Following the discussion at the recent HATOC meeting, could you please provide the following information.
How many submissions have been made in names that you consider fake? (such as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck).
Have these submissions been voided?
How many responses have been voided, because you believe them to be fake and what were your assumptions in doing so?
In response to the first three questions, we should confirm that the consultation remains ongoing and we therefore do not hold the final totals in relation to any information concerning the consultation. The consultation is due to close on 8 May 2024.
We should further point out that any requests for specific information from the consultation which would require a manual review of individual responses would take an excessive amount of time as we have received nearly 5000 consultation responses received to date. Whilst we can only speculate at this stage, any request for similar information in the future is likely to require more than the appropriate time limit of 18 hours and would therefore be exempt from disclosure pursuant to section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Are HATOC committee members able to submit a response to the online survey?
Yes
Would you be able to trace the IP addresses for the fake names and take action if you feel that the submissions have been made with the intent to discredit others?
IP addresses are recorded for online consultation responses, which would enable submissions from specified IP addresses to be excluded if necessary
Can you confirm that people can submit more than one response per name/IP address or are multiple submissions being voided?
Devon County Council have a duty to consider all comments submitted. Once a submission has been made, further additional responses can also be submitted. When analysing the data, efforts will be made to report both the total submissions made and total number of respondents.