We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are Fiona Smith please sign in and let everyone know.

Professional Services Procurement Spend

We're waiting for Fiona Smith to read recent responses and update the status.

Dear Hertfordshire County Council,

I am writing to ask that you please provide me with the spend for your Professional Services procurement at the Authority, by which I mean the procurement of projects and consultancy through Statement of Work excluding temporary agency staff.

• What have you spent on Professional Services over the last 12 months?
• What did the authority spend on professional Services Between April 2019 and March 2020?
• Between April 2019 and March 2020, which categories had the highest level of spend throughout that period?
• Has the authority planned any large construction-based projects over the next two years?
• If you have got construction projects planned, please could you provide project details, budget and timeframes?
• What is the Councils current process to engage with professional service providers? Please could you provide details of the process and name third parties if they are being used.

Yours faithfully,

Fiona Smith

Information Governance, Hertfordshire County Council

3 Attachments

Dear Ms Smith

 

Reference number: FOI/ENV/10/20/19893

 

In regard to your request for information received by Hertfordshire County
Council on 22^nd October 2020 requesting the following information:

 

I am writing to ask that you please provide me with the spend for your
Professional Services procurement at the Authority, by which I mean the
procurement of projects and consultancy through Statement of Work
excluding temporary agency staff.

 

1.      What have you spent on Professional Services over the last 12
months?

2.      What did the authority spend on professional Services Between
April 2019 and March 2020?

3.      Between April 2019 and March 2020, which categories had the
highest level of spend throughout that period?

4.      Has the authority planned any large construction-based projects
over the next two years?

5.      If you have got construction projects planned, please could you
provide project details, budget and timeframes?

6.      What is the Councils current process to engage with professional
service providers? Please could you provide details of the process and
name third parties if they are being used.

 

We require further clarification under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
/ Environmental Information Regulations 2004 before we are able to begin
processing your request

o Please can you provide further information on what you mean by
“professional services”. A detailed list of the type of services you
would expect here, would be very helpful.
o In question 3 what “categories” are you referring to
o Please can you define what you mean by a “large” construction-based
project, How large do you mean?

 

As soon as we receive this clarification we will be in a position to
continue processing your request. If we do not receive a response to this
request for clarification, within 90 days of the date that this
correspondence was sent then we will close this request and any further
correspondence would be considered as a new request.

 

In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to
contact me, quoting the reference number on this correspondence.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Ingrid Howard
Information Access Practitioner

Information Access Team
Hertfordshire County Council  
223 County Hall, Pegs Lane, Hertford, SG13 8DE, Postal Point: CH0320
T: 01992 555848 (Internal 25848) 
E: [1][Hertfordshire County Council request email]

 

[2]Hertfordshire County Council Facebook[3]Hertfordshire County Council
Twitter[4]Hertfordshire County Council email updates

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Hertfordshire County Council request email]
2. https://www.facebook.com/hertscountycoun...
3. http://www.twitter.com/hertscc
4. https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/statweb...

Dear Ingrid,

Thank you for your reply,

By Professional Services I mean procurement of projects and consultancy through Statement of Work that is outside IR35, but excluding temporary agency staff.

The value of any projects that exceed 10m within all categories..i.e housing, ICT, social care, education.
Please let me know if you need any further information

Yours sincerely,

Fiona Smith

Information Governance, Hertfordshire County Council

Dear Fiona
 
Reference number: FOI/ENV/10/20/19893
 
Following on from your email of the 23rd October 2020, unfortunately we
will need further clarification.
 

* Is your interest in total spends through Professional Services
contracts, or are you only after spend on procurement of construction
projects which have a value in excess of £10million?
* Do you want us to take it as spend associated with procurement of the
works or total spend on the project in the financial year?

 
As soon as we receive this clarification we will be in a position to
continue processing your request. If we do not receive a response to this
request for clarification, within 90 days of the date that this
correspondence was sent then we will close this request and any further
correspondence would be considered as a new request.
 
In the meantime, if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to
contact me, quoting the reference number on this correspondence.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Ingrid Howard
Information Access Practitioner
Information Access Team
Hertfordshire County Council  
223 County Hall, Pegs Lane, Hertford, SG13 8DE, Postal Point: CH0320
T: 01992 555848 (Internal 25848) 
E: [Hertfordshire County Council request email]
 
 
 

show quoted sections

Dear Ingrid,

Thank you, apologies for the delay.

Please see response below to following.

* Is your interest in total spends through Professional Services
contracts, or are you only after spend on procurement of construction
projects which have a value in excess of £10million?
:Total spend on projects over £10 million please.
* Do you want us to take it as spend associated with procurement of the
works or total spend on the project in the financial year?
:Total spend on the project in the financial year.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Fiona Smith

Information Governance, Hertfordshire County Council

3 Attachments

Dear Fiona

 

Reference number: FOI/ENV/10/20/19893

 

Further to your email of 5^th January 2021 responding to my request for
clarification on 4^th November 2021, we are currently processing your
request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.  The 20 working day
deadline would now be 20^th January 2021, but unfortunately we are still
considering your request under the Act and will therefore be unable to
meet this deadline.  As a result we would like to extend the deadline by
10 working days to 3^rd February 2021  I apologise for the delay in
responding to your request and will endeavour to provide a response before
that date if at all possible.

 

Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.

