Driver Improvement Scheme

Dear Mr Behr

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST
Thank you for your request for information which I acknowledge was
received by the County Council on 12 August 2010.

Your request is currently being considered. If the County Council is able
to provide you with the information you have requested, then under the
Freedom of Information Act you are entitled to receive it within 20
working days.

For your information, the FOI Act defines a number of exemptions which may
prevent release of some or all of the information you have requested. The
County Council will assess your information request in light of the
exemptions. If exemptions do apply, then the County Council may decide
not to release all, or part, of the information you have requested. I
shall inform you if this is the case, and advise you of your rights of
appeal.

If the information you request contains reference to a third party then
they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken by the County
Council as to whether to release the information to you. You will be kept
informed if this is the case.

Any information provided to you would ordinarily be provided to you as a
paper copy, in normal font size. If you require an alternative format,
e.g. by e-mail, in a different language, or in audio, large print, etc.
then please let me know.

The County Council will not ordinarily charge a fee to provide you with
the information you have requested, provided the cost of dealing with your
request is less than *450. If it appears likely that it would cost more
than this to comply with your request then I will write to you informing
you of this. We will then work with you to try and bring your request
under this limit and where possible provide you with some of the
information you have requested.

If you have any queries or should you wish to make a complaint about the
manner in which your request is being dealt with then please do not
hesitate to contact me at the above address in the first instance. Any
complaints will be dealt with under the County Council's internal review
procedure.

Further information about your rights under the Freedom of Information
Act, is available from the Information Commissioner's Office (0303 123
1113) or [1]www.ico.gov.ukand on the County Council's website.

I will be in touch again shortly.

Jane Inman

Freedom of Information Officer

Jane Inman
Customers and Communications Manager
Environment and Resources
Environment and Economy
PO Box 43 Shire Hall
Warwick
CV34 4SX
01926 418633
Minicom:01926 412277
E mail: [email address]
Web: www.warwickshire.gov.uk

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Behr

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST
Your request for information has now been considered and I am able to
provide you with some of the information you have requested.

You asked for information relating to the County Council's Driver
Improvement Scheme which is offered in place of a fixed penalty speeding
charge.

You asked for:

1. confirmation of its existence

I can confirm that we operate a Speed Awareness Workshop (SAW) as an
education programme offered to speeding offenders as an alternative to
them receiving a fixed penalty fine and three points on their licence.

2.cost of participating in this course

The workshop fee is the same as the fixed penalty of *60.
3. year of inception

The Speed Awareness Workshop scheme has been operated in Warwickshire
since August 2003.
4. details of who administers any such scheme

The service provider for the scheme is Warwickshire County Council., Road
Safety team.

5. details of who delivers the scheme

The Speed Awareness Workshops are operated in partnership with the
Warwickshire Police under a Service Level Agreement.
It is fundamental to this SLA that SAWs are designed to be non profit
making and that if income exceeds current and possible future expenditure
it will only be used for casualty reduction work in ways specifically
agreed between the Police and Warwickshire County Council.

6. details of how income is distributed, including beneficiaries of
any or all income

All income associated with the operation of the Speed Awareness scheme is
collected and used by WCC to administer the scheme and pay all associated
costs. If income exceeds current and possible future expenditure it will
only be used for casualty reduction work in ways specifically agreed
between the Police and WCC.
For each accounting year since inception,
1. numbers of people participating in the driver improvement scheme
each year including the most recent available figure;

+------------------+
| YEAR | DRIVERS |
|--------+---------|
| 3 / 4 | 1085 |
|--------+---------|
| 4 / 5 | 6151 |
|--------+---------|
| 5 / 6 | 9214 |
|--------+---------|
| 6 / 7 | 7457 |
|--------+---------|
| 7 / 8 | 7036 |
|--------+---------|
| 8 / 9 | 9369 |
|--------+---------|
| 9 / 10 | 13008 |
+------------------+

2. an annual breakdown of income

Income is simply the number of attendees multiplied by the cost of the
course ie *60.
ie for 2003/04 the income was 1085 X *60 = *65,100
3. details of how income is spent or distributed, with annual
breakdown

All income associated with the operation of the Speed Awareness scheme is
collected and used to administer the scheme and pay all associated costs.
If income exceeds current and possible future expenditure it will only be
used for casualty reduction work in ways specifically agreed between the
Police and Warwickshire County Council.

4. confirmation of who receives this income, with details of where
this information is publicly accessible;

All income from the Speed Awareness scheme is received and administered
by Warwickshire County Council and is used to fund the operation of the
scheme.
5. confirmation of where this income appears in the
accounts/budgets

The income is included in the Warwickshire County Council annual statement
of final accounts as part of the Environment and Economy Directorate's
accounts.
6. if the council receives all the income, clarification of how the
local police service is compensated for loss of income from fixed
penalty fines

Not applicable. See above.
7. year by year cost of administering and delivering these courses

In accordance with Section 43 of The Freedom of Information Act 2000
please treat this as a refusal notice for this section of the information
requested. The exemption states that 'information is exempt if its
disclosure under the Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the
commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding
it)'.

The reason why this exemption applies is that the contract for
administering this service could be subject to a competitive tendering
process in due course and it is considered that releasing these costings
would prejudice the authority's ability to tender for this work.

Section 43 is a qualified exemption and as such we are required to apply a
public interest test to our decision. In this case we have considered the
implications for the public and we believe that withholding this
information would allow the County Council to bid competitively for the
work in future whilst releasing it would put WCC at a disadvantage in any
tendering as they would have made available to competitors the costs of
running a service. Having the local authority continue to operate the
scheme means continued income for the authority which is reinvested in
casualty reduction schemes which benefit the public.

8. which department of local administration is responsible for
budgets relating to the driver improvement courses

The Environment and Economy Directorate of WCC administers and the scheme
and the budgets relating to it.
9. copies of accounts where driver awareness course revenue and
expenditure is detailed.

Please see our response to question 7 above. The same refusal notice
applies to this question.
You have the right to request that the County Council carry out an
internal review if you are not satisfied with the way your request was
dealt with or wish to appeal the decision. A request for an internal
review should be made in writing and addressed to me at the address above.
All requests for an internal review will be dealt with under the County
Council's internal review procedure.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the internal review you may
appeal to the Information Commissioner's Office, at the following address:

FOI Compliance Team (complaints)
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Yours sincerely

Jane Inman
Customers and Communications Manager
Environment and Resources
Environment and Economy
PO Box 43 Shire Hall
Warwick
CV34 4SX
01926 418633
Minicom:01926 412277
E mail: [email address]
Web: www.warwickshire.gov.uk

This transmission is intended for the named addressee(s) only and may
contain sensitive or protectively marked material up to RESTRICTED and
should be handled accordingly. Unless you are the named addressee (or
authorised to receive it for the addressee) you may not copy or use it, or
disclose it to anyone else. If you have received this transmission in
error please notify the sender immediately. All email traffic sent to or
from us, including without limitation all GCSX traffic, may be subject to
recording and/or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.