Further to your email requesting clarification on a number of points arising from my previous response, please see below:

1. The officer who was temporarily employed to review the constitution left the Authority just before the end of March 2006 so the revision would have taken place some time before then.

2. The Councillors who attended the Seminar held on 20 November 2006 were Councillors Cameron, Clark, Gough, Huish, James, Jones, Pead, Seabourne, Thomas and Wellington. For your information, I have attached a scanned copy of the Attendance Register.

3. There were no questions that prompted the amendment to Clause 4.16.9, the changes were made as a precaution based on the experiences in other authorities

4. As requested I attach:

1. A scanned copy of the revision document for Part 4
2. Members Seminars are informal workshops and are not minuted as I explained in my previous email, however we do have some informal training notes that were taken at the time of the meeting
3. A scanned copy of the Briefing note written by the Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer
4. Scanned copy of an email (with attachments) dated 16 November 2006 to Members
5. Scanned copy of subsequent email (with attachments) dated 10 July 2007 to Members

Should you prefer to receive hard copies of the paperwork please let me have your contact address and I will forward them to you by post. I trust this will answer your queries but please do not hesitate to contact me again for further clarification.

If you have any queries about this letter or are unhappy about the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review, please do not hesitate to contact me in writing.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the Information Commissioner’s Office (Wales) cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by this Council. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office (Wales), Cambrian Buildings, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff, CF10 5FL.  Telephone 029 2044 8044 or Fax 029 2044 8045 or e-mail Wales@ico.gsi.gov.uk.

This letter is available in large print, on audio cassette and in Braille and also in Welsh or any other Community Language. Please contact us for further details or if we can help in any way.

1. Please can you be more specific about the date the clause was written ie more specific than "early 2006"?
2. Please can you tell me the names of the councillors who attended the seminar in November 2006?
3. Please can you tell me what questions prior to early 2006 were considered to be an abuse of Public Question Time and would therefore justify spending time and money in actually employing someone to seek a means of stopping this abuse?
4. Is it possible for me to see the original paperwork, handwritten or word processed, including the Agenda (or notice to members) of the Seminar of the 20th of November 2006, the paperwork showing clause 4.16.9 as it was presented to the seminar, the notes taken by the Chief Legal and Monitoring Officer at the time and a copy of the email sent to Members who had attended the seminar on the 10th of July 2007? If it is possible please can you organise this?

----- Original Message -----

From: Monk Liz

To: 'chris@uppercwmbran.co.uk'

Cc: Eynon Dana

Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2007 11:24 AM

Subject: Freedom of Information

 

 

Dear Mr Harris

 

Thank you for your email dated 8 October 2007 requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The Act is about information held by public bodies and your request is in the nature of asking the Council to account for the timing and purpose of certain actions. However, I can respond to your questions as follows:

 

The draft amendment to Clause 4.16.9 was written in early 2006 when an officer was temporarily employed by Torfaen County Borough Council to update the constitution.  It exactly emulates that which is in Cardiff City Council’s constitution and was considered to be a practical way of ensuring that public question time was not abused for other purposes, where they could more appropriately be dealt with in another forum.  Some of the changes to the constitution were minor and straightforward and so were dealt with quite quickly, and therefore some parts were amended out of sequence (e.g., part 8 may have been amended before part 4). 

 

The suggested changes to Part 4, of which this was one change, were taken to a member seminar on 20 November 2006.  Seminars are informal workshops for members to provide comments and views on forthcoming topics.  They are not decision-making and for that reason, they are not minuted but they are open to the public.  The Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer took notes and her notes show that members were generally in agreement with the proposal.  There were other areas that caused further discussion and debate and therefore the suggested amendments to part 4 were not taken to Council for approval until 31 July 2007.  Previously on the 10 July  the Chief Legal Officer and Monitoring Officer emailed those members who had attended the seminar to determine if they had any concerns or comments to make on the proposed changes.  None were forthcoming.  The suggested changes were therefore put to the next available Council meeting, which was 31 July 2007.

 

I can categorically state that the clause or the date of its submission was in no way influenced by or as a result of any questions recently asked at Public Question Time.  The clause was written in early 2006 and discussed by members in late 2006, some time before the questions being inferred were asked or known about. 

 

If you have any queries about this letter or are unhappy about the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review, please do not hesitate to contact me in writing.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the Information Commissioner’s Office (Wales) cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by this Council. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office (Wales), Cambrian Buildings, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff, CF10 5FL.  Telephone 029 2044 8044 or Fax 029 2044 8045 or e-mail Wales@ico.gsi.gov.uk.

 

This letter is available in large print, on audio cassette and in Braille and also in Welsh or any other Community Language. Please contact us for further details or if we can help in any way.

 

 

Liz Monk

Democratic Services Officer

Torfaen County Borough Council

Tel 01495 766058 (internal 6058)

email: liz.monk@torfaen.gov.uk

 

 

 

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