clerk and chairmans instructions

Question

we have recieved a FOI request chairman is gathering the info for one as its from a local web gossip paper who is a friend of clerk  so chaiman wishes to gather this info as much of the requests do not refer to or involve the council but a seperate charity  the clerk was not present as clerk refused to attend so has no knowledge of the event  a new foi is submitted and clerk is refusing to follow chaimans simple instuctions to deal with that item stateing chairman can not instruct the clerk in any matter seems more than a bit odd

Answer 1

If the Clerk has JD / ToR which includes correspondence and FoI then its a simple (if such a thing exists) restoring efficiency or disciplinary matter.

Sounds like there are other elements at play anyway....

Comments

I’m confused surely if an FOI request is about a charity then it should be addressed to the charity which may or may not be covered by the FOI none of that is to do with the Clerk
If it relates to the Parish Council then unless the information is exempt then it is up to the Clerk to respond as part of their JD

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And if it relates to the Parish Council and the information is exempt then it is still up to the clerk to respond and correctly state which exemption they are relying upon.

Answer 2

As noted - it seems strange!   The FOI request would be to the council, not the chairman, and dealt with by the clerk.  In addition, the clerk is not instructed by the chair.