Source: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/demolition_of_socialaffordable_h?utm_campaign=alaveteli-experiments-87&utm_content=sidebar_similar_requests&utm_medium=link&utm_source=whatdotheyknow
Timestamp: 2019-07-17 14:54:38
Document Index: 131685876

Matched Legal Cases: ['arts 1', 'art 3', 'arts 1', 'art\n3', 'arts 1', 'art 3', 'arts 2']

Demolition of social/affordable housing - a Freedom of Information request to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - WhatDoTheyKnow
Printed from https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/demolition_of_socialaffordable_h?utm_campaign=alaveteli-experiments-87&utm_content=sidebar_similar_requests&utm_medium=link&utm_source=whatdotheyknow on July 17, 2019 15:54
Demolition of social/affordable housing
J A Giggins made this Freedom of Information request to Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government
I would like to request more information regarding the statement made by the former Minister for Housing in this linked article http://www.lgcplus.com/news/services/hou...
"Mark Prisk said in a statement to Parliament last week that funding rules drawn up under the Labour administration would be revamped to “end the bias for demolition in the state sector”.
“This will include stating in housing funding bidding documents that demolitions are not appropriate,” he said."
1 Please could you provide me with a copy of the statement, or a link to it if alreadily publicly available.
2 Please could you also supply any correspondence between your department and/or the Minister and the HCA and other interested parties ( Local Authorities, RSL's etc) regarding implementation of the revamp.
3 If possible within the time limits of the FOI Act/EIR regulations could you also please supply any follow up correspondence/monitoring of the revamp. If this is not possible then please proceed with parts 1 and 2 of my request and provide me with advice and assistance as to how to refine part 3 to minimise disruption to your Department.
J A Giggins 16 February 2015
Having re-checked my request, I found that the link I supplied didn't work.
It was to an article in the Local Government Chronicle (online version) titled 'Demolition no longer favoured in regeneration'- dated 15 May 2013 - author Keith Cooper.
I have located the article again and copied in another link.
http://www.lgcplus.com/briefings/service...
Samya Muddathir, 26 February 2015
Our reference: 776543 Information request
Thank you for your email. We are currently processing your request. Please
quote the reference number above in any further correspondence regarding
J A Giggins 12 March 2015
Dear Samya Muddathir,
Please you could update me as to when I can expect a reply to this request? I have been reminded that your response was due yesterday.
Samya Muddathir, 12 March 2015
Apologies; we will be sending you a response shortly.
Best wishes, Tim Hayward
Re: Information request (ref: 776543)
Dear Samya Muddathir,Please you could update me as to when I can expect a
reply to this request? I have been reminded that your response was due
yesterday.Many thanksYours sincerely,J A Giggins-----Original
Message-----Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Our reference:
776543Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Information request
Â Thank you for your email. We are currently processing your request.
Please quote the reference number above in any further correspondence
regarding this request. Â Department for Communities and Local Government
Fry Building 2 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DF [email address] Â NOTE:
Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this
email.-------------------------------------------------------------------Please
use this email address for all replies to this
request:[FOI #253422 email]Disclaimer: This message
and copyright policies:https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi... you
page.-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear ‎Mr Giggins‏
You requested: I would like to request more information regarding the
statement made by the former Minister for Housing in this linked article
http://www.lgcplus.com/news/services/hou...
Mark Prisk said in a statement to Parliament last week that funding rules
drawn up under the Labour administration would be revamped to â€?end the
bias for demolition in the state sectorâ€?.â€?This will include stating in
housing funding bidding documents that demolitions are not appropriate,â€?
"1 Please could you provide me with a copy of the statement, or a link to
it if alreadily publicly available.2 Please could you also supply any
correspondence between your department and/or the Minister and the HCA and
other interested parties ( Local Authorities, RSL's etc) regarding
implementation of the revamp.3 If possible within the time limits of the
FOI Act/EIR regulations could you also please supply any follow up
correspondence/monitoring of the revamp.
If this is not possible then please proceed with parts 1 and 2 of my
request and provide me with advice and assistance as to how to refine part
3 to minimise disruption to your Department.
not certain that we have understood your request correctly. Does the Mark
Prisk request you refer to concern a statement from 2014, or from 2015 (as
your request suggests)?
information from you. Please let me know by 12/06/2015.
FOI Information Requests
Please could you refer Tom Clifford to the thread of this request on whatdotheyknow.com:
and in particular to my email of 16th Feb ( before you acknowledged the request) which clarifies the date of the article as 15 May 2013.
"From: J A Giggins
Having re-checked my request, I found that the link I supplied
It was to an article in the Local Government Chronicle (online
version) titled 'Demolition no longer favoured in regeneration'-
dated 15 May 2013 - author Keith Cooper.
J A Giggins"
Tom Clifford, 13 March 2015
Many thanks for your email and please accept my apologies for any
Dear Samya Muddathir,Please could you refer Tom Clifford to the thread of
this request on
whatdotheyknow.com:https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d...
in particular to my email of 16th Feb ( before you acknowledged the
request) which clarifies the date of the article as 15 May 2013."From: J A
Giggins16 February 2015Dear Department for Communities and Local
Government,Having re-checked my request, I found that the link I
supplieddidn't work.It was to an article in the Local Government Chronicle
(onlineversion) titled 'Demolition no longer favoured in
regeneration'-dated 15 May 2013 - author Keith Cooper.I have located the
article again and copied in another
link.http://www.lgcplus.com/briefings/service... faithfully,J A
Giggins"Many thanks,Yours sincerely,J A Giggins-----Original
DearÂ â€?Mr Gigginsâ€? Â Freedom of Information Act 2000 Â Thank you for
your request for information which was received onÂ 12 February 2015. Â
You requested:Â I would like to request more information regarding the
drawn up under the Labour administration would be revamped to Ã¢â‚¬?end
the bias for demolition in the state sectorÃ¢â‚¬?.Ã¢â‚¬?This will include
stating in housing funding bidding documents that demolitions are not
appropriate,Ã¢â‚¬? he said. "1 Please could you provide me with a copy of
the statement, or a link to it if alreadily publicly available.2 Please
could you also supply any correspondence between your department and/or
the Minister and the HCA and other interested parties ( Local Authorities,
RSL's etc) regarding implementation of the revamp.3 If possible within the
time limits of the FOI Act/EIR regulations could you also please supply
any follow up correspondence/monitoring of the revamp. If this is not
possible then please proceed with parts 1 and 2 of my request and provide
me with advice and assistance as to how to refine part 3 to minimise
disruption to your Department. Â I am writing to ask you to clarify your
request. This is because we are not certain that we have understood your
request correctly. Does the Mark Prisk request you refer to concern a
statement from 2014, or from 2015 (as your request suggests)? I will not
be able to take this matter further without this extra information from
you. Please let me know byÂ 12/06/2015. Â If I do not hear from you
within the timeframe provided, I shall take it that you do not wish to
pursue this request and will consider the request closed.Â Â Yours
sincerely Â Â Tom Clifford FOI Information Requests Â [email address]
Â NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this
J A Giggins 13 March 2015
Dear Tom Clifford,
Apology accepted, but please could you tell me when I can expect a response? I appreciate that it might take a little while to locate the information, but the request is now overdue.
Samya Muddathir, 18 March 2015
Thank you for your request for information received on 12 February 2015.
Samya Muddathir
J A Giggins left an annotation ( 19 March 2015 )
Copy of Mark Prisk's ministerial statement:
The number of long-term empty homes has already fallen by 20,000 between 2011 and 2012 and by over 40,800 since 2010. Ministers will keep the House updated with progress."
Copy of subsequent Ministerial Statement:
The Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr Eric Pickles): I would like to update hon. Members on two separate announcements relating to the issue of demolition.
