FOI and NLC
I said the other day that I would be submitting an FOI Review Request to North Lanarkshire Council in connection with its performance management scheme for chief officials.
So here it is, a copy of my review request letter to June Murray who is the Council's Director of Corporate Services.
Now I've already received an initial response from North Lanarkshire to say that they will be treating my request as a formal Review Request instead of just providing the information now.
Which is crazy if you ask me, given the clarification I have provided and confirmation that I am not seeking anyone's personal data.
But that's typical of North Lanarkshire and helps to explain why the Council is in such a terrible mess - it's got no class.
Dear June
I refer to the attached letter from Neil McKay responding to an FoI Request I submitted to North Lanarkshire Council on 18 December 2014.
I would like to submit an FoI Review Request in connection with the Council's response to Point Number 5 in my original letter because there appears to be some confusion about the nature of the information I am seeking.
To clarify the position, I was not asking for personal data about the Council's chief officials (excluding the chief executive). Instead I was asking for confirmation of the number of chief officials in the four 'performance management' categories across each of the twelve years between 2002/03 and 2013/14.
For example, the answer in 2002/03 might be that all 31 chief officials were assessed as achieving their full potential in which case the appropriate response would be 31 followed by 0 in each of the three remaining performance categories.
In any event, the answer in each case is represented by a number and as the information is 'anonymised' the data involved clearly does not relate to any individual chief official and cannot, therefore, be classified as personal data in my view.
Given this explanation I expect the Council may now wish to release information requested without the need for a formal Review Request and, for that reason, I am copying Neil McKay into this correspondence as well. If the Council is now prepared to amend its answer to Point 5, in light of this further clarification, I will happily withdraw my Review Request.
I look forward to your reply.
Kind regards
Mark Irvine
Dear Mr. Irvine,
Request for Information
I refer again to your e-mail of 18 December 2014 seeking information in relation to salary and performance related pay.
In the first instance, I should acknowledge that this response falls outwith the statutory deadline outlined in the Freedom of Information legislation – and for this I apologise.
Returning to your request and having investigated, my response to your queries numbered (1) to (5) is as follows:-
(1) and (2)
|
(3)
2002-2003 31
2003-2004 30
2004-2005 34
2005-2006 34
2006-2007 33
2007-2008 28
2008-2009 28
2009-2010 30
2010-2011 30
2011-2012 31
2012-2013 27
2013-2014 27
(4) and (5)
I regret to advise you that the information sought for these parts of your enquiry constitutes personal data in respect of which disclosure would contravene the Data Protection principles and that this constitutes a ground of absolute exemption in terms of Section 38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. In coming to this conclusion, I have had particular regard of the decision of the Scottish Information Commissioner No. 041/2012 in the case of Mr. Paul Hutcheon of the Sunday Herald and North Lanarkshire Council which held that disclosure of information relative to objectives and targets for performance related pay was exempt under Section 38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. For ease of reference the link to this decision is undernoted below.
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/ApplicationsandDecisions/Decisions/2012/201100513.aspx(paragraphs 71 -74)
I can advise that North Lanarkshire Council, having regard to the provisions of Section 21 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, has established a procedure whereby any person who has requested information and is in any way dissatisfied with the decision on that request, can within forty working days require a review of that decision by writing to the Executive Director of Corporate Services, Civic Centre, Windmillhill Street, Motherwell ML1 1AB. Accordingly, if you are dissatisfied with this decision and seek such review please write to the Executive Director of Corporate Services.
