Financial Accounts query
Dear The Mercian Trust,
Please can you provide the following FOI request.
1) Is it possible to provide the financial accounts for the schools in the Mercian trust individually? By combining the financial accounts of the schools you have obscured information that was previously available to the public. I am sure this is not a deliberate attempt to avoid accountability and I am sure you will help in this matter.
2) The Mercian Accounts for 2022 show an increase in the "Lettings Income" from £43,602 in 2021 to £160,463 in 2022. Please can you explain the large increase and provide more details.
Yours faithfully,
Mr Davis
Dear Mr Davis,
Many thanks for the Freedom of Information request. Having reviewed the aspects of data requested please find our response below.
I have dealt with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Under section 21 of the Act, the Mercian Trust is not required to provide
information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you or will become available to you in due course.
The information requested can to some extent be found in the following website where you can search for individual schools within our trust
https://schools-financial-benchmarking.s...
Regarding lettings income, the Mercian Trust has merged with the Q3 Academies Trust, which has expanded the number of schools brining in lettings income. Additionally lettings income was lower in previous years due to the COVID pandemic.
Kind regards
James Fendek
James Fendek
IT Lead, Trust Data Protection Lead and Communications Officer
E: [email address] | W: http://themerciantrust.org
Registered Office | The Mercian Trust, Mercian House, Sutton Road, Walsall, WS1 2PG | Company No. 07611347 - Registered in England and Wales.
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Dear J Fendek,
Thankyou for your considered reply. Unfortunately the links you provided do not cover the detailed FOI request. Mercian Trust has a highly regarded reputation for open and honest governance so I would like to clarify the request to remove any mis-understanding.
It is my understanding the FOI law gives the public the right to access any information that already exists. The Mercian Trust Financial accounts must have internal records of the 'lettings income' which made up the completed annual accounts. Please see https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/gui...
To reduce the amount of information requested, please can you supply 3 years detailed income statement for Shire Oak School, one of the Trusts schools. In particular the income from rented dwellings. Previous Mercian Trust financial accounts lists money invested to renovate these dwellings. It is a requirement stated in the 'Academy trust handbook' section 2.25* that a trust must review the trust's investments and investment policy regularly. It would be reasonable to make a FOI request from the Mercian Trust to confirm that the investments in these dwellings are reviewed regularly. Particularly when was the investments last reviewed? and when was the last time the income was reviewed to ensure fair market values.
So in summary:
1) Please provide 3 years details of lettings income for Shire Oak School in particular the dwellings rented by Shire Oak school.
2) Confirm that these dwelling investments are reviewed regularly and provide details of the last time the income was reviewed to ensure fair market values.
Kind Regards,
Mr D Davis.
* Please see link https://www.gov.uk/guidance/academy-trus...
Dear Mr Davis
In accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), I am unable to provide a detailed breakdown of dwellings lettings as separate items. This restriction is in place to protect the personal finance information of our tenants.
However, I can provide you with the lettings income for Shire Oak Academy over the past three years, which may help provide some insight. Please find the information below:
SOA Lettings Income:
2020 - 2021: £6,970.00
2021 - 2022: £12,634.00
2022 - 2023: £14,920.00
Furthermore, I would like to assure you that the dwellings income is subject to regular review. The most recent review was conducted in June 2022.
Please let me know if there is any additional information or assistance you require. We value your interest and appreciate your understanding of our commitment to safeguarding personal data.
Kind regards
James Fendek
James Fendek
IT Lead, Trust Data Protection Lead and Communications Officer
T: 07498210289
E: [email address] | W: http://themerciantrust.org
Registered Office | The Mercian Trust, Mercian House, Sutton Road, Walsall, WS1 2PG | Company No. 07611347 - Registered in England and Wales.
Information included in this email is reserved for named addressee’s eyes only. You may not share this message or any of its attachments with anyone. If you have received this message in error please notify us immediately. Please note that as the recipient, it is your responsibility to check the email for malicious software. Messages sent to and from us may be monitored. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Mercian Trust.
Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail.
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