Support Services

The request was successful.

Dear Hertfordshire County Council,

Please see my freedom of information request concerning your council’s internal ‘support services’. I’m interested in the total and staff costs for multiple areas; whether this is contained with the ‘corporate centre’, within services or within both.

Therefore I would like to know how many staff, and the total cost of staff in support roles (groups defined below) within the organisation. So this would include staff in specific support teams (defined below) or in roles within teams whose primary function was one of the support roles below. I would also like a breakdown of where these post are positioned and (which services) and staff structures. For 2014/15

List of Support services as follows:

· Strategy & Policy

· Finance

· ICT

· HR

· Business Support and Administration

· Contract Monitoring & Management

· Communications

Secondly, could you tell me how much is spent by your Legal services and break this down on what services the spend is attributed to.

Thirdly could you tell me your total ICT costs (so staff and software, applications etc.)

Could you also tell me the total council’s budget so I can understand what proportion you spend on Support Services?

Lastly, could you tell me if you have completed a review of your support services in the last five years and if so send me internal documents of the scope and saving involved in this review?

Yours faithfully,

Sam Norcop

Herts Direct, Hertfordshire County Council

Dear Enquirer

Your message has been received by Hertfordshire County Council
and will be dealt with as soon as possible. Our customer service
standard is to reply to you within ten working days. When we
contact you we will give you a reference number so you can track
your enquiry in case any followup is required.

Please note that if your enquiry is urgent and relates to:

safeguarding or concerns for an adult - please call us on 0300 123 4042
child protection or social care concerns for a child - please call us on
0300 123 4043

This is an auto-acknowledgement message in response to the email
you have sent to Hertfordshire County Council
([email address]).

Regards

HertsDirect
Hertfordshire County Council

****Disclaimer****

The information in this message should be regarded as confidential and is
intended for the addressee only unless explicitly stated. If you have
received this message in error it must be deleted and the sender notified.
The views expressed in this message are personal and not necessarily those
of Hertfordshire County Council unless explicitly stated. Please be aware
that emails sent to or received from Hertfordshire County Council may be
intercepted and read by the council. Interception will only occur to
ensure compliance with council policies or procedures or regulatory
obligations, to prevent or deter crime, or for the purposes of essential
maintenance or support of the email system.

Herts Direct, Hertfordshire County Council

6 Attachments

Dear Sam Norcop,

Thank you for your email. Your message has been sent to the relevant
department and will be dealt with as soon as possible. Should you need to
make contact with us again on this matter, please quote reference number:
09625
I hope this answers your enquiry, but do get back to us if there is
anything else which we can help with        

Kind regards

Jade at HertsDirect

Hertfordshire County Council

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Herts Direct, Hertfordshire County Council

Dear Enquirer

Your message has been received by Hertfordshire County Council
and will be dealt with as soon as possible. Our customer service
standard is to reply to you within ten working days. When we
contact you we will give you a reference number so you can track
your enquiry in case any followup is required.

Please note that if your enquiry is urgent and relates to:

safeguarding or concerns for an adult - please call us on 0300 123 4042
child protection or social care concerns for a child - please call us on
0300 123 4043

This is an auto-acknowledgement message in response to the email
you have sent to Hertfordshire County Council
([email address]).

Regards

HertsDirect
Hertfordshire County Council

****Disclaimer****

The information in this message should be regarded as confidential and is
intended for the addressee only unless explicitly stated. If you have
received this message in error it must be deleted and the sender notified.
The views expressed in this message are personal and not necessarily those
of Hertfordshire County Council unless explicitly stated. Please be aware
that emails sent to or received from Hertfordshire County Council may be
intercepted and read by the council. Interception will only occur to
ensure compliance with council policies or procedures or regulatory
obligations, to prevent or deter crime, or for the purposes of essential
maintenance or support of the email system.

Information Governance, Hertfordshire County Council

3 Attachments

Dear Sam Norcop,

 

Reference number: FOI/RAP/02/15/8362

 

Thank you for your correspondence of the 19th February 2015 requesting the
following information:

 

Please see my freedom of information request concerning your council’s
internal ‘support services’. I’m interested in the total and staff costs
for multiple areas; whether this is contained with the ‘corporate centre’,
within services or within both.

Therefore I would like to know how many staff, and the total cost of staff
in support roles (groups defined below) within the organisation. So this
would include staff in specific support teams (defined below) or in roles
within teams whose primary function was one of the support roles below.  I
would also like a breakdown of where these post are positioned and (which
services) and staff structures. For 2014/15

List of Support services as follows:

·         Strategy & Policy

·         Finance

·         ICT

·         HR

·         Business Support and Administration

·         Contract Monitoring & Management

·         Communications

Secondly, could you tell me how much is spent by your Legal services and
break this down on what services the spend is attributed to.

Thirdly could you tell me your total ICT costs (so staff and software,
applications etc.)

Could you also tell me the total council’s budget so I can understand what
proportion you spend on Support Services?

Lastly, could you tell me if you have completed a review of your support
services in the last five years and if so send me internal documents of
the scope and saving involved in this review?  

