Dear Northern Trains Limited,

Please find a Freedom of Information request as follows:

1) From April 2020, has Northern Trains used external
recruitment agencies to hire for permanent or contract roles? Fees paid
are often known as 'finders fees', 'temp to perm fees' or a retainer fee
paid to recruitment agencies.

2) Please provide the total recruitment fees paid, and the number of people
appointed, for each of the following years:

1 April 2020 - 31 March 2021

1 April 2021 - 31 March 2022

1 April 2022 - 31 March 2023

3) Do Northern Trains Limited have any Preferred Supplier
List(s) for recruitment agencies? If yes, please detail the suppliers on the list, and when this is due to be retendered?

Yours faithfully,

David Williams

Dear SMB - FOI,

Thank you for your recent response, which was helpful.

We would be grateful to clarify the response to part 2) of the request "Total recruitment fees paid, and the number of people appointed for the period - 1 April 2021 - 31 March 2022 and 1 April 2022 - 31 March 2023.

We wish to clarify the following part of the response " .....but do not include
permanent appointments as this is not recorded and held centrally"

Please can you formally confirm that Northern Trains does not hold information on the number of permanent appointment and associated fees paid?

We note other public sector organisations routinely provide this information, using records from procurement systems and approvals via Human Resources teams, or Remuneration Panels. These records typically form part of a system of appropriate controls for public funds.

Yours sincerely,

David Williams