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School software suppor

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Dear Lancashire County Council,

Can you please provide for me the answers to the following questions:

1. Do you provide traded services to schools in your area, or do you contract this out to another party that is outside the local authority? If so, to which?

2. Which school MIS (management information systems) providers do you hold support contracts or accreditations with, and for each MIS provider:
a) What is the nature of the current arrangement (a paid contract, an unpaid accreditation)?
b) When did the current arrangement begin and when it will finish (including any extensions)?
c) If a paid contract, under what basis did you procure it (e.g. directly, through a framework, via OJEU procurement, other)?

3. How many schools do you provide MIS support services to, and:
a) How does this break down by Primary Academies, Primary Maintained, Secondary Academies, Secondary Maintained, Other (incl. PRUs, SENs)?
b) How does this break down by MIS provider?
c) How has this total changed between 2018/19, 2019/20 and this year (say as at June 1st 2018 vs. June 1st 2019 vs. June 1st 2020, or any similar convenient dates)?

4. As part of your support to schools for each of these MIS providers, which of the following activities do you carry out (I am interested in whether the activities differ between MIS providers):
a) 1st line support
b) 2nd line support
c) 3rd line support
d) Implementations
e) Data audits / cleansing
f) Regulatory / census submissions
g) Server management
h) Main data hosting
i) Data backup
j) User training
k) Provide templates / configuration
l) Analysis of data / insight services
m) Resale of the software to schools (on a commission basis)
n) Hosting or arranging local user group meetings / events

5. What was your total traded services income from schools (for all servies) in 2018/19 and 2019/20?

6. What was your total traded service income for providing schools with MIS support for 2018/19 and 2019/20?

7. What is the current amount of de-delegated funding that you levy on LA-maintained schools (either in total, on a per school level, or a per learner level - whichever is easiest)?

8. What software or digital tools (learning, safeguarding or admin) do you provide to schools under the de-delegated funding allocation?

Yours faithfully,

Vivek Yadav

Freedom of Information, Lancashire County Council

Good Morning,

Request for Information under the Freedom of Information Act (2000)

We are writing to acknowledge receipt of your enquiry of 03.09.20 in which you request the disclosure of information.

We can confirm that your enquiry will now be assigned to an officer who will commence a search for the information you require and they will respond in due course. The deadline date for issuing you with a full response is 01.10.20. We will endeavour to provide a response well in advance of this date, however, should we envisage any delays, or require more details from you, we will contact you immediately.

If you have any queries about the above, please do not hesitate to contact us, quoting ref 984.954 (AA4).

Please note that due to the ongoing Coronavirus epidemic the County Council's resources are being diverted to cover critical functions and some employees have had to make changes to their usual working arrangements. This means that, despite our best efforts, there may be a delay in issuing our response to you. We appreciate that this may cause some inconvenience but we trust you understand that, in the current crisis, it is inevitable that some delays may be experienced.

Yours sincerely,

On Behalf of the Information Governance Team Lancashire County Council PO Box 78 County Hall Preston
PR1 8XJ

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Freedom of Information, Lancashire County Council

Dear Mr. Yadav,

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Further to your request for information, made under the provisions of the above Act, please see below our response.

Request and Response:

This information is exempt from disclosure by virtue of section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act. This is because disclosure of the information would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of the County Council and/or other organisations with which we conduct business with.

The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) guidance on the application of s43 states that "a commercial interest relates to a person's ability to participate competitively in a commercial activity, i.e. the purchase and sale of goods and services". A tendering process is clearly a commercial activity, given that it is a competitive process by which the County Council intends to select a provider to deliver a service.

In considering the public interest test, I acknowledge that there is a general public interest in accountability and transparency in relation to the activities of public authorities. This is particularly the case where the public body is obtaining services from third parties in an effort to secure the best value for money. However this must be considered against the strong public interest in ensuring that the commercial interest of the County Council or third parties of with whom we conduct business are not unduly prejudice particularly in the current economic climate. In light of the above I have concluded that the public interest favours maintaining the exemption and therefore the request is refused under section 43(2) of the Act.

In the event that you wish to complain about the manner in which your enquiry has been handled, you should write in the first instance to The Freedom of Information Officer, Lancashire County Council, PO Box 78, County Hall, Preston PR1 8XJ, or email [Lancashire County Council request email] and the matter will be referred to the Head of Information Governance for review and reconsideration.

If, after this stage, you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to refer the matter to the Information Commissioner, whose contact details are as follows:

The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113
Email: [email address]
Website: http://www.ico.org.uk

If you have any queries regarding any of the above, or you require any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact the team quoting reference number 984.954 (AA4).

We trust that our response is to your satisfaction, and your request will now be closed as of this date.

Yours sincerely

Information Access Officer
Information Governance Team
Lancashire County Council
T: 0300 123 6701
W: www.lancashire.gov.uk

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