In the written ministerial statement of 10 May 2013, Official Report, Column 13WS, Ministers committed to revising outdated guidance issued by the former Office of the Deputy Prime Minister which encouraged
16 Jan 2015 : Column 36WS
demolition. I can today confirm that the following pieces of outdated guidance no longer reflect Government policy and so are now cancelled:
This approach is working. The number of empty homes has fallen year-on-year since 2009, and is now at the lowest level since 2004. Similarly, the number of
16 Jan 2015 : Column 37WS
long-term vacant properties has fallen by around a third since 2009.1 hope our programmes will further reduce the number of empty buildings.
It is also available online at: http://www.parliament.uk/writtenstatemen...
J A Giggins 22 March 2015
I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Communities and Local Government's handling of my FOI request 'Demolition of social/affordable housing'.
Whilst some very useful information has been provided, the actual information requested in parts 2 and 3 of my request has not. Moreover the explanation given seems rather odd:
"I am writing to inform you that some of the information you requested is not held by Department for Communities and Local Government. The business area concerned has searched their records but none of the correspondence within the scope of your request has been found."
Please could you review and then detail the searches made, and by which business area, as it seems very unlikely that there were no communications at all regarding the change in stance on demolition. Maybe the communications are held by other business areas? Also I would have expected there to have been some monitoring of the policy changes.
Ben Heathcote, 24 March 2015
Freedom of Information Act 2000 – ref: 776543
Thank you for your request for a review received on 23 March 2015. I am
provide you with a response by 22 April 2015.
Ben Heathcote, 21 April 2015
Thank you for your request for an internal review received on 23 March
2015 2015 concerning your request of 12 February 2015. We are considering
the request but we need more time to process it. This is because
information potentially within scope of your original request has been
identified, and this requires further consideration. We will now try to
respond to you by 20 May 2015.
exhausted the internal review procedure provided by the Department.
Ben Heathcote, 18 May 2015
Lead FOI Business Partner
J A Giggins 18 May 2015
I appreciate the searches you have made, but it still seems remarkable to me that you hold no records of either communicating a change in government policy regarding demolitions, or of monitoring its implementation. It does however provide an explanation of why the policy (which I already know WAS communicated to the HCA and onwards to Housing Associations) is not being applied in my local area.
There is another aspect of your response which seems inconsistent with your holding email of 21st April. You said:
"We are considering the request but we need more time to process it. This is because
information potentially within scope of your original request has been identified, and this requires further consideration. We will now try to respond to you by 20 May 2015"
I appreciate that I now have the option to refer the request/your response to the Information Commissioner, but before doing so I would appreciate it if (under the provisions of FOI/EIR) you could provide the information identified as "potentially within the scope of my original request". Your current response makes no reference to this information, and as I am sure you are aware the time you allowed yourself to conduct this further review exceeded that allowed by the FOI Act/EIR.
J A Giggins 5 June 2015
Please can you confirm that you have received my email of 17th May ( sent via and displayed on the wdtk web site) and are considering the request under the EIR's.
Ben Heathcote, 5 June 2015
I can confirm that DCLG has received the email you refer to, and we are
currently considering our response.
Re: Information request - internal review (ref: 776543)
Dear Ben Heathcote,Please can you confirm that you have received my email
of 17th May ( sent via and displayed on the wdtk web site) and are
considering the request under the EIR's.Many thanks.Yours sincerely,J A
Giggins-----Original Message-----Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Â Â Our reference: 776543Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Information request
Dear Mr Giggins Please find attached our response to your request for an
internal review. Yours sincerely Â Â Ben Heathcote Lead FOI Business
Partner Â [DCLG request
email]-------------------------------------------------------------------Please
Ben Heathcote, 11 June 2015
Empty Homes programme1124.pdf
Empty Homes programme13820.pdf
Thank you for your email of 18 May 2015 and I am sorry that you were
unhappy with my reply. It may help us to provide you with further
information or explanation if you can send us the communication that you
say you have between DCLG and the Homes & Communities Agency.
I should also point out that DCLG has not referred to the change in policy
as a "revamp" in the WMS; this was the term used by the author of the
article you referenced in the Local Government Chronicle.
Regarding the material considered to be potentially within scope of your
original request, please see attached, which were sent to Local
Authorities and MPs respectively following an empty homes funding round.
