Disclosure Log - May 2022

The number of complaints made to the council by individuals concerning their neighbours, separated by issue e g noise, statutory nuisance, boundary dispute etc 

Can I please have the above data for the following periods: 

• 1st January 2021 - Present

• 1st January 2020 - 31st December 2020

• 1st January 2019 - 31st December 2019 

Do you also have a record of indecent exposure complaints by individuals concerning their neighbours? e g individuals filing complaints around seeing their neighbour exposed by the window or garden

The Council’s Environmental Protection team that handles such complaints has three separate complaint codes regarding complaints received from customers about their neighbours which are provided as follows: 

1 January 2019 – 31 December 2019:

C070 Noise – Neighbours = 44

CI15 Neighbour Dispute = Zero

CI54 Nuisance Behaviour – Neighbours = Six 

1 January 2020 – 31 December 2020: 

C070 Noise – Neighbours = 63

CI15 Neighbour Dispute = Zero

CI54 Nuisance Behaviour – Neighbours = Three 

1 January 2021 – Present (03.05.2022): 

C070 Noise – Neighbours = 85

CI15 Neighbour Dispute = Zero

CI54 Nuisance Behaviour – Neighbours = Nine

Regarding the question about indecent exposure complaints, the Council does have a complaint code to record this type of complaint, but we have no records of any such complaints for the years requested

All the information on reported ‘statutory nuisances’/Neighbour Disputes in your council area including: 

• Type of nuisance i e:

• noise (including loud music and barking dogs)

• artificial light (except street lamps)

• dust, steam, smell or insects from business premises

• smoke, fumes or gases

• a build-up of rubbish that could harm health

• High hedges, trees and boundaries

• Number of cases reported

• Noise abatement orders/Fines issued and amount of fine 

Please could we have the information on this from the last 5 calendar years? If data from the last 5 calendar years is not possible, would it be possible to share data from the last 2 calendar years instead? 

Please could you provide the information within an excel document split by type of nuisance reported, area (if possible) and date

Applicant provide with some of the information held in Excel format, which is available upon request

There have been 8 Noise Abatement Notices issued in the calendar years 2017-2021

1. In the 2021 calendar year could you please state how many complaints about noise issues were recorded by your environmental health/noise complaints department?

2. In relation to the complaints in 2021 calendar year how many of these related to complaints about:

(i) Barking dogs

(ii) Chickens and cockerels

(iii) Sexual noise

(iv) Loud music or television

3. If you had any complaints that related to (iii) sexual noise please state (a) a summary of the nature of the complaint and (b) what you as the local authority did as a result of the complaint

1. In calendar year 2021 we received a total of 357 noise complaints

2. (i) 66

   (ii) Five

   (iii) Zero

   (iv) 20

3. Not applicable

I would like to request the background and supporting papers to the report that was written on 16th March 2022 by Sarah Jane Shapland-Mackenzie, Head of Planning, Property and Regeneration which was subsequently submitted to the NDC Strategy and Resources Committee on 4th April 2022. In particular I would like sight of the following:

1. Breakdown of costings for the £46k concrete survey
2. Breakdown of costings for the estimated £500k rebuild
3. Copy of report dated 01/03/2022
4. Copy of all background papers pertaining to report written on 16th March 2022

I would also like answers to the following that has been stated in the report:

"Option 2 States that after offering the land to the Town Council and the local residents if there is no take up 6 months after this offer the council will demolish the car park"

1. When does the 6 month offer start?
2. Who will inform us?
3. If this is not taken up, when will the demolition start?
4. Has the capital programme been varied by £100k for the year 2022/23 as stated in 2.3 of the report submitted on 4th April 2022?

Other questions are:

1. What tests were carried out to make the statement "the structure is unsafe"

1. £46k budget estimate quote by WSP Engineering on 9 February 2022 breakdown as follows: 

• Structure testing including: delamination survey of the soffit and top surface of the deck, concrete sampling and testing, rebound hammer testing, radar/cover meter testing, sampling and testing of steel reinforcement = £14k 

• Principal contractor to facilitate testing = £20k 

• Structural engineer assessment calculations of the car park to determine structural integrity = £12k 

2. The estimated cost of £500k for the demolition and rebuild under Option 3, was a high level estimate provided by our Senior Engineer. It is a difficult project to give a more accurate estimate, but our Engineer considers that £500k is conservative for a like-for-like structure. The estimate below is a worst case scenario, and should be noted that this takes into account the current hike in materials costs, the challenging topography of the site, restricted highway access to the site for plant/deliveries, high costs of concrete disposal etc.  Without carrying out a full survey, rough measurements and quantities from the limited drawings of the existing car park have been taken.  Obviously, a smaller car park would cost less, but still does not appear to be financially viable 

Table of costings available upon request (unable to insert into this log) 

3. Copy of reported attached as requested (available upon request) 

4. Applicant provided with letter dated 3 November 2020  (available upon request) 

Answers to questions as follows:

1. When does the 6 month offer start? 

The six month period started from the date of a letter sent to Lynton and Lynmouth Town Council on the 27th April 2022, thereby ending on the 27th October 2022.  Subject to the decision of the Town Council, a report will be submitted to Strategy and Resources Committee at the November 2022 Meeting.  Should the Town Council wish to make a decision before this date, the matter could be brought forward to an earlier meeting 

2. Who will inform us? 

Lynton and Lynmouth Town Council 

3. If this is not taken up, when will the demolition start? 

The members of Strategy and Resources amended the officer recommendation and the minute of the meeting reads:

RESOLVED that the Council proceed with option 4 and offer the land to the Town Council or community, disclosing the concerns with the structure and that if after a 6 month period it was clear that there was no interest in the land that a report be brought back to the Committee for consideration 

If there was no take up then a report would go back to Strategy and Resources for members to consider their options.  No subsequent action has been agreed as of yet 

4. Has the capital programme been varied by £100k for the year 2022/23 as stated in 2.3 of the report submitted on 4th April 2022? 

No for the reasons set out in question 3 above 

Other questions are:

1. What tests were carried out to make the statement "the structure is unsafe"

No testing has been carried out to date, but details of the inspection on 25/02/22 is contained within the Structural Engineers report.  During his inspection sizeable pieces of concrete were detaching from the underside of the concrete slab as per attached photo (as witnessed by NDC Senior Engineer, John Andrews and Chris Sleep from Lynton and Lynmouth Town Council). This in itself is enough to suggest that elements of the structure is deteriorating, but unless further testing is carried out as discussed before at a cost of £46k, we cannot give a full account of the severity of deterioration 

The earlier report stated: 

‘The elevated section of the car park should not be used until such time investigations have established the adequacy of the concrete deck and that appropriate vehicle barriers have been installed. We are mindful of the disruption this will cause to the residents but we cannot at this stage provide assurances on the safety of the car park.’ 

Without further investigations, assurances as to the safety of the structure could not be provided 

2. Can be it confirmed that the land was gifted to NDC by the then landlord of the Cottage In Public House in or around 1952 when the original structure was put in place and that if the structure is removed the land is to be returned to the Cottage Inn Public House? 

