Below is the complete sequence of emails regarding my request and subsequent 116 application.

My first email was dated 2nd January 2009, four days prior to the EGM at which the proposed new MandAs were to be voted on.

It was as a direct consequence of the situation around the EGM, the absence of any democratic process in their drafting and the extremely difficult timing for the EGM that this request was made. In communicating with a small number of SUMs who were equally concerned by what was happening it seemed obvious that SUMs should be able to communicate and for the total number of SUMs to be known so that percentages of necessary votes could be estimated.

After the announcement of the EGM EO persistently refused to engage in any dialogue with members regarding the proposed AandMs and also refused to make the draft document available to the general membership despite the fact that they contained very significant changes to the way the organisation would be governed.

Dear Janet

I have recently registered to be a voting member and have received the documentation back from you. Thank you for dealing with this so quickly.

I would be grateful for a list of the number and details of the charity membership with voting rights.

I have noted that there is no specific clause in the existing governing document that would deprive the membership of this information. I have checked with both The Charity Commission and Companies House and they have confirmed that in the absence of a clause preventing access to this data it should be available.

I thank you in anticipation of you early reply.

Yours sincerely

Kevin Denton

Membership no 200801

Dear Kevin

Thanks for your email.  Sorry not to have replied earlier but we have been busy with the EGM as you can imagine

Under section 116 of The Companies Act, I will need the following information Your full name and address

Purpose for which the information will be used

Whether the information will be disclosed to another person/s

If you are making a request on behalf of another person or

organisation, if so their contact details.

Janet Wilkinson

Dear Janet

Thank you for your reply.

In accordance with section 116 of The Companies Act and in answer to your questions I confirm:

Kevin Denton

Address

The information will be used to establish my and other Signed Up Members positions with regard to the number of members falling within this category of membership.

The information will be disclosed to my wife, Mrs L Denton who is also a Signed Up Member.

I am not making this request on behalf of another person or organisation.

I trust that the above is agreeable to you and look forward to your reply.

sincerely

Kevin Denton

Dear Janet

I refer to my emails to you and your reply, appended below.

I would be grateful if you would confirm the position with regard to the supply of the information requested at your earliest convenience.

sincerely

Kevin Denton

Kevin

The trustees are seeking legal advice on this matter

Dear Janet

Thank you for your reply.

I am surprised at your response and would ask on what basis you are seeking legal advice?

I would draw your attention to section 117 of the Companies Act, which is quite specific.

117 Register of members: response to request for inspection or copy

(1) Where a company receives a request under section 116 (register of members:

right to inspect and require copy), it must within five working days either—

(a) comply with the request, or

(b) apply to the court.

(2) If it applies to the court it must notify the person making the request.

With respect it does not provide for anything other than the two options stated.

I would appreciate the information requested as is my entitlement under that legislation, unless you are aware of course of an overriding clause in which case I would ask for clarification.

sincerely

Kevin Denton

Dear Janet

I refer to your email of 22 January 2009 and my reply of the same date.

I would again be grateful if you would advise exactly what is the position with regard to the supply of the information I have requested under s116 of the Companies Act.

As pointed out in my reply to you s117 of the Companies Act is specific in requiring one of two courses of action, both within 5 days.

Having spoken again with Companies House contact center they have confirmed that my understanding of the position is correct.

I would appreciate your reply as soon as possible.

sincerely

Good evening Kevin.

As part of the hand over process prior to Janet standing down at the AGM in February, she has passed this matter over to me to deal with.

Thank you for highlighting our responsibilities under Section 117 Companies Act. We shall respond within the 5 days if you can just complete the request that you have started.

To summarise the current position, you have complied with Section 116 4(a) and 116 4(b) completely however your reply to 116 4(c) is slightly ambiguous. Our solicitor has suggested that we ask for a more concise explanation not just for ourselves but for our members and your protection. As this is a legal request, should there be any queries later on, it is in everyone's interest to use as clear and concise language as possible right from the start.

Under section 116 4(d), you have notified us that the only person you intend to share the information with is Mrs L Denton and we will now be contacting her in order to obtain the relevant information required under that section.

Once we have recieved all the information as detailed above we will respond to the request with the statutory time frame.

Under Section 116 the register is available to view at no cost, however a copy maybe be required on payment of the relevant fee. I would be grateful therefore it you can confirm whether you wish to view the register or require a copy.

I await your reply.

Regards

Dear Mr Roarke

Thank you for your email.

I have noted that you are dealing with my request in place of Janet Wilkinson, The Company Secretary

I am concerned that this request has been unnecessarily protracted.

You presumably have my emails to Janet and as such you will know that I supplied the information required under sect 116 of the Companies Act on the 13 January. The correct time to raise any queries re this request was on receipt of that email. I have to point out that under section 116 the time period specified, ie 5 days, runs from the date of that request and if it was believed that there was any suggestion that I am not entitled to this information, application should have been made to the court. In the absence of such a belief, section 116 is clear and we are now at a stage where the 5 day time limit for either supply or application to court has been exceeded by a very significant margin.

I do not believe that any "slight ambiguity" in my words is sufficient to mis understand that my request was legitimate and that the information was sought by me for proper purposes. So as to completely clarify this:

I require the information to establish the number of persons who have voting rights and to enable, if required, contact with those voting members for any of the following reasons: General representations regarding the activities of the company, communications in connection with the exercise of member rights under the act, circulating a statement relating to a resolution to be put to a company meeting, communications concerning voting for a particular course of action.

I believe you will find that these reasons are all proper and reasonable.

In so far as contacting my wife, Mrs L Denton, I have to say that there is no provision for such action in the act and again it would, if it were considered by you to represent improper use, be the responsibility of the court to rule.

So as to avoid any further unnecessary delay I do however confirm that you will shortly receive an email from my wife confirming the information you require, as if she were making a separate request, something she is fully entitled to do.

Finally I confirm that I do require a copy of the members register not sight of it and I am quite happy to pay the reasonable fee for its provision.

To save any misunderstanding I have copied below sections 116,117 and 118 of the act.

I await a copy together with a note of the copying charge which I will forward by return.

Thank you for your attention in this matter.

sincerely

Kevin Denton

Dear Mr Denton,

Thank you for your completed request for a copy of the SUM Register as allowed under Section 116 of the Companies Act.

I am now dealing with it.

Regards

Alexander Roarke

Dear Mr Denton

The trustees of Education Otherwise met this afternoon.  Your request for a copy of the Register of SUMs was discussed and I am writing to inform you that we will not be providing you with a copy without applying to the courts.

Please see the statement which is being sent to present and previous EO SUMs as well as the full membership of EO (potential future SUMs).

Feel free to mail me if you would like to discuss this further.

Regards

Roarke

Under section 116 of the Comapnies Act 2006 we have been asked for a copy of the Register of SUMS (voting members of EO).  In law we have to provide this information.  As part of this process we have discovered that any person or organisation (including DCSF, social services, or any other governing body or company) could have requested this information since the present M&As were adopted in 1985.  We are taking legal advice and have been advised that the only way to contest this and protect the details of members is to appeal to the Courts and provide a case for non-disclosure of our Register.
Under company law details of any SUM must be retained for 10 years therefore resigning as a SUM would not remove members' details from the Register and would be included in any disclosure.  Unfortunately there is an exemption within Data Protection law for requests that are enacted by statute which obliges us to release members' data.
The current Trustees are exploring all avenues and are doing everything within their power to protect members' identities. We will keep members updated.