From P Freeman, comment on earlier post:
I learned today from a FoI to the Electoral Commission that our ERO / RO has not fulfilled his responsibilities in another area, specifically ‘How many people tried to vote on polling day and were found not to be registered?’.
Most other ERO/RO have provided this information, but a few including East Devon’s RO/ERO have not.
East Devon Watch 
Do we know if there’s a process for the CPS to prosecute a returning officer for lying to a parliamentary select committee ? Hypothetically of course!
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Sort of : it seems they can be fined by the Electoral Commission – which apparently never happens. So one needs to ask them why!
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P Freeman clearly needs professional help judging by the obsessive amount of time he wastes on FOI requests listed on what do they know . Is there someone I can ask via an FOI about how much serial FOI’ers like him and a few others in Devon are costing tax payers with their conspiracy theories and paranoia? Who asked you to embark on this crusade? Get a life P Freeman, take up knitting or just chill; I did
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Doesn’t look like you’ve quite got the hang of chilling!
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I can assure you that these requests are not frivolous. East Devon is one of the most secretive local authorities in the UK, and they fail to publish as standard even the most basic documentation as required by law – so FoI requests are an essential tool in finding out what is really going on and holding the council to account. If you are genuinely interested in finding out more about why it is necessary (rather than frivolous) to be asking these questions, I suggest that you join the East Devon Alliance and find out for yourself what is really going on.
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P.S. Our Electoral Registration Officer / Returning Officer has already admitted to the parliamentary select committee that he didn’t do doorstep canvassing or any alternative for 4 years contrary to the Representation of the People Act 1983, which we believe resulted in several thousand people being unable to vote in last years European elections. Councillors have recently asked to see accounts for his electoral activities but he has yet to provide them – presumably because they don’t exist. So there are most definitely questions to be answered.
Are you not interested in making sure that our public officials are honest, upstanding and professional in their work, or would you rather just trust them (despite their secrecy)?
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Dear Jane, the man who can help you best with your enquiry is Cllr Phil Twiss.
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My point was a serious one regarding the cost of to me what appear to be numerous frivolous FOI requests and i remain hopeful that there is a grown up out there who can give me a serious answer given all the palaver about openness and transparency I keep reading about ?
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Thanks but no thanks regarding joining the EDA which can hardly be accused of being either open or Independent given my local EDA Councillor in Exmouth is a member of the Labour party and it being part of a new left wing political grouping, Lord help us (as re-produced in a recent article on this blog site) . All I am interested in is finding out what FOI’s cost tax payers in Devon that could be better used elsewhere, nothing else, certainly not party politics.
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Wow, you “know” an awful lot for soneone who doesn’t like politics. Anyone would think … no, no, of course not!
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And being a member of the Labour Party is a hideous sin? You can be a member of a political party without giving up your ability to think and vote independently. It is only the Tory councillors who vote thoughtlessly like zombies (or because of the party whip perhaps) and without being able to explain their reasons.
The cost of FoIs would be significantly reduced if EDDC were to publish the information they are required to so that FoI requests were not needed to attempt to find out what was going on. And against the cost of FoIs you need to balance off the cost of e.g. the council’s extremely misguided attempts to keep information about the Knowle relocation secret, the c. £1m they spent on the abortive attempt to relocate to the SkyPark etc. etc. I think if you research it that history shows that overall costs are controlled best if the decision making processes are fully transparent so that decisions can be properly debated and the councils can be held accountable.
Perhaps Jane Newman would give a rational justification why EDDC keeping secrets is the appropriate and FoI requests (and by implication the FoI Act) are actually bad for democracy?
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P.S. I believe it was Churchill (that’s Winston, BTW, not the nodding insurance dog who says “Oh Yes”) who said that “Democracy is the worst form of government”, but he did caveat that by adding “except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time”.
The FoIA and FoI requsts are a key defence against those in power abusing their authority by allowing you and me to find out (or attempt to find out) what is going on and what our elected and non-elected officials are doing in our names. Without that, we are left with those in power able to give a rose-tinted spin to everything they do … a bit like the insurance dog saying “Oh Yes” to every question really.
So, to paraphrase Winston, the only thing worse than having to pay for FoI requests to be answered would be not to allow FoI requests at all.
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So, a bit like “Independent” Councillor Pook who NEVER votes against the Tories. Lot of it about “Jane” – would you believe it even seems to apply to the local Lib Dems where there is a LOT of talk about someone who seems to have changed spots too! Dirty job, politics – good job you’re not in politics “Jane”!
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A somewhat patronising and I fear sexist comment from EDW; are you saying I shouldn’t know anything about or take an interest in politics because I am a “little” woman as it sure reads that way? I do sometimes take a little bit of interest outside of my more usual area of business and other interests where being able to offer professional advice to my clients and value for their hard earned money counts, rather more than drifting off in to areas that have no relevance. My simple question you may recall if you are now all “back in the room” was who can tell me (or perhaps where is it published) how much these invariably frivolous FOI requests cost tax payers like me and many of my clients across Devon by those who appear not to know the value of peoples time and how it is best used. You wouldn’t have thought that was too hard a question to get a sensible answer to would you?
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Well – that comment is a laugh and a half and demonstrates only a huge chip on your shoulder. No one mentioned your sex or suggested that you shouldn’t know anything about or take an interest in politics, so it can hardly be a sexist suggestion that you are a “little” woman. And how do you know that the EDW comment wasn’t written by a woman?
But if you were really so interested in politics, then you might educate yourself and argue from a base of facts not focus simply on one-sided pseudo-cost-saving arguments that don’t actually hold water and suggest only that you would prefer that EDDC secrets remain secret and that your own politics are aligned with the Tories where it is all (and only) about money, not openness, truth, honesty, democracy etc.
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No “Jane” I’m saying the opposite: I think you may be someone – male or female, little or large – trolling this site for their own agenda.
And EDDC can tell you how much they cost so feel free to ask them – though you may need an FOI to get the answer.
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Someone I know suggested something called the Tax Payers Alliance who keep a watch on how public payers money is spent and sometimes wasted; I am pretty clear FOI requests including many from Devon as far as I can see will come in to that category. I am clearly not going to get any sort of sensible answer from this forum and will seek advice elsewhere and leave where I came in suggesting P Freeman gets some help for his obsession. Chill time!
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I know I am making a right royal pain of myself with EDDC – but then again I am getting quite a lot of historical stuff published on their web site for people to read, thus preventing the politicians and senior officers from conveniently forgetting what they said and promised a few years ago which unfortunately is contrary to their existing positions, actions or inactions.
We have seen how the council leadership and senior officers have bullied Independent councillors when they cause annoyances, and we hear the snide remarks being made by e.g. the CEO about public speakers when they don’t have the opportunity to respond to them. No doubt “Jane Newman” will suggest that I am being paranoid, but it is odd how people like her pop up, fire pot shots and disappear again just at the point that people like me are getting under the skin of EDDC and EDDC find that they are powerless to stop the awkward questions being asked.
As for my “obsesssion”, at least my attempts at getting transparency have some logical and factual basis and are in the interests of all the citizens of East Devon, unlike Ms Newman who herself seems to be somewhat obsessed solely by the small amount of money my FoI requests cost.
As Jane says, “Chill Time”. Unless of course she hates other people having the last word.
I guess everyone else will just have to form their own judgements about all of this.
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Jane, are you saying that EDDC and associated chums should continue deceiving and hiding things from the public? If they were transparent and truthful no one would need to waste their own time checking up on them. I’d much rather be chilling on the beach. And following Not A Developer’s point can you provide any evidence that Jane Newman is indeed your real name?
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