The land was gifted to the then Urban and District Council of Lynton on the 7th December 1954, there is no reference in the Deed stating the use of the land, nor any reference to handing it back.  There was a further Grant between NDC and another party, not the same as the original Donor but with the same surname, in 1977, for them to have the right to lay a sewerage pipe across the land

Please could you provide the following information on socially rented Traveller sites in your local authority area for the five full calendar years between 2017 and 2021? This includes all sites owned and managed by the local authority or by a housing association, but not private sites. For any 'yes' answers, please specify in your answer which site the answer refers to, e.g. 'Mary Street, Bradford', or 'Esholt Site, Bradford' 

If you are unable to provide five years of information within the FOI/EIR cost limits, please prioritise 2021 and work backwards in reverse chronological order 

1a. Have you received any environmental complaints from residents or other parties, including council officers, between 2017 and 2021? Please respond with a 'Yes' or 'No' answer for each of the five years

1b. For any 'Yes' answers, please list how many complaints you received by type for each calendar year. For example: 2017 - Total: 18 - 8 complaints for vermin, 2 from odour from refuse dump, 1 for noise, 3 for insects, 1 for dust, 2 for air pollution, 1 for flooding etc 

2a. Between 2017 and 2021, has the council measured air or noise pollution, or taken soil samples to test for contamination? Please respond with a 'Yes' or 'No' answer for each of the five years for air, soil and noise separately. For example: 2017 - Noise pollution - Yes; Soil - No; Air pollution - Yes 

2b. For any 'Yes' answers, please state whether or not pollution or contamination exceeded legal or recommended levels, or was higher than the local authority area average on the site at any point through each year. Please give as much detail as you can, such as the month the breach occurred. For example: 2017 - Noise pollution exceeded legal or recommended levels in March; air pollution exceeded legal level

Applicant advised that there are no socially rented traveller sites within the North Devon district

1. How many Gypsy and traveller transit, residential/permanent, Travelling Showpeople pitches are there in the council’s district? 

2. How many more pitches are currently needed in the council area and by when? 

3. Have any future, potential pitches been identified - if so, how many? 

4. Since November 2017, how many new Gypsy and traveller transit, permanent and Travelling Showpeople pitches have been created? 

5. Since November 2017, how much money has the council received in Traveller Pitch Funding to build new traveller sites? 

6. Since November 2017, how much money has the council spent trying to deliver new transit, permanent and Travelling Showpeople sites?

1. There are a total of six permanent pitches within the North Devon (excluding the area within Exmoor National Park) plus 2 ‘tolerated’ pitches without planning permission 

2. The adopted North Devon and Torridge Local Plan identifies a requirement for the provision of at least 15 pitches for permanent traveller accommodation and at least 2 transit sites or emergency stopping places of 4 or five pitches over the plan period of 2011-2031. The requirements span across the local planning authority areas of North Devon Council and Torridge District Council and are not disaggregated to an individual local planning authority area 

3. No future potential permanent pitches have been identified. Planning permission for a temporary toleration site has been agreed, subject to legal agreement (planning application 73606). The identification of potential future pitches will be considered as part of the review of the North Devon and Torridge Local Plan

4. Two permanent pitches have been created since the November 2017

5. The Council has not received any money for traveller pitch funding since November 2017 

6. The Council has not spent any money for traveller pitch funding since November 2017

1. How many unpaid council tax reminders have been sent out for the last 5 financial years for which data is available? 

a) Number of reminders sent overall, broken down by year

b) Number of households sent reminders, broken down by year 

2. How many a) court summons b) liability orders did the council issue for unpaid council tax for the last 5 financial years for which data is available? 

1) Number issued overall, broken down by year

2) Number of households issued, broken down by year

3) Number of reminders issued, broken down by year 

3. For the last 5 financial years for which data is available 

1) How many households are in council tax arrears, broken down by year

2) How much is owed overall in council tax arrears, broken down by year 

4. How many a) overall b) households have applied for a special repayment plan to pay council tax for the last 5 financial years for which data is available, broken down by year? 

5. How many a) overall b) households have the council agreed a special repayment plan with to pay council tax arrears for the last 5 financial years for which data is available, broken down by year? 

6. How many a) overall b) households have asked for help from the council regarding council tax arrears repayment for the last 5 financial years for which data is available, broken down by year? 

7. For the last 5 financial years for which data is available 

a) How many households have the council taken ‘enforcement action’ against to collect unpaid council tax, please breakdown by type of enforcement action, broken down by year? 

b) How many ‘enforcement actions’ have been used by the council, to collect unpaid council tax, overall, please breakdown by type of enforcement action, broken down by year? 

8. For the last 5 financial years for which data is available? 

a) How many referrals have the council made to bailiffs in order to collect unpaid council tax, broken down by year? 

b) How many households have the council referred to bailiffs over unpaid council tax, broken down by year?

1. a) 2021/22 - 18902

        2020/21 - 23441

        2019/20 - 21320

        2018/19 - 20413 

        2017/18 – 23123

1. b) unable to provide data by household

2. a) 1. Summons

         2021/22 - 4556

         2020/21 – 2646

         2019/20 –  4459

         2018/19 –  4536

         2017/18 – 4675

1. b) Liability Orders

         2021/22 -  3916

         2020/21 – 2119

          2019/20 – 4068

          2018/19 – 4206

          2017/18 – 4135

Unable to provide data of households issued, by year and also number of reminders issues by year

3. 1. Unable to provide data by household

2021/22 31.03.2022 - £4,721,106.28 (for all years)

2020/21 31.03.2021 - £4,735,077.83 (for all years)

2019/20 31.03.2020 - £3,616,294.41 (for all years)

2018/19 31.03.2019 - £3,054,340.12 (for all years)

2017/18 31.03.2018 - £2,698,728.00 (for all years)

4. Data not recorded

5. Data not recorded
6. Data not recorded

7. a) Unable to provide data by household
8. b) see below

8. a) 2021/22 - 5493

         2020/21 - 42  

         2019/20 - 2053

         2018/19 - 2134

         2017/18 – 2179

1. b) unable to provide data by household

Can you please advise me if your Local Authority is involved with a Social Enterprise organisation or is considering becoming involved with a Social Enterprise organisation to assist homeless people with training, employment and/or accommodation services

1. Could you provide details on your current financial management system supplier: For example, “Oracle”, “One Advanced”, “Integra”, or “Other” (If “Other”, please provide details)? 

2. How many users are licensed for the financial management system? 

3. Is your financial management system licensed on a subscription basis?   

4. Does your current financial management system provide a procurement solution? For example, the “Purchase to pay” capability  

5. Is your financial management system currently using multi-company functionality, i e, providing separate accounting functionality for more than one business entity?   

6. Do you use any third-party business intelligence software alongside your financial management system? For example, “Qlik”, “Microsoft Power BI”, or “Other”. (If “Other”, please provide details)? 

