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By email to:Duncan McKenzie
(request-173637-95d58a42@whatdotheyknow) / Contact: / Ana Gradiska
Direct line: / 020 7934 9781
Fax:
Email: /
Date: / 3 October 2013
Dear Mr McKenzie
I have now completed a review of London Councils’ response to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) which was received by London Councils on 29 July 2013 (reference S-2013-23).
In your original request you asked us to:
- Please provide a list of all the PATAS adjudicators, including the Chief Adjudicator, showing for each the date of their appointment and their legal status being either a solicitor or a barrister.
The response, sent to you on 6 August, said:
The names of the PATAS adjudicators are available in the PATAS annual reports which are published on the PATAS website: This information is therefore exempt from disclosure in response to this request for information under section 21 of FOIA (information accessible to applicant by other means). This is an absolute exemption and is not subject to the public interest test.
The dates of appointment of the PATAS adjudicators are available in the papers of the meetings of the Transport and Environment Committee which are published on the London Councils website: This information is therefore also exempt from disclosure in response to this request for information under section 21 of FOIA (information accessible to applicant by other means).
With regards to the legal status of the PATAS adjudicators, they are Parking and Traffic Adjudicators within the meaning of the Traffic Management Act 2004.
I agree that London Councils’ response to this part of your request was insufficient. I feel that is not the case that the dates of appointment are reasonably accessible through the papers of the meetings of the Transport and Environment Committee through the weblink which was provided to you. Therefore, I am attaching a spreadsheet with all the current PATAS adjudicators, and the dates of their appointment.
You also asked to be told the legal status of the PATAS adjudicators. In London Councils’ response on 6 August it was stated that all adjudicators are Parking and Traffic Adjudicators within the meaning of the Traffic Management Act 2004. I do not feel that your request for information was fully answered in the London Councils’ response to you, as the response did not acknowledge that your request specifically asked whether the adjudicators were solicitors or barristers. However, I can now confirm that this information is exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of FOIA (third party personal information).
Section 40(2) of the FOIA has been applied to your request for the legal status of the Parking Adjudicators as disclosure of this personal data would breach the First Data Protection Principle (fair and lawful processing) as there is no expectation by the individuals concerned that this personal data would be disclosed in response to a Freedom of Information request. The s 40(2) exemption is an absolute exemption and is not subject to the public interest test. I also consider that the London Councils position on this matter is in accordance with guidance on access to staff information published by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).
The second part of your original request was as follows:
2. With reference to the retirement of the former Chief Adjudicator Martin Wood, please advise the names and positions of the members of the Committee which interviewed/considered candidates for appointment to the replacement position of Chief Adjudicator and also provide a list of the candidates who were considered for the post.
London Councils’ response was emailed to you on 6 august 2013. The London Councils response from 6 August stated:
The interview panel which considered candidates for the position of Chief Adjudicator consisted of the following people:
Chief Congestion Charging Adjudicator, Chair
Corporate Director, Services, London Councils
Director, Corporate Governance, London Councils
Comptroller and City Solicitor, City of London Corporation
The names of these people are exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of FOIA (third party personal information).
Similarly, the names of candidates who were considered for the post of Chief Adjudicator are exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of FOIA (third party personal information).
Section 40(2) of the FOIA has been applied as disclosure of this personal data would breach the First Data Protection Principle (fair and lawful processing) as there is no expectation by the individuals concerned that this personal data would be disclosed in response to a Freedom of Information request. The s 40(2) exemption is an absolute exemption and is not subject to the public interest test.
Without prejudice to any view that London Councils may hold on whether or not a public interest test may be imputed in applying the s 40(2) exemption we consider that public interest arguments in favour of disclosure are outweighed by the arguments supporting non-disclosure. The public interest arguments in favour of disclosure in this case could be argued to be facilitating accountability and transparency of public authorities for their decisions. Nevertheless, we consider that the public interest in disclosure does not outweigh the arguments against. With regards to the names of the interview panel which considered candidates for the position of Chief Adjudicator, we believe that any public interest in this matter would be satisfied by the release of the job titles of the panel members. With regards to the names of candidates for the position of Chief Adjudicator webelieve that safeguarding the privacy of these persons far outweighs any public interest in this matter.
With regards to the second part of your query, I agree with the original response sent to you by London Councils, and I believe that the exemptions quoted have been applied properly.
If you are not happy with the outcome of your internal review, you can write to the Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
Ana Gradiska
Acting FOI and Complaints Manager