Though the question remains why did Mackenzie offer his resignation in the first place?

He seems to have done that without any discussion with Priestly.

http://applications.drdni.gov.uk/publications/document.asp?docid=18945

“In the day-to-day management of the system, IMU staff frequently encounter examples of bad practise in the naming of containers and or documents. Recent examples of this show individual users choosing not to process items for deletion but instead renaming items with titles such as “delete this” or “please remove”. There appears to be an assumption that someone – not identified in any guidance in the TRIM processes – is trawling the system for messages from staff. IMU conducts regular checks through which all examples of bad naming conventions are investigated. IMU will conduct monthly searches under known common terms and address the issue through Power User contacts. IMU will also conduct ad-hoc checks on the access controls of documents that appear to be personal or sensitive where/when examples of this are identified.”

The difficulty here would be for anyone completing a trawl to answer a FOI request, if the information has been deliberately renamed.

Some of the problems for DRD/NIW in the emails released to Belfastjj, are that entire sentences have been redacted, and experience has shown that practice allows potentially embarrassing phrases to be deleted under the guise of “personal information”.
It’s sometimes helpful to draw attention to such “redactions” and request these with any identifying material removed.
Experience would also suggest, that emails from DRD should be examined closely, especially i the context of sequencing. Sometimes there are huge gaps, in the correspondence and the “conversation” appears illogical , as if there emails missing. (Yet no redaction note).
The Information Commissioner’s Office in Belfast is a very helpful resource. Unfortunately when the complaint reaches
ICO in England, the quality of service and indeed logic diminishes IMO.

Where is the Appointments Commissioner . Has she challenged what is going on? Time for another FOI?

These uploaded emails are fascinating and raise some interesting issues

1 they called in a number of persons for interview as NEDs. Where did these come from? There was no public advert so where did they get the list.

2 the process seems to have been somewhat interactive. One candidate in the first phase was ‘above the line’ but they wouldn’t recommend him/her to the Minister. Why not? They then went on to interview others to fill the gap.

3 some of those didn’t understand the requirement to publish potential political interest and cover off conflicts of interest. Indeed, it seems that potential conflicts of interest weren’t even identified before the appointments were made

Why else would they have taken the guts of four months to get an emergency board which clearly doesn’t muster the necessary skill sets to manage a highly technical enterprise like NI Water?

This is the really damning outcome of all these shenanigans.

And if Magnus is right:

“As currently operating in Northern Ireland a board is merely a device to create distance between a Minister/Department and criticism”.

Then 15p is a massive overpayment, never mind 15k…

“The time commitment is likely to be around two days a month, including one or two strategy awaydays a year.

Departmental non-execs will be offered an honorarium which should not be more than that paid to Bank of England non-executive board members, currently £15,000 per annum.”

Are NIW NEDs overpaid?

“ambiguous”

“The FOI Act is designed to provide access to information and not necessarily documents.”

“However, as it stands you have only described a very broad topic and asked for ‘all documentation’ relating to that topic which covers a wide range of information held by the Department.”

Funny thats what i wanted from the statrt -all documentation in relation to Four interim directors being appointed !!

Funny they didn’t include the score sheets for the interviews !!

Never mind a further FOI submitted today – including other documentation wonder is it recorded information !!

Oh i’m uploading more emails of interest http://politicsni.wordpress.com/

I have to appeal my first rejection on that same score, but I want to offer them a specific solution with the request.

To do that effectively we need to find out more about how they actually store it.

I submitted my FOI to DRD Could you provide me with all documentation in relation to Four interim directors who have been appointed to the board of NI Water appointed by the DRD Minister.

Reply from Mr Fair

Your request is both broad-ranging and ambiguous and I would like to help to get the precise information you require. Section 8 (c) of the Freedom of Information Act requires a request to “describe the information requested”. Your request asks for “all documentation relating to 4 interim directors.” The term “all documentation” is not a sufficient description of the information you require, and I would be grateful if you would clarify more precisely what information you are seeking, in order to prevent nugatory work being undertaken by the Department…

My reply

all documentation relating to the appointment of the 4 interim directors ie emails/minutes of meetings / legal advice sought and gained / appointment process etc etc.

I trust that clarifies things ?

