way or the other  I'm confident that the information will come into the public domain where it belongs because all this secrecy and keeping things hidden form the workforce is quite shameful, if you ask me.

Gavin Whitefield

Chief Executive

North Lanarkshire Council

Dear Mr Whitefield

FoI Review Request

I refer to my letter dated 20 June 2014 and would now like to submit an FoI Review Request given North Lanarkshire Council's failure to respond to me within the time limits laid down by the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Please note that if the Council fails to respond to my FoI Review Request in a satisfactory manner, I plan to register an immediate appeal with the Scottish Information Commissioner (SIC).

Kind regards

Mark Irvine

-----Original Message-----
From: Whitefield Gavin <WhitefieldG@northlan.gcsx.gov.uk>
To: 'markirvine@compuserve.com' <markirvine@compuserve.com>
Sent: Mon, Jun 23, 2014 10:47 am
Subject: RE: FoI Request

Mr Irvine

I acknowledge receipt of your email regarding the above and would advise that I have forwarded it to the Executive Director of Corporate Services to process as a Freedom of Information enquiry.

Gavin Whitefield Chief Executive Tel: 01698 302452

From: markirvine@compuserve.com [mailto:markirvine@compuserve.com]
Sent: 20 June 2014 11:14
To: Whitefield Gavin
Subject: FoI Request

Flat 8/1

90 London Road

Glasgow

G1 5DE

20 June 2014

Gavin Whitefield

Chief Executive

North Lanarkshire Council

BY E-MAIL TO: whitefieldg@northlan.gov.uk

Dear Mr Whitefield

FOISA Request 

I would like to make the following request under the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002.

1 Please provide me with a copy of the report to the Council's Corporate Management Team (CMT) meeting held 11 August 2005 which dealt with the costs and related issues regarding North Lanarkshire's Job Evaluation Scheme (JES)?

2 Please include copies of all of the relevant Appendices which were attached to this report from the Director of Administration? 

I look forward to your reply and would be grateful if you could respond to me by e-mail to: markirvine@compuserve.com

    

Kind regards



Mark Irvine