Freedom of Information requests in the London Borough of Barnet

There are some fascinating responses to Freedom of Informatin requests on the Barnet Council website currently.

I have been reviewing them and there are a few which caught my eye. Have you ever wondered how many dangerous animals licenses there are in Barnet? Well now you know

Dangerous Wild Animals More info


26 April 2017 Our ref: 3602996
Thank you for your request received on 21 April 2017, for the following information:
licensing under the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976 in your jurisdiction. Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to make the following request:

Please:
- 1. Provide details of how many animals of each species are covered under each licence.
- 2. For each licence, list all the species and the number of individuals covered. In each case, we will require as much information as possible to enable the species to be identified.
- 3. Any information you are able to provide us relating to applications which were made and subsequently refused, and the reasons or refusal.
- We do not require personal information such as names of licensees, addresses etc.

We have processed this request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Response
We do not have any Dangerous Wild Animal licensed premises.

Or what about Lord Buckethead?

'Lord Buckethead', of the 'Gremloids' Party, who stood at the 1987 General Election More info

I'm a TV producer researching the history of novelty candidates in UK General Elections for a new programme, and I would like to obtain any information you areable to share about the candidature of 'Lord Buckethead', of the 'Gremloids' Party, who stood at the 1987 General Election in the constituency of Finchley. In particular, we would like to discover the real name of the person who was given the right to  stand in the election, as we would very much like to contact with a   view to talking to him about his experience at the time. If you can provide us with any information on this subject that you are able to share I would be very grateful. Many thanks for your help





Response

I am writing to inform you that we have searched our records and the information yourequested is not held by London Borough of Barnet.The council's Returning Officers is a statutory office holder who holds  information about candidates on their own behalf under Representation of the People Act and not on the council's behalf.  The information requested is therefore not held by thecouncil for FOI purposes. The Returning Officer is not a   public authority subject to FOI and therefore they are not obliged to answer FOI requests themselves. However, we have considered whether the Returning Officer could provide thisinformation in any event.  However, they have confirmed that information about candidates is not retained for this length of time and so nothing is held by them aboutthis candidate. The retention period for the Returning Officer is    1   year under the Representation of the People Act 1983 sch 1 rule 57

 All fascinating stuff.

Whilst perusing the list, I found one which I believe will put a rather large shadow over the campaign for re-eection of Matthew Offord.  Why not have a look through the list and see if you can spot it? Watch this space.