Our Ref: 3255921

15-FEB-10

Dear A. J. Haw,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

I acknowledge your request for information received today.

Your request is being considered and if the information requested is held
by the County Council it will be sent to you within the statutory
timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Freedom of Information Act
2000, subject to the information not being exempt or containing a
reference to a third party.

If appropriate, the information will be provided in paper copy, normal
font size. If you require alternative formats, e.g. language, audio,
large print, etc. then please let me know.

For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions that may
prevent release of the information you have requested. There will be an
assessment and if any of the exemption categories apply then the exempt
information will not be released. You will be informed if this is the
case, including your rights 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.

There may a fee payable for this information to cover photocopying,
postage and any other production costs. This will be considered and you
will be informed if a fee is payable. In this event the fee must be paid
before the information is processed and released. The 20 working day time
limit for responses is suspended until receipt of the payment.

In line with the Information Commissioner's directive on the disclosure of
information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 your request will
form part of our disclosure log. Therefore, a version of our response
which will protect your anonymity will be posted on Durham County Council
website.

If you have any queries or concerns then please contact:

Freedom of Information / Data Protection Coordinator

Durham County Council

Assistant Chief Executive's Office

Room 4/10

County Hall

Durham

DH1 5TS

Tel: 0191 383 3815

Email: [Durham County Council request email]

Further information is also available from the Information Commissioner
at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545 745

Fax: 01625 524 510

Email: [email address]

www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Yours sincerely,

Neale Boswell

Freedom of Information Team

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Dear A. J. Haw,

Thank you for your email requesting an internal review of our response to your request for information regarding temporary staffing.

I am sorry for the delay in our response. We have some of the information, but it is not yet in the format that you requested and we are working on changing its format to meet your request. We hope to have the information to you with the next few days.

The following is the chronology of your request within our organisation.

Your first request arrived on 15 February 2010
On 15 February 2010 We logged and acknowledged your request
On 15 February we sent your request to the relevant officer(s).
On 26 February 2010, a request for further clarification on the request was requested from the Information Management Team to clarify the status of the request.
On 3 March 2010, a follow up request was sent to the Information Management Team for further information clarifying the status of the request.
On 11 March 2010 a third follow up request was sent from the service to the Information Management Team for clarification.
On 11 March clarification was sent to the service on the status of the request.
On 18 March request went overdue and reminder sent to the service.
On 18 March further request for clarification of ICO guidance from the service.
On 18 March guidance from ICO on issues relating to request sent.
On 19 March report sent to Improvement Planning Group (IPG) to escalate the overdue request
On 23 March your request for an internal review
On 23 March further reminder to service to provide the information
On 24 March follow up reminder to service
On 25 March initial draft of material supplied from the service.

From the above, it is clear that we have let the process slip at certain stages. We are working on streamlining our advice and guidance process so that services can better understand the context for requests. In particular, we need to assess and balance the need to provide information with the need to consider the commercial context of such information.

If you need any further information, please contact me directly, if you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request please contact:

Information Management Team
Durham County Council
Assistant Chief Executive's Office
Room 4/10
County Hall
Durham
DH1 5UF
Tel: 0191 383 3815Fax: 0191 370 8897
Email: [Durham County Council request email]

After you have exhausted our internal appeals procedure you also have a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545 745
Fax: 01625 524 510
Email: [email address]

Your faithfully,

Lawrence Serewicz

Principal Information Management Officer
Durham County Council
County Hall
County Durham
DH1 5UF

0191-383-3815

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Our Ref: 3255921

13-APR-10

Dear A J Haw,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Please accept our sincere apologies for the late response to your request
for information on temporary staffing cover for schools in County Durham
LEA, received on 15-FEB-2010.

You requested: I am interested in the amounts paid by each school in
Durham LEA to third parties in relation to temporary staffing cover. My
hope is to receive an electronic breakdown of amounts paid through the
department's purchase ledger by school. Notes: 1. I would like the
information in electronic format. This should avoid any printing cost
issues. 2. In order to avoid your having to collate information from
peripheral systems, I am willing to accept information only from your main
system (I would like you to advise which system this is). By main system I
mean the system that handles the largest part of the department's
expenditure. If supplier payments are made through separate systems, then
I would like you to choose the main system for each. 3. The information I
require for each school is: School Name; Supplier name and total amount
paid. 4. I would like the information to cover the year 2008/9. I will
accept 2007/8 figures if this is not possible.

Our response: Please find attached the requested information.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request please contact:

The Information Management Team

Durham County Council

Assistant Chief Executive's Office

Room 4/10

County Hall

Durham

DH1 5UF

Tel: 0191 383 3815

Email: [1][Durham County Council request email]

After you have exhausted our internal appeals procedure you also have a
right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545 745

Fax: 01625 524 510

Email: [email address]

Most of the documents that we provide in response to Freedom of
Information Act requests will be subject to copyright protection. In most
cases the copyright will be owned by Durham County Council. The copyright
in other documents may be owned by another person or organisation, as
indicated on the documents themselves.

You are free to use any documents supplied for your own use, including for
non-commercial research purposes. The documents may also be used for the
purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for
example, by publishing the documents or issuing copies to the public will
require the permission of the copyright owner.

For documents where the copyright is owned by Durham County Council,
please contact me for details of the conditions on re-use.

For documents where the copyright is owned by another person or
organisation, you would need to apply to the copyright owner to obtain
their permission.

Yours sincerely,

Neale Boswell

Information Management

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