7. What is the delivery platform for your current financial management system? For example, “Oracle Cloud”, “AWS”, “Microsoft Azure”. Alternatively, please confirm if the system is hosted on-premises? 

8. Does your financial management system supplier provide other management services in addition to product support and maintenance? 

9. Can you provide details of the current length/renewal/end date of this contract? 

10. Who is the main point of contact for this contract? Please provide their name, title, and contact details 

11. Which board member has responsibility for the finance department? Please provide their name, title, and contact details

1. CIVICA Financials

2. We have a site licence, so all employees can access the application

3. No

4. We have an E-procurement module for Purchase order, commitments and matching

5. No

6. Business Objects for reporting

7. The system (excluding cash receipting) is hosted on premises

8. Annual upgrades, ad-hoc enhancements in line with legislative changes

9. 5 year contract ends September 2022 with option to extend for 2 years

10. Mr Tony Rumble, Accountancy Manager

Q1a If the IHRA Definition has been adopted since 8 September 2021. If so, please provide the date that the motion/decision to do so was approved and provide a copy of the relevant motion/minutes/policy document or a working link if it is available on your website 

Q1b If the IHRA Definition has been adopted, was the IHRA Definition adopted in its entirety including all of the examples? 

Q1c If all of the examples were not adopted, which ones were adopted? 

Q1d If the IHRA Definition has not been adopted at all, was there a motion/decision to adopt the IHRA Definition which was defeated, and if so on what date was it defeated? 

Q1e. If the IHRA Definition has not yet been adopted, has adoption been timetabled?

Q1.a) No

     b) N/A

     c) No adoption has taken place

     d) No

1. What is the total number of all forms of vehicular transport operated by the Council?

a) Total number of vehicles

b) of these how many are currently pure electric? 

2. The number of Workplace Electric Vehicle (EV) chargepoints?

a) Already installed

b) Planned to be installed 

3. How many workplace EV chargepoints are available?

a) For Council fleet only

b) For council owned fleet and employee-owned or leased vehicles

c) For council owned fleet, employees and suppliers

d) For visitors to council premises 

4. How was the EV chargepoint installation funded (please tick all that apply)?

a) Grants (eg OZEV, Central Government, other)

b) Own reserves/resources

c) Partnership with private sector

d) Partnership with other public sector organisation (for shared use)

e) Other, please specify 

5. Have you applied for any government grants?  Please advise of the number of applications and their outcome

a) Workplace Charging Scheme (WCS)

b) Plug-in Grant

c) Other fleet related grants/pilot schemes (please specify)

d) N/A (no grant applications made)

6. Were these grant applications completed by

a) In house/council employee

b) In house specifically recruited SME (subject matter expert)

c) A partnership with another public body

d) Outsourcing to specialist grant sourcing organisation

e) N/A (no grant applications made) 

7. What would you say are the barriers to utilising grant funding (please tick all that apply)

a) Too difficult to access

b) Not known about in time

c) No specific business need

d) No capacity or expertise in house to apply

e) Other – please specify

1. a) 89 b) Zero

2. a) Zero b) Zero

3. a), b) c) and d) Zero

4. Not Applicable

5. No grant applications made

6. No grant applications made

       7. b) and d) ticked

The Registration number, Make and Model of all vehicles registered as a Taxi, Hackney Carriage or for Private Hire between 15th November 2021 and 20th April 2022

How many Planning Applications have had details of links to Cllrs (Town, Parish, District or County) redacted so that these links have been made opaque?

The only way in which it would be possible for the Planning unit to be able to answer would require them to carry out a manual search of all planning applications in order to identify which applications fall under the remit of the request.  As the applicant has not specified how far back they wish the information to cover, the Planning unit confirms that since January 2018 to date there would be approximately 7.5K planning applications that would need to be individually checked 

Section 12 of the Act makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for Local Authorities is set at £450 by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours at £25 per hour in determining whether the Council holds the information, locating, retrieving and collating the information 

To answer the request from January 2018 today would far exceed the 18 hours as referred to above. Applications in some cases can contain hundreds of documents which, depending upon how they are named would need to be checked. The procedure would cause serious disruption to the day to day working of the Planning department and therefore we are unable to process your request any further. As set out in the previous paragraph, the Council has the right to refuse to provide the information in accordance with Section 12 of the Act 

In accordance with Section 16 in which the Council is required to provide Advance and Assistance, unfortunately there is no other way that that the Council can identify that would help the applicant to narrow/refine their request in order to bring it under the 18 hour cost limit

Details of how the Household Support Fund was administered for 2021/2022 at North Devon District Council, including (if available):

• The breakdown of the proposed and/or actual spend of the Government allocation of the Household Support Fund
• Any eligibility criteria for allocations made using Household Support Funds
• Any application forms for allocations made using Household Support Funds
• Any internal reports or policies concerning the use of the Household Support Fund

It may be the case that you have not yet developed a policy for the Household Support Fund Extension (April – September). However, if this is the case, could you please provide:

• Details of your plans for administering the Household Support Fund Extension
• The breakdown of the proposed spend of the Household Support Fund extension
• Any eligibility criteria for allocations made using the Household Support Fund extension
• Any application forms for allocations made using the Household Support Fund extension

• The breakdown of the proposed and/or actual spend of the Government allocation of the Household Support Fund:

Initial allocation of £128,005 was spent. A further £64,000 was committed by Devon County Council, of which £53,194 was spent, leaving £10,806 unclaimed from Devon County Council

• Any eligibility criteria for allocations made using Household Support Funds

Please see Policy attached (this is available upon request)

• Any application forms for allocations made using Household Support Funds

None available – online application only, which has now closed

• Any internal reports or policies concerning the use of the Household Support Fund

See attached Policies (available upon request)

• Details of your plans for administering the Household Support Fund Extension

No details as at 12th May 2022

• The breakdown of the proposed spend of the Household Support Fund extension

£0 – No allocation details yet received as at 11th May 2022

• Any eligibility criteria for allocations made using the Household Support Fund extension

No details yet received as at 11th May 2022

• Any application forms for allocations made using the Household Support Fund extension

No details available as at 11th May 2022

• Any internal reports or policies concerning the use of the Household Support Fund extension

No details yet as of 11th May 2022

Signatures within the provided documents were redacted in accordance with Section 40 of the Act as this information constitutes personal data which those third parties would have no reasonable expectation for the Council to make publicly available

Can you please provide the following details from the records which you hold under The Licensing Act 2003:

Alcohol licensed premises, including:

• Premises Licence Number
• Date Issued
• Premises Licence Status
• Premises Name
• Premises Address
• Premises Postcode
• Premises Telephone Number
• Premises Email Address
• Premises Category (e g Cafe, Bar, Theatre, Nightclub)
• Premises Licence Holder Name
• Premises Licence Holder Address
• Premises Licence Holder Postcode
• Designated Premises Supervisor Name
• Designated Premises Supervisor Address
• Designated Premises Supervisor Postcode

