18th June 2013 - to Biggleswade Town Council.
The British and European safety standard BS
EN1176 and the Health and Safety Executive strongly recommend that all play
areas have at least one inspection every year from an independent suitably
qualified body.
Can you provide me with a copy of the last independent
inspection carried out at Kitelands please?
21st June 2013 - from Biggleswade Town Council
Thank
you for your email which will be treated as Freedom of Information request and
dealt with accordingly in line with the Town Council’s policy.
14th
July 2013 - from Biggleswade
Town Council
Further
to your email request I can advise that the Town Council operates an inspection
regime in line with the recommendations set out in BS EN1176 and BS EN1177.
The
Council has competent individuals within it’s workforce that undertake a
programme of routine, operational and annual inspections for all Town Council
play facilities.
I
would not expect to provide copies of actual inspection reports under the
Freedom of Information act, but would be happy to answer questions for example
on the number of items at a site requiring urgent attention, or numbers of
items requiring attention within 6 months etc.
If there
is particular information that you would like to identify regarding Kitelands
Recreation Ground I would be more than happy to meet you on site to discuss at
your convenience.
27th
July 2013 - to Biggleswade
Town Council
If you do not have annual independent
inspections, then you are not operating in line with the recommendations of BS
EN1176 or the Health & Safety Executive.
I would have thought that for the sake of less
than £100 per site, the Council would be left exposed in the event of a claim
against its insurance. Some Insurance Companies insist on annual independent
inspections, does BTC insurers?
You say "I would not expect to
provide copies of actual inspection reports under the Freedom of Information
act."
The Freedom of Information Act says:
Part I - General
right of access to information held by public authorities.
(1)
Any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled-
(a)
to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information
of the description specified in the request, and
(b)
if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him.
You have now told me that "The Council
has competent individuals within it’s workforce that undertake a programme of
routine, operational and annual inspections for all Town Council play
facilities."
Firstly can you tell me what makes these
individuals competent to carry out these inspections and secondly can you now
provide me with copies of these inspections for Kitelands Recreation Ground
that were carried out in the last 12 months.
If you consider the information is exempt,
please inform me under the Act what exemption you are claiming.
Part
II - Exempt information.
1.
Information accessible to applicant by other means.
2.
Information intended for future publication.
3.
Information supplied by, or relating to, bodies dealing with security matters.
4.
National security
5.
Certificates under ss. 23 and 24: supplementary provisions.
6. Defence.
7.
International relations.
8. Relations
within the United Kingdom.
9.
The economy.
10.
Investigations and proceedings conducted by public authorities.
11. Law
enforcement.
12. Court records
13.
Audit functions.
14.
Parliamentary privilege.
15.
Formulation of government policy, etc.
16. Prejudice
to effective conduct of public affairs.
17. Communications with Her Majesty,
etc. and honours.
18.
Health and safety.
19.
Environmental information.
20. Personal information.
21.
Information provided in confidence.
22. Legal professional privilege.
23.
Commercial interests.
24.
Prohibitions on disclosure.
By Friday 23rd August 2013 at the latest
please.
16th August 2013 - from Biggleswade Town Council
I am
currently considering the appropriateness of disclosing the various information
that you have requested in your emails of 18th June and 27th
July.
Owing
to annual leave commitments I will be unable to issue this response by Friday
23rd August, however I will ensure that a response to your enquiry
will be sent to you by Friday 30th August at the latest.
16th
August 2013 - to Biggleswade Town Council
By not providing the information I requested
by the 23rd August 2013 and not claiming an exemption, Biggleswade Town Council
is again in breach of the Freedom of Information Act.
Having said that I am prepared to wait until
Friday 30th August 2013, but if the information is not forthcoming by that date
I will again refer Biggleswade Town Council to the Information Commissioners
Office.
29th August 2013 - from Biggleswade Town Council
Further to my email dated 16th
August 2013 I have now had the opportunity to consider the matter further and I
can advise that I consider the inspection reports that you have requested
copies of to be exempt in line with Part ii 19 Environmental Information.
I would reiterate my previous
offer to meet you out on site to discuss the play areas at Kitelands Recreation
Ground with you.
