Expenses and Hospitality

The request was successful.

Gerry Hallright

Dear Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust,

can you please send me a copy of your reply to an FOI request about 3 years worth of bonuses and expenses for staff/ceo and executive directors, that was sent around the end of November 2009 to NHS Trusts.

Do you have Gifts, Hospitality and Sponsorship Policy or similar and a Code of Conduct and can you please email me a copy.
Can you send me a copy of your register for 2008/9 showing details of Gifts, Hospitality and Sponsorship.

Yours faithfully,

Gerry Hallright

Scott David (RQ3) BCH, Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

I am out of the office on Monday 14th June.  I will respond to you on my
return.  If you need to speak to someone urgently regarding a legal matter
please call Alison Stanton on 8419.  If you need to speak to someone
urgently re a Governance issue pleae cal Bryan Healy on 8431.  If you
urgently need to speak to me my mobile number is 07795112870 and I will be
picking up my voicemail.

If you require urgent/emergency legal advice in  please contact
Weightmans, the Trust solicitors on (in and out of office hours):-

Tony Yeaman    Work 0121 200 8108
                           Mobile  0751 555 9513
                           Home 01564 782584

Simon Charlton 

                           Work 0121 200 8118
                           [mobile number]
                           Home 0121 449 0045

Kiran Bhogal

                           [mobile number]

David Hewitt

                          [mobile number]

David Scott
Associate Director of Governance

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Find out how to fundraise for Birmingham Children's Hospital at www.bch.org.uk

Freedom Of Information (RQ3) BCH, Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

7 Attachments

Dear Mr Hallright

Please find attached the Trust’s response to your Freedom of Information
Request dated 12 June 2010.

Yours sincerely

FOI Lead/Publication Scheme Co-ordinator

This material has been checked by us for computer viruses using
Sophos Anti-Virus and although no virus has been found by us, we cannot
guarantee that it is completely free from such problems and we do not
accept any liability for loss or damage which may be caused. This
communication is intended solely for the addressee and is confidential.
If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying,
distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on
it, is prohibited and may be unlawful.
Any information, materials, graphics, and/or opinions posted by the
sender are those of the respective sender and do not necessarily reflect
the opinion of Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
unless explicitly stated to the contrary.

Find out how to fundraise for Birmingham Children's Hospital at www.bch.org.uk

Gerry Hallright

Dear Freedom Of Information BCH,

thank you for your reply and the attached documents.

1) For the sponsorship/hospitality policy, I was interested in any policy/procedure that you have which relates to the following NHS Guidance, or contains guidance to employees how to deal with hospitality and sponsorship approaches.

COMMERCIAL SPONSORSHIP – ETHICAL
STANDARDS FOR THE NHS, Nov 2000

2) For the listing of hospitality, I saw that you removed the giver and receiver details of the 2009 hospitality.

Can you please consider sending me the information for 2009 which includes the giver of hospitality if it relates to a company/charity or corporate body.
There should be an expectation by the companies that their details of sponsorship are in the public domain.
Any reasonable company would be a aware of the provisions in the 2000 NHS Sponsorship guidance which says that registers should be open to public examination.
Part of a public scrutiny should be the possibility of looking at the frequency and size of contributions made by individual companies.
This scrutiny is only possible if the details of the sponsor are available.

3) Can you please send me a copy of your full accounts for 2008/9.

Yours sincerely,

Gerry Hallright

Freedom Of Information (RQ3) BCH, Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

4 Attachments

Dear Mr Hallright

Please find attached the Trust’s response to your Freedom of Information
Request dated  16 July 2010.

Yours sincerely

FOI Lead/Publication Scheme Co-ordinator

This material has been checked by us for computer viruses using
Sophos Anti-Virus and although no virus has been found by us, we cannot
guarantee that it is completely free from such problems and we do not
accept any liability for loss or damage which may be caused. This
communication is intended solely for the addressee and is confidential.
If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying,
distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on
it, is prohibited and may be unlawful.
Any information, materials, graphics, and/or opinions posted by the
sender are those of the respective sender and do not necessarily reflect
the opinion of Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
unless explicitly stated to the contrary.

Find out how to fundraise for Birmingham Children's Hospital at www.bch.org.uk

Dear Childrens Hospital,

I would like to request information under the FOIA, arising from details on your Hospitality listings.

1) In the Hospitality details supplied, there are the following entries listed for Deloitte/Touche as a sponsor of Hospitality:

a) 31 July 2009
Exec Team
Ticket to Ashes at Edgbaston
£100
30 July 2009
Deloitte

b) Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Chief Finance Officer
Ticket for Villa vs Man Utd
£50
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Deloitte & Touche

c) Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Chief Finance Officer
Meal  
£30
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Deloitte & Touche

Are the companies listed above the same as the Trust external auditor in 2008/9 and 2009/10?
What is the title or name of the Executive who made use of the Edgbaston ticket?
Did the Trust Board or Audit Committee approve these Hospitalities in advance?

