Waste Management contract with Veolia ES UK

The request was partially successful.

Dear Birmingham City Council,

I am seeking the following information from Birmingham City Council under the Freedom of Information Act:

1. Specify in detail the services provided by Veolia ES UK Ltd on behalf of Birmingham City Council?

2. Provide a copy of the current contract between BCC and Veolia Environmental Services with respect to its role as waste manager for Birmingham.

3. Provide a list of breaches to this contract, with an indication of the nature of the breach, the penalty imposed, and the resolution imposed for the last three financial years?

4.Describe in detail the Council’s arrangements for managing its contract with Veolia Environment?

5. Explain the arrangements specified in the contact for reviewing the Council’s contract with Veolia?

6. Who is responsible for reviewing the contract and what is the reporting process within the Council for the review of the contract?

7. Specify what criteria is used to evaluate the contract when it is reviewed?

8. When is the contract with Veolia ES UK Ltd due to be reviewed again by the City Council and when was it last reviewed?

9. Has the City Council sought legal advice in relation to Veolia’s commercial activities in the occupied Palestinian territories and its implications for the Council’s contract with Veolia?

10. If yes, did the legal advice consider whether Veolia was in breach of the Public Contract Regulations in relation the company’s commercial activities in the occupied Palestinian territories?

11. Describe the procurement process for the tender for waste management services when the existing contract ends and specify the timescales for the different stages of the procurement process?

12. Is there an option to renew the waste management contract with the existing provider?

Yours faithfully,

Jolyon Jones

Birmingham City Council

Dear Mr Jones

Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Request for Information
FOI6767

Thank you for your request which was received on 17/02/2012 for
information held by the Council under the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, we will
let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be required
to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.

If you require any further information or are not happy with our response
please do not hesitate to contact a member of our team on 303 6676 quoting
the reference number above in any future communications.

Yours sincerely

Data Protection / Freedom of Information
Performance and Support Services
Telephone: 0121 303 6676
Fax: 0121 303 4943
Data Protection Act 1998
The information you have provided within your Freedom of Information
request will be held on our database and may also be held within manual
records for a period of 2 years from the date Birmingham City Council
received your request. Any personal data that you provide to Birmingham
City Council will be held in line with the requirements set out within the
Data Protection Act 1998.

Re Use of Public Sector Information
Where Birmingham City Council is the copyright holder of any information
that may be released, re-use for personal, educational or non-commercial
purposes is permitted without further reference to the City Council. Where
the re-use is for other purposes, such as commercial re-use, the applicant
should notify the City Council in writing to seek approval or agree terms
for re-use.

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Birmingham City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Jones

Please see the attached holding letter regarding your recent request for
information relating to Veolia and waste management services.

(See attached file: FOI 6767 Jones holding Letter.doc)

Val Llewellyn
Compliance Officer
Environment and Culture
303 4404

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Birmingham City Council

Dear Mr Jones

Further to Val Llewellyn's letter to you dated 12 March 2012, I am afraid
that I am unable to send you a response under the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act to questions 5, 6, 8, 9 10, 11 and 12 of your
request today, but a member of the compliance team will contact you with a
response within the next 5 working days.
Regards

Rosa Hunter
Compliance Officer
Birmingham City Council
Performance & Support Services
Environment & Culture
Room 41, House of Sport
300 Broad Street
Birmingham
B1 1TZ

Tel:  0121 303 6676
Fax:  0121 303 4943

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Birmingham City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Jolyon Jones

Attached is Birmingham City Council's response to your Freedom of
Information request.

Lynda Parchment
Compliance Assistant
Environment and Culture - Committee Services
Data Protection / Freedom of Information and Insurance Services
0121 303 4638

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Birmingham City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Jones

I refer to your request for information relating to the Veolia contract.
In view of the extent of the documentation involved , I have been asked
seek clarification regarding your request.

I would be grateful you could have a look at the attached letter and let me
have your response early next week ( I will be back in the office next
Tuesday).

(See attached file: FOI 6767 Jones Clarification letter.doc)

val llewellyn
Compliance officer
Environment and Culture
303 4404

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Dear Birmingham City Council,

In reply to your point of clarification as to whether the information you are requesting is only the Waste Disposal Agreement, the answer is yes.

