Council Expenditure or Payment to Suppliers from JUL 2019 to DEC 2019

The request was successful.

Dear Highland Council,

I'd like to make a request under the Freedom of Information act for all transactions over £500 from JUL 2019 to DEC 2019. Please provide the data in a machine readable format (preferably CSV). As a minimum, please be sure to include the date, value, recipient and the procurement category of each transaction.

For avoidance of doubt, I am making this request under the Freedom of Information Act. I await your response within 20 working days.

Yours Faithfully,
Nikhil Prabhu

Highland Council

Case Ref: HC0226-6834  
Good morning, 
We acknowledge receipt of your request for information under the
FOI legislation received on 12/02/2020.
Subject: 
Council Expenditure or Payment to Suppliers from JUL 2019 to DEC 2019
Request Detail:
I'd like to make a request under the Freedom of Information act for all
transactions over £500 from JUL 2019 to DEC 2019. Please provide the data
in a machine readable format (preferably CSV). As a minimum, please be
sure to include the date, value, recipient and the procurement category of
each transaction. For avoidance of doubt, I am making this request under
the Freedom of Information Act. I await your response within 20 working
days.
The Highland Council will endeavour to respond within the legislative time
scale of 20 working days from date of receipt unless further clarification
of your request is required.
Further information on response times can be found at:
[1]http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...
Yours Sincerely,
The Highland Council
This is an automatically generated email - PLEASE DO NOT REPLY 

Unless related to the business of The Highland Council, the views or
opinions expressed within this e-mail are those of the sender and do not
necessarily reflect those of The Highland Council, or associated bodies,
nor does this e-mail form part of any contract unless so stated.
Mura h-eil na beachdan a tha air an cur an cèill sa phost-d seo a'
buntainn ri gnothachas Chomhairle na Gàidhealtachd, 's ann leis an neach
fhèin a chuir air falbh e a tha iad, is chan eil iad an-còmhnaidh a'
riochdachadh beachdan na Comhairle, no buidhnean buntainneach, agus chan
eil am post-d seo na phàirt de chunnradh sam bith mura h-eil sin air
innse.

Listening * Open * Valuing * Improving * Supporting * Partnering * Delivering
Èisteachd * Fosgailte * Luach * Leasachadh * Taic * Com-pàirteachas *
Lìbhrigeadh

References

Visible links
1. http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...

Customer Services Corporate Resources, Highland Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Prabhu

 

Please see attached the response to your Freedom of Information Request
received on 12 February 2020.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Morag Creighton

Customer Services Officer

Business Support Team

Corporate Resources Service

Tel: 01463 702036

Email:[email address]

           [1][email address]

         

 

 

Unless related to the business of The Highland Council, the views or
opinions expressed within this e-mail are those of the sender and do not
necessarily reflect those of The Highland Council, or associated bodies,
nor does this e-mail form part of any contract unless so stated.
Mura h-eil na beachdan a tha air an cur an cèill sa phost-d seo a'
buntainn ri gnothachas Chomhairle na Gàidhealtachd, 's ann leis an neach
fhèin a chuir air falbh e a tha iad, is chan eil iad an-còmhnaidh a'
riochdachadh beachdan na Comhairle, no buidhnean buntainneach, agus chan
eil am post-d seo na phàirt de chunnradh sam bith mura h-eil sin air
innse.

Listening * Open * Valuing * Improving * Supporting * Partnering * Delivering
Èisteachd * Fosgailte * Luach * Leasachadh * Taic * Com-pàirteachas *
Lìbhrigeadh

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Dear Customer Services Corporate Resources, Morag Creighton,

Thank you for your response.

I would like to appeal against the council’s decision to refuse information as they feel the cost would exceed £600.

All councils now have a sophisticated accounting system which enables information to be downloaded using the in-built software. This software should have filters to enable data without compromising any sensitive information. As an accountant myself I use this facility extensively. Also, non supplier payments (e.g. staff payments, housing benefits, and transfer payments such as foster care fees, kinship allowances etc.) do not constitute personal sensitive information. I understand any names that identify names of sole traders/individuals can & should be redacted.

We feel the cost in downloading and assessing the data should not exceed £600 as much of the work would be done by the machine itself. We therefore would like to appeal against the council’s refusal to provide information as they feel the cost will exceed the threshold.

I am looking for itemized transactions for all suppliers from JUL 2019 to DEC 2019 - preferably in CSV format. In particular, we are looking for payments to suppliers who provide a service in Health and
Social Care. This would include all suppliers falling under the following categories :-

1. Payments to suppliers who provide fostering and adoption services to the Council
2. Payments to suppliers who provide care services to the council. This would include suppliers who provide care under each of the categories below :-
a. Children's Residential/ Nursing Care Providers
b. Adult Residential/ Nursing Care Providers
c. Elderly Residential/ Nursing Care Providers
d. Domiciliary Care Home Providers
e. Supported Living Care Home Providers
f. Care at Home Providers
g. Providers who carry out Homeless Services
3. Payments to suppliers who provide Special Education Services

To narrow my scope -- We are looking for payments to suppliers who provide a service in Health and Social Care ONLY. I sincerely hope the Council may now accommodate my request.

Thank you very much & Kind Regards,
Yours Faithfully,
Nikhil Prabhu

Dear Customer Services Corporate Resources,

May I please request an update?

Yours sincerely,
nikhil prabhu

Dear Customer Services Corporate Resources,

May I request an update at this point?
Of course being cognizant of the current situation.

