Dear Ms Michalik,

Freedom of Information Act Request Acknowledgment

Thank you for contacting the Freedom of Information Office at Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. We confirm that we have received your correspondence.

Your request below is being considered and you will receive a response within the statutory timescale of 20 working days following the date on which the request was received, as defined by the Act, subject to the information not being covered by an exemption or containing reference to a third party.

For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may prevent release of some or all of the information you have requested. There will be an assessment and if any of the exemption categories apply then the information will not be released. You will be informed if this is the case, including your rights of appeal.

If the information you request contains reference to a third party then they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on whether or not to release some or all of the information to you. You will be informed if this is the case.

There may be a fee payable for this information. This will be considered and you will be informed if as fee is payable. In this event the fee must be paid before the information is processed and released. The 20 working day time limit for responses is suspended until receipt of payment. You will be informed if this is the case.
If you have made a request for information held by the Trust - we will contact you as soon as possible if we need any further information to enable us to answer your request. If we don't need any further information we will respond to you within the statutory timescale of 20 working days following the date on which the request was received.

If you have any further queries or concerns then please do not hesitate to contact us.

With best regards,

Alan Larn.

Alan Larn | communications officer (Freedom of Information) |
Communications Department
Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Nethermayne | Essex | SS16 5NL
01268 524900 ext 2992
[Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust request email]

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Dear Ms Michalik,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request dated 05 December, which has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

Your request and our responses are as follows:

1. Are you part of a collaborative bank?
Response: Yes.

2. If not are you considering this in your STP?
Response: Not applicable.

3. If yes who is the current provider for the collaborative bank?
ResponseVarious - Allocate, Locums Nest, HOLT LMS.

4. What are the fees for your collaborative bank?
Response: This information is exempt from disclosure. Please see "Notes" below.

5. What savings have you made from the collaborative bank on your agency spend?
Response: Please see the response to question 4 above.

6. What % fill do you get from your collaborative bank?
Response: This is not possible to tell as the collaborative bank is currently managed using a passport system to employ people at each trust if they opt in.

Notes:

Information requested in question 4 is withheld because it is exempt from disclosure.  We are not obliged to provide information relating to commercial interests. On this occasion, we believe that the information you request in respect of the questions above would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person including the department which holds it as stated under section 43(2) of the Act.

In line with the terms of this exemption in the Freedom of Information Act, we have considered whether it would be in the public interest for us to provide you with the information, despite the exemption being applicable.

When assessing whether or not it was in the public interest to disclose the information you requested, we took into account the following factors:

Public interest considerations favouring disclosure:

• There is a general public interest in the disclosure of this information to ensure that there is transparency in, and accountability for, the management of public funds; that public money is being used effectively and that the Department is providing maximum value for the taxpayer.

Public interest considerations favouring withholding the information:

• There is a public interest against disclosure due to the impact it would have on the achievement of taxpayers’ value for money and on contractors’ competitiveness.

• Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals has a commercial responsibility to suppliers to hold confidential any information made available through the course of procuring goods and services, for example, pricing/rates offered and accepted.

•      Releasing information of this nature into the public domain may prejudice the commercial activities and interests of both Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals and its suppliers were this information made available to competitors. Releasing the information of the supplier’s pricing would prejudice them in any future competition. In addition disclosure would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of the department by affecting adversely its bargaining position during contractual negotiations which would result in the less effective use of public money.

In conclusion, we reached the view that, on balance, the public interest is better served by withholding this information at this time under Section 43 of the Act.

You can find out more about Section 43 by reading the extract from the Act and some guidance points we consider when applying this exemption, by reading the full text of the Act, available at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000...
 
I hope that the response that the Trust has provided is satisfactory.  However, if you are dissatisfied with the way in which your Freedom of Information request has been dealt with you can request an internal review. Please email [email address] within 40 working days with clarification of what you would like to be reviewed. We will aim to provide a review response within 20 working days.

If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right under section 50 of the Act to apply to the Information Commissioner to seek resolution to the matter. Further details can be found on their website: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/.

Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 – General statement of compliance

The Trust for its part is happy for you to reuse any of the information supplied to you in compliance with the Open Government Licence (OGL) terms:  Please click here for further details http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/documents... .  We do not permit the forwarding or sale of staff/departmental contact details and a specific Re-use of Information Regulations request is required for such purposes.

If relevant, you will need the permission of other information owners.  This can occur when you receive a document which is co-authored or where the ownership lies with another organisation.  Provision under both the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Environmental Information Regulations 2004 does not entitle you to re-use the information without appropriate permissions.  Use must be in compliance with an Open Government Licence or other agreed terms.

We ask that you take a couple of minutes and complete a short survey in relation to your FOI request. The questions relate to your request and how it was handled and the response received. Click here.

Kind regards,

Alan Larn.

Alan Larn | Freedom of Information Officer | Corporate Secretariat | Mid and South Essex University Hospitals Group Basildon University Hospital, Nethermayne, Basildon, SS16 5NL
Tel: 01268 524900 ext 2992

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