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ICO announces
latest list of authorities for FOI monitoring
THE Information
Commissioner's Office (ICO) has announced that 4 public authorities
will be monitored for 3 months in the new year over concerns about
the timeliness of their responses to Freedom of Information
requests.
The ICO will monitor the Department for Education, the Department
for Work and Pensions, the Office of the 1st Minister and Deputy 1st
Minister (OFMDFM) in Northern Ireland and Wirral Metropolitan
Borough Council between 1 January 2013 and 31 March 2013.
The authorities were selected as they failed to respond to 85% of
FOI requests within the time limit of 20 working days or had
exceeded the time limit by a significant margin on numerous
occasions. Three of the authorities have been the subject of a
number of complaints to the ICO over the timeliness of their
responses, while the OFMDFM performance statistics for all requests
received during 2011 show that only just over half were answered on
time, with further delays encountered this year.
Commenting on the publication of this list, the Information
Commissioner, Christopher Graham, said:- "We will monitor the
authorities named for 3 months, and may take further action after
this monitoring period has expired if we don't see the necessary
improvements in each authorities' standard of compliance. It is
particularly disappointing to see that the advances previously made
by the Department for Education, the Department for Work and
Pensions, and Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council; which were
introduced following concerns after previous rounds of monitoring;
have not been continued. This is not good enough and we expect these
authorities to take the necessary measures to ensure that they are
meeting their obligations under the Freedom of Information Act. We
will provide support and advice where we can, but reserve the right
to take further action if they fail to step up to the mark."
Further information on the ICO's monitoring compliance scheme is
available
online.
MENTOR SCHEME FROM GENERAL REGISTER OFFICE
HELPS UNEMPLOYED BACK TO WORK
6 jobseekers from the
Sefton area have successfully completed a programme at the General
Register Office (GRO) aimed at helping them back into work.
The Routeway Programme is an initiative run in Sefton to give people
who are unemployed a head start in the jobs market. GRO is one of
many organisations in the area which participate in the programme,
funded by the Learning and Skills Council. The 6 participants
undertook a 10 week programme from 1 October 2012, where they each
worked within a different department at GRO, including IT,
Operations, and Organisational Transformation. They were supported
and given 1 to 1 guidance throughout by dedicated mentors.
Mike Hume, Area Operations Manager at GRO, said:- "This is a
fantastic programme; not only do those out of work gain valuable
work experience, but the mentors and line managers also gain new
skills. Feedback from participants has been very positive and the
success of the scheme is testament to the commitment provided by
mentors, line managers and their teams, who all had a role to play
in supporting them. I would like to express my thanks to the
Routeway clients, who have made a valuable contribution to the work
carried out at GRO."
Their achievements were marked with a graduation ceremony at the
end. This is the 6th such scheme at GRO, the 1st one having
been run in 2006, and so far 46 people have graduated. GRO is based
at the Smedley Hydro building in Southport. There is a new intake
scheduled for 2013. |
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RSN say:-
"Countryside hit hardest as government cuts Council funding"
THE The Rural Services Network has
told the press that:- "Rural communities will bear the brunt of
government cuts that will force local Councils to slash their
services."
The warning follows the publication, Wednesday, 19 December 2012, of
the local government finance
settlement
for 2013 to 2014, which details the amount of central funding given
to local authorities.
Rural Councils will face a bigger reduction in central grant and
spending power than urban Councils, according to an initial analysis
by the Rural Services Network.
For those who do not know who the The Rural Services Network is, The
Rural Services Network exists to ensure services delivered to the
communities of predominantly rural England are as strong and as
effective as possible. The term 'predominately rural' refers to
counties and Local Authority districts with at least 50% of their
population living in rural settlements (ie. rural towns, villages,
hamlets and dispersed dwellings) as identified in the Office for
National Statistics' rural definition, and including larger market
towns as identified in the Defra classification of local authority
districts. The rural definition and classification were devised by
the Rural Evidence Research Centre (RERC) at Birkbeck College. The
group has more than 200 organisations working together to improve
the delivery of rural services across England. The 2 operating arms
of the network are the Sparsity Partnership for Authorities
Delivering Rural Services (SPARSE) and the Rural Services
Partnership. Further information and a full list of members are
available
online as well as more
information at:-
rerc.ac.uk.
Information released by the government is incomplete with much
detailed information to follow. But an initial assessment paints a
bleak picture for the countryside.
In an oral
statement to parliament, on Wednesday, 19
December 2012, this certainly does not represent a fair deal for
both urban and rural communities as suggested by Communities
Secretary, Eric Pickles. "This is a fair settlement; fair to north
and south, rural and urban, shire and metropolitan England."
Predominantly rural local authorities will see an average 3.81%
reduction in formula funding compared to a 2.04% reduction for urban
authorities.
Significantly rural authorities will see an even bigger cut,
averaging 5.21%.
Rural Services Network chief executive Graham Biggs said:-
"This is a body blow for rural Councils already struggling to
provide services to countryside communities. Even before these
reductions, urban areas received about half as much more funding per
head than rural areas. This settlement further widens the gap. Rural
residents already pay more Council tax for fewer services because of
historic government underfunding, so the settlement is very bad news
for the countryside."
On average, district Councils will fare worst, with a 6.78%
reduction in formula funding.
County Councils will see a 4.70% reduction, followed by unitary
authorities (-2.9%), metropolitan authorities (-1.81%) and London
(-1.52%).
When it comes to spending power, predominantly rural local
authorities will see a 1.72% reduction compared to a 1.50% reduction
in spending power for urban authorities.
Significantly rural authorities will fare even worse, suffering a
2.10% reduction in spending power.
* All percentage figures included in this press release are an
initial assessment of the finance settlement as calculated by the
Rural Services Network. |
