PFI PPP Safety Audit

The request was refused by Bridgend County Borough Council.

Dear Bridgend County Borough Council,

This request for information is an attempt to seek reassurance about the safety of public buildings in the light of the findings revealed in the Inquiry commissioned following the collapse of a school building wall in Edinburgh and subsequent closure of 17 schools.

Please answer the following for each PFI/PPP schemes in the local authority area treating each scheme as a separate request.

Please provide all documents showing how your organisation has responded to the findings contained in the report on Edinburgh Schools Construction by John Cole: including, but not limited to memos, emails, minutes, reports.

I would like to understand the expertise and resource committed by your organisation to the management and oversight of PFI schemes from procurement through to ongoing contract operation. Please provide documents relating to the PFI Team(s) allocated to each project its makeup and structure of the team during each project phase. This may comprise terms of reference, organisation chart, post titles and role profiles.

Provide the deed of appointment for the Independent Certifier and any other documents setting out the scope of that role. Please confirm the level of indemnity insurance and liability period.

Please confirm whether your organisation employed a member of the Institute of Clerk of Works or an inspector of similar standing and assigned them to each construction site. If someone in this role was employed please confirm their level of qualification, the salary associated with this role and how much time was allocated to per project/site.

Please provide a list of all enforcement or improvement notices served; investigations carried out and reports commissioned into fire safety (include dates and specify who commissioned or issued these) Please provide copies of all items listed.

Provide details of all attempts to make deductions relating to structural defects for each project. Confirm the amount, what it was for, and when the deduction was made.

Yours faithfully,

Stuart Gamblin

foi, Bridgend County Borough Council

Dear Sir/Madam

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST X01-6323

We acknowledge your request for information received on 22 May 2017.

We are considering your request and you should receive a response within the statutory timescale of 20 working days, unless the information is exempt or we require additional time to consider whether disclosure is in the public interest in accordance with section 2 of the Freedom of Information Act.

We will try to supply information in electronic format by email, but if this is not possible we will let you know. If you have any special requirements e.g. language, audio, large print, etc. then please let us know.

The Act defines a number of exemptions which may prevent release of the information you have requested. Before we provide the information we will consider whether it is proper to release it and if any of the exemption categories do apply then the information will not be released. We will tell you if this is the case, and you will have a right of appeal.

If the information you request contains reference to a third party then they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on whether or not to release the information to you. We will tell you if this is the case.

You may have to pay a fee for this information. We will consider this and let you know. If so you will have to pay the fee before we process and release the information.

If you have any queries or concerns, then please contact me directly. You can find out more about the Act from the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner’s Office – Wales 2nd Floor Churchill House Churchill Way Cardiff
CF10 2HH
Telephone: 02920 678400 Fax: 02920 678399
Email: [email address]
Website: https://ico.org.uk/

Yours sincerely

Y Swyddfa Rhyddid Gwybodaeth | Freedom of Information Office
Gwasanaethau Gweithredol a Phartneriaethol | Operational and Partnership Services
Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Pen-Y-Bont ar Ogwr | Bridgend County Borough Council
Ffon / Phone: (01656) 643473
Ffacs / Fax: (01656) 657899

E-bost / E-Mail [Bridgend County Borough Council request email]
Gwefan / Website: www.bridgend.gov.uk

Rydym yn croesawu gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg. Rhowch wybod i ni os mai Cymraeg yw eich dewis iaith.
We welcome correspondence in Welsh. Please let us know if your language choice is Welsh.

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foi, Bridgend County Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Gamblin, 

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST X01- 6323

 

We refer to your email dated 24 May 2017 which contained a request for
information as set out in italics below.  Following consideration of your
request, in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I respond
to each point as follows:

 

This request for information is an attempt to seek reassurance about the
safety of public buildings in the light of the findings revealed in the
Inquiry commissioned following the collapse of a school building wall in
Edinburgh and subsequent closure of 17 schools.

 

Please answer the following for each PFI/PPP schemes in the local
authority area treating each scheme as a separate request.

 

Please provide all documents showing how your organisation has responded
to the findings contained in the report on Edinburgh Schools Construction
by John Cole: including, but not limited to memos, emails, minutes,
reports.

 

I would like to understand the expertise and resource committed by your
organisation to the management and oversight of PFI schemes from
procurement through to ongoing contract operation. Please provide
documents relating to the PFI Team(s) allocated to each project its makeup
and structure of the team during each project phase. This may comprise
terms of reference, organisation chart, post titles and role profiles.

