Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]

NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email. If
you have a processing request, please ensure you quote that reference in
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Dear Graham Mitchell

Freedom of information request - FOI/8752

Subject: Contain Outbreak Management Fund

Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days, subject to the application of
any exemptions. Where consideration is being given to exemptions the 20
working day timescale may be extended to a period considered reasonable
depending on the nature and circumstances of your request. In such cases
you will be notified and, where possible, a revised time-scale will be
indicated. In all cases we shall attempt to deal with your request at the
earliest opportunity.

If we are unable to provide you with the information requested we will
notify you of this together with the reason(s) why, and details of how you
may appeal.

Please note that the directorate team may contact you for further
information where we believe that the request is not significantly clear
for us to respond fully. 

Kind Regard

Information Management Team

Croydon Digital Services

Assistant Chief Executive Directorate

7th Floor, Zone B

Bernard Weatherill House

8 Mint Walk

Croydon CR0 1EA

Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]

Dear Graham Mitchell

Request FOI/8752

Further to your request received on 29/11/2023, I confirm that the Council
has now considered your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Specifically, you have requested the following information:

Can you please let me have information relation to the information you
provided as below:

Directorate £
Assistant Chief Executive 633,117
Adult Social Care and Health 736,764
Sustainable Communities,
Regeneration & Economic
Recovery  1,546,000
Housing 2,059,180
Total 4,975,06

My questions are:
£633,117 - does this relate to the salary cost of the Assistant Chief
Executive? If no, how is the money to be spent?
£736,764 - please provide a breakdown to show the service/project whatever
which is to receive these funds
£1,546,000 - please provide a breakdown to show the service/project
whatever which is to receive these funds. And, please analyse the cost of
the Project Managers who are being employed to oversee the Mayor's Blitz
on Graffiti and Flytipping to show their annual costs.
£2,059,180 - please provide a breakdown to show the service/project
whatever which is to receive these funds

Please provide copies of the documents showing the approval of the
Director of Public Health  or whoever that the COMF money can be used as
above.

Please also provide the latest advice Croydon Borough Council have
received regarding the uses the COMF can be put to.

This does not relate to the Assistant Chief Executive’s salary, but to
services/projects listed below.

Information management £498,400
Equalities Team Capacity £99,577
Voluntary Community & Faith Sector Bid Writing Training £35,140
Total Assistant Chief Executive Department (ACE) £633,117

£736,764 - please provide a breakdown to show the service/project whatever
which is to receive these funds –
See table below.

Adult Social Care System Support package £90,770
Developing and Increasing Access to Adult Social Care services £55,000
Access to Services for Deaf Users £25,000
Telecare and Careline Digital Switchover £270,400
Vulnerable Adult Support Officers x2 £117,715
Adult Social Care Front Door Experienced Social Worker and 2 £177,879
Early Intervention Case Navigators
Total Adult and Social Care and Health Department (ASCH) £736,764

£1,546,000 - please provide a breakdown to show the service/project
whatever which is to receive these funds –
See table below.

Cleaner, Safer & Healthier Town Centre Operations Team £500,000
Croydon Creative and Active programme £248,000
London Borough of Culture £200,000
Fairfield Halls Independent Evaluation £65,000
Neighbourhood Targeted Intervention Project Team £115,000
Early Years Library Development Programme £148,000
Creative Wellbeing Through Schools £120,000
Emergency Preparedness & Covid-19 Debrief, Review and Business £150,000
Continuity Digitisation
Total Sustainable Communities, Regeneration and Economic £1,546,000
Recovery Department (SCRER)

And, please analyse the cost of the Project Managers who are being
employed to oversee the Mayor's Blitz on Graffiti and Flytipping to show
their annual costs.
The Neighbourhood Targeted Intervention Project Team is made up of an
Operational Project Delivery Manager Grade 14 to be funded from the COMF
grant until 30^th Sept 2024 and a Project Support Officer Grade 10 to be
funded from the COMF grant until 30^th Sept 2024.

£2,059,180 - please provide a breakdown to show the service/project
whatever which is to receive these funds –
See table below.