29th August 2013 - to Biggleswade Town Council
Firstly
I was trying to establish if BTC was having annual independent safety inspections
carried out on the play equipment – you have confirmed you are not.
You
told me :
“The
Council has competent individuals within it’s workforce that undertake a
programme of routine, operational and annual inspections for all Town Council
play facilities”. I asked “can you tell me what makes these individuals
competent to carry out these inspections “. You have chosen not to answer this
question.
I also
asked you “can you now provide me with
copies of these inspections for Kitelands Recreation Ground that were carried
out in the last 12 months by these competent individuals.”
You
are now claiming exemption under Environmental Information which is obscure to
say the least and I am not even sure what it means:
(1)
Information is exempt information if the public authority holding it-
(a) is
obliged by regulations under section 74 to make the information available to
the public in accordance with the regulations, or
(b)
would be so obliged but for any exemption contained in the regulations.
(2)
The duty to confirm or deny does not arise in relation to information which is
(or if it were held by the public authority would be) exempt information by
virtue of subsection (1).
(3)
Subsection (1)(a) does not limit the generality of section 21(1).
Can
you explain, as you are meant to, how this exemption applies in this case?
To say
further delay, in line, with previous advice from the ICO, I
am lodging an appeal against the decision by BTC to release the information and
request that an Internal Review is carried out immediately.
12th
September 2013 - from Biggleswade Town Council
I am writing to advise you that
I will sending a response to your email during the early part of next
week. Unfortunately it has not been possible for me to send a reply
sooner due to the Town Clerk being on annual leave last week and again this
week. Once I have had the opportunity to discuss the content of your email a
response will of course be sent to you.
12th September 2013 - to
Biggleswade Town Council
The Information Commissioners Office would
expect an Internal Review to be carried out within 20 working days from the
date of the request.
The
result of this Review should be with me by Thursday 26th September 2013 at the
latest.
26th
September 2013 - letter from Biggleswade Town Council, Mayor, Councillor H
Ramsay.
"I
am writing to inform you that myself, Councillor Mrs W Smith (Chair Public
Lands & Open Spaces Committee, Councillor G Wilson (Vice Chair Public Lands
& Open Spaces Committee) have now conducted an internal review as per your request of 29
August 2013.
I can advise that the Council's insurers do not require
annual independent inspection of play equipment items.
The Town Council are satisfied that their staff members
are competent to undertake the programme of play equipment inspections and that
these are carried out appropriately and in a regular and timely manner.
With regard to the exemption we would refer you the
guidance contained with Environmental Impact Regulations Section 39,
specifically clauses 2.2, 2.3 and 3.1.
We note that an offer has previously been made by the
Deputy Town Clerk to meet you at the Kitelands Recreation Ground to discuss
your concerns. However the internal review panel are prepared to meet you at
the Town Council offices to clarify the situation with regard to your
information request."
26th
September 2013 - to Biggleswade Town Council, Mayor, Councillor H Ramsay.
I am sorry but you seem to have missed the
point.
This is the short version of events:
On the 18th June 2013, I asked for a copy of
the last Independent Safety Inspection carried at Kitelands Recreation Ground.
On the 14th July 2013 Louise Wilcox told me
that competent Council individuals carried out a programme of inspections.
On the 27th July 2013 I asked for a copy of
those inspections.
On the 16th August 2013, Louise Wilcox told me
she could not comply with the statutory 20 working days, so I agreed to wait
until 30th August 2013.
29th August 2013, exemption claimed by Louise
Wilcox so I asked on the same day for an Internal Review.
On the 26th September 2013, after your
Internal Review you have refused my request.
Since 18th June I have been asking Biggleswade
Town Council to demonstrate by providing copies of safety inspections, that the
equipment and the area is regularly inspected. I cannot see the point of a
meeting with any representatives of the Council unless you are going to provide
me with copies of the inspections. You are clearly not going to do that.
I will now refer the case to the ICO.
26th September 2013 Case referred to the
Information Commissioners Office (ICO)
9th December 2013 - rang ICO office to check on progress.
Due to volume of work and staff reductions, they are still
dealing with early September 2013 cases.
Watch this space!!!!!!!
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