ICT Spend on Case Management Systems

The request was partially successful.

Dear Powys County Council,

Please can you provide the following information:
1. The software providers your Local Authority uses for:
• Your Education Management Information System (Local Authority use for admissions, LAC, SEND, Early Years etc.)
• The National Client Caseload Information System (NCCIS) returns to the Department for Education
• Managing the performance of the Youth Offending Team and the case management of individual young people
• Your Children’s Centre Management Information System

2. The amount paid to these suppliers annually for support and maintenance.

3. The contract renewal dates and notice period you are required to give for each.

4. The contract manager responsible for market engagement when the contracts end.

Yours faithfully,

Jayne Taylor

Information Compliance, Powys County Council

Vanessa Young, Corporate Director Rheoli Gwybodaeth/
(Resources and Transformation) /
Cyfarwyddwr Corfforaethol (Adnoddau Information Compliance
a Thrawsnewid)
Neuadd Y Sir / County Hall

Spa Road East

Llandrindod Wells

Powys LD1 5LG
  If calling please ask for / Os yn galw
gofynnwch am
 
Information Compliance
 
Tel / Ffôn: 01597 82 7543
 
Email/Llythyru electronig:
  [1][email address]

Our ref / Ein cyf: 2020-0550F

Date / Dyddiad: 16/07/20

 

 

Dear Ms Taylor

 

Please be advised that as of 18^th March, the Council’s has invoked it’s
Business Continuity Plans in response to Covid-19, which will see all
non-critical activity of the Council being stepped down to allow capacity
to focus on business critical activities and for the redeployment and
training of staff (including Information Compliance staff) to fulfil
business critical roles.   It has therefore been determined that requests
made under Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 and General Data Protection Regulations will be
acknowledged but not dealt with until business resumes as normal.  We will
contact you when the Authority is in a position to recommence its
information regime responsibilities.  If in the interim you wish to
withdraw your request and resubmit at a later date then please let us
know.

 

The Information Commissioners Office as the Regulator acknowledges that
public bodies maybe diverting staffing to deliver essential services, and
as such is advising the public that they are likely to experience delays
over their information requests, during these times. For more information
on the ICO’s advice  then please visit, their web pages
 [2]https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-an...
and [3]https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/you...

 

Having made an initial assessment of your request we note that part of the
information you request is the software providers we use for our
“Children’s Centre Management Information System”- please could you
provide clarity on what is meant by this? i.e. Should it read Children’s
Central Management Information System instead? We will be placing this
request on hold until we hear back from you with clarification.  

 

We apologise for the inconvenience that this decision may cause to some
individuals, however, at a time of national crisis I am sure you will
understand that certain critical work needs to be prioritised, continued
and underpinned.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Information Compliance Team

 

 

We keep your details safe and we have updated our privacy notice in line
with the requirements set out in General Data Protection Regulations. We
will only ever use the details you share with us to enable us to undertake
our statutory obligations. You can find out more by looking on our web
site. [4]https://en.powys.gov.uk/privacy

 

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-an...
3. https://ico.org.uk/your-data-matters/you...
4. https://en.powys.gov.uk/privacy

Dear Information Compliance,

In regards to Children's Centres I believe this may come under Flying Start.

Yours sincerely,

Jayne Taylor

Information Compliance, Powys County Council

 

Vanessa Young, Corporate Director Rheoli Gwybodaeth/
(Resources and Transformation) /
Cyfarwyddwr Corfforaethol (Adnoddau Information Compliance
a Thrawsnewid)
Neuadd Y Sir / County Hall

Spa Road East

Llandrindod Wells

Powys LD1 5LG
  If calling please ask for / Os yn galw
gofynnwch am
 
Information Compliance
 
Tel / Ffôn: 01597 82 7543
 
Email/Llythyru electronig:
  [1][email address]

Our ref / Ein cyf: 2020-0768F

Date / Dyddiad: 25/09/20

 

 

Request Accepted

 

FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000

 

Dear Ms Taylor

 

Thank you for your request for information, received at this office on
24/09/20, in which you requested details of the following:

 

Spend on Case Management Systems

 

The above is a summary of your request. The full details of the
information sought is provided to the officer to whom the request is
tasked.

 

Your request will now be considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act, subject
to the information not being exempt or containing a reference to a third
party. In some circumstances Powys County Council may be unable to achieve
this deadline. If this is likely you will be informed and given a revised
time-scale at the earliest opportunity.

 

There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of
the information you request. If this is the case you will be informed and
the 20 working day timescale will be suspended until we receive payment
from you. If you choose not to make a payment then your request will
remain unanswered.

