PFI Advisers - Conflict of Interest

The request was successful.

Dear Southampton City Council,

I am writing to request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act.

Please confirm who your local authority has appointed as external auditor for the financial year 2016/17.

Please provide a list of all accounting firms which have advised or continue to advise the local authority on each of its PFI contracts. I am interested in companies which have provided legal, financial, governance and audit advice at any stage of the PFI project from initiation through procurement to operation.

Please provide documents showing the local authority’s current protocols around determining and declaring conflicts of interest in relation to its external auditors.

Have there been any incidences of potential or actual conflict of interest in relation to the local authority’s external auditors? If so please disclose all relevant documentation relating to this, which may include but not be restricted to emails, memos, reports and declarations of conflict of interest.

Yours faithfully,

Megan Ingles

Information, Southampton City Council

Thank you for contacting Southampton City Council.

Your enquiry will be passed to the relevant team/officer for action.

If you have made a request for information, you will receive a response
promptly, and within the statutory timeframe for compliance. Once your
request has been logged, you will receive further details of this, and you
may be contacted if we require further information from you.

If you have any queries, please contact the Council's Corporate Legal Team
on 023 8083 2129.

Information, Southampton City Council

Dear Megan Ingles,

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request received on 05/06/2017.
It has been determined that you have requested the following information:

 

Please confirm who your local authority has appointed as external auditor
for the financial year 2016/17.

 

Please provide a list of all accounting firms which have advised or
continue to advise the local authority on each of its PFI contracts. I am
interested in companies which have provided legal, financial, governance
and audit advice at any stage of the PFI project from initiation through
procurement to operation.

 

Please provide documents showing the local authority’s current protocols
around determining and declaring conflicts of interest in relation to its
external auditors.

 

Have there been any incidences of potential or actual conflict of interest
in relation to the local authority’s external auditors? If so please
disclose all relevant documentation relating to this, which may include
but not be restricted to emails, memos, reports and declarations of
conflict of interest.

 

If this is not correct, please contact [1][email address]
to clarify your request as soon as possible.

 

Unless clarified otherwise, your request is being dealt with under the
terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and will be forwarded to the
service area(s) holding the information. Your request will be answered
promptly, and within twenty working days of the date your request was
received.

 

Please note, the service area(s) holding the information may need further
information from you to locate the information sought once they have
received the request, and you will be contacted again should this be
necessary.

 

If you have any queries about this request do not hesitate to contact me.
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

 

The Council now publishes responses to requests made to it under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004. These responses are available on the Council’s website –

 

[2]http://www.southampton.gov.uk/council-de...

 

The Council also routinely publishes information on its Publication
Scheme:

 

[3]http://www.southampton.gov.uk/council-de...

 

If the information you have requested in your current request has been
requested recently then it is likely that our response to that request is
already available to you via the disclosure log or via the Publication
Scheme. You may wish to view our disclosure log and Publication scheme to
ascertain whether the information you are seeking is already published. If
you find the information you are seeking, please let us know accordingly
and we will close your request. If we do not hear from you further we will
continue to process your request in accordance with the relevant
legislation.

Regards,

 

Michael Cottam
Student Legal Assistant (Intern)

Legal & Governance

Southampton and Fareham Legal Services Partnership
Southampton City Council
Tel: 023 8083 3000 (switchboard)

[4]@SouthamptonCC    [5]facebook.com/SotonCC

 

This email is confidential but may have to be disclosed under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 1998, or the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004. If you are not the person or
organisation it was meant for, apologies, please ignore it, delete it, and
notify us. SCC does not make legally binding agreements or accept formal
notices/proceedings by email. E-mails may be monitored. This email (and
its attachments) is intended only for the use of the person(s) to whom it
is addressed, and may contain information that is privileged and/or
confidential. If it has come to you in error, you must take no action
based on it, nor must you copy or show it to anyone.

 

FOI-1718-0234-018784/00616135

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.southampton.gov.uk/council-de...
3. http://www.southampton.gov.uk/council-de...
4. http://www.twitter.com/SouthamptonCC
5. http://www.facebook.com/SotonCC

Information, Southampton City Council

Dear Megan Ingles,

 

I write further to your email of 05/06/2017, in which you submitted a
request for information to the Council. I understand that you
were anticipating a response to your request yesterday.

 

Unfortunately we are unable to provide you with a response at this time as
processing your request has taken longer than anticipated. Please accept
my apologies for this delay, we hope to be in a position to provide you
with a response in the near future.