Thank you,
Yours sincerely,
nikhil prabhu

Dear Customer Services Corporate Resources,

It behooves me to check back with you periodically regarding the status of my request, since it has been pending for an extremely long period of time.

Thank you,
Yours sincerely,
nikhil prabhu

Dear Customer Services Corporate Resources,

Whilst we do understand the guidance from the ICO relating to the current situation and FOI requests; we feel Council is being unreasonable by extending the response timeline thus far & hence will be proceeding with a format complaint to the Commissioner.

Yours sincerely,
nikhil prabhu

Dear Customer Services Corporate Resources/Mr. Morag Creighton,

Just to be clear, our ICO complaint will be about not providing any fostering payments under FOI and also not conducting an Internal Review in time.

Thank you,
Yours sincerely,
nikhil prabhu

Freedom of Information, Highland Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Prabhu,
I refer to your request for a review below and apologise for the lack of
communication with regard to this request.
 
I have now reviewed your request and our response and note that in your
email below you have been more specific about the information you wish to
receive.
 
You initially requested "all transactions over £500 from JUL 2019 to DEC
2019. Please provide the data in a machine readable format (preferably
CSV). As a minimum, please be sure to include the date, value, recipient
and the procurement category of each transaction." Our finance team
produced an export from our system and this included more than 21,000
entries.
 
They then removed groups of entries by selecting specific budget codes in
order to ensure that the Council did not breach data protection
legislation by disclosing the names of social work clients and children
under our care.  They then provided you with the remaining information and
explained the redactions under the terms of the exemptions provided by the
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA).
 
On the basis of your initial request I believe that the Council has
complied with the terms of FOISA.
 
However, in your request for review, you have been more specific about the
information you wish to receive.  I have now attached a spreadsheet which
I hope now satisfies your request.  I have redacted personal data from the
spreadsheet as this is exempt under Sections 38(1)(b) and 38(2A)(a) of
FOISA because publication of this information would breach the principles
of data protection.
 
 
I hope that this is now to your satisfaction.  Please contact me if you
wish to receive further data.
 
I note your comments with regard to accounting systems.  While our finance
system can quickly provide the data to fulfil your request, manual
intervention is required to review each of the lines of data produced to
ensure that personal data isn’t inadvertently disclosed.  The system is
decentralised, to enable staff based in any of the offices across the
large geographical area to input data.  This makes it more difficult to
control the information which is included in supplier names and other
descriptions.  Therefore, I hope you can understand that it is the review
of the 21,000 lines of data which takes time rather then the interrogation
of the system.
 
I hope that the information provided fulfils your request.  However, if
you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of this review, you have the
right to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner. His contact
details are:
 
Scottish Information Commissioner,
Kinburn Castle,
Doubledykes Road,
St Andrews, Fife
KY16 9DS
Telephone: 01334 464610
Fax: 01334 464611
e-mail: [1][email address]
 
Your request should contain details of the aspects of the Council's
response with which you are dissatisfied and should be made within 6
months of receipt of this review response. If you are subsequently
dissatisfied with the outcome of your appeal to the Commissioner you then
have the right of appeal to the Court of Session regarding a point of law.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Miles Watters
 
Miles Watters | Freedom of Information & Data Protection Manager |
Chief Executive's Office | The Highland Council | Glenurquhart Road |
Inverness IV3 5NX |
Tel. 01463 702029 | [2]www.highland.gov.uk |
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom of Information,

Thank you for your response. I do, however, require some clarification from you.
I see several records which seem to be duplicates, could you please confirm or advise otherwise?

For eg. ABERLOUR CHILD CARE (HEAD OFFICE) 23-Jun-2019 50,297.38 09-JUL-2019 Residential Care Out of Authority Placements
ABERLOUR CHILD CARE (HEAD OFFICE) 23-Jun-2019 50,297.38 09-JUL-2019 Residential Care Out of Authority Placements
ABERLOUR CHILD CARE (HEAD OFFICE) 23-Jun-2019 50,297.38 09-JUL-2019 Residential Care Out of Authority Placements
Abriachan Forest Trust 14-Nov-2019 720.00 22-NOV-2019
Abriachan Forest Trust 14-Nov-2019 720.00 22-NOV-2019
Abriachan Forest Trust 14-Nov-2019 576.00 22-NOV-2019
Abriachan Forest Trust 14-Nov-2019 576.00 22-NOV-2019

ETC. ETC.

Yours sincerely,
nikhil prabhu

Freedom of Information, Highland Council

Dear Nikhil,

 

I can confirm that these are not duplicate entries.  Although the dates
and amounts are the same, the invoice numbers and descriptions are
different.

 

Regards,

 

 

Leanne Gair
Customer Services Officer
Chief Executive's Office
HQ

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom of Information/Ms Gair,

The descriptions are the same in the file have provided, whereas I do not see any Invoice numbers listed at all. Is it possible you have sent me a different sheet or are we looking at the same sheet?

Yours sincerely,
nikhil prabhu

Freedom of Information, Highland Council

Dear Nikhil,

It is the same spreadsheet, I had checked the original and the invoice column was removed before been sent to you as it was not necessary to include.

The entries are not duplicates.

Kind regards,

Leanne Gair
Customer Services Officer
Chief Executive's Office
HQ

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom of Information,

Ok, Thank you so much.

Yours sincerely,
nikhil prabhu