 

Some requests may also require either full or partial transference to
another public authority in order to answer your query in the fullest
possible way. Again, you will be informed if this is the case.

 

The due date for responding to this request for information is 22/10/20.

 

Please be advised that the Council is still delivering services in
response to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and operating under its
Business Continuity Plan and as such these may impact on the Council’s
ability to deliver it’s information request functions as the Council
recovers from changes to working practices and re-deployment of staff etc.
We will make every effort to respond in a timely manner but your
information request may take longer than the prescribed timeframes within
the legislation for which we apologise in advance.

 

 

Should you need to discuss this further please contact the Information
Compliance Team on 01597 827543.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in
Powys County Council.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Information Compliance Team

 

 

We keep your details safe and we have updated our privacy notice in line
with the requirements set out in General Data Protection Regulations. We
will only ever use the details you share with us to enable us to undertake
our statutory obligations. You can find out more by looking on our web
site. [2]https://en.powys.gov.uk/privacy

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://en.powys.gov.uk/privacy

Information Compliance, Powys County Council

1 Attachment

Vanessa Young, Corporate Director Rheoli Gwybodaeth/
(Resources and Transformation) /
Cyfarwyddwr Corfforaethol (Adnoddau Information Compliance
a Thrawsnewid)
Neuadd Y Sir / County Hall

Spa Road East

Llandrindod Wells

Powys LD1 5LG
If calling please ask for / Os yn galw
gofynnwch am

Tel / Ffôn: 01597 82 7543

Email/Llythyru electronig:
[1][email address]

Our ref / Ein cyf: 2020-0768F

Date / Dyddiad: 09/11/20

Dear Ms Taylor

 

Thank you for your request for information dated 24/09/20 concerning spend
on case management systems.

This is to inform you that your request has been considered and I can
provide the following response:

 

Request & Response:

 

Please can you provide the following information:

 

 1. The software providers your Local Authority uses for:

 a. Your Education Management Information System (Local Authority use for
admissions, LAC, SEND, Early Years etc.) - Teacher Centre

 

 2. The amount paid to these suppliers annually for support and
maintenance. - We do not pay support and maintenance; we have an
agreement whereby we pay the cost of a developer.

 

 3. The contract renewal dates and notice period you are required to give
for each. - Inter-authority agreement, minimum 3 month notice period.

 

 4. The contract manager responsible for market engagement when the
contracts end. - Schools Service and ICT Governance representatives

 

 

 1. The software providers your Local Authority uses for:

 b. The National Client Caseload Information System (NCCIS) returns to the
Department for Education - Returns are to the Welsh Government via
Data Exchange Wales (DEWi) [2]https://dataexchangewales.org.uk/

 

 2. The amount paid to these suppliers annually for support and
maintenance. – N/A

 

 3. The contract renewal dates and notice period you are required to give
for each. – N/A

 

 4. The contract manager responsible for market engagement when the
contracts end. – N/A

 

 

 1. The software providers your Local Authority uses for:

 c. Managing the performance of the Youth Offending Team and the case
management of individual young people - CACI Ltd

 

 2. The amount paid to these suppliers annually for support and
maintenance - The amount paid to CACI Ltd for support and maintenance
is deemed to be commercially sensitive. The test of prejudice comes
when we consider whether the release of this information would be
likely to harm another body’s commercial interests.

 

Disclosure made under the Freedom of Information Act is a disclosure to
the world at large, and not just to the requestor who asks for the
information. Software providers are within a commercially competitive
environment and the release of this information would therefore be
beneficial to a third-party competitor. As such it would be prejudicial to
the commercial activity of Powys County Council, other Councils, and that
of our existing supplier. For example, should another Council tender for
the same or similar services the supplier could be, in a targeted way,
underbid by using known margins to tailor the bid. This would cause
commercial prejudice to the software provider in that they would lose
business, and to the other Council in that they would be unable to obtain
best value for the public purse.

 

Whilst it is acknowledged that there is public interest in how the
Authority spends its money and disclosure could increase the transparency
of our functions and provide evidence of the good use of public funds, we
believe that the reasons given above evidence that the commerciality of
our software provider and the public interest in Councils obtaining best
value when tendering, outweigh the arguments in favour of disclosure. As
such Section 43 of the Act applies here.

 

 3. The contract renewal dates and notice period you are required to give
for each.  - Renewal Date: 1st September 2024. Currently in year 2 of
a 5 year contract. Notice Period: 1 years notice.

