Who authorised the loss of £5.461m (to IBM/SW1 contract renegotiation) in 2012/13?

The request was partially successful.

Dear Somerset County Council,

In the 2012/13 Final Accounts it is stated:

"Note 6: Material Items of Income and Expense

As a result of the settlement of a dispute between SCC and Southwest One [SW1] a cost of £5.461m has been incurred in 2012/13. This relates to payments made in prior years for services to be received in future years. These services will no longer be receivable in future years, so the total amount of the deferred payment has been recognised as an expense during 2012/13 in line with accounting regulations."

Q1. Who authorised this loss of £5.461m? Please list all those involved in the authorisation (name and role)?

Q2. By what route was this loss of £5.461m approved? Please list all councillors, committees, external bodies, auditors etc who were involved in the approval process.

Yours faithfully,

Dave Orr

Dear Somerset County Council,

This FOI is flagged as overdue.

Yours faithfully,

Dave Orr

Lucy Wilkins, Somerset Council

Dear MR Orr,

Thank you for your request for information. I am very sorry that we have not responded to you. Unfortunately this has been due to a system error.

We will be prioritising your request to deal with them as soon as possible, but please bear with us at this time.

We will endeavour to get our response to you within 20 working days of receipt of this communication.

Yours sincerely

Lucy Wilkins
Information Request Team Leader
Communications Team
Tel: 01823 359173,
internally call extension 5584
Email: [cyfeiriad ebost]
Email for FOI, EIR, DP enquiries: [cyfeiriad ebost]
Somerset County Council, Post Point: PP B3E 2, County Hall, Taunton, TA1 4DY
URL: www.somerset.gov.uk

FOI Disclosure Log URL: http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog

Dear Lucy Wilkins,

Can you please describe the nature of the "system error" please?

How many FOI requests are similarly affected and how many requesters?

Why are you adding another 20 days and why not prioritise this overdue FOI?

Have you self-reported this failure and your decision to add another 20 days (outside of the FOI Act requirements) to the Information Commissioners Office?

Yours sincerely,

Dave Orr

Information Request, Somerset Council

Internal Reference: 140952

Date request received: 22/07/2014

Date response due: 19/08/2014

Date of response: 17/09/2014

Dear Mr Orr

I am very sorry for our delay in returning our response to your recent
request for information from Somerset County Council, which has been dealt
with under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

I can confirm that we do hold the information that you are seeking and we
are able to provide it to you.

Our response is detailed in bold format underneath your request as
follows.

Your request

In the 2012/13 Final Accounts it is stated:

"Note 6: Material Items of Income and Expense

As a result of the settlement of a dispute between SCC and Southwest One
[SW1] a cost of £5.461m has been incurred in 2012/13. This relates to
payments made in prior years for services to be received in future years.
These services will no longer be receivable in future years, so the total
amount of the deferred payment has been recognised as an expense during
2012/13 in line with accounting regulations."

Q1. Who authorised this loss of £5.461m? Please list all those involved in
the authorisation (name and role)?

Q2. By what route was this loss of £5.461m approved? Please list all
councillors, committees, external bodies, auditors etc who were involved
in the approval process.

Our response

Answer to Q1 and Q2

The amount identified by the requestor in Somerset County Council’s
Statement of Accounts, note 6 2012/13, is not a ‘loss’ and would not have
required ‘authorisation’. Rather the transaction, as the note to the
accounts refers, arises due to the settlement of a dispute between
Somerset County Council and Southwest One, which resulted in the early
termination of the Procurement Transformation contract between both.

As a consequence of this early termination, the Authority, in accordance
with proper accounting guidance and practice, was required to recognise as
a cost, £5.461m in 2012/13. This amount represented the balance of cost of
the Procurement Transformation contract that had yet to be expensed
through the Comprehensive Income and Expenditure Account and, had the
early termination not occurred, would have been expensed over a number of
financial years up to 2017/18. In either scenario the total amount
(£5.461m) would not have changed.

If you feel your request has not been answered in sufficient detail or if
you wish to clarify the information given, please contact me and I will be
happy to address the issues you raise.

If you are not satisfied with the way in which your request has been dealt
with, or the information you have received, you can ask for an internal
review of our decision.

Please send your request to:

Peter Grogan, Information Governance Team, Client Services

Somerset County Council, County Hall, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 4DY or email
[1][email address]

Please quote the reference number 140952 in any future communications.

An internal review will then be carried out and we will write to you with
the results of our investigation. If you are not content with the outcome
of our review, you may then apply directly to the Information
Commissioner’s Office ([2]www.ico.gov.uk) for an appeal.  The Information
commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Tel: 0303 123 1113

Finally, please be aware that your response will appear, without your
contact details, on the Council’s website at:

[3]http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog

Yours sincerely,

Lucy Wilkins

Information Request Team Leader

Communications Team

Tel: 01823 355584,

Email: [4][email address

Somerset County Council, Post Point: PP B3E 2, County Hall, Taunton, TA1
4DY

URL: [5]www.somerset.gov.uk

FOI Disclosure Log URL: [6]http://www.somerset.gov.uk/disclosurelog

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