Selection, interviewing and use of agency workers.

Justine made this Freedom of Information request to Warwickshire County Council

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Warwickshire County Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

From: Justine

26 June 2010

Dear Warwickshire County Council,

Can you provide copies of any internal information you have about
the selection, interviewing and use of agency workers.

Also provide a copy of your internal policy or guidance on how long
your retain the following:

A: For agency workers who are selected and start working within
your Council.

Copies of the their CV or Job application and interview notes,
record or score sheets, completed exercises or assessments.

B: For agency workers who are interviewed but not selected.

Copies of the their CV or Job application and interview notes,
record or score sheets, completed exercises or assessments.

1: If you do retain both A and B candidate information, please
explain why this is and how it meets your Equality and
Anti-Dicriminatory duties.

2: If you only retain candidate B information, , please explain why
this is and how it meets your Equality and Anti-Discriminatory
duties.

3) If you retain candidate A information but destroy B candidate
information, immediately it i decided they are not selected, please
explain why this is and how it meets your Equality and
Anti-Discriminatory duties.

4) If you do destroy candidate B information at any time, please
advise when this takes place and why.

5) If you do destroy candidate A information at any time, please
advise when this takes place and why.

6) If you do destroy candidate B, more or less after an interview,
please explain how you can ensure that candidate A was selected on
the basis of merit as you will not have anything to compare
candidate A with any other candidate Bs who had not been selected.
Please explain why this is and how it meets your Equality and
Anti-Discriminatory duties and complies with your own internal
policy.

Yours faithfully,

Justine Eades

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Warwickshire County Council

28 June 2010

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST
Thank you for your request for information which I acknowledge was
received by the County Council on 26 June 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
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then please let me know.

The County Council will not charge a fee to provide you with the
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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
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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.uk and on the County Council's website.

I will be in touch again shortly.

Justine To FOI requests at
<[FOI #39904 email]> Warwickshire County
Council
26/06/2010 06:14 <[Warwickshire County Council request email]>
cc
Subject Freedom of Information
request - Selection,
interviewing and use of
agency workers.

Dear Warwickshire County Council,

Can you provide copies of any internal information you have about
the selection, interviewing and use of agency workers.

Also provide a copy of your internal policy or guidance on how long
your retain the following:

A: For agency workers who are selected and start working within
your Council.

Copies of the their CV or Job application and interview notes,
record or score sheets, completed exercises or assessments.

B: For agency workers who are interviewed but not selected.

Copies of the their CV or Job application and interview notes,
record or score sheets, completed exercises or assessments.

1: If you do retain both A and B candidate information, please
explain why this is and how it meets your Equality and
Anti-Dicriminatory duties.

2: If you only retain candidate B information, , please explain why
this is and how it meets your Equality and Anti-Discriminatory
duties.

3) If you retain candidate A information but destroy B candidate
information, immediately it i decided they are not selected, please
explain why this is and how it meets your Equality and
Anti-Discriminatory duties.

4) If you do destroy candidate B information at any time, please
advise when this takes place and why.

5) If you do destroy candidate A information at any time, please
advise when this takes place and why.

6) If you do destroy candidate B, more or less after an interview,
please explain how you can ensure that candidate A was selected on
the basis of merit as you will not have anything to compare
candidate A with any other candidate Bs who had not been selected.
Please explain why this is and how it meets your Equality and
Anti-Discriminatory duties and complies with your own internal
policy.

Yours faithfully,

Justine Eades

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Warwickshire County Council

2 July 2010

(fao Justine Eades)
I acknowledge receipt of the above FOI request.

I am afraid that I will not be able to deal with this as a Freedom of
Information Act request until I have some more details from you.

It is unclear to me whether your request relates to the ordinary
engagement of agency workers who are sent to us by our 'preferred
supplier' agency, or whether it refers to agency workers who are
subsequently appointed to be County Council employees.