Yours faithfully,

Jolyon Jones

Dear Birmingham City Council,

I wish to seek clarifcation of an answer to my FOI request 9 contained in your letter dated 23rd March 2012

In reply to the question has the City Council sought legal advice in relation to Veolia’s commercial activities in the occupied Palestinian territories and its implications for the Council’s contract with Veolia?

You reply: We are not aware that legal advice has been sought.

I would note that you have not replied No to this question.

Have Councillors' rather than Officers of BCC ever sought legal advice on this matter, including Counsel's opinion?

Yours faithfully,

Jolyon Jones

Birmingham City Council

Dear Mr Jones

This is to acknowledge your query to Part 9 of your request. I have
referred the matter to the relevant officers to look at and a response will
be sent to you as soon as possible.

val llewellyn
Compliance Team
303 4404


Jolyon Jones
<request-106231-7
8345183@whatdothe To
yknow.com> [email address]
cc
17/05/2012 16:08
Subject
Re: Request for information under
the FOI Act / EIR Regulations





Dear Birmingham City Council,

I wish to seek clarifcation of an answer to my FOI request 9
contained in your letter dated 23rd March 2012

In reply to the question has the City Council sought legal advice
in relation to Veolia’s commercial activities in the occupied
Palestinian territories and its implications for the Council’s
contract with Veolia?

You reply: We are not aware that legal advice has been sought.

I would note that you have not replied No to this question.

Have Councillors' rather than Officers of BCC ever sought legal
advice on this matter, including Counsel's opinion?

Yours faithfully,

Jolyon Jones

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Birmingham City Council

Dear Mr Jones
I acknowledge your email below and have referred this to the Legal Services
officers to look at the information in terms of the exemptions and the
public interest test .
I am not sure how long this will take. As soon as I have an anticipated
response time , I will notify you.

val llewellyn
Compliance Officer
303 4404


Jolyon Jones
<request-106231-7
8345183@whatdothe To
yknow.com> [email address]
cc
17/05/2012 15:56
Subject
Re: Request for information under
the FOI Act / EIR Regulations





Dear Birmingham City Council,

In reply to your point of clarification as to whether the
information you are requesting is only the Waste Disposal
Agreement, the answer is yes.

Yours faithfully,

Jolyon Jones

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Birmingham City Council

I will be out of the office starting 17/05/2012 and will not return until
21/05/2012.

I will reply to your message when I return.
If you have an urgent Committee matter please contact either Lynda
Parchment, Admin Support Officer in my team on 303 4638 or
for queries on governance issues please contact Lesley Ariss, Head of
Business Transformation and Performance and Support Services on 303 4720.

I will respond to your message on my return.

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Birmingham City Council

Dear Mr Jones
I am writing to apologise for the delay in sending you a further response
to your request for information on the Waste Disposal Agreement. One of
the reasons for this was that we were required to seek the views of both
the service officers and Veolia on the possible disclosure of the
information. This has now been done and their comments have been referred
to our legal officers for consideration.

Unfortunately, due to exceptional circumstances, I understand that the
legal officers are unlikely to be in a position to provide a response for a
further couple of weeks. I can only assure you that we will endeavour to
provide you with a response as soon as possible and apologise for the
further delay.

Yours sincerely

Val Llewellyn
Compliance Officer
Environment and Culture
303 4404


Jolyon Jones
<request-106231-7
8345183@whatdothe To
yknow.com> [email address]
cc
17/05/2012 15:56
Subject
Re: Request for information under
the FOI Act / EIR Regulations





Dear Birmingham City Council,

In reply to your point of clarification as to whether the
information you are requesting is only the Waste Disposal
Agreement, the answer is yes.

Yours faithfully,

Jolyon Jones

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Birmingham City Council

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Jones

Please find attached the final part response to your request for
information relating to the Waste Disposal Agreement.

(See attached file: FOI 6767 Jones response letter to EIR - 1 Aug 2012.doc)
(See attached file: FOI 6767 Jones Waste Disposal Agreement REDACTED.pdf)

val llewellyn
Compliance Officer
Environment and Culture
303 4404

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