 

 4. The contract manager responsible for market engagement when the
contracts end  - Stephen Pearce, Senior Manager, Children’s Team

 

 

 1. The software providers your Local Authority uses for:

 d. Your Children’s Centre Management Information System. - Clarification
sought and obtained, Powys County Council does not use a specific
Children’s Centre Management Information System, but does utilise a
National Health and Social Care System.

 2. The amount paid to these suppliers annually for support and
maintenance. – N/A
 3. The contract renewal dates and notice period you are required to give
for each. – N/A
 4. The contract manager responsible for market engagement when the
contracts end. – N/A

 

Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Powys County
Council, when refusing to provide such information (because the
information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with 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.

In this instance the relevant exemption is Section 43 of the Freedom of
Information Act.

Section 43: Commercial interests -

(1) Information is exempt information if it constitutes a trade secret.

(2) Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act
would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any
person (including the public authority holding it).

(3) The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that,
compliance with section 1(1) (a) would, or would be likely to, prejudice
the interests mentioned in subsection (2).

In accordance with Section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 I am
unable to provide you with the details you have requested.

We regret the delay you have experienced with this request. We acknowledge
that Powys County Council has failed in its obligation under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000, to provide you with a response to your request
within the statutory timescale of 20 working days. Please accept our
apologies for this and for any inconvenience this may have caused.

 

We believe that this request is now complete and shall be closed
immediately. Should any further information be requested regarding this
topic, a separate request will need to be submitted.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in
Powys County Council.

 

Yours sincerely,

Information Compliance Team

 

The supply of documents under Freedom of Information does not give the
person or organisation who receives them an automatic right to re-use the
documents in a way that would infringe copyright.

You are free to use any information supplied for your own use, including
for non-commercial research purposes. The information may also be used for
the purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for
example, by publishing the information or issuing copies to the public
will require the permission of the copyright owner. The copyright of most
of the information that we provide in response to Freedom of Information
Act requests will be owned by Powys County Council. The copyright in other
information may be owned by another person or organisation, as indicated
in the information itself. For HMSO Guidance Notes on a range of copyright
issues, see the Office of Public Sector Information(OPSI) website:
[3]http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copy...

 

If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received in relation to
your request and wish to make a complaint, please contact Information
Compliance. Our complaints procedure is available on request or on our
website.

If you are still not satisfied following this, you can make an appeal to
the Information Commissioner, who is the statutory regulator. The
Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office

2nd floor

Churchill House

Churchill way

Cardiff

CF10 2HH

Tel: 0330 414 6421

Email: [4][email address]

[5]www.ico.org.uk

[6]Footer_banner[1]

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://dataexchangewales.org.uk/
3. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copy...
4. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.ico.org.uk/

Dear Information Compliance,

Thank you for your response.

I understand the application of section 43 and its sensitive nature. Therefore, please can you provide the total contract value for the Youth Justice System as originally contracted, as this information is freely available.

Yours sincerely,

Jayne Taylor

Information Compliance, Powys County Council

 

Vanessa Young, Corporate Director Rheoli Gwybodaeth/
(Resources and Transformation) /
Cyfarwyddwr Corfforaethol (Adnoddau Information Compliance
a Thrawsnewid)
Neuadd Y Sir / County Hall

Spa Road East

Llandrindod Wells

Powys LD1 5LG
  If calling please ask for / Os yn galw
gofynnwch am
 
Information Compliance
 
Tel / Ffôn: 01597 82 7543
 
Email/Llythyru electronig:
  [1][email address]

Our ref / Ein cyf: 2020-XXXX

Date / Dyddiad: XX/XX/XX

 

 

Request Accepted

 

FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000

 

Dear Mr Taylor

 

Thank you for your request for information, received at this office on
10/11/20, in which you requested details of the following:

 

The total contract value for the Youth Justice System

 

The above is a summary of your request. The full details of the
information sought is provided to the officer to whom the request is
tasked.

 

Your request will now be considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act, subject
to the information not being exempt or containing a reference to a third
party. In some circumstances Powys County Council may be unable to achieve
this deadline. If this is likely you will be informed and given a revised
time-scale at the earliest opportunity.

 

There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of
the information you request. If this is the case you will be informed and
the 20 working day timescale will be suspended until we receive payment
from you. If you choose not to make a payment then your request will
remain unanswered.

 

Some requests may also require either full or partial transference to
another public authority in order to answer your query in the fullest
possible way. Again, you will be informed if this is the case.

 

The due date for responding to this request for information is 09/12/20.

