Back office benchmarking

The request was refused by Tower Hamlets Borough Council.

Dear Tower Hamlets Borough Council,

Under the Freedom of Information Act, I would like to request back office statistics and information covering the following indicators below. Definitions for each of the indicators are according to those listed by the Cabinet Office in the following report:
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/sites/de...

ORGANISATION
What is your current headcount as of 1st April 2011?
What was your headcount as of the day before the General Election?
How much grant funding do you receive?
What was your income for the last financial year?
What was your expenditure on salaries for the last financial year?
What was your 3rd party expenditure for the last financial year?

FINANCE INFORMATION
Organisational Running Costs
Cost of the Finance Function
% Cost of Finance Function
Cost of Finance per Head
Report cycle time
No. Finance Staff
No. Professionally Qualified Finance Staff
% Finance qualified
Cost of the HR Function %

HR INFORMATION
Cost of HR Function
Cost of HR per Head
No. Organisation Employees
No. HR Staff
Ratio of employees (FTE) to HR staff
Average Working Days Lost to sickness (AWDL)
Employee experience of Performance Management
Employee experience of Learning & Career Development
Employee experience of Positive Working Environment

IT INFORMATION
"Run and Maintain" Resource (RDEL) IT Expenditure
"Run and Maintain" Resource (RDEL) IT Expenditure … of which Depreciation
"Run and Maintain" Capital (CDEL) IT Expenditure
Total 'run & maintain'  IT Spend
Total Project Costs
% Cost of IT
Overall stakeholder perspective

PROCUREMENT INFORMATION
Cost of the Procurement Function
% Cost of Procurement Function
Total third party spend
Third party spend on SMEs (direct)
Third party spend on SMEs (indirect)
Procurement function costs as a percentage of total Procured Spend
% third party spend channelled to SMEs
No. Procurement Staff
No. Professionally Qualified Procurement Staff
% Procurement qualified

ESTATES & PROPERTY INFORMATION
Cost per FTE
Area per office based FTE
Cost per square metre
Property: Corporate Governance
Property: Capacity & Capability
Property: Policies & Standards
Property: Data & Management Information Systems
Property: Performance Management Review & Audit

COMMUNICATIONS INFORMATION
Total Cost of Communications
% Cost of communications
Number of communications staff
Proportion of all staff working on communications
Number of Professional communicators
Proportion of Professional communicators
Comms alignment to business objectives

LEGAL INFORMATION
Total cost of legal services
Legal costs: of which for 'technical' legal work
Legal costs: of which for legal admin and support work
% Cost of Legal Services
Legal % spend on technical work (not admin)

KNOWLEDGE AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT (KIM)
Total cost of KIM
% Cost of KIM
Quality: % FOI/EIR requests addressed "in time"
Quality: No. of datasets made available on data.gov.uk
KIM Survey: % measure of how well staff can access information to allow them to function effectively

Yours faithfully,

Brian Farnet

Shazna Bibi, Tower Hamlets Borough Council

Dear Sir/Madam

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

Thank you for your email.

Your request is being considered and if the information is held you will
receive the information requested within the statutory timescale of 20
working days as defined by the Freedom of Information Act 2000, subject to
the information not being exempt.

If the time taken to meet your request is likely to exceed 18 hours, we
will contact you and ask you amend your request to bring it below this
time limit. We will assist you with suggestions of how this might be
achieved.

I may also contact you if the request needs to be clarified; this is to
ensure that we provide you with the information you require.

Please note that some information you have requested may not be provided
to you; this will only be information that can be withheld by law. In
most cases the reasons will be explained to you along with your copy of
any information that can be released to you.

Yours faithfully,

Shazna Bibi

Information Governance Administrative Assistant

Legal Services

6th Floor

Mulberry Place

London E14 2BG

020 7364 4932

[1][email address]

show quoted sections

Please consider your environmental responsibility: Before printing this
e-mail or any other document , ask yourself whether you need a hard
copy.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/
3. http://www.census.gov.uk/
4. mailto:[Tower Hamlets Borough Council request email]

Jane L Jones, Tower Hamlets Borough Council

Dear Sir/Madam

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - IGT_FOI_04_4334 - Back Office Benchmarking

The Council has decided that your request for information will not be
processed on grounds of cost.

It is estimated that the cost of locating and retrieving the information
requested calculated according to the government's Freedom of Information
(Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004 would cost approximately
£850 (35hours) which is in excess of the upper limit of £450 set in
the Regulations

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 this letter acts as
a Refusal Notice.

You may wish to refine and resubmit your request so that it reduces the
cost to below this upper limit

I am sorry that your request is not being met on this occasion.

Yours faithfully

Jane Jones

Information Governance Administrative Officer

Legal Services

6th Floor

Mulberry Place

London E14 2BG

0207 364 4736

[1][email address]

You have the right to complain to the Council about this decision. If you
wish to do this please write to:

Corporate Complaints Unit

Tower Hamlets Town Hall

Mulberry Place

5 Clove Crescent

London E14 2BG

If you are subsequently not satisfied with the Council's response to your
complaint you have a right of appeal to the independent Information
Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545 700

[2]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Further information about the operation of the Act is available from the
Council's website [3]www.towerhamlets.gov.uk and the information leaflet
in public reception areas in Council buildings.

show quoted sections

Please consider your environmental responsibility: Before printing this
e-mail or any other document , ask yourself whether you need a hard
copy.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
file:///tmp/blocked::mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/
3. http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/
4. http://www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/
5. http://www.census.gov.uk/
6. mailto:[Tower Hamlets Borough Council request email]