Professional Services Procurement Spend

The request was successful.

Dear Bath and North East Somerset Council,

Professional Services Procurement Spend

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,

Daniel Smith

Information Governance, Bath and North East Somerset Council

Thank you for your request.  We can confirm that your request will be logged and dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

As you are aware we are experiencing a National Emergency situation and the Council is now focused solely on minimising the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our local communities.  Bath and North East Somerset Council has indeed formally declared the current situation a major incident in accordance with the 2004 Civil Contingencies Act and as a result, all Council resources are now prioritised only on business-critical activity to protect the most vulnerable. 
  
Therefore in terms of responding to your request, please note that almost all Council staff are no longer in the office and are working remotely, either with limited access to information, or in some cases self-isolating, with ongoing impacts on availability, capacity and officer time, across all services.
 
We are therefore unable to always respond to requests made in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), within the 20 working day time limit, at this time.  Instead it is likely that a response to your request will be subject to significant delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  However, we will respond as soon as we can.  Responses to requests made under the Data Protection Act are also very likely to face similar delays.
 
We apologise for any delay that may occur in responding to these types of requests but are sure you will understand the reasons why.  We will keep this position under constant review as the national position evolves.
 
Further information on council service changes resulting from the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic can be found on our website at the following link:
 
https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk/coronavirus

Yours sincerely,

Information Governance Team –
One West
Bath & North East Somerset Council
Telephone: 01225 396658
www.bathnes.gov.uk
 
Bath & North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit 
 
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Information Governance, Bath and North East Somerset Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Smith,

 

Thank you for your recent request for information. Please find enclosed
the information you are entitled to receive under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

 

We trust that we have answered your queries, however if you have any
further questions please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

If you are unhappy with the response to your request, you may ask for an
internal review within 40 working days of receipt of this request. Please
contact Mr Jeff Wring, Service Director – One West, at Lewis House,
Manvers St, Bath BA1 1JG, or by email to: [1][email address]

 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to appeal directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Or through their website:
[2]www.ico.org.uk

 

Please refer to the disclaimer regarding reuse which can be found on the
Council website at:

[3]http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/your-...

 

As you are aware we are experiencing a National Emergency situation and
the Council is now focused solely on minimising the impact of the Covid-19
pandemic on our local communities.  Bath and North East Somerset Council
has indeed formally declared the current situation a major incident in
accordance with the 2004 Civil Contingencies Act and as a result, all
Council resources are now prioritised only on business-critical activity
to protect the most vulnerable. 

 

Therefore in terms of responding to any further requests, please note that
almost all Council staff are no longer in the office and are working
remotely, either with limited access to information, or in some cases
self-isolating, with ongoing impacts on availability, capacity and officer
time, across all services.

 

In addition, please note that the Information Governance Team has delayed
access to hard copy letters.  As a result, we recommend that any Subject
Access Requests, Freedom of Information Act Requests/Environmental
Information Requests or Data Breach Reports are only sent to us
electronically.

 

We are therefore unable to always respond to requests made in accordance
with the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) or Environmental Information
Regulations (EIR), within the 20 working day time limit, at this time. 
Instead it is likely that a response to your request will be subject to
significant delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.  However, we will respond
as soon as we can.  Responses to requests made under the Data Protection
Act are also very likely to face similar delays.

 

We apologise for any delay that may occur in responding to these types of
requests but are sure you will understand the reasons why.  We will keep
this position under constant review as the national position evolves.
General queries can still be sent to
[4][Bath and North East Somerset Council request email] and we will respond as soon as we
are able.

 

Further information on council service changes resulting from the impacts
of the Covid-19 pandemic can be found on our website at the following
link:

 

[5]https://beta.bathnes.gov.uk/coronavirus

 

Yours sincerely

 

Information Governance Team

One West

Bath & North East Somerset Council

Telephone: 01225 477961

[6]www.bathnes.gov.uk

 

Bath & North East Somerset – The place to live, work and visit

 

Please consider the environment before printing this email

 

 

 

From: Daniel Smith <[FOI #696236 email]>

Sent:  05 October 2020 09:45

To: Information Governance

Subject: Freedom of Information request - Professional Services
Procurement Spend

 

Dear Bath and North East Somerset Council,

 

Professional Services Procurement Spend

 

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,

 

Daniel Smith

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