Freedom of Information Act Request 415334

DearMr Coyne

Freedom of Information Act Request 415334

Thank you for your recent request received20 October. Your request was actioned under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in which you requested thefollowing:

• At Council on 16th September 2015, the Mayor of Liverpool has commented on his own pension provision in his explanation of the Council's funding of the costs of bringing an employment tribunal claim. The issue of pension provision in the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) is thus in the public domain. To give the full picture on pension provision for members of the Council including the Mayor, please disclose the following information.

1. The employer's pension contribution, if any, made each year by LCC on behalf of J Anderson as a councillor and subsequently as mayor.

1. The number of councillors participating and the total employer's contributions paid each year by LCC on behalf of councillors.

For (1) and (2) above, the period of interest is 2008 to the present and the years can be financial, calendar or municipal, whichever is easiest to obtain. Members of the public do not have access to the rules of the Local Government Pension Scheme, so please supply the following information about its rules, as in force in May 2012.

1. If an employee's remuneration is reduced, say from 36 hours' pay to four hours' pay, is the "eligible remuneration" for pension purposes also reduced, or can the employer choose to make contributions as if the full time hours were being worked?

1. What would be the difference in benefits to a member of the LGPS who was faced with the alternative of making pension contributions within the LGPS as either an employee (of an outside body) or as a Member of the City Council? Please base the calculation on the employment tribunal's report of Mayor Anderson's earnings from Chesterfield High School of £4,500 p.a.

Response:

Liverpool City Council holds someinformation relevant to your requestand confirmsthe following:

With regards to point 1 of your review request, all people, regardless of them being members of the public, councillors or the Mayor have basic rights and protections outlined in section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. These rights obviously extend to the Mayor.

Disclosure of a third party’s personal data (personal data being defined by the Data Protection Act 1998 as any recorded information in any form relating to an identifiable living person) is exempt by virtue of Section 40(2). The City Council is of the opinion that the release of information in regards to the Mayor’s pension would represent a breach of Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000

However, in accordance with guidance issued by the Information Commissioners Office regarding dealing with requests for data of individual’s disclosure can only be considered in relation to its fairness and, specifically, in regards to the following:

1. Does the information requested relate primarily to the person’s public function rather than their private life?

1. Should the individual expect their role to be subject to public scrutiny? Considering:

• How senior they are;
• Whether they have a public profile; and,
• Whether their role requires a significant level of personal judgement and individual responsibility.

While the City Council acknowledges that the Mayor has a public profile and that the role requires a significant level of personal judgement and individual responsibility, the City Council is also mindful of not allowing this public profile to become an excuse for unwarranted invasions of privacy. The Mayor’s pension is a matter related to his personal rather than public life and, as such, cannot be considered for release into the public domain under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

In response to point 2 the information you have requested is not individually collated. As such we would need to manually cross reference the payroll details for each month for the period 2008 to present for each Councillor for those years.

Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 states that a Local Authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if it is estimated that the cost of compliance would exceed the appropriate limit. The Act states the appropriate limit is considered 18 hours and on the basis of our estimations we are not obliged under the Act to provide this information as the cost of compliance exceeds the appropriate limit.

However, Section 16 of Freedom of Information Act 2000, which places a duty on public authorities to provide advice and assistance, so far as it would be reasonable to expect the authority to do so, to persons who propose to make, or have made, requests for information to it

With this in mind we can provide the following links from where you can access the information for the periods referred to in the terms of your request:

Link 1 provides the Councillors allowances scheme approved by the City Council and link 2 provides a link to the LGA website which gives access to the Guide to the LGPS for eligible Councillors in England and Wales.

In regards to points 3 and 4 – these are not, for the purposes of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, not requests for information. To clarify; the Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides the public with a right of access to information held by Local Authorities and places a responsibility on Local Authorities to provide information which is requested of it. However, it does not require Local Authorities to confirm actions, give opinions or answer questions.

Consequently we are unable to respond under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and can provide no information in response to either point 3 or 4.

In accordance with the application of Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 we have not provided all of the information requested. As such we are required to serve you with the following section 17 notice.

TheCity Council will consider appeals, referrals or complaints in respect of your response and thesemust be submitted these in writing thin 28 days of receiving your response.

The matter will be dealt with by an officer who was not previously involved with the response and we will look to provide a response within 28 working days.

If you remain dissatisfied you may also apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision about whether the request for information has been dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The Information Commissioner’s website is and the postal address and telephone numbers are:-

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House

Water Lane, Wilmslow

CheshireSK9 5AFFax number 01625 524 510 Telephone 01625 545745

Email – (they advise that their email is not secure)

I trust this information satisfies your enquiry

ÿYours sincerely

Mr Kevin Symm

Senior Information Officer

Information Team Municipal Buildings Dale StreetLiverpool L2 2DH

Telephone 0151 233 0418Email