Waste PFI payments

The request was successful.

Dear Surrey County Council,
It has been reported in local news that DEFRA have amended/suspended the waste PFI payments to Surrey County Council in regards to the waste contract between themselves, Suez and SCC. I am also aware of a 'closed door' cabinet meeting regarding the Eco Park, its facilities and the PFI contract recently.
I ask by Freedom of information request to be updated on the current state of play with this waste PFI (Waste Infrastructure Grants) contract. Have the payments by DEFRA changed, been amended or suspended. Please update me with all details, any correspondence between Surrey and DEFRA and Suez regarding this contract from September 1st 2019 to present. Please relay this information in electronic form. This includes details/minutes of meetings, phone calls, emails etc. Please inform me of the current state of play with this PFI contract, what payments has Surrey County Council received up to now and what is it expecting to receive in the future.
Thank you

Yours faithfully,

Adrian Corti

Maggie McCormack, Surrey County Council

Dear Mr Corti

YOUR REQUEST REF NO. FOI002535 UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

Thank you for your request for information received on 18 November 2019. Your request reference is as above.

We will respond to your request promptly and in any event within 20 working days from the date of receipt of your request. If you wish to contact me to discuss the progress of your request, please use the contact details given below and quote the reference number given above.

Regards

Maggie Mc Cormack

show quoted sections

FOI/COR/SCC, Surrey County Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Corti

 

YOUR REQUEST FOI002535  UNDER THE ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2004

(REGULATION 7 – EXTENSION OF TIME)

 

We have considered your request which was for

 

It has been reported in local news that DEFRA have amended/suspended the
waste PFI payments to Surrey County Council in regards to the waste
contract between themselves, Suez and SCC. I am also aware of a 'closed
door' cabinet meeting regarding the Eco Park, its facilities and the PFI
contract recently.

I ask by Freedom of information request to be updated on the current state
of play with this waste PFI (Waste Infrastructure Grants) contract. Have
the payments by DEFRA changed, been amended or suspended. Please update me
with all details, any correspondence between Surrey and DEFRA and Suez
regarding this contract from September 1st 2019 to present. Please relay
this information in electronic form. This includes details/minutes of
meetings, phone calls, emails etc. Please inform me of the current state
of play with this PFI contract, what payments has Surrey County Council
received up to now and what is it expecting to receive in the future.

 

Your request falls under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 as
it is about environmental information as defined in the Regulations and
therefore we will be handling your request in accordance with those
Regulations (as required by Section 39 of the Freedom of Information Act
2000).

 

We consider your request to be both complex and voluminous and that it
would be impracticable to either comply with the request within 20 working
days or to make a decision to refuse to do so within that period. 
Therefore, we are extending the period for responding to 40 working days
in accordance with Regulation 7 (1) of the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004.

 

Regards

 

Mary Elliott

 

Mrs Mary J Elliott

Freedom of Information Officer

Legal & Democratic Services

(Mondays to Thursdays)

 

Corporate Information Governance Team (Room 138) |  Democratic Services |
Surrey County Council | County Hall | Penrhyn Road | Kingston upon Thames
| Surrey | KT1 2DN

Tel: 020 8541 7969 or 020 8541 9130 (if unavailable) | Email:
[1][Surrey County Council request email]

 

[2]cid:image001.jpg@01D4DB4C.8DCBAD00

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Surrey County Council request email]

Richard Parkinson, Surrey County Council

Dear Mr Corti

 

YOUR REQUEST FOI002535  UNDER THE ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2004

(REGULATION 9 - ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE)

 

We have considered your request which was for

 

It has been reported in local news that DEFRA have amended/suspended the
waste PFI payments to Surrey County Council in regards to the waste
contract between themselves, Suez and SCC. I am also aware of a 'closed
door' cabinet meeting regarding the Eco Park, its facilities and the PFI
contract recently.

I ask by Freedom of information request to be updated on the current state
of play with this waste PFI (Waste Infrastructure Grants) contract. Have
the payments by DEFRA changed, been amended or suspended. Please update me
with all details, any correspondence between Surrey and DEFRA and Suez
regarding this contract from September 1st 2019 to present. Please relay
this information in electronic form. This includes details/minutes of
meetings, phone calls, emails etc. Please inform me of the current state
of play with this PFI contract, what payments has Surrey County Council
received up to now and what is it expecting to receive in the future.

