A4e audit

The request was refused by Department for Work and Pensions.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Further to your reply to my previous request where you stated the following:

"In March 2012, the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP), was made aware of an
allegation in respect of the MWA programme run by A4e in the South East. Consequently, the
Department’s Internal Audit and Investigations team undertook an audit of its commercial
relationship with A4e. Supported by Ernst and Young, they examined the controls operated by
A4e’s on all its current DWP contracts."

I would like to request the original documentation held by the DWP with regards to both the allegation and audits, including any reports produced as a result of the auditing process relating to the DWP's commercial relationship with A4e, and the audits for A4e's contracts with regards to the Work Programme, the New Enterprise Allowance programme and Mandatory Work Activity.

I can confirm that I am happy for all personal information that may be contained within the audit documents which might be covered by Data Protection legislation to be redacted.

This request is being made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Yours faithfully,

Ben Owen

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.

By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 

If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.

Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.

For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.

[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...

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CD Official Correspondence, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Owen,

 

Please see the attached letter.

 

 

Communications Team

Commercial Directorate | Communications Team | Leeds and Sheffield |
Please consider the environment before printing.

 

 

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CD Official Correspondence, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Owen,

 

Please see the attached letter.

 

 

Communications Team

Commercial Directorate | Communications Team | Leeds and Sheffield |
Please consider the environment before printing.

 

 

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Dear CD Official Correspondence,

Which exemption(s) is the information being considered under, and why does the DWP believe the exemption(s) apply?

Yours sincerely,

Ben Owen

CD Official Correspondence, Department for Work and Pensions

Dear Mr Owen,

 

We refer to your email of 27 February.

 

The Department is considering the application of the following exemptions
to the information you seek. The exemption from disclosure at Section 30
of the Freedom of Information Act (Investigations and proceedings
conducted by public authorities) and section 36(2) (prejudice to the
effective conduct of public affairs). Both exemptions are "qualified"
which means that they can only be relied on where the public interest in
maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

 

Consideration is being given to the use of these exemptions as the
information requested relates to the work of Internal Audit and
Investigations, where premature disclosure of their work presents risks to
the future conduct of these functions, as well as the rights and
confidentiality of those involved. If these exemptions are applied,
further explanation will be provided in our full response.

 

 

Communications Team

Commercial Directorate | Communications Team | Leeds and Sheffield |
Please consider the environment before printing.

 

 

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CD Official Correspondence, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Owen,

 

Please see the attached letter.

 

 

Communications Team

Commercial Directorate | Communications Team | Leeds and Sheffield |
Please consider the environment before printing.

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions's handling of my FOI request 'A4e audit', your reference: FOI 559

In your response, the department asserts that:
"Disclosure of unproven (or unfounded) allegations could result in litigation against
the Department and damage a provider’s commercial standing."

In the broader context of the information release, including the audit documents, which the department asserts find no evidence of fraud, I cannot envisage a situation where defamation would be an issue. Furthermore, given that these allegations are already known to the public, and the DWP has not faced litigation for defamation, I cannot see how the release of these documents would risk litigation against the department.

The department goes on to assert:
"The Police may pursue investigations where patterns in
suspected offences (e.g. highlighting links between people, organisations,
location and events) become evident from such intelligence collected over time."

I stated in my original request that I was happy for personal information, including names, to be redacted/anonymised. The ICO makes it clear that information that can be anonymised in documents requested under the FOIA cannot render a document as a whole exempt under the FOIA. I can once again confirm that I am happy for any sensitive information to be anonymised, provided any individuals or organisations can be distinguished from each other (eg. Individual A, Individual B, etc.)

I assert that the public interest in this document is very strong. If the Department is going to 1) pay money from the public purse and 2) mandate claimants to attend services provided by a private company, then the public interest must be served by providing all assurances possible that these companies are providing these services in an honest and fair way.

Furthermore, based on the above, I assert that where an allegation of fraud has been made against a private company providing services on behalf of the DWP, the public cannot be expected to keep confidence in these services and the DWP's providers, as well as the DWP's own processes for dealing with evidence of fraud, without these kinds of documents being available to the public. The public interest in these documents is therefore very strong.

I am writing to request a re-assessment of the public interest test, after which I will refer this request to the Information Commissioner if I am not satisfied with the result.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/a4...

Yours faithfully,

Ben Owen

DWP freedom-of-information-requests, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been accepted by the DWP FoI mailbox.

By the next working day your request will be forwarded to the relevant
information owner within the Department who will respond to you direct. 

If your email is a Freedom of Information request you can normally
expect a response within 20 working days.

Should you have any further queries in connection with this request do
please contact us.

For further information on the Freedom of Information Act within DWP
please click on the link below.

[1]http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/freedom-of-informa...

CD Official Correspondence, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Owen,

 

Please see the attached letter.

 

 

Communications Team

Commercial Directorate | Communications Team | Leeds and Sheffield |
Please consider the environment before printing.

 

 

show quoted sections

CD Official Correspondence, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Owen,

 

Please see the attached letter.

 

 

Communications Team

Commercial Directorate | Communications Team | Leeds and Sheffield |
Please consider the environment before printing.

 

 

show quoted sections