Private Sector Housing Team HMO Inspection £161,155
Private Sector Housing Team Stock Condition Survey £267,710
Homeless Application backlog £264,000
Data Analyst £132,000
Homelessness £1,234,315
Total Housing Department (Hsg) £2,059,180

Please provide copies of the documents showing the approval of the
Director of Public Health or whoever that the COMF money can be used as
above.
A Public Health and COMF Task and Finish Officers Group, which included
the Director of Public Health and the S151 Officer, was established to
ensure the remaining COMF grant was spent in line with the latest COMF
grant central government guidance as per your final query and agreed the
service/project allocations in line with that guidance.

Please also provide the latest advice Croydon Borough Council have
received regarding the uses the COMF can be put to.  Please see the latest
advice from UKHSA as attached.
 
On 22/06/2023 the date for final usage of COMF was advised to be 30th Sept
2024 by UKHSA, please see as attached.

The Council publishes Access to Information requests and responses on its
online Disclosure Log. (Any request included within this log will be
anonymised appropriately)

To view the Council’s Disclosure Log, please visit our website available
here:

[1]The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act | Croydon Council
(disclosure-log.co.uk)

If you are dissatisfied with the way the Council has handled your request
under the Freedom of Information Act / Environmental Information
Regulations you may ask for an internal review. This should be submitted
to us within 40 working days of this response. You can do this by
outlining the details of your complaint by:

Email:        [2][Croydon Borough Council request email]

Writing:     Information Team

London Borough of Croydon

Bernard Weatherill House

Floor 7 - Zone B

8 Mint Walk

Croydon, CR0 1EA

Any requests received after the 40 working day time limit will be
considered only at the discretion of the council.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,
 

Information Team

Croydon Digital Services

Assistant Chief Executive Directorate

Bernard Wetherill House,

Mint Walk,

Croydon,

CR0 1EA

[3][Croydon Borough Council request email]

[4][email address]

References

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2. mailto:[Croydon Borough Council request email]
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4. mailto:[email address]

Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]

Dear Mr Mitchell, 

We apologies for the delay in sending out a response. An internal review
was submitted for this FOI and your case is being dealt with by our legal
team. 
As soon as a response has been drafted my colleague will get thus sent out
to you. 

We apologies for any inconvenience this has caused. 

Kind regards, 
Information Management Team 

Dear Mr Mitchell,

Further to your email dated 16 January 2024, in which you requested an
Internal Review of the Council’s response to your request for information
made under the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA), I have now concluded
this review and I am able to reply as follows. Please accept my apologies
for the delay in responding to you.

In your request for Internal Review, you asked the Council to reconsider
your request as you believed that you had not been provided with the
information requested.

In your request for information dated 29 November 2023, you requested the
following information:

“Can you please let me have information relation to the information you
provided as below:

Directorate £
Assistant Chief Executive 633,117
Adult Social Care and Health 736,764
Sustainable Communities,
Regeneration & Economic
Recovery  1,546,000
Housing 2,059,180
Total 4,975,06

My questions are:
£633,117 - does this relate to the salary cost of the Assistant Chief
Executive? If no, how is the money to be spent?

£736,764 - please provide a breakdown to show the service/project whatever
which is to receive these funds

£1,546,000 - please provide a breakdown to show the service/project
whatever which is to receive these funds. And, please analyse the cost of
the Project Managers who are being employed to oversee the Mayor's Blitz
on Graffiti and Flytipping to show their annual costs.

£2,059,180 - please provide a breakdown to show the service/project
whatever which is to receive these funds

Please provide copies of the documents showing the approval of the
Director of Public Health  or whoever that the COMF money can be used as
above.

Please also provide the latest advice Croydon Borough Council have
received regarding the uses the COMF can be put to.”

The Council responded to you on the 27 December 2023 and provided the
following response:

“This does not relate to the Assistant Chief Executive’s salary, but to
services/projects listed below.

Information management £498,400
Equalities Team Capacity £99,577
Voluntary Community & Faith Sector Bid Writing Training £35,140
Total Assistant Chief Executive Department (ACE) £633,117

£736,764 - please provide a breakdown to show the service/project whatever
which is to receive these funds – See table below.

