FOI 7890 – Wrexham Borough Council invoke FOIA Exemption to avoid answering questions on a proposed North Wales Trawscymru route

——– Original Message ——–

Subject:	FOI 7890 – Wrexham Borough Council invoke FOIA Exemption to avoid answering questions on a proposed North Wales Trawscymru route
Date:	2018-04-05 21:54
From:	L MCTIGHE <john.mct@btinternet.com>
To:	foi@wrexham.gov.uk
Copy:	steve.adams@tivysideadvertiser.co.uk, Simon.Thomas@assembly.wales, antony@cambrian-news.co.uk, waleseye@gmail.com, journal.star@swwmedia.co.uk, simon@cambrian-news.co.uk, xray@bbc.co.uk, editor@northwaleschronicle.co.uk, Elin.Jones@assembly.wales, letters@gwent-wales.co.uk, “newsdesk@gwent-wales.co.uk” <newsdesk@gwent-wales.co.uk>, ben.lake.mp@parliament.uk, ed.ltt@landor.co.uk, welshnews@dailypost.co.uk, victoria.winckler@bevanfoundation.org, newsdesk@walesonline.co.uk, info@thebangoraye.com, edit@cambrian-news.co.uk, MHolley@divcom.co.uk, haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk, editor@westwaleschronicle.co.uk, editorial@passengertransport.co.uk, casework@ico.org.uk, postnews@mediawales.co.uk
Reply-To:	john.mct@btinternet.com

 

Dear Yours Sincerely,

 

On 07/03/2018 I received a reply from Wrexham Borough Council of “yes” to my Question (11) dated 07/02/2018 as shown below.:-

Question (11) “”Could you please tell me whether Wrexham Borough Council  and its officials hold any documentation relating to discussions/feasibilty studies in the years 2016 to 2018 regarding the future introduction of new Trawscymru services in North/Mid Wales. eg memos, meeting minutes, meeting notes, data gathering exercises, reports etc?. “”

Answer by Wrexham Borough Council    “”Yes””

 

On 08/03/2018 I wrote to Wrexham Borough Council and asked for clarification regarding the answer “Yes” with the following questions.

 

With respect to the answer to Question 11 could Wrexham Borough Council clarify the following:-

(1) Could you please tell me whether Wrexham Borough Council  and its officials hold any meeting minutes relating to discussions/feasibilty studies in the years 2016 to 2018 regarding the future introduction of new Trawscymru services in North/Mid Wales.

(2) If meetings were held regarding the future introduction of new Trawscymru services in North/Mid Wales could you please tell me the other Councils who were involved in those meetings.

(3) If meetings were held regarding the future introduction of new Trawscymru services in North/Mid Wales could you please tell me the dates on which they were held.

(4) Could you please tell me whether Wrexham Borough Council  and its officials hold any reports relating to discussions/feasibilty studies in the years 2016 to 2018 regarding the future introduction of new Trawscymru services in North/Mid Wales.

(5) If Wrexham Borough Council  and its officials hold reports relating to discussions/feasibilty studies in the years 2016 to 2018 regarding the future introduction of new Trawscymru services in North/Mid Wales could you please tell me the title of the reports and the date produced

(6) Could you please tell me whether Wrexham Borough Council  and its officials hold any data gathering exercises relating to discussions/feasibilty studies in the years 2016 to 2018 regarding the future introduction of new Trawscymru services in North/Mid Wales

(7) If Wrexham Borough Council  and its officials hold data gathering exercises relating to discussions/feasibilty studies in the years 2016 to 2018 regarding the future introduction of new Trawscymru services in North/Mid Wales could you please tell me the subject of the data gathering exercises and the date produced.

 

Today on 05/04/2018 I received a reply from Wrexham Borough Council saying the information that I requested falls under an exemption and cannot be disclosed. .

 

The following text regarding “exemptions” is taken from the FOIA 2000 .  “”If the exemption is ‘absolute’. you can automatically withhold information  This may be, for example, information you receive from the security services, which is covered by an absolute exemption.   However, most exemptions are not absolute but require you to apply a public interest test.  Exemptions exist to protect information that should not be disclosed, for example because disclosing it would be harmful to another person or it would be against the public interest.  Most exemptions are not absolute but are ‘qualified’. This means that before deciding whether to withhold information under an exemption, you must consider the public interest arguments. This balancing exercise is usually called the public interest test (PIT). The Act requires you to disclose information unless there is good reason not to, so the exemption can only be maintained (upheld) if the public interest in doing so outweighs the public interest in disclosure. “”.

 

I do not believe the Information Commissioner will consider that the above 7 questions will be covered by an ‘absolute’ exemption .   I also do not believe the Information Commissioner will consider that answering the above questions will be harmful to another person or would be against the public interest.  I do believe the Information Commissioner would consider that disclosure of answers to the above 7 questions would be in the public interest.

 

It is in the public interest that the Trawscymru routes in North Wales that are under discussion by Wrexham Borough Council are made available to the public. The public may have views on those routes which they may wish to present to Wrexham Borough Council or to any of the other parties involved in the discussions.

 

I would ask that you reply to the above 7 questions at the earliest opportunity.  In view of your tendency to take the full 20 days to reply , I  would remind you, (as I did previously on 08/03/2018), of the following guidance from the Information Commissioner . “”Section 10(1) states that an authority must comply with section 1(1) of the Act ‘…promptly and in any event not later than the twentieth working day following the date of receipt.’  Authorities should regard the 20 working day limit as a ‘long stop’.

 

Yours Sincerely,

 

Dr John McTighe

—-Original message—- From : foi@wrexham.gov.uk Date : 05/04/2018 – 16:23 (GMTST) To : john.mct@btinternet.com Subject : FOI 7890 – final response
Dear Dr McTighe  

Freedom of Information Act 2000

 

Further to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act, please see below the response from Wrexham County Borough Council.  An exemption has been agreed as per the following information:

 

Question 11:

Section 1(1)(a) of Freedom of Information Act requires the local authority to inform a requester whether it holds the information specified in the request. This is known as ‘the duty to confirm or deny’. However, there are occasions when complying with the duty to confirm or deny under section 1(1)(a) would in itself disclose sensitive or potentially damaging information that falls under an exemption.  Therefore the local authority are not in a position to confirm nor deny that the information requested is held or not.

 

If you are unhappy with the way the Council has handled your request, you may ask for an internal review.  Please contact foi@wrexham.gov.uk 01978 292000 if you require an internal review of your case.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at – Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AS, telephone 0303 123 1113, www.ico.org.uk

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Corporate Information Team / TÎm Gwybodaeth Corfforedig

Corporate and Customer Services Department / Adran Gwasanaethau Corfforaethol a Chwsmeriaid

Wrexham County Borough Council / Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Wrecsam

 

alt=”Description: Description: Description: http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/assets/png/logo_circle.png” v:shapes=”_x0000_s1026″>  01978 292000

Wrexham County Borough Council, Guildhall, Wrexham LL11 1AY

Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Wrecsam, Neuadd y Dref, Wrecsam, LL11 1AY

wrexham.gov.uk | wrecsam.gov.uk

twitter.com/wrexhamcbc | twitter.com/cbswrecsam

facebook.com/wrexhamcouncil | facebook.com/cyngorwrecsam

 

 

 

 

 

 

From: L MCTIGHE [mailto:john.mct@btinternet.com] Sent: 08 March 2018 10:58 To: foi Cc: newsdesk@walesonline.co.uk; steve.adams@tivysideadvertiser.co.uk; ben.lake.mp@parliament.uk; dave.parkinson@newsquest.co.uk; letters@gwent-wales.co.uk; edit@cambrian-news.co.uk; postnews@mediawales.co.uk; MHolley@divcom.co.uk; editor@westwaleschronicle.co.uk; Elin.Jones@assembly.wales; simon@cambrian-news.co.uk; victoria.winckler@bevanfoundation.org; haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk Subject: Re: FOI 7890 – Final response Wrexham Council Proposed New Trawscymru route in North Wales

 

With respect to the answer to Question 11 could Wrexham Borough Council clarify the following:-

(1) Could you please tell me whether Wrexham Borough Council  and its officials hold any meeting minutes relating to discussions/feasibilty studies in the years 2016 to 2018 regarding the future introduction of new Trawscymru services in North/Mid Wales.

(2) If meetings were held regarding the future introduction of new Trawscymru services in North/Mid Wales could you please tell me the other Councils who were involved in those meetings.

(3) If meetings were held regarding the future introduction of new Trawscymru services in North/Mid Wales could you please tell me the dates on which they were held.

(4) Could you please tell me whether Wrexham Borough Council  and its officials hold any reports relating to discussions/feasibilty studies in the years 2016 to 2018 regarding the future introduction of new Trawscymru services in North/Mid Wales.

(5) If Wrexham Borough Council  and its officials hold reports relating to discussions/feasibilty studies in the years 2016 to 2018 regarding the future introduction of new Trawscymru services in North/Mid Wales could you please tell me the title of the reports and the date produced

(6) Could you please tell me whether Wrexham Borough Council  and its officials hold any data gathering exercises relating to discussions/feasibilty studies in the years 2016 to 2018 regarding the future introduction of new Trawscymru services in North/Mid Wales

(7) If Wrexham Borough Council  and its officials hold data gathering exercises relating to discussions/feasibilty studies in the years 2016 to 2018 regarding the future introduction of new Trawscymru services in North/Mid Wales could you please tell me the subject of the data gathering exercises and the date produced.

 

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