COVID Payments made by Burnley Council

The request was partially successful.

Dear Burnley Borough Council,

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act please provide details regarding COVID grants which, according to the council website, have been paid.

The website states that a payment of £10,000 was paid to Kingston Living Ltd on 17th April 2020. According to Companies House records this company was dissolved on 10th July 2018. I request the following details in respect of this payment. Why was this payment made to a dissolved company? Detail the checks that were undertaken prior to the payment being made. Did the council check Companies House records before or making the payment - if not, why not?

The website states that a payment of £10,000 was paid to Precious Glimpse Ltd on 3rd April 2020. According to their website at https://www.preciousglimpse.co.uk/contact this is a medical services company with several branches. I request the following details in respect of this company. Why was the payment of £10,000 made to this company? Has the council considered this company to be entitled to a Retail, Leisure and Hospitality grant or a small business grant? If RLH grant, state why this business was treated this way when it appears to provide medical services. If small business grant, did the council check the website at https://www.preciousglimpse.co.uk/contact, and subsequently check business rates liability details with the local authorities where their other branches are located to confirm entitlement to the grant? If not, why not? Detail any other checks that were made prior to this payment being issued.

Has the council claimed and received grant funding from government for the above payments? If yes and if these businesses are not entitled to a grant, will these payments be refunded to the central government by the council?

Newspaper reports state that the council will be undertaking an audit of all COVID grant and support payments. Will this report be made available to the public and will this report contain details of individual grants that have been claimed or paid incorrectly, where this would not contravene data protection legislation?

Yours faithfully,

Jane Coates

Heather Talbot, Burnley Borough Council

Dear Jane Coates
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. I wish to confirm the
following:

* All applications were subject to a verification process. Procedures
for verifying registered businesses were via Spotlight. This is a
piece of software which is provided by BEIS (Department for Energy,
Industrial Strategy) and used to carry out Company House checks on
applications. If the Spotlight checks came back with no issues, the
application was passed for payment. If any issues were identified,
this was then passed onto other Council staff for verification. The
application would be passed on for payment after confirmation.
* All applications were checked against the information held on the
Council's business rates register to check eligibility for the grants.
* A reconciliation between funding received from the Government and paid
out to businesses has been carried out and the variance has been paid
back to the Government. 
* Are we going to be undertaking an audit of all COVID grant and support
payments?  Will this report be made available to the public and will
this report contain details of individual grants that have been
claimed or paid incorrectly, where this would not contravene data
protection legislation? An Audit of the processes has started for the
Business Support Grants. A summary of the report outcomes is reported
to the Audit and Standards Committee. Internal Audit reports are not
provided to the public, in line with the requirements of Data
Protection Legislation,  the restrictions of access to Committee
papers containing the financial details of third parties, and with the
impact on the prevention and detection of crime.

You may, if dissatisfied with the treatment of your request, ask the
council to conduct a review of its decision under the council's complaints
procedure. The review will be carried out by someone who has not been
involved in dealing with your request for information. Please e-mail or
write if you would like a review. 

  

If, following the review, you remain dissatisfied with the council's
treatment of your request then you may take your complaint to the
Information Commissioner at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Regards

Heather

 
Your Freedom of Information Request:
Dear Burnley Borough Council, in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act please provide details regarding COVID grants which,
according to the council website, have been paid. The website states that
a payment of £10,000 was paid to Kingston Living Ltd on 17th April 2020. 
According to Companies House records this company was dissolved on 10th
July 2018.  I request the following details in respect of this payment. 
Why was this payment made to a dissolved company?  Detail the checks that
were undertaken prior to the payment being made.  Did the council check
Companies House records before or making the payment - if not, why not?
The website states that a payment of £10,000 was paid to Precious Glimpse
Ltd on 3rd April 2020.  According to their website at
https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...
this is a medical services company with several branches.  I request the
following details in respect of this company.  Why was the payment of
£10,000 made to this company?  Has the council considered this company to
be entitled to a Retail, Leisure and Hospitality grant or a small business
grant?  If RLH grant, state why this business was treated this way when it
appears to provide medical services.  If small business grant, did the
council check the website at
https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlo...
 8968763465677%7CUnknown%\r\n7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWw\r\niLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C2000&sdata=5z4DNyFSbtDYgT2mgHCP5e6cS%\r\n2FEx9GRUwui9NLZhThQ%3D&reserved=0
and subsequently check business rates liability details with the local
authorities where their other branches are located to confirm entitlement
to the grant? If not, why not?  Detail any other checks that were made
prior to this payment being issued. Has the council claimed and received
grant funding from government for the above payments?  If yes and if these
businesses are not entitled to a grant, will these payments be refunded to
the central government by the council? Newspaper reports state that the
council will be undertaking an audit of all COVID grant and support
payments.  Will this report be made available to the public and will this
report contain details of individual grants that have been claimed or paid
incorrectly, where this would not contravene data protection legislation?
Yours faithfully, Jane Coates
Heather Talbot
Economy and Growth

Ext 7188
01282 425011

[1]Burnley Borough Council

[2]Burnley Borough Council [3]Burnley Investment [4]Burnley Borough
Council

Burnley Borough Council, Town Hall, Manchester Road, Burnley, Lancashire.
BB11 9SA

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Dear Heather Talbot,

Thank you for your reply to my request and I would be grateful if you could clarify some further points.

Following and further checks that have been undertaken, is the council satisfied that Kingston Living Ltd and Precious Glimpse Ltd were each entitled to receive a £10,000 grant payment?

If not, can the council explain why the checks that were undertaken on the 'Spotlight' system and the council's own Business Rates system failed to highlight these companies as not being entitled to grant payments and what action the council has taken to ensure that there are no other similar cases and that other similar cases will not occur in future.

Yours sincerely,

Jane Coates

Heather Talbot, Burnley Borough Council

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Dear Jane Coates
In response to your email the Council can confirm that both applications
went through the required checks as set out in the Government Guidance for
the Small Business Grant and Retail, Hospitality Grants.
The Council is required to undertake post payment checks on businesses
that have been assisted.  If anything comes to light during these checks,
or if information is obtained by the Council that payments may have been
wrongly claimed, or an error was made in making these payments, the
Council will investigate and review each application. If necessary the
Council has the authority to request the repayment of the grant.

I hope this answers your enquiry.

Regards

Heather

Heather Talbot
Office Administrator
Economy & Growth

From: Jane Coates <[1][FOI #720580 email]>
Sent: 17 March 2021 13:51
To: Heather Talbot <[2][email address]>
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information Request #6773

 

[CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organisation.]

Dear Heather Talbot,

Thank you for your reply to my request and I would be grateful if you
could clarify some further points.

Following and further checks that have been undertaken, is the council
satisfied that Kingston Living Ltd and Precious Glimpse Ltd were each
entitled to receive a £10,000 grant payment?

If not, can the council explain why the checks that were undertaken on the
'Spotlight' system and the council's own Business Rates system failed to
highlight these companies as not being entitled to grant payments and what
action the council has taken to ensure that there are no other similar
cases and that other similar cases will not occur in future.

Yours sincerely,
Jane Coates

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