Freedom of information response

1. Please see attached documents Appendix A (Adult Social Care) and Appendix B (Children’s Social Care)

2. Please see attached document Appendix A (Adult Social Care) and Appendix B (Children’s Social Care). 

With regards to a detailed breakdown of which organisations are being paid and how much, issuing our response the Council has applied S43 of the Freedom of Information Act.  Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it).  A commercial interest relates to a person’s ability to successfully participate in a commercial activity, i.e. the purchase and the sale of goods or services.  The reasons for this have been captured below under the public interest test section.   However, we are able to provide grand totals, also, some information which is not commercially sensitive may be published online via our Payments to suppliers web link:Payments to suppliers | What we spend | Thurrock Council.

3) Unfortunately we are unable to provide in full the information you have requested.  We do hold the information but an absolute exemption applies.  Personal Information (Section 40,2)

Personal data of any other person (third party data) is exempt under section 40(2) if disclosure would breach one of the data protection principles. This aspect of Section 40 is an Absolute Exemption and is therefore not subject to the Public Interest Test.

The names of officers working for the Council is personal data specific to them. It is therefore subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act. Information can be withheld if its disclosure would be likely to breach one or more of the Principles of the Data Protection Act. There is no prior expectation on the part of team Managers (or other officers working below the level of Director) that their names and job titles / positions would be published into the wider public domain under FOI. A disclosure made under FOI constitutes a publication to the world at large. We believe that to disclose this would be likely to breach the first Principle of the Data Protection Act by unfairly contravening their right to privacy and confidentiality in the work place.

However, in the interests of transparency we are able to share details relating to senior officers (Director  level and above). For these officers, there is already a greater expectation of openness about their role given their level of accountability for service provision and budgetary decision making.

Public Interest Test:

The council have considered the public interest test in relation to section 43 (2) in releasing the information in scope of your request. The outcome of this is below.

• Public interest in disclosure:
  
  • Accountability for spending of public money. Where a public authority is purchasing goods/services there is a public interest in ensuring value for money is achieved.

• Public interest to maintain the exemption:
  
  • Releasing cost figures for a specific service may affect the company’s ability to commercially tender for the same service in the future.
  • Companies should be able to compete fairly on a level playing field. If the details of costs for services are publicly available then this would put the current service provider at a commercial disadvantage should a competitor be made aware of the costs charged.
  • It will hinder the ongoing working relationship between the council and the current service provider.

Based on the above, it is the Council’s view that there is a stronger public interest to maintain the use of the exemption for section 43 (2).

For your information please see the following link which outlines staff details of Director and above: https://www.thurrock.gov.uk/chief-executive-directors-and-services

You are free to use any information supplied to you for your own use, including non-commercial research purposes.  However, any other type of re-use, for example, by publishing the information or issuing copies to the public will require the permission of the copyright owner.

Where the copyright is owned by Thurrock Council, you must apply to the Council to re-use the information.  Please email information.matters@thurrock.gov.uk if you wish to re-use the information you have been supplied. For information where the copyright is owned by another person or organisation, you must apply to the copyright owner to obtain their permission.

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which the council have managed your FOI request you can pursue an Internal Review by contacting us using the above email address. Your request will be considered by a senior member of the Information Management Team who will update you with the outcome of the review. 

If you remain unhappy following the outcome of your Internal Review you may wish to refer your case to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and details of this organisation can be found at www.ico.org.uk . Please be advised that the ICO will not consider your case until they have confirmation that you have already been through the Internal Review stage with the council.