2) The following Trust document stated:
"Annual Report And Summary Financial Statements 2008/09
Additionally during the year we contracted with Deloitte for the provision of a Local Counter Fraud Service (LCFS)."

Please state when this contract was awarded, what the amount was within bandings of
£0-£5000
£5000-£20,000
more than £20,000
and what other companies tendered for this contract.

Is this expenditure included within the "Other services: Performance Review" line within your accounts?

3) From the Trust accounts, other audit remuneration amounted to £70k in 2008/99 and £83k in 2009/10.
Please state when the taxation services were contracted for last and what other companies tendered?
Can you please give details of the contracts the Performance Review service expenditure in 2008/9 and 2009/10 are comprised of, and what other companies tendered for these contracts?

4) In the Hospitality details supplied, there is the following entry for "Mantons Construction" as a sponsor of Hospitality:

Thursday, June 19, 2008
Strategic Development
Ticket for 20:20 cricket, Warks vs Somerset
No value given
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Mantons Construction

Please confirm the full company name of "Mantons Construction"?
Please give details of any contracts won by this company since April 2008.

Yours sincerely,

Gerry Hallright

Freedom Of Information (RQ3) BCH, Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Hallright

Please find attached the Trust’s acknowledgement of your Freedom of Information Request dated
14 November 2010.

I will contact you again shortly.

Yours sincerely

FOI Lead/Publication Scheme Co-ordinator

show quoted sections

Freedom Of Information (RQ3) BCH, Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Hallright

Please find attached the Trust's response to your freedom of information
request.

Yours sincerely

Publication Scheme Coordinator

This material has been checked by us for computer viruses using
Sophos Anti-Virus and although no virus has been found by us, we cannot
guarantee that it is completely free from such problems and we do not
accept any liability for loss or damage which may be caused. This
communication is intended solely for the addressee and is confidential.
If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying,
distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on
it, is prohibited and may be unlawful.
Any information, materials, graphics, and/or opinions posted by the
sender are those of the respective sender and do not necessarily reflect
the opinion of Birmingham Children's Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
unless explicitly stated to the contrary.

Find out how to fundraise for Birmingham Children's Hospital at www.bch.org.uk

Gerry Hallright left an annotation ()

A FURTHER FOI REQUEST AND ANSWER

14 February 2011

Mr Gerry Hallwright
Gerry.Hallrright@googlemail.Com

 
Dear Mr Hallwright
 
Thank you for your email dated 24/01/2011 requesting information regarding Audit services at Birmingham Children’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Your request posed a series of questions and for ease of reference I have separated each question and provided the Trust’s response immediately below.

Thank you for your reply dated the 10th December 2010 (FOI/0323). I would like to request a review of three answers from this reply.

a) For the Local Counter Fraud Service (LCFS) contract, I requested when this contract was awarded in 2008/9. It was the date this contract was awarded I was interested in.

The LCFS Contract for 2008/09 was awarded in February 2008. This was a further extension (the previous contract with Deloitte was for 3 years+2 years) and was incorporated into the main Internal Audit Contract. The LCFS service was part of the Internal Audit tender which commenced on 1 April 2003. Since that time, until the February 2008 extension, the IA and LCFS services were provided by  Deloittes per the awarded contract. Due to the contract in place no tender opportunities arose between 2003 and 2008.

b) For the Taxation Services contract I had requested "Please state when the taxation services were contracted for last". It was the date this contract was awarded I was interested in.

Taxation services are not contracted for separately. They are included in the main External Audit Contract as part of the “Value Added” element. The Audit Committee agreed the 2011/12 Audit Plan on October 13 2010 which included the VAT and Taxation service.

c) I did not fully understand the answers in relation to whether other companies tendered for these two contracts. Do your answers mean that there were no other companies that tendered for the LCFS and Taxation contracts and these contracts are therefore recorded in the single tender register?

Given that the whole Internal Audit contract was extended for 6 months prior to tendering with a view to awarding a contract in October 2008, no other companies had the opportunity to tender. In the intervening period ie between February and October 2008 it was agreed to bring the LCFS service in house so no service has been tendered since. When we tendered for the External Audit service (awarded in January 2008) we stated that other value added services may be requested separately but these would not form part of the original tender. We have not therefore tendered for taxation services.

I would like to request information relating to the Audit services within the Trust.

1) QUESTION 1
Please supply a copy of the Trust's policy for considering and approving any additional services to be provided by the auditor.

We do not have such a policy.
2) In the 2008/9 Annual Report there was the following statement below Table 24:

"One of the principal tasks of the Audit Committee is to work with the Council of Governors and appoint the External Auditors. As a consequence of the appointment, the work plan of the internal auditors was reviewed to ensure that there were no conflicts of interest. The tender process for a new provider for internal audit was affected by the withdrawal of two of the three companies who had submitted offers to undertake this work.
The Audit Committee approved an extension to the existing contract to enable an interim arrangement to be identified. Subsequent to this, the Audit Committee approved an 18 month contract with a new internal audit provider in October 2008. This interim arrangement was implemented to facilitate the commencement of a full European Journal procurement process. These arrangements were endorsed by the Board of Directors."

QUESTION 2
Was deloitte the External Auditor related in some way to the Internal Audit service provider during 2008/9, or was the Internal Audit service provided or partly provided by deloitte? Which company won the internal audit contract from October 2008 onwards?
Deloitte was awarded the External Audit contract in January 2008. At that time Deloitte was also the Internal Auditor. We received external ethical agreement to have a 6 month overlap ie from April to l October to have the same organisation providing both services.

QUESTION 3
What were the names of the two companies that withdrew from the Internal Audit contract tender as described in the Annual Report?

PWC and Bentley Jennison.

I hope that the information provided is adequate, however please let me know if you require more details or further clarification.

Gerry Hallright left an annotation ()

ONE FURTHER FOI REQUEST AND ANSWER

FOI TWO

In connection with Hospitality payments I looked at the Governors minutes in the Trust website and noted that the quoracy of the Governors Council had been raised on several occasions.
The Council discussed in detail, particularly in October 2008 and January 2009 ways of increasing attendance and the remaining Council meetings in 2009 indeed appeared to achieve higher quorate attendances.

I have the following questions in connection with the Governor Council:

It appears that the March 2007, 9th January, July, October 2008, January 2009 and July 2010 Governors meetings may have been inquorate based on the Children's Hospital Core Constitution listed in the MONITOR website, which requires 14 Governors (excluding the Chairman) and 9 Public/Patient/Carers to be present at a General Meeting.
The March 2007 Governor minutes on the Trust website records a Chairman's comment as:

“the meeting was now not quorate, This meeting was requested in order that the Council could receive the report from the nominations committee which had been conveyed to set and agree the remuneration levels of the Non-Executive Directors (NEDs). She stated that as the meeting was not quorate the decision of the remuneration could not be endorsed this evening by the Council.

Further more that the lack of commitment shown by those Governors who were not in attendance would have a negative impact upon the NEDs who had an active role in the achievement of Foundation Trust status.” and

“In addition, the Governors agreed that in order not to disadvantage the NEDs that the Governor’s present to record their decision and that the Trust Board Secretary seek endorsement of the Council’s decision from those Governors absent from this meeting. “
The Trust Core Constitution states:
“3.26 In no circumstances may an absent Governor vote by proxy. Absence is defined as being absent at the time of the vote. “

QUESTION 1
Has MONITOR been informed of this possible infraction of the Constitution in relation to absent Governor proxy votes and if so, when was MONITOR informed and what the advice was from MONITOR?

The February 2010 Council meeting minutes appear to show an inquorate meeting with 13 Governors with 8 Public/Patient/Carers Governors

Under item 6/10 Report back from the Nominations Committee Meeting held on the 13th of January 2010, the Council was reported to agree:
1) The reappointment of two Non Executive Directors
2) To increase the Non Executive Directors remuneration by 2.4%, backdated September 2009
3) To increase the Chairmans remuneration by 2.4%, backdated September 2009
4) To make a one-off payment of £4,000 to the Chairman

QUESTION 2
Has MONITOR been informed of the possible infraction of the Constitution in relation to inquorate decisions and if so, when was MONITOR informed and what was the advice from MONITOR?

QUESTION 3
Please supply a copy of the 13th January 2010 Nominations Committee meeting minutes.
If you are unable to supply a full copy, please provide a redacted copy.

I believe it is in the public interest to understand the processes involved in the discussions around remuneration, particularly in circumstances where a committee discusses one of its members remuneration. This will inform other public authorities and promote openness and transparency.

QUESTION 4
There appear to be no minutes listed on the Trust website relating to the formal approval by the Council of the acceptance as deloitte as the External Auditor from March 2008.
Are there any other Council minutes which relate to the appointment of the External Auditor which are possibly not listed on the website?

Our ref: FOI/0371

21 February 2011

Mr Gerry Hallwright
Gerry.Hallright@googlemail.Com

 
Dear Mr Hallwright
 
Thank you for your email dated 24/01/2011.

Your request posed a series of questions to which please see the Trust’s response below, using your numbering.

1. The Trust does not hold the information of the description specified in your request.
Although the Trust is not obliged to respond further, you are referred to paragraphs 8.2.6 and 8.11.9 of the Constitution.

