Dear Ms Charatan,

Thank you for your enquiry, which has been forwarded to the appropriate
officers for a response. The usual timescale for a response is twenty
working days, that is by or on 09.11.17.

If for any reason the Council needs to extend this timescale you will be
notified in accordance with the relevant legislation.

Please note that in 2012 the County Council adopted a position in
principle that FoI and EIR requests to West Sussex County Council and the
Council's responses may be published on the Council's website in a
suitably anonymised form. This is in addition to the individual response
to the requestor, and in line with the Council's commitment to
transparency and open data.   

Yours sincerely,

Helen Thompson.

Freedom Of Information |  [1]West Sussex County Council | Location:
County Hall, Chichester PO19 1RQ
E-mail: [2][cyfeiriad ebost]

[3]WSCC-logo_ICS-logo

Dear Ms Charatan

I refer to your request dated 12 October which has been dealt with under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your request was for:

I would like to know what, if any, financial penalties have been imposed
upon the Council for withholding any further residential placements whilst
the police investigation into Southern Health Care is underway.

The Serious Case Review into Orchid View in 2014 revealed the "significant
cost to the public in providing the necessary health and social care
direct input into the home because of the poor quality of Southern Cross
Healthcare's regional and home management".

The final settlement made to the administrator of Southern Cross
Healthcare amounted to £61,000, "part of the sum that it had withheld
while the home was open because of the safeguarding concerns and the
suspension of placements in the home for a period".  At that time "the
local authority did not have a sustainable case legally for withholding
this payment to the Administrator".  These are the words of the author and
Independent Chair of the Serious Case Review Panel, Nick Georgiou, who was
commissioned by WSCC to write the Serious Case Review Report.

What assurances can West Sussex County Council provide on whether there
has been a review of any contractual terms?  Furthermore, what if any
measures has the Council put in place to better protect public resources
since Orchid View.

Please see answer below corresponding to your request.

We presume that your reference to Southern Health Care is actually
referring to Sussex Healthcare.   There have been no contractual financial
penalties imposed upon West Sussex County Council.

No contractual review or other measures are considered necessary.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your
own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for
the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for example commercial
publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. Most
documents supplied by us will be copyright of West Sussex County Council.

Information you receive which is not subject to WSCC copyright continues
to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from
which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their
permission before reproducing any third party (non WSCC) information.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may
wish to ask for a review of our decision via [1][email address]. 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally,
the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our internal
review procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

The Information Commissioner's Office,

Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

Dave Loveman

Customer Relations Team Manager

Freedom Of Information |  [2]West Sussex County Council | Location:
County Hall, Chichester PO19 1RQ
E-mail: [3][email address]

[4]WSCC-logo_ICS-logo

show quoted sections

Dear Mrs Charatan

I understand that you have advised that you have not received the response
to your Freedom of Information Request so I am forwarding the response
email (below) again.  This was original sent 9 November 2017 at 12.03.

Yours sincerely

Tracey Layton

Data Management and Access Officer

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Freedom Of Information |  West Sussex County Council | Location: County |
| Hall, Chichester PO19 1RQ |
| |
| E-mail: [email address] |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

[1]WSCC-logo_ICS-logo

From: Freedom of Information Act
Sent: 09 November 2017 12:03
To: [FOI #438235 email]
Subject: RE: Ms J Charatan Freedom of Information request - Contractual
Penalties imposed upon the Council by Southern Health Care

Dear Ms Charatan

I refer to your request dated 12 October which has been dealt with under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your request was for:

I would like to know what, if any, financial penalties have been imposed
upon the Council for withholding any further residential placements whilst
the police investigation into Southern Health Care is underway.

The Serious Case Review into Orchid View in 2014 revealed the "significant
cost to the public in providing the necessary health and social care
direct input into the home because of the poor quality of Southern Cross
Healthcare's regional and home management".

The final settlement made to the administrator of Southern Cross
Healthcare amounted to £61,000, "part of the sum that it had withheld
while the home was open because of the safeguarding concerns and the
suspension of placements in the home for a period".  At that time "the
local authority did not have a sustainable case legally for withholding
this payment to the Administrator".  These are the words of the author and
Independent Chair of the Serious Case Review Panel, Nick Georgiou, who was
commissioned by WSCC to write the Serious Case Review Report.

What assurances can West Sussex County Council provide on whether there
has been a review of any contractual terms?  Furthermore, what if any
measures has the Council put in place to better protect public resources
since Orchid View.

Please see answer below corresponding to your request.

We presume that your reference to Southern Health Care is actually
referring to Sussex Healthcare.   There have been no contractual financial
penalties imposed upon West Sussex County Council.

No contractual review or other measures are considered necessary.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your
own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for
the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for example commercial
publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder. Most
documents supplied by us will be copyright of West Sussex County Council.

Information you receive which is not subject to WSCC copyright continues
to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from
which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their
permission before reproducing any third party (non WSCC) information.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may
wish to ask for a review of our decision via [2][email address]. 

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally,
the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our internal
review procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

The Information Commissioner's Office,

Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

Dave Loveman

Customer Relations Team Manager

Freedom Of Information |  [3]West Sussex County Council | Location:
County Hall, Chichester PO19 1RQ
E-mail: [4][email address]

[5]WSCC-logo_ICS-logo

show quoted sections