Liverpool Direct BT contracts

The request was successful.

Dear Sir or Madam,

According to an old press release on-line,[1] Liverpool City Council selected BT for its IT joint venture on 15 May 2000, and signed a 10 year deal with its Syncordia Solutions unit, which was to be officially launched on 2 April 2001.

On the other hand, the Liverpool City Statement of Accounts 2007/8 says: "In July 2001 the City Council entered into an arrangement for the provision of call centre services, ICT, local tax collection, human resources and payroll services for the City Council. A subsidiary company of BT was created to undertake the work."

I have done my best to isolate the originating document specifically.

May I have a copy of the contract(s) signed between Liverpool City Council and BT in 2001 relating to the establishment and duties of Liverpool Direct Limited please?

Yours faithfully,

Julian Todd

[1] http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/new...

Liverpool Direct, Liverpool City Council

Thank you for your e-mail.

This e-mail confirms we have received your enquiry.

We will endeavour to respond to this enquiry within 24 hours, but please
note that during

busy periods it may take up to 3 working days to reply to you.

In the mean time, you will be able to find the answers to commonly asked
questions on our
website: [1]www.liverpool.gov.uk.

Please do not respond to this e-mail as it has been generated
automatically.

Liverpool Direct
Winner - 'Best in Public Sector', Call Centre

Association Excellence Awards 2004 Liverpool,

European Capital of Culture 2008

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References

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

Liverpool Direct, Liverpool City Council

Dear Julian Todd,

Thank you for your recent e-mail.

We have forwarded your request to the relevant department, and they will
answer your query as soon as possible.

Please contact us if you have any further queries we may assist with.

Yours sincerely

Liverpool Direct

[email address]

www.liverpool.gov.uk

Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008

Would you prefer to receive your council tax bill via e-mail? Go to
www.liverpool.gov.uk and complete the easy online registration form.

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Dear Liverpool Direct,

My Freedom of Information request for the contracts signed between Liverpool City Council and BT in 2001 relating to the establishment and duties of Liverpool Direct Limited became overdue for response on 8 August.

I am not alleging that this specific request has become held up in the communications channels because it happens to route through Liverpool Direct offices itself, since there are other FOI requests that haven't received a reply.

Do you have any information as to when this request will be seen to?

Yours sincerely,

Julian Todd.

Liverpool Direct, Liverpool City Council

Thank you for your e-mail.

This e-mail confirms we have received your enquiry.

We will endeavour to respond to this enquiry within 24 hours, but please
note that during

busy periods it may take up to 3 working days to reply to you.

In the mean time, you will be able to find the answers to commonly asked
questions on our
website: [1]www.liverpool.gov.uk.

Please do not respond to this e-mail as it has been generated
automatically.

Liverpool Direct
Winner - 'Best in Public Sector', Call Centre

Association Excellence Awards 2004 Liverpool,

European Capital of Culture 2008

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References

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

Liverpool Direct, Liverpool City Council

Dear J Todd,

Thank you for your recent e-mail.

We have forwarded your request to the relevant department, and they will
answer your query as soon as possible.

Please contact us if you have any further queries we may assist with.

Yours sincerely

Liverpool Direct

[1][email address]

[2]www.liverpool.gov.uk

Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008

Would you prefer to receive your council tax bill via e-mail? Go to
[3]www.liverpool.gov.uk and complete the easy online registration form.

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Matt Finnegan left an annotation ()

I have submitted a complaint to the Information Commissioner about the city council's failure to respond on this matter and on another, separate, FOI request.

Dear Liverpool Direct,

Six months ago on 9 July 2008 I sent a Freedom of Information request for a copy of all the contracts signed between Liverpool City Council and BT, which was announced on 15 May 2000 and officially launched on 2 April 2001 as Liverpool Direct.

This response is now 5 months overdue. In spite of a reminder sent by me on 20 August 2008, I have received nothing beyond an auto-generated response from the Liverpool Direct email server.

I shall be sending this case to the Information Commissioner in the next few days unless I receive some real assurances that it has been noticed and is being looked into.

Yours sincerely,

Julian Todd

Liverpool Direct, Liverpool City Council

Thank you for your e-mail.

This e-mail confirms we have received your enquiry.

We will endeavour to respond to this enquiry within 24 hours, but please
note that during

busy periods it may take up to 3 working days to reply to you.

In the mean time, you will be able to find the answers to commonly asked
questions on our
website: [1]www.liverpool.gov.uk.

Please do not respond to this e-mail as it has been generated
automatically.

Liverpool Direct
Winner - 'Best in Public Sector', Call Centre

Association Excellence Awards 2004 Liverpool,

European Capital of Culture 2008

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References

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

Matt Finnegan left an annotation ()

The Information Commissioner is unable to act on my complaint and says it is only able to investigate a complaint from the person who first requested the information. I hope you have already complained to the ICO?

Liverpool Direct, Liverpool City Council

Dear Julian Todd,

Thank you for your recent e-mail.

We have forwarded your request again to the relevant department, and we
have marked the email as high importance in order that they will answer
your query as soon as possible.

Please contact us if you have any further queries we may assist with.

Yours sincerely

Liverpool Direct

[email address]

www.liverpool.gov.uk

Would you prefer to receive your council tax bill via e-mail? Go to
www.liverpool.gov.uk and complete the easy online registration form.

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Ali, Jawahier Sharif, Liverpool City Council

Dear Mr. Todd,

I apologise for the delay in responding to your request. Please expect a
response from us shortly regarding the case.

Regards,

Jawahier Sharif Ali (Fatima)

Information Officer

Legal Service

Liverpool City Council

Municipal Buildings

Dale Street,

Liverpool

L2 2DH

Tel: 0151 225 3132

email: [1][email address]

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Dear Andrea Glanville,

I look forward to a response in the week commencing 16 February 2009 regarding a copy of the contract signed between Liverpool and BT that was announced on 15 May 2000.

I understand that, due to the age of the contract and the timing of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 legislation, that it may lack clauses relating to how to handle FOI requests which appear in many more recent contracts and make the job easier.

Please respond to the above email address if you can so that the responses get filed correctly in the public database.

Yours sincerely,

Julian Todd

Glanville, Andrea, Liverpool City Council

Dear Mr Todd,

I refer to the request you made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
in which you asked for a copy of the signed contract between Liverpool
and BT for the joint venture known as Liverpool Direct Ltd.

I apologise for the delay in replying to you, however the nature of this
request has been extremely complex and is currently being considered for
release, we are also considering any exemptions that may apply to restrict
the release of some or all of the data.

We are hoping that we will be able to provide a response week commencing
16 February 2009, once again apologies for the delay.

Regards

Andrea Glanville

Legal Services

Liverpool City Council

Municipal Buildings

Dale Street

Liverpool

L2 2DH

Telephone 0151 225 2709

Fax: 0151 225 2392

email: [1][email address]

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References

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1. mailto:[email address]

Julian Todd left an annotation ()

The responses (asking for further delays) are being filed in:

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/it...

Glanville, Andrea, Liverpool City Council

Dear Mr Todd

Although I hoped to be in a position to provide some (or all) of the
documentation that you had requested, this is not going to be achieved
this week. I can assure you this is a priority request as we have in fact
a number of similar requests for contracts of this nature.

I will keep you informed of progress.

Once again thanks for your continued patience.

Andrea Glanville

Legal Services

Liverpool City Council

Municipal Buildings

Dale Street

Liverpool

L2 2DH

Telephone 0151 225 2709

Fax: 0151 225 2392

email: [1][email address]

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Hunter, Edwina, Liverpool City Council

5 Attachments

<<Todd LDL 190509.doc>>

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Hunter, Edwina, Liverpool City Council

5 Attachments

[Subject only] Enclosures

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Dear Sir or Madam,

Thank you for the redacted copy of the Liverpool Direct Limited contracts which you sent to me on 20 May 2009 accompanied by a letter explaining that the list of reasons for the redactions was also being withheld from me.

Please consider this as letter of complaint about all the redactions, especially as I was not provided the reasons for them.

I am raising my complaint late, because I was waiting for the decision notice of 27 May 2009 to become available on-line in a form you can access it.

http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/d...

This concerned contracts I had requested from Bristol City Council, that were refused on much the same grounds, which the Information Commissioner decided were invalid. Of especial importance was the claim that the contract was unique, because this actually counted against the claim that it was commercially sensitive.

My interpretations of the broader reasons laid out in the letter of refusal are as follows:

1. There are special advantageous terms in the contract with BT which a competitor would not know of to offer.

2. The Council would be disadvantaged in future negotiations with a competitor who knew what terms had been conceded to BT.

