Bedford Borough Council Requests and Responses Received August 2012
Request ID / Date of response / Request and Response3421 / 3/8/2012 / Request:
1. How many schools make up the community for your Local Authority?
2. How many staff are employed in those schools?
3. How are HR and Payroll Services provided to those schools? Specify whether:
a. You provide these services directly
b. You currently outsource to a 3rd party, if so who is that 3rd party?
c. You operate a brokering service from which schools can purchase these services, and if so who is the responsible officer within your organisation for that?
d. Given the Government agenda around the academy/Free school initiative, do you have intentions in the short/medium term to change the way in which HR and/or payroll services are delivered to your community of schools?
Our response:
Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the authority must state whether or not the information exists and I confirm that we do hold the information you requested.
Please note that your letter was addressed to Bedfordshire County Council which ceased to exist after 31/03/09 when the schools were split geographically between Bedford Borough Council and Central Bedfordshire Council. The data provided relates to schools maintained by Bedford Borough Council only.
Please find the information you requested below.
1. There are 67 schools maintained by Bedford Borough Council.
2. There are currently 3736 employees at these 67 schools.
3. a) Bedford Borough Council runs its own HR and Payroll departments which provide a full service to schools.
b) We do not outsource HR or Payroll provision to a 3rd party.
c) We do not provide a brokering service
d) We do not have any plans to change the way in which these services are delivered to our own maintained schools.
3422 / 29/8/2012 / Request:
Re: Butterfield Ct
We are currently undertaking an environmental review of the above site. We understand from a review of historical maps is located on a former Garage.
We would be grateful if you could conduct a search for the following details:
1. Is the site likely to be investigated further under the Council’s Part IIA Strategy and if so what level of priority would it be given?
2. Does the Council have any specific concerns regarding ground conditions at the site?
3. Is the Council aware of any previous site investigations and / or remediation work that has been undertaken on site or in the surrounding area?
4. Records of any pre-licensing landfill sites within 500m, including:
· licence holder
· location (grid reference and boundary plan)
· dates of operation and nature of fill material
· details of any leachate / landfill gas monitoring
5. Pollution records / known areas of contamination within 500m, including:
· location / grid reference
· nature / source of pollution
· previous land uses
· any further details (e.g. remedial work)
6. Environmental Permits within 250m, including:
· authorisation holder
· location / grid reference
· nature of authorisation
Our response:
Thank you for your letter requesting further information about potential contaminated land at Butterfield Court, Milton Ernest, Bedfordshire. I have consulted the records held within the Environmental Health and Trading Standards Department, and have responded to your questions as listed below:
1. By virtue of Part IIA of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (‘the Act’), the Council was required to formulate a Strategy to detail how it plans to meet its duty to inspect land in its area and identify contaminated land under sections 78B and C of the Act. Based on information available at this time, it is not considered likely that the above site will be inspected under the Act. However, it is possible that new information may become available which could alter this assessment.
2. The Environmental Health and Trading Standards Department do not have any specific concerns regarding ground conditions at the site.
3. Environmental Health and Trading Standards Department is not aware of any previous site investigations and / or remediation work that has been undertaken on site or in the surrounding area?
4. With respect to records of records of any pre-licensing landfill sites within 500m:
Our records indicate the presence of a site at approximately 250m North West of the Site, which was formerly used as a brickyard, and subsequently used for the disposal of brick rubble. This Department holds no records of any disposal of other materials, nor of any formal records of site operators, monitoring etc.
5 No records of any pollution or known areas of contamination within 500m are held by the Environmental Health and Trading Standards Department.
6 There is one permitted installation within 250m of the site:
· The authorisation is held by BBS Fleet Logistics, 41 Rushden Road (A6), Milton Ernest, Bedfordshire, MK44 1RU.
· The premises is authorised to carry out vehicle re-spraying.
3423 / 2/8/2012 / Request:
I want to make a Freedom of Information request, could you please send me the following information with regards to the organisation’s Mobile Phone contracts.
1.Existing Supplier(s) - If there is more than one supplier please split the contract up
2.Total contract value- If there isn’t a total contract value please cans you provide me with the latest annual spend on mobile phone.
3.Number of Users- Number of connections with network provider
4.Duration of the contract- please state if the contract also include contract extensions
5.Contract/Framework Agreement Start Date- please provide me with the month and year and day if possible
6.Contract/Framework Agreement Expiry Date-please provide me with the month and year and day if possible
7.Contract/Framework Agreement Review Date-please provide me with the month and year and day if possible
8.The person within the organisation responsible for this particular contract. Can you send me the full contact details Contact Name, Job Title, Contact Number and direct email address.
Our response:
Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the authority must state whether or not the information exists and I confirm that we do hold the information you requested.
Please find the information you requested set out below for 2011/12:
With regards to the Council Mobile Phone contracts:
1)Existing Supplier(s) - If there is more than one supplier please split the contract up
A - Vodafone
2)Total contract value- If thereisn'ta total contract value please cans you provide me with the latest annual spend on mobile phone.
