Council Expenditure or Payment to Suppliers from Jan to June 2020

The request was successful.

Dear Angus Council,

I'd like to make a request under the Freedom of Information act for all transactions over £500 from 1st Jan 2020 to 30th June 2020. As a minimum, please make sure to include the date, value and recipient of each transaction. Please also provide details on the procurement category of each transaction if you have it.

If it would help, I am specifically looking for payments to suppliers who provide a service in Health and Social Care. This would include all suppliers falling under the following categories :-

1. Payments to suppliers who provide fostering and adoption services to the Council
2. Payments to suppliers who provide care services to the council. This would include suppliers who provide care under each of the categories below
a. Children's Residential/ Nursing Care Providers
b. Adult Residential/ Nursing Care Providers
c. Elderly Residential/ Nursing Care Providers
d. Domiciliary Care Home Providers
e. Supported Living Care Home Providers
f. Care at Home Providers
g. Providers who carry out Homeless Services
3. Payments to suppliers who provide Special Education Services

In particular I am looking for itemized transactions for suppliers from Jan to June 2020 - preferably in CSV format. For avoidance of doubt, I am making this request under the Freedom of Information Act. I await your response within 20 working days.

Thank you,
Yours faithfully,
Nikhil Prabhu

InformationGovernance, Angus Council

Dear Sir/Madam

 

Thank you for your information request dated 18 August 2020 (received by
Angus Council that same day).

 

If we are unable to provide you with a response within 20 working days, we
will advise you of this in writing.

 

Please refer to the information below which explains your right to
complain if you are unhappy with how the Council is dealing with your
request.

 

If you have any queries, please ask for me on 01307 491752 or email
[1][Angus Council request email].

 

Yours sincerely

Brenda Angus 

 

Brenda Angus | Business Support Assistant | Angus Council | Tel: 01307
491752 | DX 530678 FORFAR | Email: [2][email address] or
[3][email address] |[4]www.angus.gov.uk

 

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FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2004

INSPIRE (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2009

                                                             

Your Right to Request a Review by the Council

                                                               

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which Angus Council has dealt with
your request for information under any of the above statutory instruments,
you have a right to ask the council to review its actions and/or decisions
regarding your request. If you wish to do this, you should make your
request to the Director of Legal & Democratic Services, Angus Council,
Angus House, Orchardbank Business Park, Forfar DD8 1AN or e-mail
[5][Angus Council request email] within 40 working days.

 

Your request must:                      

·         be in writing (or recordable format);

·         give your name and address for correspondence;

·         give details of the information which you originally requested
from the council;  and

·         give the reasons why you are dissatisfied with the way in which
your application for information has been dealt with.

 

Your application for review will then be considered by the council’s
review panel.  The review panel will write to you informing you of its
decision not later than 20 working days after receipt of your request for
a review. The review panel will also provide you with a statement of its
reasons for arriving at the decision it has made.

 

Your Right to Appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner

 

If you are dissatisfied with a decision of the council's review panel (or
where the review panel has not provided you with a response), you have the
right to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a decision as
to whether your request for information has been dealt with by the council
in accordance with the above statutory instruments.

 

Your application to the Scottish Information Commissioner must:

o be in a recordable format (letter, e-mail, audio tape etc);

o give your name and address for correspondence.
o give details of the request for information which you originally
requested from the council;
o give details of why you were dissatisfied with the council’s response
to your original request;
o give details of why you were dissatisfied with the decision of the
council's review panel.

 

In the case of an EIR or FOI request your application to the Scottish
Information Commissioner must be made within 6 months of receipt of the
decision of the council’s review panel (or within 6 months of the date
that the review panel should have responded).  No such time limit applies
under the 2009 Regulations. 

 

Appeals to the Commissioner can be lodged online through the following
hyperlink:

[6]http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...
or by contacting:

 

Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St
Andrews, Fife, KY16 9BS; Telephone - 01334 464610; Fax - 01334 464611;
Email - [7][email address]

 

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MillSJ, Angus Council

Dear Sir / Madam

 

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

 

Thank you for your request for information dated 18 August 2020 (received
by the Council that same date) which has been passed to me for attention.

 

You have requested the following information and the Council’s response is
provided against each question:-

 

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|All transactions over £500|Angus Council spend information is posted on |
|from 1st Jan 2020 to 30th |a 6 monthly basis to our Open Data portal. |
|June 2020. As a minimum, |This can be accessed through the link below. |
|please make sure to |Information currently posted relates to spend|
|include the date, value |up to 31 March 2020. That in relation to |
|and recipient of each |April 2020 to September 2020 will be posted |
|transaction. Please also |during October. |
|provide details on the | |
|procurement category of |  |
|each transaction if you | |
|have it. |Note the spend categorisations you requested |
| |are not included in the information posted on|
|  |Open Data as such classifications are not |
| |held within the Council’s financial |
|If it would help, I am |management system. |
|specifically looking for | |
|payments to suppliers who |  |
|provide a service in | |
|Health and Social Care. |[1]http://opendata.angus.gov.uk |
|This would include all | |
|suppliers falling under | |
|the following categories | |
|:- | |
| | |
|1. Payments to suppliers | |
|who provide fostering and | |
|adoption services to the | |
|Council | |
| | |
|2. Payments to suppliers | |
|who provide care services | |
|to the council. This would| |
|include suppliers who | |
|provide care under each of| |
|the categories below | |
| | |
|a. Children's Residential/| |
|Nursing Care Providers | |
| | |
|b. Adult Residential/ | |
|Nursing Care Providers | |
| | |
|c. Elderly Residential/ | |
|Nursing Care Providers | |
| | |
|d. Domiciliary Care Home | |
|Providers | |
| | |
|e. Supported Living Care | |
|Home Providers | |
| | |
|f. Care at Home Providers | |
| | |
|g. Providers who carry out| |
|Homeless Services | |
| | |
|3. Payments to suppliers | |
|who provide Special | |
|Education Services | |
| | |
|  | |
| | |
|In particular, I am | |
|looking for itemized | |
|transactions for suppliers| |
|from Jan to June 2020 - | |
|preferably in CSV format. | |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

In compiling responses to information requests we invariably use
information which is routinely published on the [2]Council’s website or
through its [3]Publication Scheme.  If you require further information
please first check that the information you want is not routinely
published as any such information is exempt from release in terms of
Section 25 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 or Regulation
6(1)(b) of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.

 

Please note that the information contained in this reply is believed to be
accurate as at todays date (unless otherwise indicated) but no warranty is
given.  Further, Angus Council does not accept liability for any loss,
injury or damage which arises from the use of the information contained in
this reply either by you or by any other party.  Please refer to the
information set out in the Appendix which explains your right to complain
if you are unhappy with how the Council has dealt with your request.

 

If you have any queries, please e-mail [4][email address].

 

regards

Steven Mill

 

Service Lead (Finance), Finance Directorate, Angus Council, Angus House,
Orchardbank Business Park, Forfar, DD8 1AN, Tel: 01307 - 49 2285, Email:
[5][email address]

 

 

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References

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Dear MillSJ,

Your website http://opendata.angus.gov.uk/dataset/inv... has data only thro 31st March 2020. Please provide us data thro June 2020 or could you please publish within 20 working days.

Thank you,
Yours sincerely,
nikhil prabhu

Dear MillSJ,

My apologies, I could not interpret your message earlier since it was in the form below :-

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|All transactions over £500|Angus Council spend information is posted on |
|from 1st Jan 2020 to 30th |a 6 monthly basis to our Open Data portal. |
|June 2020. As a minimum, |This can be accessed through the link below. |
|please make sure to |Information currently posted relates to spend|
|include the date, value |up to 31 March 2020. That in relation to |
|and recipient of each |April 2020 to September 2020 will be posted |
|transaction. Please also |during October. |
|provide details on the | |
|procurement category of | |
|each transaction if you | |
|have it. |Note the spend categorisations you requested |
| |are not included in the information posted on|
| |Open Data as such classifications are not |
| |held within the Council’s financial |

I was able interpret it today, hence shall close out this request as you mentioned the data request will be published in October.

Yours sincerely,
nikhil prabhu

Dear MillSJ,

Is your website due to be updated this week?

Yours sincerely,
nikhil prabhu

MillSJ, Angus Council

Dear Sir / Madam

The data sharing site was updated with supplier spend data to 31/9/20 earlier this month.

regards
Steven Mill

Service Lead (Finance), Finance Directorate, Angus Council, Angus House, Orchardbank Business Park, Forfar, DD8 1AN, Tel: 01307 - 49 2285, Email: [email address]

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Dear MillSJ,

Could you please check again? I had checked earlier today & again just now, but the last updated date is 31/03/20.
http://opendata.angus.gov.uk/dataset/inv...

Yours sincerely,
nikhil prabhu

PaymentsSection, Angus Council

2 Attachments

Dear Sir,

 

Apologies the information has been put into another category.  I will
arrange to get it moved to the
[1]http://opendata.angus.gov.uk/dataset/inv....

 

It is in suppliers at the moment.  If you click on the suppliers tab you
should see 01.04.20 – 30.09.20.

 

 

 

 

Hope this helps.

 

 

Regards

 

Pam Baikie| Senior Payments Officer| Angus Council| 01307 491759|
[email address]| www.angus.gov.uk

 

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Dear PaymentsSection,

Ok, Thank you Ms Baikie, I do see that file now, however on analysis I noticed that there are no Fostering payments included. In the past Angus Council had used services of agencies such as FOSTERING PEOPLE LTD &
SWIIS FOSTER CARE SCOTLAND LIMITED; however I do not see a single transaction in your new file of Apr-Sep 2020. Could you please check and revert?

http://opendata.angus.gov.uk/dataset/ang...

Yours sincerely,
nikhil prabhu

PaymentsSection, Angus Council

Hello,

Foster payments have been excluded from the reports due to GDPR. There are no transactions for the two companies on the previous report 01.10.19 - 31.03.20.

Regards

Pam Baikie| Senior Payments Officer| Angus Council| 01307 491759| [email address]| www.angus.gov.uk

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Dear PaymentsSection/Ms Baikie,

Thank you for your response.

We see several fostering payments for the previous time-period, for eg. a few here :-

FOSTERING PEOPLE LTD 20190115 3,367.53
FOSTERING PEOPLE LTD 20190115 3,199.15
FOSTERING PEOPLE LTD 20190409 3,095.95
SWIIS FOSTER CARE SCOTLAND LIMITED 20190122 4,125.00
SWIIS FOSTER CARE SCOTLAND LIMITED 20190207 3,300.00
SWIIS FOSTER CARE SCOTLAND LIMITED 20190207 3,300.00

We kindly request you to please include fostering payments in your data disclosure. All Councils in England, Scotland & Wales and Northern Ireland now provide this information on FOI request (We can supply examples if needed). We feel Angus should comply as have every other council have done. Those that have redacted have un-redacted the transactions upon request, where they do not involve the names of private individuals (for eg. carer names for allowances etc). However, payments to Independent Fostering Agencies and In-House fostering must be included as they do not constitute personal sensitive data.

We feel by withholding and not providing this information, the Council are not fulfilling their statutory obligations under the FOIA and will need to be reported to the Information Commissioner..

Yours sincerely,
nikhil prabhu

PaymentsSection, Angus Council

1 Attachment

Hello,

I will arrange to get this added to the open date website. I have sent you this as an attachment for the moment.

Hope this helps.

Regards

Pam Baikie| Senior Payments Officer| Angus Council| 01307 491759| [email address]| www.angus.gov.uk

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Thank you so much Ms Baikie. I see now that IFA payments have been included in this, thanks for that.

Yours sincerely,
nikhil prabhu

Ms Baikie,

Just to add, the IFA spend seems much lesser as compared to the same period last year. Could you please check if all the payments have been included in the sheet or confirm that the council spent less on IFAs for this time-period?

Thank you so much,
nikhil prabhu

PaymentsSection, Angus Council

Hello,

Everything has been included in the report. I cannot confirm if the Council spent less on IFA's for this time period.

Regards

Pam Baikie| Senior Payments Officer| Angus Council| 01307 491759| [email address]| www.angus.gov.uk

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Ok, Thank-you, & for your prompt response.
sincerely

Dear Angus Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Angus Council's handling of my FOI request 'Council Expenditure or Payment to Suppliers from Jan to June 2020'.

On analysis of your data, we found that fostering spend amounted to 60k whereas for the same period last year it was 95k. So it seems Angus does some amount of In-House Fostering and we would like those transactions also to be furnished (however, any individual carer names may, of course, be redacted).