3. Other competitors would gain an "unfair advantage" by knowing what terms had been successful for BT, as they would no longer experience the disadvantage of lacking this information.

4. Some of the terms, such as pricing information, may not be relevant, given the age and length of the contract.

5. By promising to keep the deal secret, the Council is able to obtain more favourable terms from a contractor than if the facts were disclosed.

6. The Council would be subject to breach of confidence proceedings if they disclosed the contents of their contract.

Points 1, 2 and 3 clearly point towards a public interest in disclosure because it would enable companies to compete on an equal footing, without BT retaining its unfair advantage of having sole access to the information.

Point 4 doesn't explain why every quantitative number has been redacted from my copy of the contract.

Point 5 assumes that the Council obtained favourable terms in this contract in the first place -- a matter of considerable doubt due to various agency investigations that have been reported in the press, and the fact that secrecy usually covers up over-pricing rather than under-pricing.

Point 6 has been clarified by Derry City Council v Information Commissioner (EA/2006/0014; 11 December 2006) where the Tribunal stated that "the correct position is that a concluded contract between a public authority and a third party does not fall within section 41(1)(a) of the Act".

I can also add the strong circumstantial evidence that I suspect that no commercial competitor has sought a copy of this contract from LCC under the FOI Act in the last 4 years it has been in force in the hope of obtaining information that is useful to them -- because it isn't commercially beneficial.

As my original request went out on 9 July 2008, and it appears that the material for the internal review has already been produced, I anticipate a response to this complaint to be within the time limit, following a review of the material I have outlined above.

Yours sincerely,

Julian Todd

Winstanley, Carl,

2 Attachments

Enquiries to:
Wendy Twigge

Your Ref:

Our Ref:
FOI/WT/CW/32037

Mr. Todd

Email: [1][FOI #1090 email]

Date: 23 June 2009

Dear Mr. Todd,

RE: Freedom of Information Request 32037

I write to you to acknowledge your request for a review under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000. Your request was received in our offices on 22
June 2009 and is being processed in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

Your request can be summarised as follows:

1. An internal review of the information provided for case reference
32037 regarding the Liverpool Direct contract.

If the above summary is incorrect or you wish to change any details, let
me know at the earliest opportunity.

I trust this information satisfies your enquiry,

Yours sincerely

W Twigge (pp)

Information Manager

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References

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1. mailto:[FOI #1090 email]

Hunter, Edwina, Liverpool City Council

Dear Mr. Todd,

I am writing to you about your request for an internal review regarding
the above mentioned case, made by you on 22 June 2009.

Whilst the Council's target for internal reviews is 20 working days, in
this case it has not been possible to complete the review within this time
frame.

I can assure you that the review is being prepared however, and we are
aiming to have it finalised as soon as possible. If it is not possible to
finalise the review within another 20 working days, I will again contact
you to let you know.

Yours sincerely,

Edwina Hunter

Principal Information Officer.

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Brown, Lawrence, Liverpool City Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Todd,

See attached response and associated schedule. May I apologise for the
delay in responding to you with the outcome of this appeal.

Regards

Lawrence Brown

Legal Services,

Municipal Buildings,

Dale Street,

Liverpool, L2 2DH

Tel: 0151-225 2709

Fax:0151-225 2392

Email: [1][email address]

Internet: [2]www.liverpool.gov.uk

Liverpool's Year of the Environment 2009 -

Our City Our Planet [3]www.ourcityourplanet.org.uk

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References

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1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.liverpool.gov.uk/
3. http://www.ourcityourplanet.org.uk/
http://www.ourcityourplanet.org.uk/

Julian Todd left an annotation ()

As of 4 May 2010 the Information Commissioner's Office has received a copy of the contract and is reviewing the case.

Julian Todd left an annotation ()

Note from the ICO recently:

The council has now decided to release the information previously redacted from clauses 39 to 40 of the Service Provision Agreement and Schedules 3 and 4. It has also decided to disclose the information it redacted from clause 15 of the Joint Venture and Shareholders Agreement. You should receive this information, if you have not already done so, shortly.

It remains of the opinion that clause 43 and Schedule 21 of the Service Provision Agreement remains exempt from disclosure under sections 41 and 43 of the Act, for the reasons it has previously stated.

I now intend to proceed to a Decision Notice to deal with the information that remains (clause 43 and Schedule 21). This will take me some time to draft and once drafted the Notice is then subject to various internal checks.

