Alcohol and drugs testing

The request was successful.

Dear Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council,

Could you please confirm to me the following:

1. Who was the winner of the contract for drugs and alcohol testing of council employees?
2. What is the predicted annual and ongoing cost of this testing?
3. How many times per annum is testing expected to take place?
3. In the discussion with HR committee there were recommendations based on testing 5 or 15% of the workforce per year, what is the current planned percentage of workforce to be tested?
4. How long is the drug testing contract in place for? When will the authority be looking to tender again on this?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

Yours faithfully,

Marty Banks

InformationRights, Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Banks

 

Request for Information RFI-0966-20

 

Thank you for your request for information relating to Alcohol and drugs
testing which was received on 13 January 2020.

 

In accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
the council will respond to your request within 20 working days, saying
whether we have the information that you want, and if there will be any
charges. 

 

If, for any reason, we cannot provide you with the information, we will
tell you why.

If we need to clarify your request, we will contact you again.

 

In the meantime, if you need to contact me about your request, please do
so quoting the above reference number.

 

Yours sincerely,

Fakhara Qanwal

 

 

Assurance Team, Resources and Transformation

Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council,

Civic Centre,

Darwall Street,

Walsall, WS1 1DG

Tel: 0800 0856 018

Email: [Walsall Council request email]

Service area: [1]walsall.gov.uk/ Information Governance and Assurance

Website:  [2]www.walsall.gov.uk

 

[3]http://int.walsall.gov.uk/portals/0/Comm...

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References

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Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Banks,

 

Freedom of Information Request RFI-0966-20

 

Further to your request for information about Alcohol and drugs testing, I
can tell you the following:

1. Who was the winner of the contract for drugs and alcohol testing of
council employees?

Matrix Diagnostics

2. What is the predicted annual and ongoing cost of this testing?

£8000 per annum

3. How many times per annum is testing expected to take place?

12 times per annum for random testing. 

Cause and suspicion testing will take place as and when required

4. In the discussion with HR committee there were recommendations based on
testing 5 or 15% of the workforce per year, what is the current planned
percentage of workforce to be tested?

5% of the workforce

5. How long is the drug testing contract in place for? When will the
authority be looking to tender again on this?

Contract in place for 2 years, with option to extend for a further year. 
If extended for further year, contract will expire on 12/5/2022

Most of the information that we provide in response to Freedom of
Information Act 2000 requests will be subject to copyright protection.  In
most cases the copyright will be owned by Walsall Council. The copyright
in respect of other information may be owned by another person or
organisation, as indicated.

 

You are free to use any information supplied to you in response to this
request for your own non-commercial research or private study purposes.
The information may also be used for any other purpose allowed by a
limitation or exception in copyright law, such as news reporting.
 However, any other type of re-use, for example by publishing the
information in analogue or digital form, including on the internet, will
require the permission of the copyright owner.

I hope that the information provided is useful to you. However, if you are
dissatisfied, you should set out in writing your grounds for complaint and
send to: Corporate Assurance Manager, Resources & Transformation, Civic
Centre, Darwall Street, Walsall, WS1 1TP.

 

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for a decision.
Please remember that, generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you
have first exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the council. The
Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9
5AF. [1]https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

 

Yours sincerely,

Laurie Andrews

 

 

Assurance Team, Resources and Transformation

Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council,

Civic Centre,

Darwall Street,

Walsall, WS1 1DG

Tel: 0800 0856 018

Email: [Walsall Council request email]

Service area: [2]walsall.gov.uk/ Information Governance and Assurance

Website:  [3]www.walsall.gov.uk

 

[4]http://int.walsall.gov.uk/portals/0/Comm...

Disclaimer: IF THIS EMAIL IS MARKED PRIVATE OR CONFIDENTIAL - PLEASE
RESPECT CONFIDENTIALITY AND DO NOT SHARE OR FORWARD IT TO ANYONE ELSE
WITHOUT THE EXPRESS CONSENT OF THE AUTHOR. 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 Walsall MBC unless
explicitly stated.  E-mails sent or received from Walsall MBC 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 detect crime. You should also be aware that any
email may be the subject of a request under Data Protection, Freedom of
Information or Environmental Information legislation and therefore could
be disclosed to third parties.

 

E-mail Security: Communication by internet email is not secure as
messages can be intercepted and read by someone else. Therefore we
strongly advise you not to email any information, which if disclosed to
unrelated third parties would be likely to cause harm or distress. If you
have an enquiry of this nature please provide a postal address to allow us
to communicate with you in a more secure way. If you want us to respond by
email you must realise that there can be no guarantee of privacy.

 

 

 

References

Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
2. https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
3. https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlo...