PFI PPP Safety Audit
Dear Waltham Forest Borough Council,
This request for information is an attempt to seek reassurance about the safety of public buildings in the light of the findings revealed in the Inquiry commissioned following the collapse of a school building wall in Edinburgh and subsequent closure of 17 schools.
Please answer the following for each PFI/PPP schemes in the local authority area treating each scheme as a separate request.
Please provide all documents showing how your organisation has responded to the findings contained in the report on Edinburgh Schools Construction by John Cole: including, but not limited to memos, emails, minutes, reports.
I would like to understand the expertise and resource committed by your organisation to the management and oversight of PFI schemes from procurement through to ongoing contract operation. Please provide documents relating to the PFI Team(s) allocated to each project its makeup and structure of the team during each project phase. This may comprise terms of reference, organisation chart, post titles and role profiles.
Provide the deed of appointment for the Independent Certifier and any other documents setting out the scope of that role. Please confirm the level of indemnity insurance and liability period.
Please confirm whether your organisation employed a member of the Institute of Clerk of Works or an inspector of similar standing and assigned them to each construction site. If someone in this role was employed please confirm their level of qualification, the salary associated with this role and how much time was allocated to per project/site.
Please provide a list of all enforcement or improvement notices served; investigations carried out and reports commissioned into fire safety (include dates and specify who commissioned or issued these) Please provide copies of all items listed.
Provide details of all attempts to make deductions relating to structural defects for each project. Confirm the amount, what it was for, and when the deduction was made.9
Yours faithfully,
Megan Ingles
Dear Customer
Thank you for contacting the Information Officer.
We will aim to respond to your email within 3 working days.
If you have submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request we will
supply the information requested within 20 working days of the date your
request was recieved. A reference number will be provided when your
request has been uploaded onto our system.
Next time why not visit our website and submit your FOI request or
Complaint online.
[1]https://portal.walthamforest.gov.uk
If you have submitted a Subject to Access request we will supply the
information requested within 40 calendar days.
Thank you
Information Officer
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this e-mail is
intended only for the addressee(s). It may contain privileged and
confidential information and, if you are not the intended recipient, you
must not read, copy or distribute it, nor take any action in reliance upon
it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please inform the sender as
soon as possible and delete the e-mail from your computer. E-mail may be
corrupted or altered during or after transmission. We accept no
responsibility for changes made to this e-mail after it was sent. Whilst
we take reasonable steps to identify software viruses, any attachments to
this email may contain viruses which our anti-virus software has failed to
identify. No liability is accepted for such viruses, and we therefore
recommend that you carry out your own anti-virus checks before opening any
attachments. Information contained in this e-mail may be subject to public
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004.
References
Visible links
1. https://portal.walthamforest.gov.uk/
Re: FOI case FOIX291479
Subject:
PFI PPP Safety Audit
Description:
This request for information is an attempt to seek reassurance about the
safety of public buildings in the light of the findings revealed in the
Inquiry commissioned following the collapse of a school building wall in
Edinburgh and subsequent closure of 17 schools.
Please answer the following for each PFI/PPP schemes in the local
authority area treating each scheme as a separate request.
Please provide all documents showing how your organisation has responded
to the findings contained in the report on Edinburgh Schools Construction:
including, but not limited to memos, emails, minutes, reports.
I would like to understand the expertise and resource committed by your
organisation to the management and oversight of PFI schemes from
procurement through to ongoing contract operation. Please provide
documents relating to the PFI Team(s) allocated to each project its makeup
and structure of the team during each project phase. This may comprise
terms of reference, organisation chart, post titles and role profiles.
Provide the deed of appointment for the Independent Certifier and any
other documents setting out the scope of that role. Please confirm the
level of indemnity insurance and liability period.
Please confirm whether your organisation employed a member of the
Institute of Clerk of Works or an inspector of similar standing and
assigned them to each construction site. If someone in this role was
employed please confirm their level of qualification, the salary
associated with this role and how much time was allocated to per
project/site.
Please provide a list of all enforcement or improvement notices served;
investigations carried out and reports commissioned into fire safety
(include dates and specify who commissioned or issued these) Please
provide copies of all items listed.
Provide details of all attempts to make deductions relating to
structural defects for each project. Confirm the amount, what it was for,
and when the deduction was made.9
Dear Sir/Madam,
Thank you for your recent request for information. Your request was
received on 22 May 2017 and we are dealing with it under the terms of the
Freedom of Information Act (2000), and in line with the Council's policy
and protocols.
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 have any queries about this message, please contact us via email
at: [1][email address] or by post at:
The London Borough of Waltham Forest
Town Hall
Forest Road
London
E17 4JF
Please remember to quote the reference number FOIX291479 in any future
communications.
Kind regards,
The Information Officer
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this e-mail is
intended only for the addressee(s). It may contain privileged and
confidential information and, if you are not the intended recipient, you
must not read, copy or distribute it, nor take any action in reliance upon
it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please inform the sender as
soon as possible and delete the e-mail from your computer. E-mail may be
corrupted or altered during or after transmission. We accept no
responsibility for changes made to this e-mail after it was sent. Whilst
we take reasonable steps to identify software viruses, any attachments to
this email may contain viruses which our anti-virus software has failed to
identify. No liability is accepted for such viruses, and we therefore
recommend that you carry out your own anti-virus checks before opening any
attachments. Information contained in this e-mail may be subject to public
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]?subject=FOI%20Query
Dear Megan Ingles,
I am writing to confirm that the Council has now completed its search for
the information which you requested on 19^th May 2017 as follows:
This request for information is an attempt to seek reassurance about the
safety of public buildings in the light of the findings revealed in the
Inquiry commissioned following the collapse of a school building wall in
Edinburgh and subsequent closure of 17 schools.
Please answer the following for each PFI/PPP schemes in the local
authority area treating each scheme as a separate request.
1. Please provide all documents showing how your organisation has
responded to the findings contained in the report on Edinburgh Schools
Construction: including, but not limited to memos, emails, minutes,
reports.
2. I would like to understand the expertise and resource committed by
your organisation to the management and oversight of PFI schemes from
procurement through to ongoing contract operation. Please provide
documents relating to the PFI Team(s) allocated to each project its
makeup and structure of the team during each project phase. This may
comprise terms of reference, organisation chart, post titles and role
profiles.
3. Provide the deed of appointment for the Independent Certifier and any
other documents setting out the scope of that role. Please confirm the
level of indemnity insurance and liability period.
4. Please confirm whether your organisation employed a member of the
Institute of Clerk of Works or an inspector of similar standing and
assigned them to each construction site. If someone in this role was
employed please confirm their level of qualification, the salary
associated with this role and how much time was allocated to per
project/site.
5. Please provide a list of all enforcement or improvement notices
served; investigations carried out and reports commissioned into fire
safety (include dates and specify who commissioned or issued these).
Please provide copies of all items listed.
6. Provide details of all attempts to make deductions relating to
structural defects for each project. Confirm the amount, what it was
for, and when the deduction was made.
The following information has been provided by the department responsible
for the service delivery.
1. As soon as the Authority Representative for the three school PFI
contracts became aware of the incident at the Edinburgh school, she
escalated this to the senior management so a decision could be made.
A senior manager then contacted the representatives for all the three
contracts asking for reassurance. The same issue was also raised at
the school meetings. A confirmation was received regarding the safety
of a new school at the meeting itself. For the other 8 schools across
two contracts, a report was received confirming that all our schools
were structurally safe. Emails, meeting minutes and report are not
attached since these relate to third parties and capture more
information than those relating to this issue. Only the email sent by
LBWF colleague to other LBWF colleagues is attached herewith since
this is internal. But this is a proof to the fact that LBWF reacted
immediately.
2. LBWF PFI contracts are approximately 16, 12 and 9 years into the
operational phase.Information regarding the construction phase is no
longer available.
3. Please find attached the following documents.No Deed of Appointment is
available in respect of Frederick Bremer.
* Independent Certifier’s Deed of Appointment – Grouped Schools
* Independent Certifier Collateral Warranty – Lammas School.
4. We can confirm that no member of the Institute of Clerk of Works were
employed by LBWF in relation to the projects.
5. Our records indicate that LBWF has received no enforcement or
improvement notices from either the HSE or the London Fire Brigade.
6. LBWF has made no attempts to make deductions relating to structural
defects for each project, as the terms of the contract do not permit for
this.
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your
own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for
the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for example commercial
publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to request a review of our decision, you should contact
us via e-mail at: [1][email address] or by post:
The London Borough of Waltham Forest
Town Hall
Forest Road
London
E17 4JA
Please remember to quote the reference number: FOIX291479 in any future
communications.
If you are not content with the outcome of your review, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) for a decision.
Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the
complaints procedure provided by the Council.
Kind regards,
The Information Officer
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information contained in this e-mail is
intended only for the addressee(s). It may contain privileged and
confidential information and, if you are not the intended recipient, you
must not read, copy or distribute it, nor take any action in reliance upon
it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please inform the sender as
soon as possible and delete the e-mail from your computer. E-mail may be
corrupted or altered during or after transmission. We accept no
responsibility for changes made to this e-mail after it was sent. Whilst
we take reasonable steps to identify software viruses, any attachments to
this email may contain viruses which our anti-virus software has failed to
identify. No liability is accepted for such viruses, and we therefore
recommend that you carry out your own anti-virus checks before opening any
attachments. Information contained in this e-mail may be subject to public
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 or the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
We work to defend the right to FOI for everyone
Help us protect your right to hold public authorities to account. Donate and support our work.
Donate Now