Adult Social Care System Support package £90,770
Developing and Increasing Access to Adult Social Care services £55,000
Access to Services for Deaf Users £25,000
Telecare and Careline Digital Switchover £270,400
Vulnerable Adult Support Officers x2 £117,715
Adult Social Care Front Door Experienced Social Worker and 2 £177,879
Early Intervention Case Navigators
Total Adult and Social Care and Health Department (ASCH) £736,764

£1,546,000 - please provide a breakdown to show the service/project
whatever which is to receive these funds – See table below.

Cleaner, Safer & Healthier Town Centre Operations Team £500,000
Croydon Creative and Active programme £248,000
London Borough of Culture £200,000
Fairfield Halls Independent Evaluation £65,000
Neighbourhood Targeted Intervention Project Team £115,000
Early Years Library Development Programme £148,000
Creative Wellbeing Through Schools £120,000
Emergency Preparedness & Covid-19 Debrief, Review and Business £150,000
Continuity Digitisation
Total Sustainable Communities, Regeneration and Economic £1,546,000
Recovery Department (SCRER)

And, please analyse the cost of the Project Managers who are being
employed to oversee the Mayor's Blitz on Graffiti and Flytipping to show
their annual costs.

The Neighbourhood Targeted Intervention Project Team is made up of an
Operational Project Delivery Manager Grade 14 to be funded from the COMF
grant until 30th Sept 2024 and a Project Support Officer Grade 10 to be
funded from the COMF grant until 30th Sept 2024.

£2,059,180 - please provide a breakdown to show the service/project
whatever which is to receive these funds – See table below.

Private Sector Housing Team HMO Inspection £161,155
Private Sector Housing Team Stock Condition Survey £267,710
Homeless Application backlog £264,000
Data Analyst £132,000
Homelessness £1,234,315
Total Housing Department (Hsg) £2,059,180

Please provide copies of the documents showing the approval of the
Director of Public Health or whoever that the COMF money can be used as
above.

A Public Health and COMF Task and Finish Officers Group, which included
the Director of Public Health and the S151 Officer, was established to
ensure the remaining COMF grant was spent in line with the latest COMF
grant central government guidance as per your final query and agreed the
service/project allocations in line with that guidance.

Please also provide the latest advice Croydon Borough Council have
received regarding the uses the COMF can be put to.  Please see the latest
advice from UKHSA as attached.

On 22/06/2023 the date for final usage of COMF was advised to be 30th Sept
2024 by UKHSA, please see as attached.”

In your request for an Internal Review dated 16 January 2024, you stated
the following:

“Thank you for the information provided. However, I dont feel you have
fully replied to this part "Please provide copies of the documents showing
the approval of the Director of Public Health or whoever that the COMF
money can be used as above."

I am seeking something which shows the approval of the Director of Public
rather than the background to the process of how the allocations were
approved.”

On receiving your request for an Internal Review, I contacted the Director
of Public Health, who has provided additional information in answer to the
issues raised in your Internal Review.

I have been informed that the expenditure was approved by the Public
Health Task and Finish Group (COMF) which was held on 24 October 2023
which was attended by the Director of Public Health and the S151 Officer
to review and agree allocation of grant money within their delegated
authority.

A table showing the allocation of COMF is included in the Cabinet Agenda
of the 14 February 2024 ([1]see page 252 of Item 8; 2023-24 Period 8
Financial Performance Report (Pages 245 - 282))

If you are not content with the outcome of the Internal Review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

Howard Passman

020 8726 6000 ext. 27103

Resources Directorate

Legal Services Division

12th Floor
Bernard Weatherill House

8 Mint Walk

Croydon CR0 1EA

Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount.

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Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[email address]

Good Afternoon Mr Mitchell 

Please see attached as further update to your FOI request. the attached
will be published on our FOI disclosure page within the next 48hrs and
will also be accessible on our public website. 

A link will be provided to the website when it is published. 

Kind regards

Information Team