Dear Mr Boucher,

Re: Request for Information

I am writing in response to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (`FOIA') which we received on 26 January 2010.

The general subject of your request was how much schools pay for temporary staffing cover in Waltham Forest. As a starting point, I should point out that schools are separate public bodies under Schedule 1 of FOIA and, as such, they are amenable to FOI requests themselves. This means that the information which you have requested is technically `available by other means' and exempt from disclosure under section 21 of FOIA.

I do nonetheless recognise that we have a duty to provide `advice and assistance' to requesters under section 16 of FOIA and, in recognition of this, I have gathered the information which we consider to be within the scope of your request. For further information, I suggest that you make direct contact with the schools in question.

The wording of your request was as follows:

“I am interested in the amounts paid by each school in Waltham Forest to third parties in relation to temporary staffing cover. My hope is to receive an electronic breakdown of amounts paid (a) through the department's purchase ledger by school and (b) in grants, by grantee.

Notes:

1. I would like the information in electronic format. This should avoid any printing cost issues.

2. In order to avoid your having to collate information from peripheral systems, I am willing to accept information only from your main system (I would like you to advise which system this is). By main system I mean the system that handles the largest part of the department's expenditure. If grants and supplier payments are made through separate systems, then I would like you to choose the main system for each.

3. The information I require for each supplier/grantee is: Supplier name and total amount paid.

4. I would like the information to cover the year 2008/9. I would accept 2007/8 figures if this is not possible.”

Please see Attachment 1. This database breaks down the sums paid by schools for both agency and temporary staff in the financial year of 2008/09. These sums were paid through the purchase ledgers of individual schools.

Please note that we do not hold information as to the identity of suppliers used for provision of agency and temporary staff. This information may be obtained directly from the schools.

The `main system' which handles expenditure is the Schools Information Management System (`SIPS').

I trust that this satisfies your request sufficiently, however, if you require further information, please do not hesitate to contact me. Under FOIA, you have the right to request a review of the Council's response to your request for information. If you have such a review request, you may contact the:

Corporate Information Officer

Room 1

Waltham Forest Town Hall

E17 4JF

Tel- 020 84964334

within 28 days of the date of this letter. If you remain unsatisfied with the outcome of that review, you may seek further recourse by lodging an appeal with the Information Commissioner.

Yours Sincerely,

Jake Stafford

for Director of Governance & Law

«CAS_CASE»_«DATE3»

Mr D Boucher

[FOI #27841 email]

ask for: Jake Stafford

direct line: 0208 496 4710

e-mail add: [email address]

direct fax no: 0208 496 4255

our ref:

your ref:

date: 23 February 2010