Glasgow, FoI and Equal Pay



Here's a really shocking response City Council officials have provided in response to my freedom of information (FoI) request asking for details of Glasgow's controversial WPBR pay scheme which was introduced in January 2007. 

According to officials the information no longer exists, but how could this be so since the WPBR was the single biggest employment relations issues that Glasgow City Council had ever dealt with - up until that time. 

The City Council has a very clear policy about retaining 'Vital Records' on issues of major importance, so who could possible have ordered that these records be destroyed and on what grounds?

I think we deserve to know although readers will notice that no explanation is given in the council's official response..

  

Dear Mr Irvine

Request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (“the Act”)


Thank you for your correspondence received on 22 January 2018 requesting that the following information be provided to you:

“1) Please provide me with the copies of all written communications (including emails) between the City Council's Chief Executive and Hays HR Consulting and/or Dr Steve Watson regarding the award of the contract to develop the Workforce Pay and Benefits Review (WPBR) in 2005/06?

2) Please provide me with the copies of all written communications (including emails) between the City Council's Executive Director of Corporate Services and Hays HR Consulting and/or Dr Steve Watson regarding the award of the contract to develop the Workforce Pay and Benefits Review (WPBR) in 2005/06?”

Glasgow City Council (“the Council”) is treating your request as a request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and can respond as follows:

In accordance with Section 17 of the Act we would advise you that the information you are looking for is not held by the Council. Neither does anyone else hold it on our behalf. Accordingly we are unable to comply with your request. This is because the information you have requested is no longer retained by the Council.
If you are dissatisfied with the way Glasgow City Council has dealt with your request you are entitled to require the Council to review its response. Please note that for a review to take place you must:

  • Lodge a written requirement for a review within 40 working days of the date of this letter 
  • Include a correspondence address and a description of the original request and the reason why you are dissatisfied 
  • Address your request to the Director of Governance and Solicitor to the Council: 
Director of Governance and Solicitor to the Council 


Glasgow City Council

City Chambers

George Square

Glasgow G2 1DU

Email: FOIReviews@glasgow.gov.uk

You will receive notice of the results of the review within 20 working days of receipt of your request. The notice will state the decision reached by the reviewing officer as well as details of how to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner if you are still dissatisfied with the Council’s response. You must request an internal review by the Council before a complaint can be directed to the Scottish Information Commissioner. For your information at this stage, an appeal can be made to the Scottish Information Commissioner by contacting her office as follows if you do remain dissatisfied with the outcome of the Council’s review decision -

Address: Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, KY16 9DS.

Email: enquiries@itspublicknowledge.info

Telephone: 01334 464610

You can also use the Scottish Information Commissioner’s online appeal service to make an application for a decision:

www.itspublicknowledge.info/appeal

Please note that you cannot make an appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner until you have first requested an internal review by the Council.

If you wish to submit a complaint to the Council in relation to the manner in which it has handled your request for information then you can do by requesting that the Council review its response. Details of how to request a review are set out in the above paragraph “Right of Review”.

If you have any further queries regarding this process, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely


Freedom of Information Team

Chief Executive’s Department

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