Applicant provided with an Excel spreadsheet which provides the requested information where it is held by the Council which has been determined suitable for disclosure (this is available upon request) 

The information that the Council is unable to disclose is as follows: 

All premises telephone numbers held

The Licensing team does hold contact telephone numbers for the majority of the premises as listed, however due to the way the information is recorded they have no way of establishing whether those numbers are solely for the premises that are licensed or whether they are in some instances also the personal/home telephone numbers of those licence holders 

They also hold mobile numbers for some but again there is no way of establishing whether they are for the premises or whether they are personal to an individual. Therefore a disclosure of the numbers in some instances would be a disclosure of personal data that those individuals would have no reasonable expectation for the Council to make publicly available 

It is understood that the telephone numbers provided to the Council only so that it may be able to contact the licence holders/those responsible for the premises about their licence/registration 

Some email addresses held 

You will see that some of the e-mail addresses held have been redacted. This is because they contain names that identify individuals and are personal email addresses belonging to individuals who would not have any reasonable expectation for the Council to make publicly available. These email addresses are provided to the Council only so that it may be able to contact the licence holders/those responsible for the premises about their licence/registration 

However, all generic email addresses that do not name any individuals have been provided 

DPS addresses and postcodes 

The Licensing team confirms that only the names of the Designated Premises Supervisors are made publicly available via its public register. The addresses and postcodes are not published and therefore the Council is unable to provide this information as those individuals would not have any reasonable expectation for the Council to make this particular personal information about them publicly available 

The Council considers this redacted and withheld information to be exempt under Section 40 of the Act as the information constitutes personal data which those third parties would have no reasonable expectation for the Council to make publicly available. Section 40(2) provides that personal data is exempt information if one of the conditions set out in section 40(3A), (3B) or (4A) is satisfied 

In this case Section 40(3A)(A) is met because disclosure of this information would breach the fair processing principle contained in the General Data Protection Regulation. This is an absolute exemption and there is therefore no requirement to consider the public interest

1. Does the council have a Marketing Strategy? If so, please provide either a copy of the strategy or a link to the published version of the strategy 

2. Please confirm the population of the area covered by the council, to the nearest and latest estimate 

3. Does the council have an approved place brand and/ or narrative*(see definition below) for a space, town or city within your local authority area?

3a. If the council have an approved place based narrative what were the key drivers behind the decision to develop a place brand and/or narrative? (e g – inward investment, tourism, community building)

3b. Which geographical area does the place brand and/or narrative cover?

3c. When was the place brand and/or narrative developed and approved? 

4. How did the council develop the place brand and/or narrative?

4a. When developing the place brand and/or narrative, did the council organise any participatory exercises?

4b. If so, please provide details of the engagement undertaken, including the names of any local groups who were involved

4c. Was the place brand and/or narrative endorsed by the council’s Cabinet/Policy and Resource Committee/other political group?

 4d. Following approval of the place brand and/or narrative, which organization is currently the custodian of the place brand and/or narrative? 

5. Prior to commencing work to develop a place brand and/or narrative, did the council identify specific benefits that it was believed the place brand and/or narrative would deliver?

5a. If benefits were identified, were these benefits quantifiable (i e – could they be measured)?

5b. Please provide the benefits identified and any quantifiable measurables. These should be broken down by individual benefit lines as listed in your Project Initiation Document, Benefits Realization Plan or other project documentation

5c. Was a baseline of the identified benefits taken prior to the implementation of the place brand and/or narrative and, if so, please provide these metrics? These should be broken down by individual benefits lines as listed as the response for question 5b

5d. Please provide the current metrics for the benefits identified. These should be broken down by individual benefits lines as listed as the response for question 5b.

5e. Is the council monitoring the realization of the benefits/have the benefits been realized?

5d. What is the methodology for monitoring the realization of these benefits? 

6. How did the council go about implementing the place brand and/or narrative?

6a. Was the place brand and/narrative fully implemented?

6b. If not, what difficulties did the council run into in implementing the place brand and/narrative?

6c. How long did it take the council to implement the place brand and/or narrative? 

7. What was the estimated cost to the council in developing and implementing the place brand and/or narrative? This should include the estimated cost of officer and member time and any actual costs such as consultants’ fees. The total number should be broken down into categorized lines of expenditure 

8. If you have a place brand and  or narrative document, please provide either a copy of the document or a link to the published version of the document

1. The Council is in the process of updating its strategy which is only in draft form, not published

2. 90K

3. Yes

a) Gain buy in and understanding from local residents and businesses to the vision for a different type of town centre

b) Barnstaple

c) Latter part of 2021

4. Stakeholder workshops

a) Yes stakeholder workshops

b) Stakeholder workshops with residents, businesses, members and representatives from local cultural groups

c) Endorsed by the Barnstaple Regeneration Board – mixture of councillors and key stakeholders

d) North Devon Council

5. General buy in, support and understanding from residents and businesses

a) Nothing specific to the branding but surveys are assessing the buy-in from the public and businesses to the regeneration project

b) Nothing specifically linked to the branding but overall the project will be measured through things like increased footfall in the town centre and use of new facilities

c) Not specifically for the branding but people’s views on the town centre were measure before the work started and will be monitored throughout and on completion

d) Percentage increase/decrease – no specific targets

e) Yes

f) Consultation

6. Identified suitable locations both physically and digitally where it could be used

a) Still being implemented

b) Physical locations – lots of listed buildings/highways issues

c) Ongoing

7. We don’t measure officer time but we spent £7k on a branding agency

1. How many medium-rise buildings (11 metres to 18 metres tall) have been identified as having aluminum composite cladding, including any which have had remediation works started or completed? (Please give the building or street name, or the area in which each is based if that is not possible)

2. How many high-rise buildings above 18 metres tall have been identified as having aluminum composite cladding, including any which have had remediation works started or completed? (Please give the building or street name, or the area in which each is based if that is not possible) 

3. How many buildings with AC cladding (11m tall or higher) are in the private residential sector, how many are in the social residential sector, how many are student accommodation, and how many fall outside these categories? 

4. How many buildings with AC cladding (11m tall or higher) have had remediation works started, how many have had remediation works completed, and how many are yet to have remediation works? 

5. What is the estimated cost of cladding remediation works for all buildings 11m tall or higher with AC cladding, including any which have such work already completed? 

6. How much funding has been allocated to the council by the devolved or central UK government for cladding remediation works, as of today’s date?

1. Council owned/managed buildings = None

    Private/Residential/Social/Student = The Council does not record this information 

2. Council owned/managed buildings = None

  Private/Residential/Social/Student = The Council does not record this information 

3. The Council does not record this information 

Building Control confirms that they do not record the height of buildings/properties and furthermore, there is no requirement for those making Building Control applications to provide the height within their application or for Building Control to make a record of the height 

The only way that Building Control could provide a response to this part of the request would require them to undertake a street by street survey of all applicable properties within the Council’s remit, then contact the owners of any properties/buildings that may be considered to fall within the height range, arrange to have access to measure those properties and then finally check against Building Control records held to establish if the construction may include aluminum composite cladding 

The Council considers that this would be a creation/gathering of information that is not already held by the Council in order to satisfy the request. ICO guidance confirms that the Council is not required to do so in order to answer a request, it is only required to provide a response/answer with the information that it already holds. As the Council does not already hold this information, the Council is unable to respond to this part of the request 

4.       As 3. Above 

5.       As 3. Above 

6.       Nil

1. What is the council's set budget for expenditure on sport and leisure facilities for the following two years:

- 2012 (so the 2012/2013 budget)

- 2022 (so the 2022/2023 budget)

2. How many of the following facilities (see the list below) were owned by the council in the below two years:

- 2012

- 2022

List of facilities:

- Public leisure centres (so in 2012 and 2022)

- Public swimming pools (so in 2012 and 2022)

- Public athletics tracks (so in 2012 and 2022)

1. 2012 (so the 2012/2013 budget) = £971,490

    2022 (so the 2022/2023 budget) = £237,450

2. List of facilities:

- Public leisure centres (so in 2012 and 2022)  1 and 1 (North Devon Leisure Centre - NDLC)

- Public swimming pools (so in 2012 and 2022)  in addition to NDLC 1 and 1 (Ilfracombe Pool)

- Public athletics tracks (so in 2012 and 2022)  0 and 0

- Public cycling tracks/velodromes (so in 2012 and 2022)  0 and 1 (Braunton Pump Track)

Please can you provide me with information on the cost of converting grass verges into new parking bays and the number of conversions made? Please provide this information for all such conversions made within the council area since 1st January 2021

Please only include instances where green verges have been converted into parking bays 

• Please also, where possible, provide before and after images

• Please provide the locations of each converted bay

1. How many Specified Exempt Supported Accommodation cases are currently receiving Housing Benefit?

2. How many Specified General Supported Accommodation cases are currently receiving Housing Benefit?

3. How many Specified Domestic Violence Hostel cases are currently receiving Housing Benefit?

4. How many Specified Local Authority Hostel cases are currently receiving Housing Benefit?

5. What is the highest eligible gross rent being paid for a Specified Exempt Supported Accommodation case by Housing Benefits?

6. What is the lowest eligible gross rent being paid for a Specified Exempt Supported Accommodation case by Housing Benefits?

7. What is the lowest core rent being paid for a Specified Exempt Supported Accommodation case by Housing Benefits?

8. What is the highest core rent being paid for a Specified Exempt Supported Accommodation case by Housing Benefits?

9. How many Specified Exempt Supported Accommodation cases are currently receiving Housing Benefit for the following eligible rent ranges:

£150.00 per week eligible gross - £250.00 per week eligible gross                    

£251.00 per week eligible gross - £300.00 per week eligible gross               

£301.00 per week eligible gross - £400.00 per week eligible gross        

Greater than £400.00 per week eligible gross                                            

10. How many Specified General or Exempt Supported Accommodation cases have been referred to the Rent Officer service (VOA)?

11. How many Specified Exempt Supported Accommodation cases are being paid where the Local Authority is only receiving 60% subsidy?

12. How many Specified Exempt Supported Accommodation claims have received an ‘unreasonably high’ rent decision?

1. 164

2. 249

3. One

4. One

5. £373.60

6. 92.05

7. £31.70

8. £37.60

9. As follows:

£150.00 per week eligible gross - £250.00 per week eligible gross = 73

£251.00 per week eligible gross - £300.00 per week eligible gross = One

£301.00 per week eligible gross - £400.00 per week eligible gross = 55

Greater than £400.00 per week eligible gross = Zero

10. 67

11. Zero because we receive 100% subsidy up to the rent officer decision on all claims, however we have 89 claims receiving 60% subsidy on that part of weekly eligible rent above the rent officer determination

1. Are you currently in a partnership with other councils for waste IT system operations or procurement? If in a partnership please name the partner councils? 

2. Do you currently operate waste services (collections) directly, or through a waste contractor such as Biffa, Suez or Veolia. If through a contractor, please name them 

3. Which of the IT systems below do you use for the management of day-to-day municipal bin collections 

4. When is your current contract for the IT system OR outsourced waste contract for waste collections management due to expire? 

What main software do you use for operational management of: 

5 Grounds/parks maintenance

6. Street cleansing

7. Pest control

8. Cemeteries

9. Playgrounds and play equipment

10. Geographic Information System (GIS)

11 Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

1. No

2. Directly

3. Bartec Collective

4. November 2022

What main software do you use for operational management of:

5 Grounds/parks maintenance - Not applicable

6. Street cleansing - not applicable

7. Pest control - not applicable

8. Cemeteries - Rialtus Business Solutions (historic burial data), Gower Epilog (current burials)

9. Playgrounds and play equipment - Play Inspection App (Play Inspection Company)

10. Geographic Information System (GIS) - QGIS

11. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) - Gov Service (Granicus)

Applicant is researching the above site Homebase, Rose Lane, Barnstaple, EX32 8PG in regards to contaminated land and historical land uses

Does the Council hold any records of contaminated land, previous site uses, landfill locations, pollution incidents, or any other contaminated land issue for the site, including details about any records related to petroleum e g spillages or storage tanks

The following response was provided to the applicant by the Council’s Environmental Protection team along with a map and spreadsheet (QGIS contaminated land report) of the site (which is available upon request

This department does not hold any other records regarding potentially contaminated land in this area. It is recommended to the applicant to also contact the Environment Agency and Devon County Council regarding any information they may hold in relation to the site or the land in the vicinity

1. How much did your local authority spend, or commit, of its Household Support Fund allocation in the period 6 October 2021 to 31 March 2022?

2. As of 1 April 2022, how much of your HSF allocation intended for the period 6 October 2021 to 31 March 2022 remained unspent or uncommitted?

3. What happened to any unspent or uncommitted funding on 1 April 2022?

4. How much of the HSF allocation intended for the period 1 April 2022 to 30 September 2022 have you already spent or committed?
5. How much of the HSF allocation intended for the period 1 April 2022 to 30 September 2022 have you yet to spend or commit?

