Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act. I can acknowledge receipt of the request. As an Academy
we are obliged to provide information under such requests. However before
I can do this there are a couple of formalities I need to complete.

Firstly, in order for your request to be valid, we require a postal
address from you - see "The Guide to Freedom of Information" (page 19) as
published by the ICO. We will then write to you at this postal address and
ask you to sign and return a copy of the letter, thus confirming that you
have received the letter and that you agree to pay any charges (postage
and photocopying costs) incurred by us in connection with the request. We
cannot treat your request as valid until this process is complete. Our
practice is to reply formally to your response by post, although we will
subsequently willingly provide information by email, where held in
electronic form. We will confirm what the charges are once we have
gathered the information and will release it to you upon receipt of
payment.

Secondly, I am sure you will be aware FOI requests can be time consuming
on the part of the organisation dealing with the request, hence we have to
make an assessment as to whether the request is vexatious. I would be
grateful if you could confirm that your real name is Paul Evans, the
reason for your request, and whether you are making this request for your
own purposes or on behalf of another organisation. This information is
only being requested to allow us to make this assessment.

Finally, although this undoubtedly does not apply in your case, I would
add we are aware a number of suppliers are using FOI to try to gain
advantage in tendering for contracts. You should be aware where such
information is deemed to be commercially sensitive we may not be able to
provide it.

We are of course happy to receive expressions of interest from suppliers
and to discuss opportunities to work with them. We often find this is a
more productive way of developing a working relationship, than using a
blunt edged FOI request, which often puts additional strain on staff
responsible for the areas concerned. You should be aware that if it proves
to be the case that a Freedom of Information request has been used to try
to obtain sensitive information, the school's policy is that persons or
organisations making the requests are placed on a list of contractors with
whom the school will not do business.

Andy Winter

Business Manager

Wreake Valley Academy

Syston, Leicester

T 0116 264 1082  F 0116 264 1089

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