DE465113

 

5 January 2010

Dear Mr/Mrs L Allen,

Thank you for your email dated 3 December, which requested, under the Freedom of Information Act, a breakdown by year of the amount of money or funding that was:

a) Planned to be spent by the department both directly or in support of the Vetting and Barring Scheme
b) Planned to be spent by the department both directly or in support of the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA)
c) Actually spent by the department directly or in support of the Vetting and Barring Scheme 
d) Actually spent by the department directly or in support of the Independent Safeguarding Authority

I attach a table that contains the Department of Health (DH) programme budget for 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 for the implementation of the Vetting and Barring Scheme, and the actual outturn spending in each year except 2009-10, for which outturn spending is not yet available.  This answers questions (a) and (c) above.

The Vetting and Barring Scheme is part funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) (two thirds share) and part funded by the Department of Health (one third share).  The figures given in the table are the DH contribution to the programme.

The costs of running the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) form one component of the total costs of the programme.  It is not possible in principle to say what element of the DH’s part funding of the programme was used to support what element of the ISA’s costs.  Consequently we are not able to answer your questions (b) and (d).  However, as the ISA is funded by the Home Office as part of the costs of the overall Vetting and Barring Scheme programme, the Home Office will be able to give you the figures for the overall budget and expenditure for the ISA.  I am aware that you have also submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Home Office for this information via the WhatDoTheyKnow website.

DH Programme Expenditure for the implementation of the Vetting and Barring Scheme    

£ m	2007-08	2008-09	2009-10
Planned to be spent (Budget)	13.9	14.2	19.9
Outturn expenditure (actual spent)	12.8	11.5	-*

*Outturn figures for 2009-10 are not yet available.

I hope that this is helpful.  If you are unhappy with the Department’s handling of the Freedom of Information aspect of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review.  Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and should be addressed to:

Head of the Freedom of Information Team
Department of Health
Room 317
Richmond House
79 Whitehall
London
SW1A 2NS  

Email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xxx.xxx.xx

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Department.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

The Information Commissioner’s Office
wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Please contact me if you have any queries about this letter.

Yours sincerely,

Lynn Swyny

FOI Case Manager

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________ 
 

Your views are important to us and will help us to improve the service we offer. If you'd like to answer a short customer satisfaction survey about our service, please click here (opens in new window)