Question about contract with Amey to fell trees

The request was partially successful.

Dear Sheffield City Council,

How much money has the council paid to Amey to fell trees in Sheffield in the tax years 2015-16 and 2016-17

Yours faithfully,

Dr Stephen Hudson BDS, MSc, PGD Med Law, PGC Dental law & Ethics

FOI, Sheffield City Council

Re – Freedom of Information Request – Reference – FOI / 1380
 
Dear Stephen Hudson,
 
Thank you for your recent request for information relating to Money paid
to Amey to fell trees which we received on 4/12/2017.
 
This has been logged as a Freedom of Information Request, and will be
dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act.  The reference number for
your request can be found above.
 
The Freedom of Information Act states that we must respond to you within
20 working days, therefore, you should expect to hear a response from us
by 4/1/2018.
 
In the meantime, if you have any queries please contact us on the number
below.
 
Thank you.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Resources Business Support
Moorfoot Level 2 North Wing
Sheffield S1 4PL
Tel : 0114 20 53478
E-mail : [1][Sheffield City Council request email]
P Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to
 
 
 
 
_____________________________________________
From: stephen hudson
[[2]mailto:[FOI #450360 email]]
Sent: 04 December 2017 15:52
To: FOI
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Question about contract with
Amey to fell trees
 
 
Dear Sheffield City Council,
 
How much money has the council paid to Amey to fell trees in Sheffield in
the tax years 2015-16 and 2016-17
 
Yours faithfully,
 
Dr Stephen Hudson BDS, MSc, PGD Med Law, PGC Dental law & Ethics
 
-------------------------------------------------------------------
 
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FOI, Sheffield City Council

 
Re – Freedom of Information Request – Reference – FOI / 1380
 
Dear Stephen Hudson,
 
Thank you for your recent request for information relating to Money paid
to Amey to fell trees which we received on 4/12/2017.
 
Please find below, Sheffield City Council’s response to your request:
 
Sheffield City Council does not hold details of the amount paid to Amey to
fell trees in the manner requested. The Streets Ahead contract allows for
the removal and replacement of Highway trees.  However the contract in
full covers the delivery of a complete highway maintenance service
including all highway maintenance activities such as street cleaning,
winter maintenance, carriageway and footway resurfacing, signal
maintenance etc. Payments made by the Council under the contract do not
relate to the provision of specific items of work. Instead, a single
payment is made for each month of the 25 year term of the Contract.
 
As a result, we do not have a figure for the cost of the tree removals
within this single payment.
 
If you have any queries about this response, please do not hesitate to
contact us.
 
If you are unhappy with the response you have received in relation to your
request, you are entitled to have this reviewed.  You can ask for an
internal review by either writing to the above address or by emailing
[1][Sheffield City Council request email].
 
If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of your internal review, you
can contact the Information Commissioners Office. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, telephone 0303 123
1113, or for further details see their website [2]www.ico.org.uk
 
Kind Regards,
 
Resources Business Support
Moorfoot Level 2 North Wing
Sheffield S1 4PL
Tel : 0114 20 53478
E-mail : [3]FOI @sheffield.gov.uk
P Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to
 
 
_____________________________________________

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Dear Sheffield Council,
That actually raises more concerns than it answers. Are you seriously telling me that Sheffield Council are paying Amey for "services" without any way of auditing what is being paid for?

I therefore submit a new FOI request.

Please answer the following questions:
1) Which Councillors presently on the council approved this contract with Amey?
2) How was the contract put out to tender?
3) Why could the work not be done by Sheffield Works Department which one can reasonably expect usually do the Highway maintenance

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Hudson BDS, MSc, PGD Med law, PGC Dental law & Ethics

FOI, Sheffield City Council

Re – Freedom of Information Request – Reference – FOI /1435
 
Dear Stephen Hudson,
 
Thank you for your recent request for information relating to Amey
Contract which we received on 13/12/17.
 
This has been logged as a Freedom of Information Request, and will be
dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act.  The reference number for
your request can be found above.
 
The Freedom of Information Act states that we must respond to you within
20 working days, therefore, you should expect to hear a response from us
by 15/01/18.
 
In the meantime, if you have any queries please contact us on the number
below.
 
Thank you.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Resources Business Support
Moorfoot Level 2 North Wing
Sheffield S1 4PL
Tel : 0114 20 53478
E-mail : [1][Sheffield City Council request email]
P Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to
 
_____________________________________________
From: stephen hudson
[[2]mailto:[FOI #450360 email]]
Sent: 13 December 2017 12:02
To: FOI
Subject: Re: Response – Freedom of Information Request – Reference – FOI /
1380
 
Dear Sheffield Council,
That actually raises more concerns than it answers.  Are you seriously
telling me that Sheffield Council are paying Amey for "services" without
any way of auditing what is being paid for?
 
I therefore submit a new FOI request.
 
Please answer the following questions:
1) Which Councillors presently on the council approved this contract with
Amey?
2) How was the contract put out to tender?
3) Why could the work not be done by Sheffield Works Department which one
can reasonably expect usually do the Highway maintenance
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Stephen Hudson BDS, MSc, PGD Med law, PGC Dental law & Ethics
 

show quoted sections

FOI, Sheffield City Council

Re – Freedom of Information Request – Reference – FOI /1435
 
Dear Stephen Hudson,
 
Thank you for your recent request for information relating to Amey
Contract which we received on 13/12/17.
 
Please find below, Sheffield City Council’s response to your request:
 
1) Which Councillors presently on the council approved this contract with
Amey? The approval process for the contract is outlined in the Reports to
Cabinet on the Highway Maintenance Contract which can be found via the
following links.  The agendas for the Cabinet meetings (also available via
this link) give details of the Councillors attending the meetings.   
[1]http://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/CeList...
[2]http://democracy.sheffield.gov.uk/CeList....
The names of current Councillors can be found
[3]http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/content/shef...
 
 
2) How was the contract put out to tender? The contract was tendered using
the Competitive Dialogue process set out in the Public Contract
Regulations 2006. An OJEU notice was published in  April 2009
 
3) Why could the work not be done by Sheffield Works Department which one
can reasonably expect usually do the Highway maintenance. The works are
undertaken under  a PFI contract which includes PFI funding which would
not have been available to Sheffield City Council’s in house highway
maintenance department. In order to receive the PFI funding, all Local
Authorities were invited by the Government to submit bids and, following a
rigorous evaluation process, Sheffield City Council’s bid was successful.
As a consequence of this process, the Council’s in-house highway
maintenance staff transferred to the successful tenderer.
 
 
If you have any queries about this response, please do not hesitate to
contact us.
 
If you are unhappy with the response you have received in relation to your
request, you are entitled to have this reviewed.  You can ask for an
internal review by either writing to the above address or by emailing
[4][Sheffield City Council request email].
 
If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of your internal review, you
can contact the Information Commissioners Office. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, telephone 0303 123
1113, or for further details see their website [5]www.ico.org.uk
 
Kind Regards,
 
Resources Business Support
Moorfoot Level 2 North Wing
Sheffield S1 4PL
Tel : 0114 20 53478
E-mail : [6][Sheffield City Council request email]
P Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to
 
 
_____________________________________________

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