Notes & Queries
The council didn't actually send copies of any emails. Just the Date, Subject and Recipient.
This is also the day that the council sent an email to all the people named in the request (plus others) "warning" them that if they didn't delete their emails, they could be released under FOI.
Sending the email out a day earlier would have been contempt of court, as there was an outstanding FOI request, which is a criminal offence.
Of course, the upshot of that email was that any subsequent specific request would not be able to find anything if the council officer decided to delete it.
Freedom of Information Request No. 1
Timeline
Response to Request
27 Jun 2007
Thank you for your e-mails of 25th, 30th and 31st May 2007.
You have requested the following information under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000:
Copies of e-mails sent by Martin Salter or sent on his behalf by Ann Morgan to Senior Council Officers.
You subsequently clarified that this request covered e-mails sent over the past two financial years, to include Trish Haines, Anita Cacchioli, Kevin Holyer, Chris Smith, Steve Ward, David Elworthy, Bruce Tindall and Sally Swift.
I enclose herewith a schedule of e-mails sent from Martin Salter’s office. Please note that in future we will consider a general request for information of this nature vexatious. We shall require any future request for information to be of specific nature relating to specific information.
Please also note that the attached scheduled only lists e-mails that have been retained by officers. The Information Commissioner has advised all public authorities that they should only retain information for as long as they need to keep it, and should establish clear rules on retention and destruction. In this light the Council considers it good practice to delete e-mails regularly, and as a consequence some of the officers that you have listed had not retained any e-mails from Mr Salter.
If you are unhappy with this response to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act then you may ask for an internal review under the Council’s complaints procedure. This request should be made in writing to Mr C Brooks, Head of Legal Services, at Reading Borough Council.
If you request such a review, and are not content with its outcome, you then have a right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely
Christopher J Brooks
HEAD OF LEGAL SERVICES