FOI - Essex Leaders and Chief Executives Group [Mar 2026]

I am writing to request a copy of a specific formal communication held by the Greater London Authority under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

I am requesting the full verbatim text (including any appendices or lists of specific issues) of the joint letter sent to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, in or around December 2018 by the Essex Leaders and Chief Executives Group.

To assist your search, the letter in question is documented to have been:

• Sent on or around: December 2018. The earliest reference to the letter that I can find online is from 17/18 December (https://www.essex.pfcc.police.uk/news/essex-council-leaders-letter-highlights-concerns-over-london-homeless-being-places-in-county and https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-46609918)

• Signed by: Every council leader in Essex (including the 12 district/borough councils, Essex County Council, and the unitary authorities of Southend and Thurrock) and the Essex Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

• Subject matter: Concerns regarding the rehousing of homeless families from London boroughs into Essex.

• Key content: The letter is reported to have raised 11 specific issues identified by housing officers across Essex regarding the lack of communication and the impact of these placements on local services and support networks.

I would prefer to receive this information in an electronic format (PDF). If the GLA holds any formal response sent by the Mayor's office to the Essex Leaders and Chief Executives Group regarding this specific letter, I would also request that a copy of that response be included.

Response

I can confirm the GLA located information within the scope of your request. Please find attached the documents in scope

• Letter from Essex leaders 14 December 2018
• Response from Mayor of London 15 January 2019

The GLA has redacted names of members of staff, which are exempt from disclosure under s.40 (Personal information) of the Freedom of Information Act. This information would identify specific employees and as such constitutes personal data which is defined by Article 4(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to mean any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual. It is considered that disclosure of this information would contravene the first data protection principle under Article 5(1) of GDPR which states that Personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject.