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Dear Miss Stokes

We acknowledge with thanks your request for information held by Bolton
Council received at this office on 15/12/2022.

This request will be considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
/ Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) 2004 as appropriate to your
request.  

This may take up to 20 working days to be processed (although we will
endeavour to provide the information as quickly as possible).

Please be advised that if an exemption applies to the information that you
have requested, the statutory period may be exceeded in accordance with
the provisions of the act.

Please retain the reference number RFI 012048 for any future enquiries
regarding this matter.

Many thanks

The Information Governance Team
1st Floor, Town Hall, Bolton, BL1 1RU

>>Corporate Logo<<
This e-mail and any attached files are confidential and may also be
legally privileged. They are intended solely for the intended addressee.
If you are not the addressee please e-mail it back to the sender and then
immediately, permanently delete it. Do not read, print, re-transmit, store
or act in reliance on it. This e-mail may be monitored by Bolton Council
in accordance with current regulations.

This footnote also confirms that this e-mail message has been swept for
the presence of computer viruses currently known to Bolton Council.
However, the recipient is responsible for virus-checking before opening
this message and any attachment.

Unless expressly stated to the contrary, any views expressed in this
message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect
the views of Bolton Council.

http://www.bolton.gov.uk/

Dear Stokes

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
In response to your request for information received at this office on 15
December 2022, please see the councils response below.

You requested
I would be most grateful if you would provide me, under the Freedom of
Information Act, details in respect to the contract/s below. Healthy Child
Programme 0 -19, (0-25 with Special education needs and disabilities). To
include contracts related to health visiting, school nursing, family nurse
partnership, inoculations, special schools nursing, public health. Where
there is more than one contract/service area, please provide a response
for each. 1. What is the current contract length (start date and end
date)? 2. What is the contract value? 3. Who is the current supplier? 4.
Is there an extension clause? If so, what is the duration of the extension
and when would the first extension take effect if the clause was applied?
5. Has a decision been made yet as to whether the contract is being
extended or renewed? 6. Please provide a copy of the full Invitation to
Tender (ITT) published when the contract was last advertised. 7. What are
the contractual Key Performance Indicators? 8. Are the contractual Key
Performance Indicators being met by the incumbent service supplier?
(yes/no/partially) 9. Is any of the provision delivered on
line/digitally/virtually? If so please provide details as to the nature of
the provision/product , if there is a paywall and if any licences are
applicable. 10. Please provide a list of the suppliers who applied and who
were successful and not successful at PQQ and ITT stages. 11. Who is the
senior officer (outside of procurement) responsible for the contract?

Our response

Bolton Council has considered your request and feels that some of the
information you request is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (“the Act”).  Section 17 of the Act provides that
when refusing a request, Bolton Council must provide a notice which (a)
states that fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question, and (c) states
(if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Please see below for a detailed response and where applicable the
necessary exemption is listed.

1.              What is the current contract length (start date and end
date)?

01/04/19 to 31/03/22 with options of 2x 12-month extensions until
31/03/24.

2.              What is the contract value?

Estimated total value for the period of the Contract for the Authority is
£25,962,317.10 (excluding the extension period) with an in-built scaled
approach to savings per annum

3.              Who is the current supplier? 

Bolton Foundation Trust.

4.              Is there an extension clause? If so, what is the duration
of the extension and when would the first extension take effect if the
clause was applied?

Covered in point 1

5.              Has a decision been made yet as to whether the contract is
being extended or renewed?

Future commissioning intentions and approvals are yet to be determined

6.              Please provide a copy of the full Invitation to Tender
(ITT)  published when the contract was last advertised.

In this case, we consider that the exemption under section 21(1) of the
Act applies to this information.  Section 21(1) provides an exemption
where the information is reasonably sought by other means. Bolton Council
use The Chest, which is the North Wests Local Authority procurement portal
([1]www.the-chest.org.uk). Your queries can be answered by using the
‘Navigation’ field on the left-hand side of the screen and then filtering
by Bolton Council.  The documents listed above were provided to potential
suppliers via The Chest. This involved a 2-stage tender and as such there
were numerous ITT forms

Accordingly, we feel this information is reasonably accessible by other
means, therefore making the application of section 21(1) appropriate in
this case. The council has relied on section 21(1) of the Act please
accept this as a part refusal notice issued in accordance with section 17
of the Act.

7.              What are the contractual Key Performance Indicators?

Included in attachment

8.              Are the contractual Key Performance Indicators being met
by the incumbent service supplier? (yes/no/partially)

In this case, we consider that the exemption under section 22(1) of the
Act applies to this information. Section 22(1) of the Act provides an
exemption for information that is intended to be published in the future.
This information is exempt if the council holds the information, the
council or a third party intends the information to be published at some
future date and it is reasonable to withhold the information until its
planned publication.

The council has determined that this information is exempt from disclosure
in accordance with section 22(1) of the Act as it will be published at a
future date. Key Performance Indicators are currently being reviewed at
the moment – this information is likely to be available by end of the
Financial Year,

As the council are relying on section 22 of the Act, we are required to
carry out a Public Interest Test. This is a test to see whether the public
interest in withholding the information is greater than in releasing it.
The council acknowledge there is a public interest in disclosing this
information. In this case however, the council feel it is in the best
interests of the public to withhold information that is yet to be
finalised. Furthermore, there is already a requirement and commitment to
publish results after review and consultation with service suppliers.

Section 22 acknowledges that organisations must have freedom to be able to
determine their own publication timetables. This protection is afforded
whether it is the public authority itself or another individual, a company
or another public authority, which intends to publish. This allows public
authorities to deal with the necessary preparation, administration and
context of publication. Releasing information outside of the publication
schedule for this dataset undermines the value of these reviews. For these
reasons, the council feel it is appropriate in this case to maintain the
exemption and withhold the information requested for this element of your
request.

The council has relied on section 22(1) of the Act please accept this as a
part refusal notice issued in accordance with section 17 of the Act.

9.              Is any of the provision delivered
online/digitally/virtually? If so please provide details as to the nature
of the provision/product , if there is a paywall and if any licences are
applicable.

In this case, we consider that the exemption under section 21(1) of the
Act applies to this information.  Section 21(1) provides an exemption
where the information is reasonably sought by other means. The information
you request can be found on the Bolton Council website. There is a
dedicated page for [2]Children, Young People & Families Support - Bolton
NHS FT (boltonft.nhs.uk)

Accordingly, we feel this information is reasonably accessible by other
means, therefore making the application of section 21(1) appropriate in
this case. In accordance with the Act, this constitutes a part refusal
notice for this party of your request.

10.           Please provide a list of the suppliers who applied and who
were successful and not successful at PQQ and ITT stages.

In this case, we consider that the exemption under section 43(2) of the
Act applies to this information. Section 43(2) of the Act states that
information is exempt if its disclosure is likely to prejudice the
commercial interest of any person (including the public authority holding
it)

The withheld information clearly relates to a commercial activity and the
result of tenders submitted by various companies to the council for this
service. This activity is conducted in a competitive environment, in which
the council works to identify the best bidder, gain best value for
available funds and in which companies compete to submit the best bid.
Therefore, the nature of the requested information falls within the scope
of the exemption under Section 43(2).

Release of information under the Act cannot be viewed in the context of a
limited disclosure to the applicant, it should be considered as an
applicant blind release into the public domain

We consider that disclosure could cause an unwarranted detriment to the
unsuccessful businesses involved. This is due to any perceived weakness in
them due to failure of being awarded a contract. Furthermore, we also
believe that by disclosing the information could unfairly prejudice the
commercial interests of Bolton Council due to a loss of trust from local
businesses and affect their decision to do business with us in the future.

In applying this exemption the Council has considered a Decision Notice
issued by the Information Commissioners Office ( [3]FS50518095 )
concerning Birmingham City Council

In this case the council withheld the names of bidders who had submitted
Pre-Qualification Questionnaires for a suspended procurement exercise.
Although in this case, the procurement exercise was not suspended, we
still consider some of the key arguments are applicable. Most notably:-

Paragraph 28:- In relation to the bidders’ commercial interests, the
Commissioner considers that if the names of the companies who expressed an
interest in the contract at the PQQ stage were disclosed, it would be
likely to undermine confidence in the unsuccessful bidders.

The Commissioner considers that the bidders are competing against one
another in a competitive market and there may be a perceived weakness in
the unsuccessful bidders who submitted a request to participate if this
information were publicised. If the council were to disclose the names of
bidders who registered an interest at a very early stage in the process,
it would be likely to undermine confidence in the council and therefore
may impact upon a company’s decision to make a request to participate in
future tendering exercises.

We have also considered the public interest test in relation to this
request. Whilst we accept the need for transparency in how funds are spent
and the public’s interest in this we consider that this is outweighed by
the public interest in the council’s ability to secure maximum value for
these same funds through ensuring fair competition and being able to
operate an effective tender process.

Furthermore, we note that in the above decision, the ICO considered that:-
Disclosing the names of bidders that registered an interest to participate
at a very early stage of the procurement process would only go a very
limited way to meeting the public interest arguments in favour of
disclosure.

In line with the above decision, we believe that releasing the names of
unsuccessful bidders will discourage competition and therefore reduce the
quality and effectiveness of future tender processes by reducing the
diversity of options available to the council during any future process.
We therefore believe that the balance of public interest lies in
withholding the exempt information.

The council has relied on section 43(2) of the Act please accept this as a
part refusal notice issued in accordance with section 17 of the Act.

11.           Who is the senior officer (outside of procurement)
responsible for the contract?

            Head of Strategic Commissioning (Start Well) and

            Assistant Director/ Consultant in Public Health

Documents that we provide in response to your request are protected by
copyright. You are free to use them for your own use, including for
non-commercial research purposes. They may also be used for news
reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example by publishing
the document or issuing copies to the public will require the permission
of the copyright owner.

As per the Information Commissioners Office’s Freedom of Information Code
of Practice, should you disagree with our decision, you may appeal within
40 working days of this email to:
The Borough Solicitor, Bolton Council, Town Hall, Bolton, BL1 1RU
Email:  [4][email address]

Should you further disagree with the decision following the appeal you may
wish to contact the Information Commissioner:
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF
[5]www.ico.org.uk
Tel: 01625 545700, Fax: 01625 524510

Should you have any queries, please contact 
[6][email address]

Yours sincerely,

Information Governance Team

Chief Executive’s Department

1^st Floor, Town Hall, Bolton, BL1 1RU

>>Corporate Logo<<
This e-mail and any attached files are confidential and may also be
legally privileged. They are intended solely for the intended addressee.
If you are not the addressee please e-mail it back to the sender and then
immediately, permanently delete it. Do not read, print, re-transmit, store
or act in reliance on it. This e-mail may be monitored by Bolton Council
in accordance with current regulations.

This footnote also confirms that this e-mail message has been swept for
the presence of computer viruses currently known to Bolton Council.
However, the recipient is responsible for virus-checking before opening
this message and any attachment.

Unless expressly stated to the contrary, any views expressed in this
message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect
the views of Bolton Council.

http://www.bolton.gov.uk/

References

Visible links
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2. https://www.boltonft.nhs.uk/services/chi...
3. https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...
4. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.ico.org.uk/
6. mailto:[email address]