 

Please be advised that the Council is still delivering services in
response to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic and operating under its
Business Continuity Plan and as such these may impact on the Council’s
ability to deliver it’s information request functions as the Council
recovers from changes to working practices and re-deployment of staff etc.
We will make every effort to respond in a timely manner but your
information request may take longer than the prescribed timeframes within
the legislation for which we apologise in advance.

 

 

Should you need to discuss this further please contact the Information
Compliance Team on 01597 827543.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in
Powys County Council.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Information Compliance Team

 

 

We keep your details safe and we have updated our privacy notice in line
with the requirements set out in General Data Protection Regulations. We
will only ever use the details you share with us to enable us to undertake
our statutory obligations. You can find out more by looking on our web
site. [2]https://en.powys.gov.uk/privacy

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://en.powys.gov.uk/privacy

Information Compliance, Powys County Council

1 Attachment

Nigel Brinn, Corporate Director Rheoli Gwybodaeth/
(Economy and Environment) /
Cyfarwyddwr Corfforaethol (Yr Information Compliance
Economi a’r Amgylchedd)/
Neuadd Y Sir / County Hall

Spa Road East

Llandrindod Wells

Powys LD1 5LG
If calling please ask for / Os yn galw
gofynnwch am

Tel / Ffôn: 01597 82 7543

Email/Llythyru electronig:
[1][email address]

Our ref / Ein cyf: 2020-0917F

Date / Dyddiad: 03/12/20

Dear Ms Taylor

 

Thank you for your request for information dated 10/11/20 concerning the
total contract value for the Youth Justice System.

This is to inform you that your request has been considered and I can
provide the following response:

 

Request:

 

Please can you provide the total contract value for the Youth Justice
System as originally contracted, as this information is freely available.

 

Response:

Due to the terms in our contract with the supplier, we are unable to
provide you with the total contract value of this system.

 

Under the terms of the contract we are unable to disclose details of
pricing.  By providing the total contract value, it is in essence
providing the cost of the software across the length of the contract, and
therefore it would be easy to calculate the price per year. The supplier
could consider this to be amounting to disclosing details of the price of
the software and could make the argument that pricing details include
total value.

 

We also believe this information to be commercially sensitive as this
supplier went through a competitive tender and it is possible that their
costs differ from that which other buyers pay. Therefore, disclosure of
this value could affect their ability to be competitive in the market and
be able to bid appropriately for tenders with other consumers. Should
their ability to be competitive be compromised, this would also prejudice
Powys County Council’s ability to obtain best value.  The disclosure would
lead to the breakdown of mutual trust and confidence between Powys County
Council and the supplier and potentially to future suppliers should it
become known that Powys will break terms of the contract.

 

As such the prejudice in releasing the requested information would be to
both the supplier and to Powys County Council. Whilst we do accept that
there is interest in how the Council spends the public purse, the reasons
as outlined above outweigh the interest in how that purse is spent. As
such Section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act is engaged.

 

Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Powys County
Council, when refusing to provide such information (because the
information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with 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.

In this instance the relevant exemption is Section 43 of the Freedom of
Information Act.

Section 43: Commercial interests -

(1) Information is exempt information if it constitutes a trade secret.

(2) Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act
would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any
person (including the public authority holding it).

(3) The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that,
compliance with section 1(1) (a) would, or would be likely to, prejudice
the interests mentioned in subsection (2).

In accordance with Section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 I am
unable to provide you with the details you have requested.

 

We believe that this request is now complete and shall be closed
immediately. Should any further information be requested regarding this
topic, a separate request will need to be submitted.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in
Powys County Council.

 

Yours sincerely,

Information Compliance Team

 

The supply of documents under Freedom of Information does not give the
person or organisation who receives them an automatic right to re-use the
documents in a way that would infringe copyright.

You are free to use any information supplied for your own use, including
for non-commercial research purposes. The information may also be used for
the purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for
example, by publishing the information or issuing copies to the public
will require the permission of the copyright owner. The copyright of most
of the information that we provide in response to Freedom of Information
Act requests will be owned by Powys County Council. The copyright in other
information may be owned by another person or organisation, as indicated
in the information itself. For HMSO Guidance Notes on a range of copyright
issues, see the Office of Public Sector Information(OPSI) website:
[2]http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copy...

 

If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received in relation to
your request and wish to make a complaint, please contact Information
Compliance. Our complaints procedure is available on request or on our
website.

If you are still not satisfied following this, you can make an appeal to
the Information Commissioner, who is the statutory regulator. The
Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office

2nd floor

Churchill House

Churchill way

Cardiff

CF10 2HH

Tel: 0330 414 6421

Email: [3][email address]

[4]www.ico.org.uk

[5]Footer_banner[1]

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copy...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.ico.org.uk/