Dear Sir or Madam,

Under the Freedom of Information Act please can you provide the following with regards to Common Purpose UK courses undertaken by your staff and councillors between 1997 and 2008:

1. Names and job titles (where applicable) of all of your employees and councillors who have participated in leadership training programmes delivered by Common Purpose UK, the specific Common Purpose programmes they have participated in and the dates of those courses.

2. The total sums spent by your authority on Common Purpose
programmes for staff and councillors in each year from 1997 to 2008 inclusive. Please also include expenses claims by employees and councillors itemising any Common Purpose courses thet have arranged for themselves.

3. Details of the competitive tendering process and, where
applicable, durations of service contracts you have entered into with Common Purpose.

4. Identities of submitters of rival bids to provide leadership courses and details of the quotations they gave.

5. Copies of text of invitations to tender which Common Purpose submitted tenders to your authority in response to and in which publications these invitations to tender were advertised.

6. Evidence submitted to your authority by Common Purpose
demonstrating they have the competence and expertise to provide the services they offer, qualifications of all of their trainers who have delivered courses to your staff and evidence submitted to you by Common Purpose of their industry accreditations or certifications and quality assurance processes.

7. Details of the nature and content of Common Purpose courses undertaken by your staff.

8. Criteria used to select Common Purpose against other
bidders and evidence these criteria were applied properly and fairly.

9. Findings of any audits conducted by or on behalf of your
autrhority into Common Purpose UK operations.

10. If competitive tendering was not applied to the procurement by your organisation of services from Common Purpose (which I understand is a legal requirement for public sector procurement and requiring at least
three bids) please provide an explanation of why procurement rules were waived.

Yours faithfully,

Mr McGillivray