Council Expenditure or Payment to Suppliers from Jan to June 2020

The request was successful.

Dear Inverclyde 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

foi, Inverclyde Council

Good Morning

I acknowledge receipt of your email dated 19 August 2020 requesting information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and I confirm that this matter is being dealt with.

In terms of the Act, a response will be issued to you within 20 working days of the date of receipt of your request being 17 September 2020.

Inverclyde Council is obliged to comply with current data protection laws. Further information on how the Council uses your information can be found at www.inverclyde.gov.uk/privacy - the Freedom of Information and Environmental Information Request Privacy Notice explains this in more detail.

Regards,

FOI Team
Inverclyde Council
Municipal Buildings
Greenock
PA15 1LX

show quoted sections

Dear foi,

May I request an update?

Yours sincerely,
nikhil prabhu

foi hscp, Inverclyde Council

2 Attachments

Good Morning,

On behalf of the HSCP, I apologise for the delay in responding to your request for information on 19th August 2020. This is due to the impact of Covid-19 on the HSCP/Council and the fact that the HSCP/Council’s organisational resources have been diverted to work on other high priority areas.

I now write in relation to your Freedom of Information request and note our refusal notice attached. I also attach a copy of our review policy in case you are dissatisfied with any aspect of this response.

Kind Regards
Annmarie

Annmarie Chalmers
Senior Secretarial Administrator
Hector McNeil House
7/8 Clyde Square
Greenock
PA15 1NB
Tel: 01475 715285
Email:  [email address]
Inverclyde Council website – www.inverclyde.gov.uk
Inverclyde on Twitter – twitter.com/inverclyde

Inverclyde HSCP website – www.inverclyde.gov.uk/health-and-social-...
Inverclyde HSCP on Twitter – twitter.com/inverclydehscp

show quoted sections

RE: Request for Review
Vicky Pollock
Legal Services Manager
Legal & Property Services
Inverclyde Council
Municipal Buildings
Greenock
PA15 1LX
Email: vicky.pollock @ inverclyde.gov.uk

Correspondence Address :- attn: Nikhil Prabhu, c/o ABI, 22 White Close, High Wycombe HP13 5NG

Original Request :-

Dear Inverclyde 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.

Reason for dissatisfaction :-

I would like to appeal against the council’s decision to refuse information in terms of Section 12 (Excessive Cost of Compliance). That Inverclyde Council, after calculating projected costs for complying with the request, consider the cost involved will exceed £600, the prescribed limit as set out in the Fees Regulations in Annex 3 of the Code of Practice on the Discharge of Functions by Public Authorities under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

All councils now have a sophisticated accounting system which enables information to be downloaded using the in-built software. This software should have filters to enable data without compromising any sensitive information. As an accountant myself I use this facility extensively.

We feel the cost in downloading and assessing the data should not exceed £600 as much of the work would be done by the machine itself. We therefore would like to appeal against the council’s refusal to provide information as they feel the cost will exceed the threshold.

This information should be made available to the public as public funds are involved. The public have a right to know where and to whom the spend arises. Not providing this information is detrimental to the cause and against the rules of the FOI Act. We feel by withholding and not providing this information, the Council are not fulfilling their statutory obligations under the FOIA.

All Councils in England, Scotland & Wales and Northern Ireland now provide this information (We can supply examples on request). We feel Inverclyde should comply as have every other council done. (Those that have redacted have un-redacted the transactions upon request, where they do not involve the names of private individuals or personal sensitive information)

Thank you,
Yours faithfully,
Nikhil Prabhu

Vicky Pollock, Inverclyde Council

Dear Sir/Madam

 

I acknowledge receipt of your email of 22 September 2020 requesting a
review of the response to your request for information.

 

I can confirm that the matter is being dealt with and that in terms of the
relevant legislation a response will be provided within 20 Working Days of
the date of receipt of your request - that is by 20 October 2020.

 

Further information on how the Council processes your information can be
found at
[1]https://www.inverclyde.gov.uk/site-basic...
- the Freedom of Information and Environmental Information Request Privacy
Notice explains this in more detail.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Vicky Pollock

Legal Services Manager (Procurement, Conveyancing & Information
Governance)

Environment, Regeneration & Resources

Legal & Property Services

Municipal Buildings

Greenock

Inverclyde

PA15 1LX

 

Tel: 01475 712180

Email:[2][email address]

 

Inverclyde Council website – [3]www.inverclyde.gov.uk
Inverclyde on Twitter – [4]twitter.com/inverclyde

 

Inverclyde Council is an accredited Living Wage employer.

 

Inverclyde Council - Best Government Services Employer in the UK 2016 –
Bloomberg Business Best Employer Awards 2016

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Andrew Greer, Inverclyde Council

2 Attachments

Classification: Official

Dear Mr Prabhu,

 

Please find attached response to your request for a review.

 

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Kind regards,

 

Andrew

 

Andrew Greer

Solicitor (Information Governance) and Data Protection Officer

Environment, Regeneration and Resources

Legal & Property Services

Municipal Buildings

Greenock

Inverclyde

PA15 1LX

 

Tel: 01475 712498

Email:[email address]

 

Inverclyde Council website – [1]www.inverclyde.gov.uk
Inverclyde on Twitter – [2]twitter.com/inverclyde

 

Inverclyde Council is an accredited Living Wage employer.

 

Inverclyde Council - Best Government Services Employer in the UK 2016 –
Bloomberg Business Best Employer Awards 2016

Please note that this email (and any attachments) contains legal advice
for internal Council use only and should not be copied or forwarded
without the permission of the author.

 

Disclaimer:
Privileged/Confidential Information may be contained in this email. This email (and its attachments) is intended for the named addressee only. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not disclose, copy, alter, distribute, publish or take any action in reliance on this email (and its attachments.

If you have received this email (or its attachments) in error, please notify the sender immediately. Please also delete the email and destroy all copies of it and its attachments. Opinions, conclusions and other information in this email that do not relate to the official business of Inverclyde Council shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by it.

You should perform your own virus checks. Inverclyde Council does not accept any liability for any harm that may be caused to the recipient's system or data by this email or any attachment.

Inverclyde Councils Privacy Notice is available at www.inverclyde.gov.uk/privacy

References

Visible links
1. http://www.inverclyde.gov.uk/
2. https://twitter.com/inverclyde

Thank you Mr Greer

sincerely,
nikhil prabhu