Employment details of John Sills, Director of Policy & Communications

Taking your requests for information in turn:

• salary payments

IPSA hods this information.

Details of remuneration received by IPSA’s board and senior members of IPSA’s staff are published on our website.

Details of remuneration to IPSA Board Members and senior members of IPSA’s staff can also be found in IPSA’s Annual Report and Accounts.  You can find these reports on our website by following this link.

In relation to salaries for senior staff within IPSA, we adopt an approach similar to that used within the civil service and provide – in £5,000 bands - details of salaries over £58,200.  This is equivalent to the Senior Civil Service minimum pay band.  We believe this is a fair balance between the rights of senior employees to a reasonable expectation of privacy and the right of members of the public to hold public authorities to account. 

We do not believe that the public interest in disclosing exact monthly payments outweighs the reasonable expectation of the individual to privacy, given that we already publish details of the annual salary received.  As such, details of salary payments made on a monthly basis are exempt from release under section 40 of the FOIA (personal information).

Section 40(2) provides that personal data about third parties is exempt information if one of the conditions set out in section 40(3) is satisfied. Under the FOI Act disclosure of this information would breach the fair processing principle (Principle 1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), where it would be unfair to those persons or is confidential. For further information, you may wish to visit the UK Legislation website.

• pension payments

• all other employment related income

IPSA holds some of this information.

Mr Sills has not received any other employment related income.

Information on pension contributions relating to senior members of IPSA’s staff are also published, annually, in IPSA’s Annual Report and Accounts.  You can find these reports on our website by following this link.

As above, we do not believe that the public interest in disclosing exact monthly pension payments outweighs the reasonable expectation of the individual to privacy, given that we already publish details of pensions, on an annualised basis.  As such, details of pension payments made on a monthly basis are exempt from release under section 40 of the FOIA (personal information).

Section 40(2) provides that personal data about third parties is exempt information if one of the conditions set out in section 40(3) is satisfied. Under the FOI Act disclosure of this information would breach the fair processing principle (Principle 1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), where it would be unfair to those persons or is confidential. For further information, you may wish to visit the UK Legislation website.

Information on payments made this financial year will be included in IPSA’s Annual Report and Accounts for 2013-14, which will be published following the end of the financial year.

Section 22(1) of the FOIA states that information intended for future publication is exempt from release.

We have considered whether the public interest in releasing the information outweighs the application of the exemption. It is our opinion that the public interest is best served by publishing a full list rather than on an ad hoc basis, as in this way a clear and complete set of information is published, avoiding any potential confusion. It is for this reason that the application of the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure at this stage.

• details of allowances/expenses paid

• details for what Mr Sills may claim allowances/expenses

IPSA holds this information.

Information on expenses paid to staff members of IPSA are published on our website, alongside the expenses policy. 

 The FOIA states that information that is accessible by other means is not subject to release. Therefore, as the information you have requested is already available on our website, it is exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the FOIA (information accessible to applicant by other means).

• copies of all receipts relating to all allowances/expenses made

IPSA holds this information.

The table attached to this response (Annex A) provides extracted copies of all the information contained on the invoice and receipts held on record. Please note that in line with our stated publication policy, we have withheld the invoice number.  We have withheld this information under Section 31(1)(a) (Law enforcement) of the FOI Act. This section of the Act states that information is exempt if its disclosure under the FOI Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the prevention (or detection) or crime.

After considering the nature of the withheld information it is our opinion that were a disclosure to be made into the public domain it is probable that this information could be traced back to sensitive personal or commercial information which could be used for criminal activity. Although we recognise the public interest in transparency surrounding the publishing of invoice information there is also a strong public interest in ensuring that as an organisation we are able to protect all those for whom we hold data from the threat of being subjected to criminal activity, which is achieved through our capacity to withhold certain information from disclosure. It is for this reason that we have decided that the application of the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

We have also withheld the personal address of Mr Sills, located within the hotel invoice, under Section 40 of the FOIA.  Section 40(2) provides that personal data about third parties is exempt information if one of the conditions set out in section 40(3) is satisfied. Under the FOI Act disclosure of this information would breach the fair processing principle (Principle 1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), where it would be unfair to those persons or is confidential. For further information, you may wish to visit the UK Legislation website.

• details of Mr Sills’ terms of employment (notice period, entitlement to leave, severance etc.,)

IPSA does not hold this information.

Mr Sills is on secondment from the Ministry of Justice, who hold the specific details of his contractual terms.