1. £181,199

2. Initial allocation of £128,005 was spent. A further £64,000 was committed by Devon County Council, of which £53,194 was spent, leaving £10,806 unclaimed from Devon County Council

3. Not claimed from Devon County Council

4. Zero - No allocation details yet received as at 11th May 2022
5. No allocation details yet received as at 11th May 2022

1. Of the total full plans (FPs) and building notice (BNs) applications made directly to your authority each year that can be building notice applications, what percentage of these applications were building notice in the last 5 calendar years (data provided for each year separately)

2. Of these building notices please can a breakdown of the type of works covered by the application be provided ideally with percentages? Please can it be split into the following categories or other similar grouping (data provided by for each year separately):

• Internal Alterations
• Loft Conversions and Extensions
• Single Dwelling
• Multiple Dwelling
• Other Minor Works (i e New heating, thermal upgrades, replacement windows/doors)

I am happy to accept the information in percentages or information provided such that percentages can be obtained

1. 2017 = 395 BNs / 646 Total BNs and FPs

    2018 = 392 BNs / 621 Total BNs and FPs

    2019 = 417 BNs / 675 Total BNs and FPs

    2020 = 309 BNs / 631 Total BNs and FPs

    2021 = 464 BNs / 690 Total BNs and FPs

2. Information provided to the applicant in table format which is available upon request

This is an information request relating to overseas travel by councillors or council officials 

Please include the information for each of the following financial years: 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22 

1. The total annual spend by the council on overseas travel 

2. A breakdown of expenditure on overseas travel. Please include: 

- Destination

- Length of trip

- Number of officials involved

- The name and address of the hotel(s) booked

- The flights booked, including which class

- Purpose of trip

- Expenses for food, drink, taxis (please, where possible, provide receipts) 

Please make clear whether a trip was fully funded by the council, only part funded, or was fully funded by an external body. If funded by an external body, please make clear which body

1. 2019/20 = Zero

    2020/21 = Zero

    2021/22 = Zero

2. Not Applicable

The FULL contract register should display all the organizations existing/live contracts I would like the register to display the following columns/headings: 

1. Contract Reference -Unique reference number associated with the contract

2. Contract Title

3. Procurement Category - Please state the category name of the contract, I wish to know the category the contract is under

4. Supplier Name

5. Spend (Total, Annual or contract value)

6. Contract’s Duration

7. Contract’s Extensions

8. Contract’s Start Date

9. Contract’s Expiry Date

10. Contract Description [Please provide me with as much detail as possible.]

11. Contact Owner (Person that manages the contract register)

12. CPV codes/Pro-Class

Contract Data/API Contact Details

1. Can you also provide me with contact details of the person responsible for the actual contract’s register or someone responsible for API? [Name, Job Title, Telephone, Email Address] At the very least provide me with their actual job title

(Meaning of API “a set of functions and procedures that allow the creation of applications which access the features or data of an operating system, application, or other service.”) 

IMPORTANT

1. If the organization has a CRM system or a similar system, there should be a facility to download and extract contract data

2. You may forward me a Weblink to a portal to download the contract register, please make sure all the organisation’s contracts are provided as doing prior research I have found that most organisations have only uploaded a small portion of all their contracts

3. For those organisations planning to make an exemption around spend, the spend information I have requested is an overall figure and I am not requesting a complete breakdown of services relating to the spend 

Please provide me with the contract’s register file in an excel format

The Council’s Contracts Register is available in the public domain through our Procurement Portal; https://www.supplyingthesouthwest.org.uk/

Under the Navigation tab you will need to select the Contract Register option. You can narrow down the search by selecting North Devon District Council from the list of Organizations

In accordance with Section 21(1) of the Act, the Council is not obliged to provide you with information that is already in the public domain. However, the Council does have a duty under Section 16(1) to provide advice and assistance in order to help you locate the information, which I have done so above

I can confirm that the register is up to date; you can also export the register into Excel

13. This information is published on our website via the following link:

https://www.northdevon.gov.uk/business/contracts-and-procurement/doing-business-with-north-devon-council/

Contract Owner details are published via the register under the heading ‘Primary Contact’ for each published contract

1. How many lifts are managed by the organisation (including all passenger lifts, platform lifts, goods only lifts, dumb waiters etc)?

2. Do the lifts have a comprehensive (including maintenance visits, parts and labour included) or basic (maintenance visits only included, all call outs / repairs charged additionally) maintenance contract?

3. How much is the annual maintenance cost per lift (e g ‘headline’ cost on last tender quote)?

4. a) How much in addition to contract (i e question 3, above) is spent per year (i e call outs due to misuse etc)?

1. b) How much in addition to contract is spent per annum on major works such as installations and refurbishments?

5. When is the current contract due for renewal?

1. Three lifts managed by the authority

2. Lifts are subject to a basic schedule of routine inspection and maintenance

3. The annual maintenance / inspection cost per lift, for the year 2021/22 (1 lift per site):

• Brynsworthy Environment Centre, Roundswell, Barnstaple: £90.00 – bi-annual
• Woodlands Enterprise Centre, Pathfields Business Park, South Molton: £90.00 – bi-annual
• The Museum of North Devon, The Square, Barnstaple: £180.00 – quarterly

4. a) Brynsworthy Environment Centre: £64.00

        Woodlands Enterprise Centre: £406.25

         Museum of North Devon: £494.00

4. b) Zero

5. There is no contract for lift maintenance. Annual maintenance and inspections are instructed on a yearly basis every April. The contractors used at any given time are subject to change, at North Devon Council’s discretion

1. How many Penalty Charge Notices were issued and posted by your organisation last financial year? 

2. How many Charge Certificates (related to Penalty Charge Notices) were issued and posted by your organisation last financial year? 

3. How many Order for Recovery's (related to Penalty Charge Notices) were issued and posted by your organisation last financial year? 

4. What was the total postage cost related to posting Penalty Charge Notices, Charge Certificates and Order for Recovery's last financial year? (If this is not feasible to calculate, what was the total postage cost associated with your organization's parking and traffic enforcement department last financial year?) 783 + 390 = 1173 x 85p (1st Class post) 

5. How many Penalty Charge Notices issued by your organisation last financial year were related to parking offences? 

6. How many Penalty Charge Notices that were issued by your organisation, were paid in full last financial year? 

7. What is the average number of days it takes for a Penalty Charge Notice issued by your organisation, to be paid in full? 

8a. Does your organisation print and fulfil Penalty Charge Notices in-house (i e by a mailroom owned and managed by your organisation), or is this outsourced to a third party supplier? 

8b. If the answer to 8a is that your organisation outsources to a third party supplier, was the supplier sourced via the Crown Commercial Service purchasing framework?

1. 5,435
2. 783
3. 390
4. £977.05
5. 5,435
6. 860 this relates to all the payments made in the financial year, not just to payments for PCNs in 2021/22
7. Not known as no set time period from when a PCN is issued until it goes to Enforcement Agency and full payment
8. a) PCN’s are printed by the CEO at time of issue and PCN documents printed by back office posted through in-house post room

           b) Not Applicable

1. Who is the most senior person responsible for project management within the council? 

2. What is their job title? 

3. What are their contact details (email address and contact number)?

4. How many people across the council (including contractors) are involved with projects on average, on an annual basis?

5. What software package(s) does the council use for project, programme and/or portfolio management? (If none or spreadsheets, please stipulate)Microsoft Project 

In the event that the council uses project management software: 

6. When do to the software licences expire? 

7. Which departments access the software (i e I.T/Property etc)? 

8. How many users access the software?

1. Nina Lake
2. Head of Programme Management and Performance
3. PMO@northdevon.gov.uk, 01271 327711
4. It is estimated this would be in the region of 50 plus
5. Microsoft Project