 

Your request falls under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 as
it is about environmental information as defined in the Regulations and
therefore we will be handling your request in accordance with those
Regulations (as required by Section 39 of the Freedom of Information Act
2000).

 

We want to be as open as possible in answering requests, and to help
people obtain the information they are looking for.  Whilst we are not
refusing your request at this stage, we consider that your request is
formulated in too general a manner. Under Regulation 9 of the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004, we are under a duty to provide
assistance to applicants in providing further particulars in order that we
may deal with such requests.

 

Please can you confirm that your request for  ‘all details, any
correspondence between Surrey and DEFRA and Suez regarding this contract
from September 1st 2019 to present.’ Can be narrowed down to
correspondence in relation to both the delivery of the Eco Park and to the
Waste Infrastructure Grant.

 

If you are unable or unwilling to narrow down your request we will, of
course, consider it in accordance with our obligations under the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004. However we wanted to give you
an opportunity to reconsider your request and describe more precisely the
information you wish to have.

 

Please note, that under Regulation 9 (4), we will have 17 working days
following the date of receipt of your revised request to reply to your
revised request. 

 

Please let me know how you would like us to proceed. 

 

 

Regards

 

 

Richard Parkinson

Environment Delivery Group Manager

Community Protection, Transport & Environment Directorate

Surrey County Council

Tel 020 8541 9391

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear Richard Parkinson,

Thank you for your response (as obstructive as always).
As you well know, I am requesting the WIP programme and WIG linked to the Eco Park specifically, but I would also like this now to cover the entire Surrey County Council WIG.

Many thanks

Yours sincerely,

Adrian Corti

Richard Parkinson, Surrey County Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Corti

 

RE YOUR REQUEST 2535 UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000/
ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION REGULATIONS 2004

 

Thank you for your recent request which is set out as follows:

 

It has been reported in local news that DEFRA have amended/suspended the
waste PFI payments to Surrey County Council in regards to the waste
contract between themselves, Suez and SCC. I am also aware of a 'closed
door' cabinet meeting regarding the Eco Park, its facilities and the PFI
contract recently.
I ask by Freedom of information request to be updated on the current state
of play with this waste PFI (Waste Infrastructure Grants) contract. Have
the payments by DEFRA changed, been amended or suspended. Please update me
with all details, any correspondence between Surrey and DEFRA and Suez
regarding this contract from September 1st 2019 to present. Please relay
this information in electronic form. This includes details/minutes of
meetings, phone calls, emails etc. Please inform me of the current state
of play with this PFI contract, what payments has Surrey County Council
received up to now and what is it expecting to receive in the future.

In response to a request by Surrey County Council you subsequently
clarified your request with the following information.

As you well know, I am requesting the WIP programme and WIG linked to the
Eco Park specifically, but I would also like this now to cover the entire
Surrey County Council WIG

 

 

We consider that your request for information falls to be considered as a
request for information under the Environmental Information Regulations
2004 (“EIR”)

 

We confirm that Surrey County Council does hold the information requested
but that we have decided to withhold some of that information under the
following provisions of the EIR.

 

Regulation 13 - Release of personal data

 

Regulation 12(4)(d) - the request relates to material which is still in
the

course of completion, to unfinished documents or to incomplete data and
the public interest in maintaining the exception outweighs the public
interest in disclosing the information.

 

Regulation 12(5)(d)  - the confidentiality of the proceedings of that or
any other public authority where such confidentiality is provided by law;
such confidentiality will be adversely affected by disclosure; and the
public interest in maintaining the exception outweighs the public interest
in disclosing the information.

 

The payments of Waste Infrastructure Grant from Defra to Surrey County
Council have been re-profiled as set out in the attached letter from Defra
to Surrey County Council dated 20^th January 2020. The total amount of
Waste Infrastructure Grant awarded to Surrey County Council was £204.75M
and to date the council has received £135.36M leaving around £69.4M of
grant to be paid.

 

We supply this information based on your original request. Please do not
hesitate to contact me if you have any queries regarding the information
enclosed.  Remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.
 
If you are unhappy with the handling of your request for information and
wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, in the first
instance you should contact the County Council, quoting your request
number given above, at:
 
Freedom of Information Officer
Surrey County Council
County Hall
Penrhyn Road
Kingston Upon Thames
KT1 2DN
[1][Surrey County Council request email]

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

Richard Parkinson

Environment Delivery Manager, Environment Service, Surrey County Council

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Surrey County Council request email]
2. https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/