FOI - Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm [May 2024]

Request:

In relation to the Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm:

1.Can you please provide any details on advisory documents for addressing controversial histories, and commission new public commemorations. For example, the "toolkit" for boroughs, along with other training materials provided to boroughs, guidelines etc. Please provide original documents: the toolkit for example

2.What advice has been provided by the partners on the Partner's Board. For example, the specific guidelines, advice or training provided by English Heritage, Queer Britain and others

3.Can you please provide any lists of monument deemed problematic, as collated by the Commission of sent to the Commission by the boroughs, if possible

Our response to your request is as follows:

1. The GLA does not hold this information as the Government has published specific guidance for custodians on how to deal with commemorative heritage assets that have become contested. This is available here, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-for-custodians-on-how-to-deal-with-commemorative-heritage-assets-that-have-become-contested. The guidance has been supported by case studies produced by Historic England, which can be found on their website: https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/planning/contested-heritage/.

The aim of the “Borough Toolkit” is to share learning and approaches for delivering community driven projects within the public realm and will include references to the guidance provided by Government and Historic England. The toolkit is currently in development and will be published in Autumn 2024.

We consider that Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act will be relevant once the toolkit and guidance material is finalised.

Section 22 of the FOI Act provides an exemption for information that is intended to be published in the future. Information is exempt if, at the time when the public authority receives a request for it:

• the public authority holds the requested information;
• the public authority intends the information to be published at some future date, whether that date is determined or not; and
• in all the circumstances it is reasonable to withhold the information until its planned publication.

Section 22 acknowledges that public authorities must have freedom to be able to determine their own publication timetables. This allows them to deal with the necessary preparation, administration and context of publication. It is however necessary to consider whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption (and withholding the information until the publication date), is greater than the public interest in releasing the information before this date.

In this instance, it is felt that there is a greater public interest for the GLA to keep to its original timetable of disclosure. The decision to publish the borough toolkit and guidance was made in order to allow GLA officers to manage their workload and the work required to prepare this information for publication.

The public interest – i.e. the best interests of the public – is met by the GLA being open and transparent, but also by managing its resources effectively, and this includes setting reasonable publication schedules to meet this public interest. While there is an obvious public interest in the release of the completed toolkit and guidance, we believe this is met by our intention to publish this information. We do not believe the public interest favours the disruption to GLA staff by expediting this publication when its early publication would not meet any immediate or exceptional public concerns at the present time. We therefore find the balance of public interest falls in maintaining the exemption and the GLA publishing this information in accordance with our existing publication timetable of Autumn 2024.

2. The meeting notes of our partner board were released under a previous: FOI - Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm's Partners Board [Feb 2024] | London City Hall. The initial term for the Partners Board was for 18 months.

Any published guidelines produced by Partner Board members will be available on their own websites. For example, Historic England has published advice and guidance on Contested Heritage on its website https://historicengland.org.uk/advice/planning/contested-heritage/

3. The GLA is London's strategic government and does not operate in the same way as local Borough Councils. It therefore does not hold the information you have requested. The Commission was not established to preside over the removal of statues and did not undertake a review of monuments. However, some local authorities undertook their own reviews, and you would need to contact the individual local authorities for the outcomes of these reviews: https://directory.londoncouncils.gov.uk/. Some have already been published, for example:

• Statue and monuments assessment | Lambeth Council  
• Appendix.pdf (royalgreenwich.gov.uk)
• Review on Monuments, Building, Place and Street Names in Haringey | HaringeyCouncil