All Councils in England, Scotland & Wales and Northern Ireland now provide this information on FOI request (We can supply examples if needed). We feel Angus should comply as have every other council have done. Those that have redacted have un-redacted the transactions upon request, where they do not involve the names of private individuals (for eg. carer names for allowances etc). However, payments to Independent Fostering Agencies and In-House fostering must be included as they do not constitute personal sensitive information.

To that effect, I refer you to FOISA guidance on General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) https://www.itspublicknowledge.info/Law/...

For example, Paragraph 102 on p21 states “The exemptions in the GDPR and the DPA 2018 cover things like national security; crime; health, education and social work records; and the exercise of some regulatory functions. “ and para 103 states “Section 38(1)(b), read in conjunction with section 38(3A), exempts personal data from disclosure if, as a result of an exemption, the data subject would not be given the data if they made a request for it. This is, however, subject to the public interest test. “

para 104 covers the public interest test here -
“The public interest test
104. This is the other situation where section 38 is subject to the public interest test in section 2(1)(b) of FOISA. So, even if the data subject would not be entitled to get the information under Article 15(1) of the GDPR or under section 45(1)(b) of the DPA 2018, the authority must disclose the personal data unless the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclose it. “

Releasing this information is in the public interest as public funds are involved. We feel by withholding and not providing this information, the Council are not fulfilling their statutory obligations under the FOISA and will need to be reported to the Information Commissioner.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Yours faithfully,
nikhil prabhu

FriedrichM, Angus Council

Dear Mr Prabhu

 

I refer to our undernoted email dated 30 October 2020 (received by the
Council that same date) requesting a review of the Council’s decision of
15 September 2020.

 

I would refer you to the Appendix to the Council's decision and in
particular to the information setting out your right to ask for a review.
In accordance with this process, I have passed your review request to the
Chief Executive and the Director - Legal and Democratic Services, who are
the Council's Review Panel for this purpose. The Review Panel will write
to you informing you of its decision not later than by 27 November 2020.

 

In the meantime, if you have any queries, please ask for me on 01307
491992 or email [email address].

 

Yours sincerely

 

Martin Friedrich

 

 

Martin Friedrich | Paralegal - FOI | Angus Council | Tel: 01307 491992 |
[1][email address] | [2]www.angus.gov.uk

 

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FriedrichM, Angus Council

Dear Mr Prabhu

 

I refer to your request for review.  I apologise that the Council has not
been able to respond by the statutory deadline of today’s date.

 

What I can say is that I am aware that the review has been carried out and
it is anticipated that our response letter will be issued on Monday, 30
November 2020.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Martin Friedrich

 

Martin Friedrich | Paralegal - FOI | Angus Council | Tel: 01307 491992 |
[1][email address] | [2]www.angus.gov.uk

 

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From: FriedrichM
Sent: 03 November 2020 08:11
To: [3][FOI #685458 email]
Subject: Request for Review - FOI Request 650/2020: Council Expenditure or
Payment to Suppliers from Jan to June 2020
Importance: High

 

Dear Mr Prabhu

 

I refer to our undernoted email dated 30 October 2020 (received by the
Council that same date) requesting a review of the Council’s decision of
15 September 2020.

 

I would refer you to the Appendix to the Council's decision and in
particular to the information setting out your right to ask for a review.
In accordance with this process, I have passed your review request to the
Chief Executive and the Director - Legal and Democratic Services, who are
the Council's Review Panel for this purpose. The Review Panel will write
to you informing you of its decision not later than by 27 November 2020.

 

In the meantime, if you have any queries, please ask for me on 01307
491992 or email [4][email address].

 

Yours sincerely

 

Martin Friedrich

 

 

Martin Friedrich | Paralegal - FOI | Angus Council | Tel: 01307 491992 |
[5][email address] | [6]www.angus.gov.uk

 

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CHIEFEXEC, Angus Council

4 Attachments

Dear Mr Prabhu

 

Please find enclosed a letter and enclosures from Margo Williamson in
response to your request for review dated 30 October 2020 (received by the
Council that same day) with regard to your request for information dated
18 August 2020.

 

Kind regards.

 

Brenda

 

 

Brenda Keith| Personal Assistant| Executive Support|Tel: 01307 492123 |
Email: [1][email address] or [2][email address]

 

 

 

 

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