2. The Trust does not hold the information of the description specified in your request.
Although the Trust is not obliged to respond further, you are referred to paragraphs 8.2.6 and 8.11.9 of the Constitution.

3. In relation to your request for the minutes of the Nominations Committee meeting dated 13.1.10, the Trust is applying an exemption under Section 36 (Prejudice to Effective Conduct of Public Affairs). For your information the relevant extracts from Section 36 are:

(2) Information to which this section applies is exempt information if, in the reasonable opinion of a qualified person, disclosure of the information under this Act—

b) would, or would be likely to, inhibit—
(i) the free and frank provision of advice, or
(ii) the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation
The Trust's Associate Director of Governance in this case is the qualified person, and he is of the reasonable opinion that disclosure of the information requested would, or would be likely, to  seriously prejudice the ability of the Committee to carry out its functions via the free and frank  provision of advice and exchange of views, for the purposes of deliberation, if its members  were aware that the content of their discussions  may be disclosed to the general public in the future. 

Under FOI, since section 36 is a qualified exemption, then not only does the prejudicial aspect of possible disclosure have to be addressed, but also the public interest in maintaining the exemption has to be balanced against the public interest in disclosure. 

The Trust asserts that since the disclosure of the requested information would be likely to prejudice the Trust’s exercise of its functions, it would be contrary to the public interest.  There is a strong interest in ensuring that these committees can carry out their functions fully and correctly, without being inhibited by fear that their confidential discussions be disclosed.

The Trust is of the view that the public interest in disclosing the minutes is weak.  The minutes of the Council of Governors meeting dated 2.2.11, contain minuted outcomes from the Nominations Committee to which you refer. On that basis, the Trust is of the view that the public interest in withholding the statements outweighs the public interest in disclosing them.

4. The Trust does not hold the information of the description specified in your request.

I hope that the information provided is adequate, however, please let me know if you require more details or further clarification.

Gerry Hallright left an annotation ()

A FOI REPLY FROM MONITOR, THE FOUNDATION TRUST REGULATOR

<gerry.hallright@googlemail.com>

dateTue, Feb 22, 2011 at 5:54 PM
subjectFOI request

hide details Feb 22 (12 days ago)

Dear Mr Hallright

I refer to your email below, which you sent to Monitor’s FOI inbox and which we acknowledged on 26 January 2011. In your email, you asked two questions relating to FTs’ independent accountants and minutes from meetings of FTs’ board of governors.

Your email has been treated as a general enquiry rather than as an FOI request because of the nature of the questions that you have raised. I have set out my response to each of your questions below:

(1) “Does MONITOR hold information to show if there are any restrictions on the Independent Accountants company bidding for external or internal Audit work or other work after the Trust / Foundation Trust has completed the application process work with the Independent Accountants?”
Monitor does not impose any restrictions on auditors bidding for work after the application process has been completed.

However, Monitor expects both NHS foundation trusts and auditors to take steps to ensure that firms act with independence, remain impartial and avoid conflicts of interest. Amongst the directions that Monitor gives to auditors in the Audit Code is a requirement to act impartially and independently of the NHS foundation trusts to which they provide services. The Audit Code prescribes the way in which auditors must carry out their functions and auditors must comply with it. The Audit Code states at para 2.9:

“Auditors must carry out their work with independence and objectivity. The auditors’ opinions, conclusions and recommendations should both be, and be seen to be, impartial. Auditors and
their staff should exercise their professional judgement and act independently of the NHS foundation trust. They should ensure that they maintain an objective attitude at all times and that
they do not act in any way that might give rise to, or be perceived to give rise to, a conflict of interest”.

The decision to appoint or continue to engage an auditor is also dependent on the approval of each NHS foundation trust. Monitor’s Code of Governance provides guidance on arrangements that NHS foundation trusts should make when they are taking this decision. The Code states at para F.3.5 that:

“The audit committee should make a report to the board of governors in relation to the performance of the external auditor, including detail such as the quality and value of the work, and the timeliness of reporting and fees, to enable the board of governors to consider whether or not to reappoint them. The audit committee should make recommendations to the board of governors in relation to the appointment, re-appointment and removal of the external auditor and approve the remuneration and terms of engagement of the external auditor.”

(2) “Does MONITOR receive copies of FT Governors Council meetings?”.

Monitor does not routinely receive copies of the minutes from meetings of NHS foundation trusts’ board of governors. However, Monitor will look at these documents where appropriate, for example when Monitor requires evidence from an NHS foundation trust that it has followed the relevant procedure when it wishes to amend its constitution.

Further Information

The full Audit Code and Code of Governance can be accessed using the following links to Monitor's website:

http://www.monitor-nhsft.gov.uk/sites/de...

http://www.monitor-nhsft.gov.uk/sites/de...

Yours sincerely