On the 22nd June the Scottish Information Commissioner agreed to the request to investigate the City of Edinburgh Council from the petitioner for Gaza Twinning, Pete Gregson.
Gregson is unhappy with the way the Council has handled his request for information on his “twinning with Gaza” Council petition and the resulting Policy Committee meeting, where the twinning agenda item was pulled following threats from UK Lawyers for Israel and the Israeli Authorities.
As well as asking why his original Council petition was deleted from the Council website (see it here) he wanted to know why the Council is refusing to tell the truth about Israeli interference in our civic affairs. He suspects the Chief Executive of Edinburgh Council, Andrew Kerr, is behind these actions.
Kerr is the highest paid local authority employee in the capital in 2019/20, with a salary of £175,740, getting paid more than the First Minister. He reserves absolute control over Council affairs and is empowered to intervene where he considers the security of the City is at stake; it seems that our 63 elected Councillors have little control over him.
Gregson notes the Council officers have not provided truthful answers and has furthermore failed to carry out the Internal Review into his concerns required by law.
His completed FOI Application Form can be viewed here.
According to Council Statute, the Chief Executive is expected, in respect of politically controversial matters and material decisions, to follow this guidance:
2.1 Where a decision or action proposed to be taken under delegated powers is likely to
be regarded as politically controversial or is a decision (“Material Decision”) that will
have or is likely to have:
(a) a significant effect on financial, reputational or operational risk; and/or
(b) a significant impact on service delivery or performance;
– the appropriate elected members will be consulted before any decision or action is
taken. Appropriate elected members will include the relevant convener or vice-convener(s) and, where appropriate, the Leader and/or deputy Leader.
Email communications between the petitioner and the then Leader of Edinburgh Council, Cllr Adam McVey, suggest that the Chief Executive made political decisions on the Gaza Twinning Petition without consulting the Councillors elected to run the city.
Gregson hopes the Information Commissioner may succeed in shining a light into the dark recesses of the Chief Executive’s office.
The request has been passed by the Validation Officer at the Commissioner’s office, who has assigned it the reference 202200694. The status of the case will be updated monthly and can be tracked by searching for the case reference on the List of current applications on the Commissioner’s website. It will not appear on this list until the 30th June 2022.
The original FOI request itself can be easily viewed at Information relating to Twinning with Gaza Petition – a Freedom of Information request to City of Edinburgh Council – WhatDoTheyKnow
This story was covered in:
LONDON- Redress Information & Analysis
Scottish Information Commissioner to investigate Edinburgh City Council over FOI failure on Gaza twinning petition
https://www.redressonline.com/2022/06/scottish-information-commissioner-to-investigate-edinburgh-city-council-over-foi-failure-on-gaza-twinning-petition/
PALESTINE Palestine News Network
Scottish Information Commissioner to Investigate Edinburgh Council over FOI Failure on Gaza Petition
http://english.pnn.ps/2022/06/24/scottish-information-commissioner-to-investigate-edinburgh-council-over-foi-failure-on-gaza-petition/
PALESTINE Palestine News & Info Agency/WAFA News Agency
Scottish Information Commissioner to investigate Edinburgh Council over Gaza twinning petition
https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/129798
The main questions are:
- who removed the original petition for Gaza twinning (that 362 Edinburghers signed) from the Council website?
- Why was the petition not heard in June 2020 at Policy Committee as promised?
- Why was it pulled off the Policy Committee agenda on the 29th March 2022- and on whose authority?
- What exactly has Israel said to the Council, and why do Council officers deny Israeli involvement in the decision to remove the item from the agenda, when I have a text from the Council’s elected Leader saying there WAS Israeli involvement?