6. Microsoft Project is purchased as a wider Microsoft Subscription Licence renewed annually. We have renewed our subscription, this is year two of three

7. ICT, Works and Recycling, Programme Management, Communications
8. We have eight Project users but are licensed for nine

Please provide the following for each member of the Council’s senior leadership team/board/directors/corporate leadership team

1. Name
2. Email Address
3. Job Title
4. Directorate
5. Permanent employee or Interim (please state)

The information request in response to questions 1, 2, 3 and 4, can be found on the council’s website, within the linked Chief Executive and Senior Management page

In accordance with Section 21(1) of the Act, the Council is not obliged to provide information that is already in the public domain. However, it does have a duty under Section 16(1) to provide all applicants advice and assistance in order to assist with locating the information, which the Council has done so in providing the link above

In answer to question 5, all heads of service within the senior management team and permanent employees

A list of unclaimed business rate credit balances. Please can you also include accounts where a 'write on' has been used to cancel an overpayment which has not since been reversed

Please can this information be provided to me in an Excel Spreadsheet, including the following fields:

• Ratepayer name
• Property Address
• Billing Authority Reference
• Amount of credit/write on
• The period or financial year of the credit/write on

I appreciate that properties where the ratepayer is an individual would be excluded from my request. In such cases, please provide the remaining information with the Ratepayer either blank or listed as 'individual'

The Council no longer publish the details of individual business rates credits. Following careful consideration of the ICO decision for Wandsworth Council (FS50619844) and discussions with the Council’s Revenues team which holds this data, the Council considers that the continued publication of this data would be likely to prejudice the prevention and detection of crime and therefore the Council considers that this data is now exempt from disclosure under Section 31(1)(a) 

When applying this exemption, the Council is required to carry out a Public Interest Test which considers the factors that favour disclosure and the withholding of the data 

Factors in favour of disclosure 

• Withholding the information could be perceived as the council attempting to retain monies that belong to the public 

• It is in the public interest to be open and transparent about its use of public funds 

• It is also in the public interest to be transparent regarding the records held in respect of the administration of business rates. This could be of interest to the minority of people who are due a refund, but have somehow failed to receive the notifications that money is owed to them 

Factors in favour of withholding 

• There is a public interest in ensuring that monies from the public purse, such as rebates on business accounts, are not fraudulently claimed and also a public interest in not making it easier for fraud to be committed 

• The Council’ current verification procedure for refund claims is simple and cost effective however the Council cannot be certain as to whether some claimants are who they really say they are for every refund processed. If the Council were to continue to publish this data then this would ultimately result in additional verification processes needing to be implemented by the Revenues team at additional cost to the public, which would be disproportionate to the benefits that would accrue from disclosure. The additional verification procedures would also be likely to slow the verification process, resulting in detriment to the genuine ratepayer in that it would take longer for their credit to be refunded to them 

• In relation to any new verification processes that might be needed, these would be likely to require the production of additional documents by those claiming a rebate which would place a new administrative burden on the majority of those legitimate claimants that did not currently exist. This would be compounded by the fact that the level of scrutiny of those documents would be higher than at present, given the increased suspicion that some of the claims (and associated documents) might well be fraudulent. The result would be that a new verification process would be likely to slow the rate at which credit balance claims could be considered and refunded, causing delay in all refunds and the likelihood of complaints, which would further burden the Council’s limited resources 

• Disclosure of the requested information would result in the need to implement disproportionate steps and additional expense to the Council to counter an increased fraud risk 

The cost consequences of a successful fraudulent claim would: 

• have incurred the cost of paying out to the fraudster

• remain liable to the legitimate rate payer for an equivalent amount, raising the prospect of paying out twice; and

• be faced with the cost (legal and incurrence of internal management time) of seeking to recover the funds wrongly paid to the fraudster 

It would not be in the public interest to expose it to such potential costs and expenses, given that they would be funded from the public purse 

It is considered that the greater public interest, therefore, lies in no longer publishing the data. In coming to that conclusion, the public interest in providing the information has been carefully weighed against any prejudice to the public interest that might arise from withholding the information; in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information 

Instead, in accordance with Section 21 of the Act, the Council publishes a dataset which provides: 

• the total amount of credit refunded

• the number of refunds

• the total amount of outstanding credit

• the number of outstanding refunds 

The dataset is updated on a quarterly basis (the April update is now live) and will be due for updating again in July 2022, in accordance with Section 22 of the Act

1. A copy of any recommendations, business cases or proposals made by your IT head/manager to recruit additional IT staff

2. Please also provide any recommendations, business cases or proposals made by your IT head/manager for the payment of overtime for existing staff in the last three years

1. None held

2. None held

CON29 information relating to a property at EX34 9DF

Applicant provided with the information, where held and also directed to the Council’s website for some of the information

A list of unclaimed council tax credit balances. Please note I am not asking for business rates credits 

Please can this information be provided to me in an Excel Spreadsheet, including the following fields: 

• Ratepayer name

• Property Address

• Billing Authority Reference

• Amount of credit

• The period or financial year of the credit

I appreciate that properties where the ratepayer is an individual would be excluded from my request. In such cases, please provide the remaining information with the Ratepayer either blank or listed as 'individual'

Information fully withheld from disclosure. The Council does not publish/provide the details of individual Council Tax credits. Following careful consideration of the ICO decision for Wandsworth Council (FS50619844) and discussions with the Council’s Revenues team which holds this data, the Council considers that the continued publication and disclosure of this data would be likely to prejudice the prevention and detection of crime

Atlantis Lodge, Croyde council tax registration information

Council Tax were advised on 13 January 2022 by the previous owner that they had sold to the property to an individual. That said individual then emailed Council Tax, 20 January 2022 to say that it was sold to another individual 

A Council Tax bill was sent out to that named individual, however it was returned by Royal Mail as ‘address inaccessible’.  Council Tax are now in the process of corresponding with the previous owner for further details of the purchaser in order to obtain their correct postal address 

At this time, the Council has an individual liable for Council Tax from 10 December 2021.  As soon as Council Tax is receipt of the correct contact details of the individual the property was sold to, they will make the necessary amendments within their system and issue a Council Tax bill accordingly.  The appropriate banding for the property can be found online via the following government website: https://www.gov.uk/council-tax-bands   

The Council has not provided the names of the individuals concerned. The Council considers this withheld information to be exempt under Section 40 of the Act as the information constitutes personal data which those third parties would have no reasonable expectation for the Council to make publicly available. Section 40(2) provides that personal data is exempt information if one of the conditions set out in section 40(3A), (3B) or (4A) is satisfied 

In this case Section 40(3A)(A) is met because disclosure of this information would breach the fair processing principle contained in the General Data Protection Regulation. This is an absolute exemption and there is therefore no requirement to consider the public interest

The details (make, model and the vehicles registration number plate) of all vehicles that currently are/have been licensed as a taxi, either as a private hire or a hackney carriage, within your council across the last 10 years if possible (looking at dates 11/05/2012 – present 11/05/2022)