It would also be helpful to know whether your request is intended to
include employees of schools, including supply teachers?

If it would be helpful to clarify your request directly with me please do
not hesitate to phone me on the number given below.

Bob Perks
Head of Workforce Strategy & Development
Customers Workforce & Governance Directorate
Warwickshire County Council
Tel: 01926 412027
e-mail: [email address]
www.warwickshire.gov.uk

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From: Justine

6 July 2010

Dear Warwickshire County Council,

To help focus my request I am happy to restrict it to agency
workers who are Social Workers, as this is a common topic here:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/search/age...

Yours faithfully,

Justine

Link to this

Warwickshire County Council

15 July 2010

Thank you Justine. Our response is set out below,
The Authority currently has a preferred supplier contract with Reed for
the provision of temporary Social Workers.

* Reed were selected as part of an thorough tender exercise. The
contract is in place until April 2011.
* The contract requires Reed to undertake a number of pre employment
reference and vetting activities to ensure that the candidates that
they recommended meet necessary requirements.
* The contract requires Reed to forward CV/s of proposed candidates
which Managers will assess against the criteria for the position in
question. To our knowledge records of the assessment process are not
maintained.
* We recommend that temporary staff would only be considered on a
short-term basis and managers are advised that temporary assignments
are reviewed at 3 months.
* The Agency workers are employed by Reed for the duration of the
booking.
* Agency workers would be required to undertake a standard selection
process if they were interested in securing permanent employment.
* We would normally recommend that an agency is approached for provision
of a temporary social worker if there is a need to cover an absence of
3 months or more.
* WCC has a commitment to equality of opportunity and all job applicants
are considered for jobs solely on the basis of their ability to do
the job. That means that we pay no regard to your race, gender,
religion, belief, sexual orientation, age or marital status; and
disability will be taken into account only insofar as it affects their
ability to the job.
Bob Perks
Head of Workforce Strategy & Development
Customers Workforce & Governance Directorate
Warwickshire County Council
Tel: 01926 412027
e-mail: [email address]
www.warwickshire.gov.uk

Justine To [email address]
<[FOI #39904 email]> cc
Subject Re: Freedom of Information
06/07/2010 11:10 request re. selection,
interviewing and use of
agency workers

Dear Warwickshire County Council,

To help focus my request I am happy to restrict it to agency
workers who are Social Workers, as this is a common topic here:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/search/age...

Yours faithfully,

Justine

show quoted sections

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From: Justine

15 July 2010

Dear Warwickshire County Council,

I read your response with interest and would like you to clarify
the information you have sent.

You seem to suggest that Warwickshire County Council managers never
interview agency socials workers on a face-to-face basis before
deciding upon their suitability to undertake a specific Social
Worker role.

You further suggest that Reed are able and qualified to know
exactly what your Social Worker managers would expect of an agency
Social Worker and that they simply turn up at Warwickshire County
Council and start their duties, again without ever being
interviewed or seen face-to-face by any Warwickshire County Council
managers. Please confirm this is your practice.

You mention your managers will read an agency workers CV against
some sort of undefined criteria and that basis alone is used for
your use of such agency Social Workers.

Your system of using agency Social Workers seems lax when
considering your duties to safeguard children and vulnerable
adults. Your apparent lack of a formal interview and record
retention thereof could suggest that such agency Social Workers
could easily be the subject of direct discrimination, as you not
not appear to keep any audit trail or retain any records to ensure
that one candidates CV/References are better on merit than another
persons and that thus creates a situation that no mechanisms seem
to exist to scrutinise the process of using agency Social Workers.

It is also understand that many agency Social Workers chose to
apply for permanent posts and some Council's as your offer direct
contracts, these factors could be said to put such agency Social
Workers at a significant advantage over other applicants, so
therefore your initial use of them via Reed can engage a number of
actions that could be said to undermine or subvert your own
Equality and Diversity policies.

Yours faithfully,

Justine

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