Agenda and minutes

It was noted that Councillor Mrs J Lea was substituted for Councillor Ms Y Knight.

To declare interests in any item on the agenda.

There were no declarations of interest by members of the Panel under this item.

Exclusion: To consider whether, under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press should be excluded from the meeting for the items of business set out below on grounds that they will involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the following paragraph(s) of Part 1 of Schedule 12A of the Act (as amended) or are confidential under Section 100(A)(2):

The Local Government (Access to Information) (Variation) Order 2006, which came into effect on 1 March 2006, requires the Council to consider whether maintaining the exemption listed above outweighs the potential public interest in disclosing the information. Any member who considers that this test should be applied to any currently exempted matter on this agenda should contact the proper officer at least 24 hours prior to the meeting.

Confidential Items Commencement: Paragraph 9 of the Council Procedure Rules contained in the Constitution require:

(1)        All business of the Council requiring to be transacted in the presence of the press and public to be completed by 10.00 p.m. at the latest.

(2)        At the time appointed under (1) above, the Chairman shall permit the completion of debate on any item still under consideration, and at his or her discretion, any other remaining business whereupon the Council shall proceed to exclude the public and press.

(3)        Any public business remaining to be dealt with shall be deferred until after the completion of the private part of the meeting, including items submitted for report rather than decision.

Background Papers:  Paragraph 8 of the Access to Information Procedure Rules of the Constitution define background papers as being documents relating to the subject matter of the report which in the Proper Officer's opinion:

(a)        disclose any facts or matters on which the report or an important part of the report is based;  and

(b)        have been relied on to a material extent in preparing the report and does not include published works or those which disclose exempt or confidential information (as defined in Rule 10) and in respect of executive reports, the advice of any political advisor.

Inspection of background papers may be arranged by contacting the officer responsible for the item.

RESOLVED:

That in accordance with Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public and press be excluded from the meeting for the item of business set out below as it will involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the paragraph of Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act indicated and the exemption is considered to outweigh the potential public interest in disclosing the information

Agenda Item           Subject                                      Exempt Information and

Number                                                                      Paragraph Number

5                               Application No 3/2001                1

To consider the attached restricted report..

The Assistant Director (Democratic Services) reported that the Panel at its meeting on 21 June 2011 had received evidence from the applicant and the Council's Assistant Housing Options Manager (Homelessness) in relation to the applicant's request for a review of the decision made by officers under delegated authority that the applicant was not homeless. 

At that meeting the Panel had expressed concern that, despite the applicant's request, she had not been given the opportunity to see documents held on her housing files in order to assist her in the preparation of her case.  Accordingly, the Panel had not made a decision on the application and had adjourned that meeting in order to allow sufficient time for:

(a)        the necessary retrieval, information review and copying process in relation to the applicant's homelessness and housing application files;

(b)        the submission to the applicant of copies of the files and consideration by the applicant of whether there were any documents held on those files which she had not already submitted to the Panel but wished to do so in support of her case;

(c)        the provision by the applicant of any further information which she wished to submit to the Panel in relation to any documents identified in accordance with (b) above;  and

(d)        the submission of further information to the Panel by the Council's Assistant Housing Options Manager (Homelessness) in response to any additional information submitted by the applicant.

The Assistant Director (Democratic Services) reported that a letter containing the Panel's resolution had been sent to the applicant on 23 June 2011.  Members noted that on 6 July 2011 the applicant had been sent a copy of her housing files following consideration of their contents by the Housing Options Manager, the Assistant Housing Options Manager (Homelessness) and the Council's Data Protection Officer.  Third party information contained on the files had not been passed to the applicant for data protection reasons.

The Assistant Director (Democratic Services) advised that as no reply had been received from the applicant, an e-mail had been sent to her on 26 July 2011 reminding her of the decisions taken by the Panel on 21 June 2011.  The e-mail also had asked her to submit without further delay any additional documents in support of her case.  Members noted that later that day the Assistant Housing Options Manager (Homelessness) had received a telephone call from the applicant during which she had advised him that she had found new accommodation in Harlow, had moved into that accommodation and did not wish to proceed with her application to the Panel.  The Assistant Director (Democratic Services) reported that a further e-mail had been sent to the applicant on 28 July 2011 asking her to confirm in writing that she did not wish to proceed with her application to the Panel.  No reply had been received to the e-mails sent to the applicant and on 8 August 2011 a letter had been sent to her repeating the need for her to put her  ...  view the full minutes text for item 28.