A - £94,400 per annum (£23,600 per qtr)
3) Number of Users
A - 1,052 (as at 01/08/2012)
4)Duration of the contract
A - 28 months from 01 /03/2012, any new connections after this date are for 28 months from the date of connection
5)Contract Start Date
A - 01/03/2012
6)Contract Expiry Date
A - 31/07/2014
7)Contract Review Date
A - Approx 60 days prior to expiry
8) The person within the Council responsible for this particular contract. Can you send me the full contact details Contact Name, Job Title, Contact Number and direct email address.
A - Lawrence McArdle, Head of ICT, 01234 718221,
3424 / 16/8/2012 / Request:
I would like to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act / Freedom of Information Act (Scotland) to establish how many public health funeral cases have taken place in the council within the last 6 months.
I would be most grateful if you could include in your response some or all of the following information:
Name of the Deceased
Date and Place of Death
Date and Place of Birth
Last known residence of the deceased
Whether next of kin have been traced
Value of the Estate
Date on which referred/due to be referred to the Treasury Solicitor or Duchy or QLTR if applicable.
Response:
Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the authority must state whether or not the information exists and I confirm that we do hold the information you requested.
I can confirm we currently have a contract with a local funeral director who carry all assisted funeral services for the Council.
Please find the information you requested enclosed.
Please contact for a copy of the spreadsheet
3425 / 16/8/2012 / Request:
I wish to make a request under the Freedom of Information Act I require the following details.
Name of the deceased including any maiden name
Date of Birth of deceased
Date of Death of deceased
Last known Address of the deceased
When the estate was passed onto the Treasury Solicitor, Duchy of Lancaster or Cornwall, QLTR ( Scotland)
Estimate of the estate if any
I would like details of all public health funerals whether they have, have not or will go to the above organisations since April 2012 to present day.
The details requested concern those members of the public who have died without any known next of kin or those people that have died with a named next of kin that cannot be traced and therefore the Treasury Solicitor maybe unwilling to act upon.
Response:
Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the authority must state whether or not the information exists and I confirm that we do hold the information you requested.
Please find the information you requested enclosed.
Please contact for a copy of the spreadsheet
3426 / 3/8/2012 / Request:
Please provide the following information under the Freedom of Information Act.
1) How many full-time members of staff does the authority CURRENTLY have in its Procurement Dept ( IE all members of staff involved in purchasing products & services on behalf of the Authority)
2) How many full-time members of staff did the authority have in its Procurement Dept at 31 December 2008
3) How many contracts (for all products & services) of all values did the Authority award in 2011?
Our response:
Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the authority must state whether or not the information exists and I confirm that we do hold the information you requested and it is duly given below.
1)
How many full-time members of staff does the authority CURRENTLY have in its Procurement Dept? (IE all members of staff involved in purchasing products & services on behalf of the Authority)
1 interim manager and 3 full-time staff.
2)
How many full-time members of staff did the authority have in its Procurement Dept at 31 December 2008?
None – the Authority became unitary on 1st April, 2009.
3)
How many contracts (for all products & services) of all values did the Authority award in 2011?
There were 111 contracts commenced during 2011.
3427 / 30/8/2012 / Request:
In accordance with the provisions specified within the above Act I hereby request the following information or an update of the information since the last request. All information requested relates to Business Rates.
Required Information;- A list of all live business rates accounts with a 2010 list Rateable Value greater than or equal to £25,000.
Property Reference Number (also known as Billing Authority Reference Number) of the property on which the charge is made. Please note that this is not the Rate Demand or Rate Account Number.
Current Rateable Value upon which the charge is based
The Business Name of the party liable for the charge
The hereditament address
The address(of the account holder) to which correspondence in respect of the property is sent including the contact telephone number and email address
The liability start date or date of first account
In addition to occupied business rated properties, where a property is currently subject to empty rates please provide the date it became empty
A description of the property type (e.g. office/warehouse/retail)
We do not require any personal information or sole traders.
Response:
Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the authority must state whether or not the information exists and I confirm that we do hold the information you requested and you will find the information in the attached spreadsheet.
Please contact for a copy of the attachment
3428 / 23/8/2012 / Request:
Funding totals
1. How much does the council expect to spend on council tax benefit in 2012/13? (Please provide the figure for the council itself, eg. A figure which does not include amounts relating to any precepting authorities and so is comparable to the 2013/14 figure provided by DCLG in Annex A of its funding consultation http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/localgovernment/2146644)
2. If the council has made a different calculation of the funding change between 2012/13 and 2013/14, what is the result of this calculation and how was it made?
3. How much does the council expect to spend on single person’s discount in 2013/14?
Empty homes
4. What is the maximum additional income the council would receive in 2013/14 if it scrapped the discount on empty homes completely?
5. Is the council minded to use the new powers to change discounts on empty homes?
6. If yes to question 5, what change to the discount and what additional income does the council expect from this?
7. If there is any extra explanation or context you’d like to provide about the scheme design, please do.