Symm, Kevin, Liverpool City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Todd

Please find attached response

However, due to the size of the information we are providing it is not
possible for me to send it to you electronically

Could you indicate which Liverpool City Council building is most
convenient for you to collect the information and I will ensure it is on
the reception for you.

Regards,

Kevin Symm

Senior Information Officer

Legal Services

Liverpool City Council

Municipal Buildings

Dale Street

Liverpool

L2 2DH

TEL: 0151 225 3007

[1][email address]

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References

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1. mailto:[email address]
file:///tmp/BLOCKED::mailto:[email address]

Dear Kevin Symm,

*Liverpool BT Contract*

This is to inform you that on 14 September I received a letter from the ICO that the Council had decided to release the information previously redacted from clauses 39 to 40 of the Service Provision Agreement and Schedules 3 and 4, as well as information redacted from clause 15 of the Joint Venture and Shareholders Agreement.

I am therefore not satisfied by a lengthy letter about the commercial confidentiality owed to BT over clause 43 and schedule 21. I look forward to the above disclosures being made as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,

Julian Todd

Katie M. left an annotation ()

This is great, thank you.
You may well know there has been much discussion of this issue on the Daily Post's Dale Street Blues blog, and I have in fact posted a link there to this request. I am greatly looking forward to seeing the previously redacted bits - and, indeed, the decision notice.

Symm, Kevin, Liverpool City Council

Dear Mr Todd

After lengthy consultation, with all concerned parties, we have released
all information we feel appropriate at this time.

In accordance with any future ruling released by the ICO we will review
any information which is still currently withheld.

As stated in the previous response, the information can still be
collected by you should you so wish to do so.

Please let me know if you will be doing so and I will ensure it is
available at any convenient Liverpool City Council building.

Regards,

Kevin Symm

Senior Information Officer

Legal Services

Liverpool City Council

Municipal Buildings

Dale Street

Liverpool

L2 2DH

TEL: 0151 225 3007

[email address]

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Dear Kevin Symm,

Please accept my apologies. I examined the attachment only and misread the email.

As your contact details are in the Municipal Buildings, Dale Street, this should be convenient for you. I can travel round and pick up the documents from the reception desk at any time from tomorrow onwards if you leave it there and notify me of it.

Yours sincerely,

Julian Todd

Symm, Kevin, Liverpool City Council

Dear Mr Todd

I will place the files on the reception at Municipal Buildings for you
to collect as leave the office tonight

If I can be of any further assistance regarding this or any other matter
please do not hesitate in contacting me

Regards,

Kevin Symm

Senior Information Officer

Legal Services

Liverpool City Council

Municipal Buildings

Dale Street

Liverpool

L2 2DH

TEL: 0151 225 3007

[email address]

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Julian Todd left an annotation ()

Get the contract in a better form from this request:

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/lc...

Glanville, Andrea, Liverpool City Council

3 Attachments

Dear Mr Todd

Please find attached our response to the Decision Notice reference
FS50273227, I had originally sent this response to the following email
address from where the request generated but it has failed delivery as
this address is now `closed'

Any problems please let me know.

Andrea Glanville

Legal Services

Liverpool City Council

Municipal Buildings

Dale Street

Liverpool

L2 2DH

Telephone 0151 225 2709

Fax: 0151 225 2392

email: [1][email address]

2010 Year of Health and Wellbeing
[2]www.2010healthandwellbeing.org.uk

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2. http://www.2010healthandwellbeing.org.uk/

Francis Irving left an annotation ()

The ICO decision notice ruling that the council must release the unredacted contract is FS50273227. You can read it here:

http://www.ico.gov.uk/~/media/documents/...

Francis Irving left an annotation ()

Julian received a paper copy of the unredacted contract from the council in person, and has scanned it in as PDFs.

He's given me these, and I've uploaded them into WhatDoTheyKnow's files archive here:

http://files.whatdotheyknow.com/request/...

Dear Andrea Glanville,

This is to confirm that I have now satisfactorily received the unredacted versions of Clause 43 and Schedule 21 of the LDL contract.

The latest redacted page is here:

http://scraperwiki.com/cropper/u/page_2/...

and the real unredacted page is here:

http://scraperwiki.com/cropper/u/page_2/...

Yours sincerely,

Julian Todd