Dear Mr Shanahan

Request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002

Thank you for your email on 1 February 2010 requesting that the following information be provided to you:

“1) Council website and intranet development/project expenditure for:

2) Online strategy expenditure (i.e. consultancy, audits, requirements gathering)

3) Cost of departmental assets; number and structure of employees involved in the council's website provision.

4) Website hosting expenditure and ongoing maintenance costs (exclusive of answer to 3) above)

5) A list of Project titles, value of contract and service providers commissioned for web projects/contracts won in the last 5 years.”

The Council is treating your request as a request under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

On inspecting our records and the information which we hold, it would appear that some of the information requested is covered by an exemption or exemptions contained within the Act. We are required to explain why we believe this to be the case.

The information which you have requested as set out above in your points (1), (2) and (5) is, in our opinion, exempt from a request for information under section 1 of the Act because of the exemption contained in section 33 (1)(b) of the Act. Section 33 (1) (b) refers to Commercial Interests and the Economy. In other words, in our opinion disclosure of the information would, or would be likely to, substantially prejudice the commercial interests of the Council. The information you request is, in our opinion, commercially sensitive the release of which would significantly hamper the contractors' ability to compete for future contracts and inhibit the ability of the Council to achieve Best Value in awarding future contracts. Commercial interests are deemed to be interests which are generally related to any commercial trading activity an organisation undertakes, such as the ongoing sale and purchase of goods and services, commonly for the purpose of revenue generation.

While we believe the exemption contained in section 33(1)(b) applies in this case, we would still be obliged to release the information in response to your request unless the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the; public interest in disclosing the information. Glasgow City Council acknowledges the significant public interest in openness and transparency and therefore recognises that any request under section 1 of the Act is potentially in the public interest. In the circumstances we feel that the public interest in safeguarding the legitimate commercial interests of the Council and the external parties concerned outweighs the general public interest in openness and transparency, and we are not aware of any specific public interest in the particular subject matter of your request. We are therefore unable to comply with this aspect of your request.

The information which you requested and which is not covered by any exemptions as described above is noted below.

3) Cost of departmental assets; number and structure of employees involved in the council's website provision:

With the exception of Education Services, the Council's ICT services are delivered through a Limited Liability Partnership called ACCESS. The Council has a £265m,10 year contract with ACCESS which commenced on 1st April 2008. Website provision is one of the ICT services provided by ACCESS staff - no employee details can be provided as ACCESS is not subject to FOI. Glasgow City Council's employees involved in the council's website provision are one officer at Grade 8 (£27,801.74 to £43,891.57); and one officer at Grade 6 (£ 24,909.23 to £29,328.94).

4) Website hosting expenditure and ongoing maintenance costs (exclusive of answer to 3) above):

The manner in which the Council's annual service charge is split across ICT categories is at the discretion of ACCESS and as they are not subject to FOI we are therefore unable to provide a detailed breakdown.

Please note that the information provided in response to your request is, unless otherwise indicated, copyright © Glasgow City Council 2010. It is supplied to you in terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. Any further use by you of this information must comply with the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 as amended and/or the Copyright and

Rights in Databases Regulations 1997. In particular, any commercial use or re-use of the information provided requires the prior written consent of the Council.

Requests for such consent should be addressed to:

Head of PR & Marketing

Glasgow City Council

City Chambers

George Square

Glasgow

G2 1DU

Some or all of the information may be subject to third party copyright, in which case the permission of the third party copyright holder may be required. No claim is made in respect of third party copyright.

If you are dissatisfied with the way Glasgow City Council has dealt with your request you are entitled to require the Council to review its decision. Please note that for a review to take place you must:

The Solicitor to the Council

Glasgow City Council

City Chambers

George Square

Glasgow G2 1DU

Email: [email address]

You will receive notice of the results of the review within 20 working days of receipt of your request. The notice will state the decision reached by the reviewing officer as well as details of how to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner if you are still dissatisfied with the Council's response. You must request an internal review by the Council before a complaint can be directed to the Scottish Information Commissioner.

If you have any further queries regarding this process, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Kathleen Reid

Corporate Compliance Officer

Glasgow - Proud Host City of the 2014 Commonwealth Games