Freedom of information response
Organisational structure of the Council's Procurement and Finance Management Departments
I am seeking information about the organisational structure of the Council's Procurement and Finance Management Departments.
Could you please provide me with an up-to-date organisational chart for these departments? Including the job titles, contact details and the post holders name within these departments, as well as the reporting lines and overall structure.
Please see attached
Unfortunately we are unable to provide in full the information you have requested. We do hold the information but an absolute exemption applies. Personal Information (Section 40,2)
Personal data of any other person (third party data) is exempt under section 40(2) if disclosure would breach one of the data protection principles. This aspect of Section 40 is an Absolute Exemption and is therefore not subject to the Public Interest Test.
The names of officers working for the Council is personal data specific to them. It is therefore subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act. Information can be withheld if its disclosure would be likely to breach one or more of the Principles of the Data Protection Act. There is no prior expectation on the part of team Managers (or other officers working below the level of Director) that their names and job titles / positions would be published into the wider public domain under FOI. A disclosure made under FOI constitutes a publication to the world at large. We believe that to disclose this would be likely to breach the first Principle of the Data Protection Act by unfairly contravening their right to privacy and confidentiality in the work place.
However, in the interests of transparency we are able to share details relating to senior officers (Director level and above). For these officers, there is already a greater expectation of openness about their role given their level of accountability for service provision and budgetary decision making.
For your information please see the following link which outlines staff details of Director and above: https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/chief-executive-directors-and-services.