 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us, quoting
the reference number on this email.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Ingrid Howard
Information Access Practitioner

Information Access Team
Hertfordshire County Council  
223 County Hall, Pegs Lane, Hertford, SG13 8DE, Postal Point: CH0320
T: 01992 555848 (Internal 25848) 
E: [1][Hertfordshire County Council request email]

 

[2]Hertfordshire County Council Facebook[3]Hertfordshire County Council
Twitter[4]Hertfordshire County Council email updates

 

****Disclaimer****

The information in this message should be regarded as confidential and is
intended for the addressee only unless explicitly stated. If you have
received this message in error it must be deleted and the sender notified.
The views expressed in this message are personal and not necessarily those
of Hertfordshire County Council unless explicitly stated. Please be aware
that emails sent to or received from Hertfordshire County Council may be
intercepted and read by the council. Interception will only occur to
ensure compliance with council policies or procedures or regulatory
obligations, to prevent or deter crime, or for the purposes of essential
maintenance or support of the email system.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Hertfordshire County Council request email]
2. https://www.facebook.com/hertscountycoun...
3. http://www.twitter.com/hertscc
4. https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/statweb...

Information Governance, Hertfordshire County Council

3 Attachments

Dear Ms Smith

 

Reference number: FOI/ENV/10/20/19893

 

On 22^nd October 2020 we received the following request for information
from you:-

 

I am writing to ask that you please provide me with the spend for your
Professional Services procurement at the Authority, by which I mean the
procurement of projects and consultancy through Statement of Work
excluding temporary agency staff.

 

1.      What have you spent on Professional Services over the last 12
months?

2.      What did the authority spend on professional Services Between
April 2019 and March 2020?

3.      Between April 2019 and March 2020, which categories had the
highest level of spend throughout that period?

4.      Has the authority planned any large construction-based projects
over the next two years?

5.      If you have got construction projects planned, please could you
provide project details, budget and timeframes?

6.      What is the Councils current process to engage with professional
service providers? Please could you provide details of the process and
name third parties if they are being used.

 

On 23rd following my request for clarification you added the following: -

I asked for clarification and she gave the following information

By Professional Services I mean procurement of projects and consultancy
through Statement of Work that is outside IR35, but excluding temporary
agency staff.

The value of any projects that exceed 10m within all categories..i.e 
housing, ICT, social care, education.

 

On 23^rd following a further request for clarification you added the
following: -

* Is your interest in total spends through Professional Services
contracts, or are you only after spend on procurement of construction
projects which have a value in excess of £10million?

Total spend on projects over £10 million please.

 

* Do you want us to take it as spend associated with procurement of the
works or total spend on the project in the financial year?

Total spend on the project in the financial year.

 

On 13^th January 2021, we delayed our response until 3^rd February 2021.
And unfortunately, due to the pandemic, our response has been
inadvertently delayed I apologise for this.

 

Our Response

 

Your request for information has been considered under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 I can confirm that Hertfordshire County Council does
hold the information you have requested, and can respond as follows:-

 

The Council is refusing your request because of the excessive time it
would take to retrieve the information.

 

This is because professional services cover a wide range of Local
authority topics and there is no specific account code within the ledger
called ‘professional services’ , even if we could narrow the search down
to a key group of  account codes, it would still be necessary to search
individual transactions to identify those that were specifically about
“professional services”  Looking at the ledger for 2019/20, there are
112,000 transactions mapped to ‘services’, and even within the key group
of account codes that Finance have identified there are 11000  transaction
lines to review

 

At a minimum, it will take 1 minute per line to review each transaction
and we estimate it would therefore take over 183 hours of staff time

 

You did ask for transactions over £10m, but we do not have a list of
projects showing the amount of spend across both capital and revenue.  To
resolve this bit of the FOI, as well as looking to see whether a cost
would be classified as a professional service, the revenue costs would
also need to be reviewed to identify if they relate to a particular
project and whether that project overall exceeds £10m, or are more general
professional services.

 

We estimate that the cost of carrying out this work would exceed the
appropriate limit of £450, which has been specified under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and associated regulations. This represents the
estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours or 2½ working days in
determining whether Hertfordshire County Council holds the information,
and locating, retrieving and extracting the information. Under Section 12
of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 we are not obliged to comply with
requests for information which exceed this appropriate limit and will not
be undertaking this additional work.

 

If you would like to consider reducing your request in the light of this
response, please contact us to discuss what level of information would be
available within the appropriate limit.

 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me, quoting
the reference above. To find out more about Freedom of Information, please
visit [1]http://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/your-cou...

 

If you are unhappy with the way the County Council has handled your
request for information you may request an internal review of the request.
This will be carried out by a member of the County Council Legal Services
Team, who has had no prior involvement with the request. Requests for an
internal review should be sent to the Information Governance Unit at the
address above.

 

If you are unhappy with the outcome of the internal review you are
entitled to ask the Information Commissioner to investigate your
complaint. You should write to: FOI/EIR Complaints Resolution, Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9
5AF.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Ingrid Howard
Information Access Practitioner

Information Access Team
Hertfordshire County Council  
223 County Hall, Pegs Lane, Hertford, SG13 8DE, Postal Point: CH0320
T: 01992 555848 (Internal 25848) 
E: [2][Hertfordshire County Council request email]

 

[3]Hertfordshire County Council Facebook[4]Hertfordshire County Council
Twitter[5]Hertfordshire County Council email updates

 

****Disclaimer****

The information in this message should be regarded as confidential and is
intended for the addressee only unless explicitly stated. If you have
received this message in error it must be deleted and the sender notified.
The views expressed in this message are personal and not necessarily those
of Hertfordshire County Council unless explicitly stated. Please be aware
that emails sent to or received from Hertfordshire County Council may be
intercepted and read by the council. Interception will only occur to
ensure compliance with council policies or procedures or regulatory
obligations, to prevent or deter crime, or for the purposes of essential
maintenance or support of the email system.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/your-cou...
2. mailto:[Hertfordshire County Council request email]
3. https://www.facebook.com/hertscountycoun...
4. http://www.twitter.com/hertscc
5. https://www.hertfordshire.gov.uk/statweb...

We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are Fiona Smith please sign in and let everyone know.