Reply from Mr Fair

The FOI Act is designed to provide access to information and not necessarily documents. I would therefore still need further clarification on exactly what information you require. I attach a link to the ICO guidance to making requests below, which you may find helpful:

My reply

To be honest Gary i find this ridiculous i’ve never had any problems requesting documentation from any other public body or in fact any Goverment department.

First line of the link you sent me states ( not that i need to know as i’m very familiar with the FOI act )

You have a legal right to request any recorded information held by a public authority, such as a government department, local council or state school.

I assume documentation is recorded information am i correct ?

As to help you understand the FOI Act this is from the ICO

Q: What can I request under the Freedom of Information Act http://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/faqs/freedom_of_information_act_for_the_public.aspx#fA4236BFE-176B-4C39-8500-BC73EB7EE199

You have the right to request any information held by public authorities. The Act allows access to recorded information, such as emails, meeting minutes, research or reports, held by public authorities in England, Northern Ireland and Wales and some authorities located in Scotland. Scottish public authorities are subject to the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Now after that Gary can you confirm that my request will proceed or will i be forced to the matter up with the ICO – the choice is yours ??

Reply from Mr Fair

We genuinely would like to help you to obtain what information you require. However, as it stands you have only described a very broad topic and asked for ‘all documentation’ relating to that topic which covers a wide range of information held by the Department.

You have stated that you are “very familiar with the FOI Act”, therefore you will be aware that if a request is too costly it may be refused, or charges may apply. We would like to avoid that situation occurring. Also the more information that we have to consider the longer it will take to process the request given that there may be some information that is subject to exemptions being applied etc. Therefore, I believe that it is both in your interest as well as the Department’s interest that you (to quote the ICO guidance) “be as clear as possible” and “try to pinpoint what you really want” For example do you want to know what the process of appointment entailed, or how the decision was taken etc.

I would re-iterate that we are more than willing to discuss this with you to try to help your get the information you need.

My reply

I require the following

1/ A copy of all legal advice sought and gained in relation to the appointment 4 interim Directors ?

2/ Copy of any emails relating to the appointment 4 interim Directors ?

3/ Copy of any minutes of meetings relating to the appointment 4 interim Directors ?

4/ Copy of any letters relating to the appointment 4 interim Directors ?

5/ Where any other candidates considered for the role of interim Director if so how many ?

I trust this now clarifies my request ? if so please confirm by return email you’re proceeding with my request.

No reply from Mr Fair – emailed again NO reply rang the department and then got this

Gary Fair is on leave at present. I can confirm that we are dealing with your request.

Barbara Faloona

Now if one was thinking out loud – you’d almost think they were wanting to hide something or trying to stall the FOI request !!

But surely not !!

He certainly seemed to give the impression that he did act with authority to overrule their decisions.

In other words he had no means of intimidating them, only the means (on foot of recommendation by Fair) to sack them.

As for candidness with the PAC, I refer you back to Mr Priestley’s “I thought I had that information with me” moment.

Alternatively was he not as candid with PAC as he himself suggested?

If he was involved in ending the dispute over that resignation, I suspect it was NOT in his capacity as a senior civil servant.

On that basis and with my agreement, he decided to try to withdraw his resignation. The board of Northern Ireland Water contacted me to say that it was minded to refuse to allow him to withdraw his resignation. I said that, if the board did that, I would get the Minister to get Mr MacKenzie kept on the board and that Mr MacKenzie could not be allowed to resign.”

“Six months later, Mr McKenzie, offered his resignation to the board. Then, just two days later, following support from DRD, he offered to withdraw his resignation. At that time, the chairman of the board of NIW advised that, in his opinion, the CE no longer had their confidence, and the board was minded not to allow the withdrawal. DRD told the chairman that it did have confidence in Mr McKenzie, and the resignation was withdrawn.”

My understanding is that DRD had nothing to do with the withdrawal of McKenzie’s resignation. He took legal advice and was advised that as the Committee had not yet accepted it in writing, he could withdraw it.

I agree with your description of how this mess worked its way out (McKenzie was not even told of this gerry built arrangement until his second day in post).

I have to say, I find your version to be a more accurate description of the reality, which is why I suspect NI Water has become a pariah amongst those with the expertise to fulfil such an advisory/scrutinising role.

It will interesting to hear what Lian Paterson might have to say in any recall given she told the PAC that NDGB status was originally for reporting purposes only.

So why was KS being asked to submit a “more detailed CV”, if the interviews had already taken place?