 

Regards,

 

Nathan Matterson

Junior Legal Assistant

Southampton & Fareham Legal Partnership

Southampton City Council

Tel: 023 8083 2129

Fax: 023 8083 2308

Email:  [1][email address]

GCSX: [2][email address]

 

This e-mail (and its attachments) is intended only for the use of the
person(s) to whom it is addressed and may contain information which is
privileged and/or confidential.  If it has come to you in error you must
take no action based on it, nor must you copy or show it to anyone.

 

This email is confidential but may have to be disclosed under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 1998 or the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004. If you are not the person or organisation it
was meant for, apologies, please ignore it, delete it and notify us.  SCC
does not make legally binding agreements or accept formal
notices/proceedings by email. E-mails may be monitored.

 

FOI-1718-0234-018784/00634057

 

From: Cottam, Michael On Behalf Of Information
Sent: 05 June 2017 16:02
To: 'Megan Ingles' <[FOI #410396 email]>
Subject: FOI-1718-0234-018784 - FOI Request - Ingles - appointment of
external auditor for 2016-17

 

Dear Megan Ingles,

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request received on 05/06/2017.
It has been determined that you have requested the following information:

 

Please confirm who your local authority has appointed as external auditor
for the financial year 2016/17.

 

Please provide a list of all accounting firms which have advised or
continue to advise the local authority on each of its PFI contracts. I am
interested in companies which have provided legal, financial, governance
and audit advice at any stage of the PFI project from initiation through
procurement to operation.

 

Please provide documents showing the local authority’s current protocols
around determining and declaring conflicts of interest in relation to its
external auditors.

 

Have there been any incidences of potential or actual conflict of interest
in relation to the local authority’s external auditors? If so please
disclose all relevant documentation relating to this, which may include
but not be restricted to emails, memos, reports and declarations of
conflict of interest.

 

If this is not correct, please contact [3][email address]
to clarify your request as soon as possible.

 

Unless clarified otherwise, your request is being dealt with under the
terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and will be forwarded to the
service area(s) holding the information. Your request will be answered
promptly, and within twenty working days of the date your request was
received.

 

Please note, the service area(s) holding the information may need further
information from you to locate the information sought once they have
received the request, and you will be contacted again should this be
necessary.

 

If you have any queries about this request do not hesitate to contact me.
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

 

The Council now publishes responses to requests made to it under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004. These responses are available on the Council’s website –

 

[4]http://www.southampton.gov.uk/council-de...

 

The Council also routinely publishes information on its Publication
Scheme:

 

[5]http://www.southampton.gov.uk/council-de...

 

If the information you have requested in your current request has been
requested recently then it is likely that our response to that request is
already available to you via the disclosure log or via the Publication
Scheme. You may wish to view our disclosure log and Publication scheme to
ascertain whether the information you are seeking is already published. If
you find the information you are seeking, please let us know accordingly
and we will close your request. If we do not hear from you further we will
continue to process your request in accordance with the relevant
legislation.

Regards,

 

Michael Cottam
Student Legal Assistant (Intern)

Legal & Governance

Southampton and Fareham Legal Services Partnership
Southampton City Council
Tel: 023 8083 3000 (switchboard)

[6]@SouthamptonCC    [7]facebook.com/SotonCC

 

This email is confidential but may have to be disclosed under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 1998, or the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004. If you are not the person or
organisation it was meant for, apologies, please ignore it, delete it, and
notify us. SCC does not make legally binding agreements or accept formal
notices/proceedings by email. E-mails may be monitored. This email (and
its attachments) is intended only for the use of the person(s) to whom it
is addressed, and may contain information that is privileged and/or
confidential. If it has come to you in error, you must take no action
based on it, nor must you copy or show it to anyone.

 

FOI-1718-0234-018784/00616135

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.southampton.gov.uk/council-de...
5. http://www.southampton.gov.uk/council-de...
6. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url...
7. https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url...

Giany, Gurpreet, Southampton City Council

3 Attachments

Dear Megan

 

Please find attached Southampton City Council’s response to your Freedom
of Information request.

 

Kind regards

 

 

Gurpreet Giany

Business Support Officer

Business Support Service

Southampton City Council

 

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This email is confidential but may have to be disclosed under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 1998 or the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004. If you are not the person or organisation it
was meant for, apologies, please ignore it, delete it and notify us. SCC
does not make legally binding agreements or accept formal
notices/proceedings by email. E-mails may be monitored. This email (and
its attachments) is intended only for the use of the person(s) to whom it
is addressed, and may contain information that is privileged and/or
confidential. If it has come to you in error, you must take no action
based on it, nor must you copy or show it to anyone.

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References

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1. http://www.southampton.gov.uk/benefits-w...
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3. https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/...
4. mailto:[email address]