Oakham Mayor, Cllr Dewis, Inaccurate response to Civic Reception Freedom of Information Request

Oakham Mayor Councillor Dewis held a Civic Reception at Oakham Castle to raise funds
for his nominated charity and reward local volunteers.

I understand this event was rather more dignified than the previous held by Cllr Lucas
which could only be described as a Piss Up as at expense of local tax payers.

To compare the two events and the find the cost of this event to the tax payer I placed a freedom of information request.

Also because The local press failed to report who was rewarded, so I thought it would be nice to find out who was.

Information is hard to obtain from Oakham Town Council. From the information I have received today from Oakham Town Council

I find the event cost the tax payer £792.84

The council does not know how much was raised for the Mayors Charity.

this is often a common problem with charities associated with Oakham Town Council
we are often told a figure of about, this is the first time, I have been told we don't know.
I am surprised the charity did not send a thank you letter detailing amount raised.
of course the amount may have been so small like that raised last time by Cllr Lucas?

The information I have been provided with is pure fabrication the total given for food
states £390 when the councils own schedule of payments show they paid Cookies of Oakham
£468 for sandwiches!

I posted previously about this extravagance http://martinbrookes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/oakham-town-council-civic-service.html 

Glasses and other Items from Wilkinsons Oakham £7.27

Wine from Tesco £128.84

Plates from Tesco £5.72

Sandwich platters from Cookies Coffee Shop Mill Street Oakham  £468 according to
the companies website this would have fed upto 500 if they had chosen all the most expensive platters.





FOI Response


Oakham Town Council
Victoria Hall,
39 High Street,
Oakham,
Rutland,
LE15 6AH
Telephone: 01572 723627 Fax: 01572 759395

e-mail: enquiries@oakhamtowncouncil.gov.uk

30th November 2012



Via e-mail

Dear Mr Brookes

In response to your request for information received on 5th November 2012 and detailed below:

Dear Oakham Town Council

FOI request: Mayors Civic Reception
Please can you email me the following requests.

1. An Itemised list of expenditure for this event, recently held at Oakham Castle.
2. A list of all the invited volunteers who attended as a reward for public service
Name and reason for invitation.
3. List of other invited guests reason and position for example Councillor, hanger on...
4. Total Number of family members and friends, invited by the Mayor and other Councillors
5. Total number of guests who attended.
6. The total sum raised for the Mayors charity.

Thank you

Martin Brookes


1. The itemised list of expenditure is

Venue 147.00
6 Table Cloths 39.00
Table Decorations 25.00
Food 390.00
Drinks 128.84

Total £729.84

2. The Chairman did not invite individual volunteers but asked organisations to nominate up to
two of their volunteers to attend. The Council does not have a definitive list of those attending
nor did it check names at the door to ascertain who did attend. The Council is therefore not
aware of the reason(s) the organisations nominated their volunteers.

3. The list of guests the Chairman did invite is as below. Please note partners were also included
on the invitation:

Adam Lowe Oakham Town Councillor
Charles Haworth Oakham Town Councillor
John Nowell Oakham Town Councillor
Joyce Lucas Oakham Town Councillor
Peter Lockett Oakham Town Councillor
Rob Guthrie Oakham Town Councillor
Maureen Dodds Oakham Town Councillor
Jayne Woodcock Oakham Town Councillor
Bart Hellyer The High Sheriff of Rutland
Dr Laurence Howard OBE Lord Lietenant of Rutland
The Revd Brian Nicholls
The Revd Brian McAvoy
The Revd Canon Lee Francis- Dehqani
Lt Col Steve Lonnen Kendrew Barracks
Lt Col Nigel Johnson Kendrew Barracks
Lt Col Mark Pullen St Georges Barracks
Air Commodore PDL Gover Chairman VAR
Chris Parsons Chairman of RCC
Cllr Roger Begy Leader of RCC
Helen Briggs Chief Executive of RCC
Inspector Kam Mistry Police

4. Nil

5. As stated in 2 above the Council did not check the number of guests attending but did plan for
80.

6. Any donations to the Mayor’s Charity were handed directly to the Lodge Trust and retained by
them at the end of the evening. The Council is not aware of the sum involved.

You subsequently sent a further request for information, received by Oakham Town Council on the 14th
November 2012, relating to your original request, as detailed below:

Dear Oakham Town Council,

RE: FOI Civic Reception.

Thank you for Richards time over the phone today.
I can confirm my original request stands.
I wish to clarify one point of that request with this additional request.
I do not require personal address details of those who attended.
I require the names of those invited and rewarded for their good work and the
organisation they have carried out that voluntary work for and a brief description of that
work, for example raised £1000, cared for people or it maybe former Cllr Lorna who
jumped of building to raise fund for her charity the name I have forgotten.
The local press failed to name any people rewarded at this event and it is my intention
to address this by publishing the findings of FOI.
If the Council wishes to provide a written press release including the above request I
would be happy to publish that along with the facts and figures. As the council is more
likely to know what these people have done.
From
Martin Brookes

In response:

The Council does not have the information that you have requested. Voluntary organisations were
asked to nominate up to two people to attend the event. The reasons why they were nominated were not
requested. Also the Council cannot be sure that the persons nominated by their respective organisations
were the ones that actually attended as no formal checks were made on their arrival.
The list of organisations who were asked to nominate people to attend is as below:
Civic Reception Invitation List 2012

Age UK
Air Cadets
Arts for Rutland
Rutland Lions Club
Cancer Research
Citizens Advice Bureau
Friends of All Saints Church
Inner Wheel Club
Loros
Oakham In Bloom
Oxfam
RATS
Rutland Community Spirit
The Shed Cafe Project
Friends of County Museum
Rutland Rotaract Family Support
Rutland Horticultural Society
Rutland House Community Trust
Police Community Support
Rutland Reminders
Karen Ball Fund
Stroke Club
The Lodge Trust
Rutland Symbiotica Social Group
VAR
Knights School Foundation
Air Ambulance
Rutland Girl Guides
Rutland Scouts
Rotary Club
Oakham Festival
Rutland Memorial Hospital WRVS Trolley
Women’s Institute
British Legion
RAF Association

Yours sincerely
Richard White
Clerk to the Council
rwhite@oakhamtowncouncil.gov.uk