Dear Sparsholt College,

My daughter travels on the Newbury to Sparsholt bus. This bus was previously operated by Aldermaston Coaches, however I now note the vehicles used are from Aldermaston Coach Lines. I initially thought this was a freshen up of Aldermaston Coaches vehicles but have discovered the bus is being operated by a completely different company called Southern Coach Lines Ltd. This is from the commencement of this term.

I would like to ask as an FOI request the following,

When was the company change from Aldermaston Coaches to Southern Coach Lines notified to the college? Is this a permanent or temporary arrangement to use Southern Coach Lines?

Aldermaston Coaches have three journeys allocated on the campus timetable, the starting points are - Aldershot - Newbury - Thatcham. Please confirm which runs Aldermaston Coaches still retain? For those journeys no longer retained by Aldermaston Coaches please provide operator details.

When will the campus timetable be updated to reflect the change? This is not a FOI question but rather for information.

Please provide details and copies of applicable documentation to reassure me that all necessary DBS checks, operator compliance checks have taken place to ensure my daughters safety when travelling on the bus. Please ensure any data breaches do not occur when providing this information.

If Southern Coach Lines or any other operator are now the new operator of any or all of the three runs advertised as being operated by Aldermaston Coaches please provide details of when and where the runs were advertised for tender following termination of the contract by Aldermaston Coaches? If a tender process was not used when Aldermaston Coaches returned the runs and a new operator has taken over from Aldermaston Coaches please provide all information between the college, Aldermaston Coaches and the new operator in regards the transfer of the runs, internal college documents in regards the transfer and information in regards to the justification for not going back to tender for the three runs? Please also provide a copy of the procurement legislation used to allow a new unrelated operator to take over from Aldermaston Coaches without the need to tender for the routes - Please provide the document title and regulation number(s).

If Aldermaston Coaches have terminated their contract(s) with Sparsholt College please provide details of the price paid per annum per route for the routes returned by Aldermaston Coaches for the year commencing 2019/20. There is no commercial sensitivity to be protected under the FOI Act section 43 if Aldermaston Coaches have terminated their contract with Sparsholt College and the college would likely fail any public interest test as the tenderer is no longer a contractor of the college.

If Sparsholt is the wrong authority for this request please would you provide details of the correct authority?

Yours faithfully,

[Name Removed]