Information provided to applicant in Excel format, which is available upon request

How many Attachment of Earnings (or Earning/Wage Arrestment if based in Scotland) orders did the Council issue for debts relating to Council Tax payments in the financial years 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2021/22

Applicant advised that the Council does hold this information, however due to the way in which the information is recorded by the Council Tax team it is not possible to be able to provide the specific information requested 

The Council Tax advised that there is no way that they are able to extract the total figures for each of the requested years that includes all applicable orders.  The only way in which they would be able to do this would require an officer to manually go through all Council Tax accounts held (which is approximately 47,000 properties) and any have multiple accounts.  It is estimated that an officer would need to spend a minimum of five minutes on each account to identify, locate, retrieve and collate the information for each of the years requested 

Section 12 of the Act makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for Local Authorities is set at £450 by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours at £25 per hour in determining whether the Council holds the information, locating, retrieving and collating the information 

It has been estimated by the Council Tax team that it would take approximately 3,916 hours to provide the requested information; the procedure would cause serious disruption to the day to day working of the Council Tax team.  Therefore we are unable to process the request any further. As set out in the previous paragraph, the Council has the right to refuse to provide the information in accordance with Section 12 of the Act 

However, the Council Tax team are able to provide a snapshot as at today’s date, 24 May 2022 as to the total number of orders within each of the requested years which are as follows: 

2019/20 = 18 Attachment of Earnings Orders issued

2020/21 = 31 Attachment of Earnings Orders issued

2021/22 = 21 Attachment of Earnings Orders issued

1. HR investigations

a) On how many occasions did the council commission external personnel or companies to undertake HR investigations (eg grievance, disciplinary, whistleblowing, etc) involving council employees during the 2020/21 and 2021/22 financial years?

b) What was the average cost per investigation to the council for those conducted in 2020/21 and 2021/22?

c) Through which routes does the council commission external personnel or companies to undertake these HR investigations?

d) Does the council require these external personnel or companies to have any specific professional registrations or licences? If so, please state which

2. Complaint investigations

a) On how many occasions did the council commission external personnel or companies to investigate complaints from members of the public, customers or service users during the 2020/21 and 2021/22 financial years?

b) What was the average cost per investigation to the council for those conducted in 2020/21 and 2021/22?

c) Through which routes does the council commission external personnel or companies to undertake these complaints investigations?

d) Does the council require these external personnel or companies to have any specific professional registrations or licences? If so, please state which

1. HR Investigations:

a) Nil for both financial years

b), c), d) = N/A

2. Complaint investigations:

a) Nil for both financial years

b), c), d) = N/A

A list of all accounts with credit balances which have been written on/back and not refunded

Please could the requested list contain the following information:

• Ratepayer Name
• Written on/back amount
• Year of overpayment
• Date of Write on/back
• Hereditament address

The Council no longer publishes or discloses the details of individual business rates credits. Following careful consideration of the ICO decision for Wandsworth Council (FS50619844) and discussions with the Council’s Revenues team which holds this data, the Council considers that the continued publication of this data would be likely to prejudice the prevention and detection of crime and therefore the Council considers that this data is now exempt from disclosure under Section 31(1)(a) 

When applying this exemption, the Council is required to carry out a Public Interest Test which considers the factors that favour disclosure and the withholding of the data 

Factors in favour of disclosure 

• Withholding the information could be perceived as the council attempting to retain monies that belong to the public 

• It is in the public interest to be open and transparent about its use of public funds 

• It is also in the public interest to be transparent regarding the records held in respect of the administration of business rates. This could be of interest to the minority of people who are due a refund, but have somehow failed to receive the notifications that money is owed to them 

Factors in favour of withholding 

• There is a public interest in ensuring that monies from the public purse, such as rebates on business accounts, are not fraudulently claimed and also a public interest in not making it easier for fraud to be committed 

• The Council’ current verification procedure for refund claims is simple and cost effective however the Council cannot be certain as to whether some claimants are who they really say they are for every refund processed. If the Council were to continue to publish this data then this would ultimately result in additional verification processes needing to be implemented by the Revenues team at additional cost to the public, which would be disproportionate to the benefits that would accrue from disclosure. The additional verification procedures would also be likely to slow the verification process, resulting in detriment to the genuine ratepayer in that it would take longer for their credit to be refunded to them 

• In relation to any new verification processes that might be needed, these would be likely to require the production of additional documents by those claiming a rebate which would place a new administrative burden on the majority of those legitimate claimants that did not currently exist. This would be compounded by the fact that the level of scrutiny of those documents would be higher than at present, given the increased suspicion that some of the claims (and associated documents) might well be fraudulent. The result would be that a new verification process would be likely to slow the rate at which credit balance claims could be considered and refunded, causing delay in all refunds and the likelihood of complaints, which would further burden the Council’s limited resources 

• Disclosure of the requested information would result in the need to implement disproportionate steps and additional expense to the Council to counter an increased fraud risk 

The cost consequences of a successful fraudulent claim would: 

• have incurred the cost of paying out to the fraudster

• remain liable to the legitimate rate payer for an equivalent amount, raising the prospect of paying out twice; and

• be faced with the cost (legal and incurrence of internal management time) of seeking to recover the funds wrongly paid to the fraudster 

It would not be in the public interest to expose it to such potential costs and expenses, given that they would be funded from the public purse 

It is considered that the greater public interest, therefore, lies in no longer publishing the data. In coming to that conclusion, the public interest in providing the information has been carefully weighed against any prejudice to the public interest that might arise from withholding the information; in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information 

Instead, in accordance with Section 21 of the Act, the Council publishes a dataset which provides: 

• the total amount of credit refunded

• the number of refunds

• the total amount of outstanding credit

• the number of outstanding refunds 

The dataset is updated on a quarterly basis (the April update is now live) and will be due for updating again in July 2022, in accordance with Section 22 of the Act

1. Do you have an in-house corporate debt collection team? If not who do you outsource this to?

2. Do you have a Head of Revenue and Benefits, if so please could I have their name and email address

1. No, the Council does not, however this is dealt in-house within the Council’s Finance team who will instruct the Council’s Legal Services team for advice and assistance, where required.

2. Julie Dark, Revenues & Benefits Manager, julie.dark@northdevon.gov.uk

1. What is your current predicted funding gap by the end of the financial year 2023/24? 

2. What is your current predicted cumulative funding gap by the end of the financial year 2024/25? 

In reference to council funding and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: 

3. Has your council estimated the costs of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions? 

4. How much does your council estimate reaching net zero will cost? (Please state amount and any associated timescale)  

5. Can your council access enough funding to be able to deliver your emission reduction ambitions?  

1 and 2.

Budget Gap surplus:

2022/23 =  Zero

2023/24 = £2,070

2024/25 = £2,286

2025/26 = £2,595

2026/27 = £3,220

2027/28 = £3,141

3. No

4. Improvements to most significant properties in our carbon footprint are estimated to cost approx. £916K. This is the only element for which costs are known