Atos Costs - 04/11 to 03/12

The request was refused by Department for Work and Pensions.

Dear Department for Work and Pensions,

Yesterday in response to a PQ, Chris Grayling said
“For the period April 2010 to March 2011 the total cost paid to Atos Healthcare by the DWP to carry out medical assessments amounted to £112.8 million.”

What is the budgeted cost for the 12 months ending March 2012 and what is the latest forecast to the same date?

Yours faithfully,

J Newman

DWP Adelphi Freedom-of-Information-Request, Department for Work and Pensions

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DWP Adelphi Freedom-of-Information-Request, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear J Newman

Please see attached response to your FoI request 308

Kind regards

DWP Central FoI Team

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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 'Atos Costs - 04/11 to 03/12'.

Why do you not answer direct questions directly? If you do not have the information, say so. If you are not prepared to release it, say so. This to and fro “game” is such a waste of time – no wonder central Government costs are so high (no response required). So,

1)To repeat, what is the budgeted cost to March 2012? I want a precise figure, not a meaningless average. If there is no budget (God forbid) just say so.

2)In your reply, are you saying that Mr Grayling’s statement was incorrect? Yes or no please.

3)Are you saying that you have no forecast to the year-end, or just that you are not prepared to release it?

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

Yours faithfully,

J Newman

DWP Adelphi Freedom-of-Information-Request, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been received at the DWP Central FoI Team.

We will forward your request to the relevant information owner within the
Department who will respond to you direct. 

Should you also 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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References

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

DWP Adelphi Freedom-of-Information-Request, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Newman,

Please see attached response to your Internal Review request.

Kind regards,

DWP Central FoI Team

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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 'Atos Costs - 04/11 to 03/12'.

There may be a misunderstanding here. I fully understand that the ACTUAL expenditure for 2011/12 will not be known until the year closes on 31/3 and the figure has been verified, but this is not what I am asking for which is:

1)The budget for the year 11/12. This would have been agreed in April 2011 for the full year and will not have changed since. It will have been based on a number of assumptions which may or may not have proved correct and it is these deviations that will inform the explanation of why the actual cost might be different. By definition, once set it cannot be changed, so there is no logical reason why it should be a secret.

2)Full year forecast/outturn. As the year progressed and monthly actual costs became progressively available the estimated cost for the full year will have been regularly updated to a figure which may or may not have been in line with the original budget. Again, there is no logical reason why the latest forecast should be a secret as it would have been audited at the time it was generated and it is what it is – by definition it too cannot be amended retrospectively.

Both figures will have been in existence for a time, will have been audited on publication and will be the same now as they were then – no further auditing needed.

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

Yours faithfully,

J Newman

DWP Adelphi Freedom-of-Information-Request, Department for Work and Pensions

This is an automated confirmation that your request for information has
been received at the DWP Central FoI Team.

We will forward your request to the relevant information owner within the
Department who will respond to you direct. 

Should you also 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...

DWP Adelphi Freedom-of-Information-Request, Department for Work and Pensions

1 Attachment

Dear J Newman

Please see attached response to your FoI request IR 171.

Kind regards

DWP Central FoI Team

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John Slater left an annotation ()

Hi John,

You are probably aware of this already but from what I can find on the dwp website where they disclose all payments over £25k it appears that Atos Healthcare was paid £12,619,935 for the month of Feb 2012.

If we assume that Feb is representative for the other months of the year it looks like they will be getting £150M for the year. There are files for each of the months but I'm being lazy and only looking at Feb.

It appears that Atos Origin also do the IT for the DWP as well and they got £3,162,099 in Feb for that as well. So that looks like another £40M per year for It as well.

Regards
John

J Newman left an annotation ()

Thanks John. They have admitted that some of Harrington's recommendations affected costs, so £150m for WCA is perfectly plausible. I'm also trying to get a handle on how well budgets/costs are managed. My impression is that cost increases are never challenged - DWP just dips its hand back in the pot and takes out more without too many questions being asked.

John Slater left an annotation ()

John,

For my sins I have worked for a few public sector organisations when I ran my own business. One of the programmes involved reducing overhead costs significantly. I was horrified by what I found when I worked through the budgets:

There was no senior management control at all. Your assumption that there are no consequences for over spending is spot on.

Putting a budget together is seen as a paper exercise and there is no expectation that you will be held to it or measured against it. Spending on things like bottled water, staff lunches, IT equipment that didn't comply with the IT rules (I could only assume it vanished home with someone) and very expensive orthopaedic office chairs was huge.

When I raised problems with executive level management they were too scared to do anything about it as it would upset the staff!

In one area the annual budget was £10M. I found savings of £2M that would not cost any jobs and was easy to implement, £1M that involved a few jobs and a bit more pain in terms of people working harder and finally £400k that would cost difficult people to get rid off and be painful. I expected them to do all of the £2M, some of the £1M and none of the £400k. They didn't implement any of the cuts as it would be too unpopular with the staff!

I suspect that oranisations the size of the DWP is far worse!

Regards
John

J Newman left an annotation ()

Surpassed only by the profligacy of the MoD!!!

I know it's endemic John. At the other end of the spectrum I'm arguing with my borough council about £20k p.a. on hanging baskets (not exactly a high priority at the moment) and there is no interest whatsoever, despite everything else going on and far more serious cuts elsewhere. The excuses are pathetic beyond belief.