I received the email below today from James McLaughlin, Democratic Services Manager, Assistant Chief Executive’s Office. I spoke to James and then emailed him (see my email reply after his email) Watch this space … ----- Original Message ----- From: McLaughlin, James Cc: Kemp, Sharon ; Hatton, Lesley ; Lal, Shokat Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2017 9:24 AM Subject: Petition to the Chief Executive of Rotherham MBC Dear … The Chief Executive has received notification via Change.org of a petition to her concerning a call for officers of the council to tell the truth. It is my understanding that you have initiated the petition and therefore I am writing to you to provide a formal acknowledgement of the petition. If you are not the correct contact for this petition, please let me know. The Council has recently reviewed its policy for handling petitions and I attach a copy of the guidance for your reference. Under the scheme, petitions will be dealt with in the following ways:- • 2000 or more signatures on a petition will secure a debate at a Council meeting • Between 600 – 1999 signatures on a petition will result in it being considered by Members of the Overview and Scrutiny Management Board, with the lead petitioner being able to set out their call for action at the meeting • Between 20 – 599 signatures on a petition will enable the lead petitioner to speak on the petition for five minutes at the next available Council meeting and will result in a response being prepared by the Chief Executive or relevant Strategic Director. At the time of writing this acknowledgement, there are 102 signature on the petition at Change.org. The nature of online petitions is that the number of signatures grows with time. It would therefore be helpful if you could let me know if there is a deadline for the petition. If there is no deadline, then you will need to advise me of the point at which you would want the Council formally acknowledge receipt of the petition to trigger the processes set out in the bullet points above. At the point that you formally submit the petition to the Council, I will write to confirm when the petition will be lodged at Council in order for you to attend to speak for five minutes on the issues you have raised. If the petition has in excess of 600 signatures, or in excess of 2000 signatures, I will again write to confirm the process in accordance with the guidance, which is attached. Please contact me in the meantime if you have any queries on this email. I will be happy to discuss if you would find this helpful. Best wishes, James McLaughlin Democratic Services Manager Assistant Chief Executive’s Office Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council Telephone Number 01709 822477 Extension:- 22477 …………………………………………………............................................................……… My reply (after speaking to James): ----- Original Message ----- To: James McLaughlin Cc: Shokat Lal ; Lesley Hatton ; Sharon Kemp Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2017 3:01 PM Subject: e-petition David McWilliams - lack of response to the letter I wrote on 19.9.16. James thanks for returning my call. I have submitted the petition below as an e-petition. I hope this can be validated very quickly. I have little doubt I can get more than 20 local signatures very quickly. As I said when we talked, in my view petitions are a means to an end and if David McWilliams responds to my letter dated 19.9.16 appropriately and quickly then I will withdraw this petition. I will reflect very carefully on the other matters we discussed. I am attaching the letter to David McWilliams dated 19.9.16. … e-petition submitted 28.6.17 I want David McWilliams, Assistant Director: Early Help & Family Engagement, to respond to the letter I wrote him on 19.9.16. David McWilliams Assistant Director: Early Help & Family Engagement Children and Young Peoples Services, RMBC Riverside House, Main Street, Rotherham S60 1AE Cc: Dermot Pearson, Assistant Director Legal Services Monday 19 September 2016 Dear David, following my emails to you on 28.1.16 and on 15 September, I will be grateful for a prompt response to the following requests. In your email on 15.9.15 informing me of the decision to not distribute Voices of Despair Voices of Hope, you included extracts from what you referred to as “independent, expert guidance”. 1 Please can you let me know how you received these extracts. 2 Please can I have a copy of any email exchanges, if they exist, between you and Jean Imray about Voices of Despair Voices of Hope. I emailed you on 28 January, writing: I have been profoundly shocked to hear that you have named me in a private and confidential communication about a Freedom of Information request. I understand that you have made allegations about me, without even letting me know. Can you please explain why you have done this and what exactly the nature of your allegations are? I do not want to be involved in any communication relating to any other individual. 3 Please can you explain, in writing why you named me in a private and confidential communication about a Freedom of Information request. 4 And please can you state, if they do exist, what exactly the nature of the allegations are. Sincere regards PS Please note the following from Eira Owen Interim Information Manager on 19.7.16: Business as Usual The term Business as Usual (BAU) has been created to cover certain types of requests which can fall outside of the legislation. It is an informal agreement and has no legal basis whatsoever. Therefore you can submit a Freedom of Information Request at any time. In order to be treated as a BAU a request must meet the following criteria:- • It must not indicate that it is a FOI request • The information will be provided • The information will be provided within 20 working days.