Lambeth’s FOI Fiasco: ICO orders Lambeth Council to come clean after months of stonewalling leisure usage request

Here’s an interesting Freedom of Information request regarding Active Lambeth, the in-house Town Hall company that now manages leisure centres in the borough.

In short, the FoI requests:

Monthly usage data for specific leisure centres (Clapham, Brixton, Streatham) and all centres combined, broken down by facilities (e.g., swimming pools, gyms, classes) for 2022/23 and 2023/24.

Monthly revenue figures compared to original projections for 2023/24.

User satisfaction data for the same period.

Half decent questions, well put.

One year on after taking over the contract from Greenwich Leisure Ltd, the user wanted to make a fair comparison over the financial benefits of managing the leisure contract from within the Town Hall.

The first anniversary of Active Lambeth seemed liked an appropriate timeframe in which to make the comparisons, especially after the Labour Group celebrated the success of Active Lambeth with a Motion at Full Council over the summer.

But wait! What’s this?

Lambeth Council didn’t answer the FoI. It may be Lambeth conspiracy, or maybe just the usual Lambeth cock up.

The user (NOT Brixton Buzz btw) wasn’t one to jog on. That nice Information Commissioner was contacted, and asked to step in and see if there was anything to hide.

A Draft Decision Notice by the Information Commissioner has now entered the public domain. It is highly critical of the Council in dealing with the FoI. The decision instructs the Council to finally answer the original questions asked.

The Notice explains how initially, the Council claimed it did not hold user satisfaction data. Plus it provided membership figures instead of the requested usage data.

Lambeth also withheld revenue information, citing Section 43(2)*of FOIA (commercial interests), but did not provide sufficient reasoning for its application.

The Commissioner found that Lambeth failed to address the specific usage data request accurately.

It also ruled that Lambeth didn’t demonstrate how the withheld revenue data met the criteria for exemption under section 43(2).

The Commissioner ordered the Council to disclose the requested usage and revenue data within 30 days, noting potential High Court intervention for non-compliance.

There’s a further sting in the FoI tail. The Commissioner came down heavy on the Council – and not for the first time – with regards how it handles FoI’s raised by members of the public.

The Council’s handling of the internal review process was criticised, taking nearly six months instead of the recommended 20-40 working days. Plus the Council refused to provide the ICO with the requested withheld information for review, hindering the investigation.

The ICO determined that the Council did not comply with sections 1 (general right of access) and 10(1) (timely response) of FOIA.

The Commissioner required the Council to release the data or provide appropriate redactions with justified exemptions.

User data for Clapham may – or may not – be flawed. Anyone who has used the centre in the past few months will know that the entry gates aren’t working. Staff wave people through, with no record of usage.

As the barriers at Clapham Leisure Centre remain open to all comers, perhaps the real numbers Lambeth is trying to calculate aren’t about usage or revenue — but how long it can keep waving through questions unanswered.