These were standard letters sent to all who received funding. Please note
that these were determined to be out of scope of your original request
since they are not concerned with "implementation of the revamp".
Dear Ben Heathcote,Many thanks for your response. I appreciate the
searches you have made, but it still seems remarkable to me that you hold
no records of either communicating a change in government policy regarding
demolitions, or of monitoring its implementation. It does however provide
an explanation of why the policy (which I already know WAS communicated to
the HCA and onwards to Housing Associations) is not being applied in my
local area.There is another aspect of your response which seems
inconsistent with your holding email of 21st April. You said:"We are
considering the request but we need more time to process it. This is
becauseinformation potentially within scope of your original request has
been identified, and this requires further consideration. We will now try
to respond to you by 20 May 2015" I appreciate that I now have the option
to refer the request/your response to the Information Commissioner, but
before doing so I would appreciate it if (under the provisions of FOI/EIR)
you could provide the information identified as "potentially within the
scope of my original request". Your current response makes no reference to
this information, and as I am sure you are aware the time you allowed
yourself to conduct this further review exceeded that allowed by the FOI
Act/EIR.Yours sincerely,J A Giggins-----Original Message-----Â Â Â Â
Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Our reference: 776543Â Â Â Â Â Â
Â Â Information request
J A Giggins 11 June 2015
It was not so much that I was unhappy with your reply so much as that I find it hard to understand why such a significant change in policy has not been formally communicated & monitored, particularly in a time of economic austerity.
The background to my request to the DCLG can be found in the following three FOI requests to the Homes & Communities Agency on WhatDoTheyKnow.com
The document/presentation that illustrates that the HCA were aware of the policy change can be found here:
http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/doc.ho...
and the document that alerted me to the fact that funding of demolitions was continuing in my area can be found here:http://planning.westberks.gov.uk/rpp/sho....
The flats up for demolition had previously been self certified as 'decent homes compliant' by the Housing Association in question and were occupied until residents were decanted in preparation for demolition/redevelopment, so I assume that funds for refurbishment under either the 'decent homes' or the 'empty homes' scheme detailed in the last two documents you have provided would not have been forthcoming.
I hope this background information will help you to locate further information falling within the scope of my request, but if there is nothing to be found perhaps you could supply me with a contact name of the person/dept responsible for ensuring changes in policy are fully communicated and monitored for compliance.
Ben Heathcote, 25 June 2015
Thank you for your email below. I have consulted further with colleagues
and we believe that we have provided you with all of the information held
by the Department falling within scope of your request as we understand
it. You may find the document linked to below of interest, however, and I
would especially draw your attention to paragraph 100 on page 20.
As the Homes and Communities Agency's guidance on the Affordable Homes
Programme contains the detail of the policy on schemes involving
demolitions, I would suggest contacting them regarding any issues you have
regarding compliance with this policy.
Dear Ben Heathcote,It was not so much that I was unhappy with your reply
so much as that I find it hard to understand why such a significant change
in policy has not been formally communicated & monitored, particularly in
a time of economic austerity.The background to my request to the DCLG can
be found in the following three FOI requests to the Homes & Communities
WhatDoTheyKnow.comhttps://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/2...
document/presentation that illustrates that the HCA were aware of the
policy change can be found
here:http://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/doc.ho...
the document that alerted me to the fact that funding of demolitions was
continuing in my area can be found
here:http://planning.westberks.gov.uk/rpp/sho....
