I've been following an interesting FOI request from B Coleman (blog here) over Westminster City Council's £1000 payment to Molly Mogs Ltd. Now Molly Moggs is a bar, known according to some commentators on What Do They Know as drag bar, which of course raises the interesting question as to why the money of local taxpayers was being paid to this local business.
Westminster, who do not have the best of FOI records at the best of time (the local authority is on the ICO's watch list of poor performers), certainly did not help matters by refusing the follow up request. This evasion has prompted some expectation of some less than savoury goings on behind the scenes of the council, with even local press picking up on the prospect of a story lurking in the background. Picking up on the evasion I too, along with others, followed up with a question a couple of days ago, the answer to which will still I think be interesting.
In any case Westminster Council have today responded with an answer that to a large extent snuffs out hopes that there is a conspiracy in the offing, although I am still interested in the Homefinder scheme itself and think that the authoriser of a £1000 payment should be disclosed.
Overall, however there is I think a moral to the story. For the FOI requester the failure to answer a public authority to professionally answer a response and instead evade its responsibilities is more likely to be evidence of incompetent officials and/or inadequate training and investment from management rather than conspiracy. For Westminster Council the lesson is simple: not only does transparent government stop accusations of misconduct it also saves work in the long run.
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