 

Provide the deed of appointment for the Independent Certifier and any
other documents setting out the scope of that role. Please confirm the
level of indemnity insurance and liability period.

 

Please confirm whether your organisation employed a member of the
Institute of Clerk of Works or an inspector of similar standing and
assigned them to each construction site. If someone in this role was
employed please confirm their level of qualification, the salary
associated with this role and how much time was allocated to per
project/site.

 

Please provide a list of all enforcement or improvement notices served;
investigations carried out and reports commissioned into fire safety
(include dates and specify who commissioned or issued these)  Please
provide copies of all items listed.

 

Provide details of all attempts to make deductions relating to structural
defects for each project. Confirm the amount, what it was for, and when
the deduction was made.

 

Whilst we can confirm that we hold the information requested, we have
estimated that the cost of complying with your request will exceed £450. 
We have made this calculation in accordance with Regulation 4 of the
Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limits and Fees
Regulations) 2004. This calculation was based on an hourly rate of £25.00
for the cost of locating, retrieving and extracting information involved
in the processing of your request.

 

We have calculated that it would take in excess of 18 hours to locate and
retrieve all the information requested as the information is held in paper
format only in a number of archive boxes. We have calculated that it would
take at least 37 hours to look through the information held in order to
identify the relevant documents.

 

Under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act we are not obliged to
comply with a request for information if we estimate that the cost of
compliance would exceed £450.  This letter is therefore a formal Refusal
Notice under section 17(5) of the Act.

 

It may be that we can supply some information if you can refine or reduce
your request to more manageable proportions and resubmit your request so
that it brings the cost within the appropriate limit.

 

Alternatively, if you wish to pay a full search and retrieval fee, we may
be prepared to consider your request under Section 13 of the Freedom of
Information Act which allows us to charge a fee where the estimated costs
exceed the £450.00 limit. 

 

In order to assist you we are able to provide a copy of an e-mail from
Balfour Beatty Construction Services to the Authority’s Property
Department in relation to the Maesteg Comprehensive School PFI.

 

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of the request, under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 you have the right to request a review of
the Council’s response to your request for information.  If you wish to
request a review, please write to:

 

Mr P A Jolley

Corporate Director, Operational and

Partnership Services and Monitoring Officer

Bridgend County Borough Council

Civic Offices,

Angel Street

Bridgend, CF31 4WB

 

within 28 days of the date of this letter.  If you remain dissatisfied
with the outcome of that review, you may seek further recourse by lodging
an appeal with the Information Commissioner at:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office – Wales

2^nd Floor

Churchill House

Churchill Way

Cardiff

CF10 2HH

Tel:  02920 678400

Fax:  02920 678399

E:mail : [1][email address]

Website:  [2]www.ico.org.uk

 

Yours sincerely

--

Freedom of Information Office

Bridgend County Borough Council

Level 2, Civic Offices

Angel Street

Bridgend

CF31 4WB

Tel: 01656 643565

Email: [Bridgend County Borough Council request email]

 

 

 

 

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Dear foi,

I am writing to ask you for some advice and assistance under Section 16 of the act to help me narrow the scope of my request. Please could you provide me with some guidance as to how long it would take to comply with the different aspects of my request. As you have already carried out some form of assessment which has enabled you to assess that S.12 is invoked it should not be too difficult to provide me with a version of this. This would help me make a decision about which aspects of the request it would be worth me focusing in on.

Yours sincerely,

Stuart Gamblin

foi, Bridgend County Borough Council

Dear Mr Gamblin,

I apologise for the delay in responding to your e-mail.

Unfortunately all the documentation regarding the Authority's PFI scheme is contained within physical files in approximately 20 storage boxes in one location. We are unable to identify how long it would take to comply with the different aspects of your request.

Yours sincerely,

Y Swyddfa Rhyddid Gwybodaeth | Freedom of Information Office
Gwasanaethau Gweithredol a Phartneriaethol | Operational and Partnership Services
Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol Pen-Y-Bont ar Ogwr | Bridgend County Borough Council
Ffon / Phone: (01656) 643473
Ffacs / Fax: (01656) 657899

E-bost / E-Mail [Bridgend County Borough Council request email]
Gwefan / Website: www.bridgend.gov.uk

Rydym yn croesawu gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg. Rhowch wybod i ni os mai Cymraeg yw eich dewis iaith.
We welcome correspondence in Welsh. Please let us know if your language choice is Welsh.

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