The flats up for demolition had previously been self certified as 'decent
homes compliant' by the Housing Association in question and were occupied
until residents were decanted in preparation for demolition/redevelopment,
so I assume that funds for refurbishment under either the 'decent homes'
or the 'empty homes' scheme detailed in the last two documents you have
provided would not have been forthcoming.I hope this background
information will help you to locate further information falling within the
scope of my request, but if there is nothing to be found perhaps you could
supply me with a contact name of the person/dept responsible for ensuring
changes in policy are fully communicated and monitored for compliance.Many
thanks.Yours sincerely,J A Giggins-----Original Message-----Dear Mr
Giggins Thank you for your email of 18 May 2015 and I am sorry that you
were unhappy with my reply. It may help us to provide you with further
say you have between DCLG and the Homes & Communities Agency. I should
also point out that DCLG has not referred to the change in policy as a
"revamp" in the WMS; this was the term used by the author of the article
you referenced in the Local Government Chronicle. Regarding the material
considered to be potentially within scope of your original request, please
see attached, which were sent to Local Authorities and MPs respectively
following an empty homes funding round. These were standard letters sent
to all who received funding. Please note that these were determined to be
out of scope of your original request since they are not concerned with
"implementation of the revamp". Yours sincerely, Ben Heathcote
Re: Information request - internal review (ref: 776543) Dear Ben
Heathcote,Many thanks for your response. I appreciate the searches you
have made, but it still seems remarkable to me that you hold no records of
either communicating a change in government policy regarding demolitions,
or of monitoring its implementation. It does however provide an
explanation of why the policy (which I already know WAS communicated to
Act/EIR.Yours sincerely,J A Giggins-----Original Message-----Ã‚Â Ã‚Â
Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Our
reference: 776543Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Information request
internal review. Yours sincerely Ã‚Â Ã‚Â Ben Heathcote Lead FOI Business
Partner Ã‚Â [DCLG request
use this email address for all replies to this request:[FOI #253422
email]Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be
policies:https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi... you find this
service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to
us from your organisation's FOI
page.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Please
Jt Oakley left an annotation ( 27 June 2015 )
Revamp = change to that which was before.
"an attempt to revamp the museum's image"
synonyms:	renovate, redecorate, refurbish, recondition, rehabilitate, rebuild, reconstruct, overhaul, make over; More
noun: revamp; plural noun: revamps
Logically either the:
* former Minister contented himself in making changes - which he only communicated to himself.
* the respondees are so badly educated that they do not know know what the meaning of a revamp/ change is ....and do not have access to a dictionary
* they've lost the files.
* or deliberately pretending to misunderstand the request
It's impossible to determine which .
J A Giggins 29 June 2015
Thank you for your latest response and advice to contact the HCA. However you have not supplied a response regarding a named contact within the DCLG.
If you refer back to the last paragraph of my email of 11th June you will see that I wrote:
"I hope this background information will help you to locate further
information falling within the scope of my request, but if there is
nothing to be found perhaps you could supply me with a contact name
of the person/dept responsible for ensuring changes in policy are
fully communicated and monitored for compliance."
Please could you provide the requested information.
Apologies for this further message - I haven't used the 'I have been asked to provide clarification' feature of the wdtk web site before, but I am advised that it will 'reset the clock' should you choose to treat my request for contact details made earlier today as a new request under FOI.
Ben Heathcote, 29 June 2015
There is no individual or department with overall responsibility for
"ensuring changes in policy are fully communicated and monitiored for
compliance"; any such monitoring considered appropriate will be carried
out on a case by case basis. As such, the information you have requested
is not held by the Department for Communities and Local Government.
If you remain dissatisfied with the way that your request for information
has been handled, you have the right to apply directly to the Information
Commissioner for a decision. Details as to how to do this can be found in
my response to you dated 18 May.
Thank you for your latest response and advice to contact the HCA. However
you have not supplied a response regarding a named contact within the
DCLG.
If you refer back to the last paragraph of my email of 11th June you will
see that I wrote:
In light of your response, could you please supply me under FOI with contact details for the head of your Internal audit department and also the name and contact details of your external auditors.
Our reference: 1176489 Information request
Thank you for your request for information which was received on 29 June
You requested: [...] contact details for the head of your Internal audit
department and also the name and contact details of your external
2000 and we aim to send a response by 28 July 2015.
requested for any other reason, together with details of how you may
Jt Oakley left an annotation ( 29 June 2015 )
The external auditors should certainly be informed.
Ben Heathcote, 27 July 2015
Thank you for your request for information received on 29 June 2015.
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