COVID Winter Grant Scheme

The request was successful.

David Butterfield

1. How did you distribute the COVID Winter Grant to vulnerable families, i.e. cash, food parcels or retail supermarket vouchers?
2. Did you use this grant to distribute financial support to families of children eligible for Free School Meals?
3. How many children were eligible for Free School Meals and how many children claimed financial support via the grant scheme?
4. Did you use the grant to distribute support to other vulnerable families / individuals and if so, which groups, i.e. homeless etc.?
5. If using supermarket vouchers
(a) which supplier(s) did you use to distribute the vouchers?
(b) how did you choose a supplier?
(c) what were your top 3 mandatory requirements for the service?
(d) did you coordinate the ordering to all beneficiaries/recipients, or was access delegated to schools to administer and order?
(e) did you enter into a direct contract with the supplier or call off via a framework?
(f) when does your contract end?
6. Following Government's extension of the COVID Winter Grant, will you continue to fund Free School Meal vouchers in May half-term and summer holidays?
7. Which role(s) and job functions manage the contract for this service?

Freedom of Information, Hounslow Borough Council

Thank you for your email which has been received by the Customer Relations
Team. Receipt of your request for information is acknowledged.   

We will either deal with your request or pass it onto our service teams to
provide you with a response.     

The Council will respond to your Freedom of Information request within 20
working days from the time of receipt if this is within working hours, or,
if received out of hours, from the next working day. Further information
can be found at the following link: 

[1]https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20110/o...

To comply with the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 further
information can be found at
[2]https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20110/o...
 

Thank you
Customer Relations Team 

For information about what we do with personal data see our privacy notice
[3]Customer services: privacy notice | Privacy notice  

[4]Link to: London Borough of Hounslow

References

Visible links
1. https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20110/o...
2. https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20110/o...
3. https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20110/o...
4. London Borough of Hounslow
https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/coronavirus

London Borough of Hounslow,

[1]London Borough of Hounslow
29-Apr-2021

Dear David Butterfield,

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request. The reference number
is FIR005463.

The Council aims to respond to your request within 20 working days.
However due to the current COVID-19 virus situation, there may be delays
in responding to you as the council may need to adapt our usual approach
during this extraordinary period.

We will, where at all possible, seek to comply with the timescales but
as this is an unprecedented situation, we hope you will understand that
it may not be possible.

Please use the reference number above for all future communication about
this case. You will be able to track the progress of this case by
logging into your My Hounslow Account.

Further information can be found on our website at the following link:
[2]Freedom of Information & Environmental Information Regulations

Kind regards,

Customer Relations
London Borough of Hounslow

[3]Unsubscribe from these emails.

References

Visible links
1. https://myaccount.hounslow.gov.uk/q
2. https://www.hounslow.gov.uk/info/20110/o...
3. http://email.myaccount.hounslow.gov.uk/u...

Freedom of Information, Hounslow Borough Council

Dear David Butterfield

Thank you for your below FOI request.

This has been logged under reference number FIR005463 to the service team for a response. This response will follow to you within the 20 working day deadline.

* For future reference, you are now able to use the online form to make further Freedom of Information Requests. This is our preferred method, because this form helps us to capture all of the information needed to respond to your request quickly.

Kind Regards,

Jonathan Fowler |Customer Relations Officer
2nd Floor, Hounslow House
London Borough of Hounslow
Office: 020 8583 5211
www.hounslow.gov.uk

Follow us online: Twitter: @LBofHounslow and Facebook: www.facebook.com/HounslowCouncil

For information about what we do with personal data see our privacy notice Customer services: privacy notice | Privacy notice

show quoted sections

CURevenues, Hounslow Borough Council

Dear Mr Butterfield

Re: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000 response

Thank you for your request for information of 28 April 2021.

You would like the London Borough of Hounslow to provide you with the following information:

1. How did you distribute the COVID Winter Grant to vulnerable families, i.e. cash, food parcels or retail supermarket vouchers? - We used the means that best suited the vulnerable families when distributing the COVID winter Grant. We helped via bank transfers where every possible, we did not distribute cash to families. We offered supermarket vouchers and also distributed funds to organisations to enable them to have sufficient funds to provide food and hot meals to vulnerable families/residents of Hounslow

2. Did you use this grant to distribute financial support to families of children eligible for Free School Meals? - yes

3. How many children were eligible for Free School Meals and how many children claimed financial support via the grant scheme? - 8109 children were entitled to free school meals. We distributed vouchers to all households with children in receipt of Free School Meals.

4. Did you use the grant to distribute support to other vulnerable families / individuals and if so, which groups, i.e. homeless etc.? Yes we did. We did this by providing various organisations with funding to enable them to continue to distributed support to vulnerable families. We also have an on-line application process whereby residents can apply directly for help.

5. If using supermarket vouchers
(a) which supplier(s) did you use to distribute the vouchers? We did not use suppliers to distribute vouchers. We acquired the vouchers and distributed them directly to vulnerable households by email. Schools also acquired vouchers directly form the supplier and distributed them to the parents.

(b) how did you choose a supplier? The supplier approached our schools team to advise on the service they provided.

(c) what were your top 3 mandatory requirements for the service? (1). To have a simple process in place (2). To be able to acquire vouchers quickly and immediately if there was need. (3). For the supplier to be on hand to answer any enquiries quickly and efficiently.

(d) did you coordinate the ordering to all beneficiaries/recipients, or was access delegated to schools to administer and order? Schools did the administering and the ordering. A similar process of ordering and administering also takes place in the Councils Free Schools team and the Client Team

(e) did you enter into a direct contract with the supplier or call off via a framework? - Direct contact

(f) when does your contract end? There isn't an end date. The supplier are aware that our demand for vouchers will fluctuate.

6. Following Government's extension of the COVID Winter Grant, will you continue to fund Free School Meal vouchers in May half-term and summer holidays? - Yes

7. Which role(s) and job functions manage the contract for this service? The education team and the Corporate Contract services manage the contract.

The response to your request has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Copyright and misuse of information

Most of the information that is provided in response to an FOI request will be owned by the London Borough of Hounslow and is therefore covered by the Open Government Licence. However, the copyright of some of the information we share may be owned by another person or organisation (e.g. Ordnance Survey).

Individuals and organisations are free to re-use any information covered by the Open Government Licence for commercial or non-commercial purposes, provided the terms of the licence are adhered to. Where the copyright of the information is owned by another person or organisation, you must apply to the copyright owner to obtain their permission for re-use.

If you do not feel that the Council has dealt with your request for information appropriately or wish to request a review of this response, please contact the FOI/EIR Review Officer at [Hounslow Borough Council request email]

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to appeal directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision at the following address;

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF

Regards
Client Team.

show quoted sections

David Butterfield

Jonathan Fowler
Customer Relations Officer

Hello Jonathan,

Thank you for your response which is greatly appreciated.

Best regards,

David Butterfield
Managing Director