Freedom of Information Disclosures

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PREAMBLE TO FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST – HACONBY & STAINFIELD PARISH COUNCIL REF: HSPC/20/FoI/060320

Facebook 02-07 Mar 20 – Haconby & Stainfield Private Group

Haconby and Stainfield Parish Councillors Published by Parish Council 2 March at 08:59

DRAFT MINUTES OF HACONBY & STAINFIELD PARISH COUNCIL PARISH COUNCIL MEETING ON WEDNESDAY 15TH JANUARY 2020 …

Extract relevant to subsequent comments:

13)       Business Items:

             a)  Claim.  Order: with respect to Claim Number F88YJ854 served on the Council on 15 July 2019 and consequent to the judgement made at the County Court of Boston on 16 December 2019 to pay the claimant a total of £ 1,308.40 by 30 December 2019, the decision made unanimously by e-mail on 24 December 2019 was ratified.

Background: the Council was informed in May 2019 of a claim for compensation and expenses totalling £ 1,440.60, and in June that the claim would be made through the courts.  The claim was served by the County Court Money Claims Centre in July.  The Council acknowledged service and confirmed its intent to defend the claim.  It was allocated to the Small Claims Track in September and went to trial at the County Court in Boston on 16 December.  The judge found for the claimant and ordered the Council to pay £ 1,308.40 in compensation and expenses.  The Council decided not to appeal and paid the order on 24 December.  The Council will not, at this time, name the claimant or provide details of the claim.  It has received guidance from HM Court & Tribunal Service on publication of the order and must balance the public’s right to know with the claimant’s right to privacy.  Existing guidance suggests that it might not be appropriate to release information that reveals identity if this would cause undue embarrassment or distress, or exposure to unwanted public attention.

Comments:

Parishioner A 2 March 13:49 I think it would be entirely appropriate for the council to make clear the nature of the small claims court claim against it - seeing as this has cost you £1.3k of public funds which would otherwise have been invested in our parish (an amount almost equal to the entire precept we will collectively pay you this year through our council tax). In the spirit of open governance, it is simply transparency for us to know where you have failed to act properly so we can scrutinise your future actions in this area and ensure future compliance.

Parishioner B 2 March 14:57 feels like a freedom of information claim is in order

https://www.gov.uk/make-a.../how-to-make-an-foi-request

How to make a freedom of information (FOI) request

Parishioner A 2 March 20:05 I have considered this but was hoping the parish council would just be honest with the people who fund them.

Parishioner C 2 March 17:40 It's a shame the council have the opinion the neighbourhood policing team are 'failing to engage with the public'. I'd be interested to know reasons, given the hard work they do. I'd suggest police staffing levels might be in part to blame...no thanks to Mrs May.

Parish Council 2 March 19:39 Thank you for your interest. I hope to reassure you. The Council does not hold this opinion. It was a comment that I, as Chairman of the Neighbourhood Police Panel, made at the meeting. The Panel has not met for over a year because our Neighbourhood Policing Team has not convened it, a Police duty as part of their engagement with local people. The comment was not meant as a criticism. I am a strong supporter of the Police and I updated the Council as one aware of the effects of resource constraints on Police activities.

Parish Council 4 March 19:53 The Parish Council notes the interest expressed in Item 13 a) of its draft Minutes, the claim made against the Council. It cannot add anything to the explanation given in the ‘Background’ paragraph in this item, which should be self-explanatory. Parishioners are welcome to question the Council directly at the next Parish Council meeting at 7.15 pm on Wednesday 11 March in the restaurant of the Hare Hounds Public House.

Parishioner A 4 March 20:27 The fact that your minutes are NOT self explanatory is exactly why I’m asking the question. There is no need to divulge personal information about the claimant while still being open about the nature of the claim and why the Council was deemed at fault. It is laughable that you are loosing the parish’s money through incompetence and trying to hide why. As the people you represent we are fully entitled to know more about this.

Parishioner A 4 March at 20:36 The Parish Council has lost £1,300 of Parish money through loosing a small claims case. They won’t say what the case was about or why the judge found them to be at fault. What are they hiding? How can we be sure they won’t make the same mistake again? How can we, the people they represent, hold them to account if they aren’t transparent?

Parishioner D 5 March 08:20 Parish councillors do a fantastic unpaid role in the community. Not enough people are prepared to put their heads above the parapet and offer themselves up for service. You can be sure they don’t make mistakes again,If that’s what happened, by applying to be a parish councillor.

Parishioner E 5 March 16:18 Yes, but in our parish, when you put your head above the parapet, it’s the councillors that do the shooting.

Parishioner A 5 March 08:45 Whether they do a great job or a bad job they do it for the benefit of the people they have committed to represent, and need to be - like all levels of Government - transparent and accountable.

Parishioner A 6 March at 10:58 For those of you who are following my attempts to get the Parish Council to stop its cover up about the legal claim it lost and why... Here is a copy of the FOI request I have sent them to try and obtain more information. If you want to send your own copy in too it would show them that it is more than just me who is bothered by their lack of transparency about their illegal behaviour. The clerk's email is hspcclerk@gmail.com

I will update you in 20 days....

Parishioner F 6 March 11:04 Good luck