 

Your request for information is being considered under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.  We will respond to your request as quickly as
possible, and by close of 19th March 2015 at the latest.

 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me, quoting
the reference number above.

 

 

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Information Governance, Hertfordshire County Council

3 Attachments

Dear Sam Norcop,

 

Reference number: FOI/RAP/02/15/8362

                                        

On 19th February 2015 we received the following request for information
from you:

 

Please see my freedom of information request concerning your council’s
internal ‘support services’. I’m interested in the total and staff costs
for multiple areas; whether this is contained with the ‘corporate centre’,
within services or within both.

Therefore I would like to know how many staff, and the total cost of staff
in support roles (groups defined below) within the organisation. So this
would include staff in specific support teams (defined below) or in roles
within teams whose primary function was one of the support roles below.  I
would also like a breakdown of where these post are positioned and (which
services) and staff structures. For 2014/15

List of Support services as follows:

·         Strategy & Policy

·         Finance

·         ICT

·         HR

·         Business Support and Administration

·         Contract Monitoring & Management

·         Communications

Secondly, could you tell me how much is spent by your Legal services and
break this down on what services the spend is attributed to.

Thirdly could you tell me your total ICT costs (so staff and software,
applications etc.)

Could you also tell me the total council’s budget so I can understand what
proportion you spend on Support Services?

Lastly, could you tell me if you have completed a review of your support
services in the last five years and if so send me internal documents of
the scope and saving involved in this review?  

 

 

Your request for information has been considered under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. I can confirm that Hertfordshire County Council does
hold the information you have requested and can respond as follows:

 

Therefore I would like to know how many staff, and the total cost of staff
in support roles (groups defined below) within the organisation. So this
would include staff in specific support teams (defined below) or in roles
within teams whose primary function was one of the support roles below.  I
would also like a breakdown of where these post are positioned and (which
services) and staff structures. For 2014/15

List of Support services as follows:

·         Strategy & Policy

·         Finance

·         ICT

·         HR

·         Business Support and Administration

·         Contract Monitoring & Management

·         Communications

 

 

·         The answers to the above are published on our website Herts
Direct, a link to the correct pages can be found here:-

 

[1]http://www.hertsdirect.org/docs/pdf/i/ip...

 

Support staff are included within Resources and performance, please see
further information as follows:-

 

Section 14: -             Workforce Plans 31 – 32

Appendix 7: -           Workforce Plans - Movement in Staff Numbers 71

Annex G: -                Resources and Performance 165 - 182

 

 

Secondly, could you tell me how much is spent by your Legal services and
break this down on what services the spend is attributed to.

 

·         The above also provides the Legal services information, but we
do not have it split by service for 2014/15.

 

To advise and assist you further, other years and further information can
be found here:-

 

[2]http://www.hertsdirect.org/your-council/...

 

 

Thirdly could you tell me your total ICT costs (so staff and software,
applications etc.)

 

Revenue spend is as follows:

 

 
ACTUAL BUDGET BUDGET
  2014/15 2014/15 VARIANCE 2015/16
                 -               
Hardware 331,563 717,937 386,374 695,368
          -       
Services 7,411,469 8,657,890 1,246,422 7,384,325
                   
Software 3,588,792 2,058,857 1,529,935 1,827,184
-           
TOTAL    11,331,824   11,434,684 102,861 9,906,877

 

 

Capital ICT Plan for 2014/15, 2015/16 is as follows:

 

  £000
2014/15  
PLANNED EXPENDITURE         1,455
SPEND TO DATE            892
REMAINING EXPENDITURE            563
   
2015/16  
PLANNED EXPENDITURE         1,410
   
It is not possible to categorize the budgets
across Services, Hardware and Software. 
However, as an indication the current spend to
date is split as follows:
Hardware 79%
Software 1%
Services 20%

 

It should be noted that the actuals are at a given point and provided on a
cash basis and will not yet reflect any of the standard year-end financial
accounting processes, e.g. accruals and prepayments.

 

 

Could you also tell me the total council’s budget so I can understand what
proportion you spend on Support Services?

·         All budget related information is published with the Budget
Book. This information is can be found using the links provided above.

 

Lastly, could you tell me if you have completed a review of your support
services in the last five years and if so send me internal documents of
the scope and saving involved in this review?  

 

·         We do not hold this information in the way in which it has been
requested. To provide this information would be creating new data, which
we are not obliged to do under the act. Therefore, we will not be carrying
out this work.

 

However, all budget related information is published with the Budget Book.
This information is can be found using the links provided above.

 

 

 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me, quoting
the reference above. To find out more about Freedom of Information, please
visit [3]www.hertsdirect.org/foi

 

If you are unhappy with the way the County Council has handled your
request for information you may request an internal review of the request.
This will be carried out by a member of the County Council Legal Services
Team, who has had no prior involvement with the request. Requests for an
internal review should be sent to the Information Governance Unit at the
address above.

 

If you are unhappy with the outcome of the internal review you are
entitled to ask the Information Commissioner to investigate your
complaint. You should write to: FOI/EIR Complaints Resolution, Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF.

 

 

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