Treatment of exempt information at council meetings

The request was successful.

Dear Northumberland County Council,

Please can you supply me with the following information about items considered under Part B (Press and Public excluded) at meetings of the council:

1) Are the specific reasons as to why the information is exempt stated in the Agenda for the meeting?
2) Is the Part B of the meeting fully minuted and the full minute agreed in Part B of a future meeting?
If not, how is the Part B minuted?
3) Are all or some papers considered under Part B routinely reviewed at a later date to establish whether the reason for their exemption remains valid, or whether the passage of time has resulted in the public interest in their publication out weighing the reason for which they were originally exempted?
4) If only some items are routinely reviewed, what is the policy as to which items should be reviewed?
5) When it is established that the exempt paperwork or record relating to a Part B meeting is appropriate for total or partial publication, either as a result of routine review or because it has been supplied in reply to a Freedom of Information request, is that paperwork then published on the council’s website alongside the other paperwork for the relevant meeting?
6) Has the council ever reviewed its policy on Part B papers in one of the council’s public meetings?

Yours faithfully,

Owen Temple

Northumberland County Council

1 Attachment

Our Ref: 8855  

Dear Enquirer,

INFORMATION REQUEST

Thank you for your request for information which will be dealt with under
the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, we
will let you know the likely charges before proceeding.

If you have any queries about this matter please contact us. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Please note, that due to the recent outbreak of Covid-19, there may be a
delay in responding to your request. We appreciate your patience at this
busy period.

Kind regards

Information Governance Office
Northumberland County Council
County Hall
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 2EF

Tel: 0345 600 6400
Email: [Northumberland County Council request email]
Web: http://www.northumberland.gov.uk

Dear Northumberland County Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Northumberland County Council's handling of my FOI request 'Treatment of exempt information at council meetings'.

By law you should either have responded to this request within 20 working days or notified me that you are unable to do so and explained the reason for the delay.

I appreciate that these are not normal times, but would appreciate a brief explanation of the reason for the delay and a confirmation that this information will be supplied within a further 20 working days.

Yours faithfully,

Owen Temple

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/t...

Yours faithfully,

Owen Temple

FOI Mailbox,

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Temple,
Your request will be dealt with as an Information Complaint as we can only
conduct Internal Reviews when a response has been sent.
We will forward your request to the Data Protection Officer who will deal
with the complaint and contact you directly.
f.y.i. we attach a copy of the Information Complaints Policy which will
explain the procedure.
kind regards,
Julia

Information Governance Office

(t)  0345 600 6400

(e) [email address]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Owen Temple <[FOI #725005 email]>
Sent: 06 March 2021 12:29
To: FOI Mailbox <[email address]>
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Treatment of
exempt information at council meetings
 
Dear Northumberland County Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information
reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Northumberland County
Council's handling of my FOI request 'Treatment of exempt information at
council meetings'.

By law you should either have responded to this request within 20 working
days or notified me that you are unable to do so and explained the reason
for the delay.

I appreciate that these are not normal times, but would appreciate a brief
explanation of the reason for the delay and a confirmation that this
information will be supplied within a further 20 working days.

Yours faithfully,

Owen Temple

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on
the Internet at this address:
[1]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

Yours faithfully,

Owen Temple

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #725005 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[2]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:
[3]https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...

Please note that in some cases publication of requests and responses will
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If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
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show quoted sections

Northumberland County Council

1 Attachment

Our Ref: 8855   

Dear Enquirer,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST

I refer to your Freedom of Information request in relation to treatment of
exempt information at council meetings.

Right of Access

Section 1(1) of the Act provides 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 (which Section
1(6) of the Act designates as the "duty to confirm or deny"), and

(b) if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him.

The right is to obtain access to the information itself and not to the
document or record which contains it.

The Act creates a general right of access to information held by public
authorities subject to various exemptions.

Northumberland County Council confirms that it holds the information you
have requested, please see the following information in response.

Please can you supply me with the following information about items
considered under Part B (Press and Public excluded) at meetings of the
council:
Q.1 Are the specific reasons as to why the information is exempt stated in
the Agenda for the meeting?
A.1 Yes, the reasons are stipulated in the agenda letter for the meeting
and are dictated by the Local Government Act 1972 and Access to
Information Act 1985.
Q.2 Is the Part B of the meeting fully minuted and the full minute agreed
in Part B of a future meeting?
If not, how is the Part B minuted?
A.2 Minutes which are themselves confidential are kept to a minimum in the
interests of transparency. However, there are occasions when it is
necessary to produce a confidential minute to ensure that the reasons
leading to a decision on a confidential report are fully recorded. On
these occasions, a non-confidential minute will also be produced of that
item which records the decision made without disclosing any confidential
information.  Both the confidential and non-confidential minutes will then
be submitted to the subsequent meeting for agreement.
Q.3 Are all or some papers considered under Part B routinely reviewed at a
later date to establish whether the reason for their exemption remains
valid, or whether the passage of time has resulted in the public interest
in their publication out weighing the reason for which they were
originally exempted?
A.3 No
Q.4 If only some items are routinely reviewed, what is the policy as to
which items should be reviewed?
A.4 See previous response.
Q.5 When it is established that the exempt paperwork or record relating to
a Part B meeting is appropriate for total or partial publication, either
as a result of routine review or because it has been supplied in reply to
a Freedom of Information request, is that paperwork then published on the
council’s website alongside the other paperwork for the relevant meeting?
A.5 As far as we're aware this has never arisen, but I would expect that
consideration would be given to publication at the time to determine
whether it was appropriate.
Q.6 Has the council ever reviewed its policy on Part B papers in one of
the council’s public meetings?
A.6 No

Complaints

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been
handled, you can request an internal review by writing within 2 months
from the date of this response to the Information Governance Office:

Information Governance Office
Northumberland County Council
County Hall
Morpeth
NE61 2EF

Email: [Northumberland County Council request email]

Information Commissioner

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have a
right by Section 50 of the Act to apply to the Information Commissioner
for a decision as to whether your request has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act at:

The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113
Email: [email address]

There is no charge for making an appeal.

Yours faithfully

FOI Coordinator - Democratic Services
Information Governance Office
Northumberland County Council
County Hall
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 2EF

Tel: 0345 600 6400
Email: [Northumberland County Council request email]
Web: [1]http://www.northumberland.gov.uk

References

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