Northamptonshire County Council

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Northamptonshire County Council By Email Paul Crofts request-311815-d734a5f3@whatdotheyknow.

1 Northamptonshire County Council By Paul Crofts Please ask for: Freedom of Information Tel: Our Ref: FR6219 Your ref: Date: 24 th February 2016 Dear Mr Crofts,, Information Request:FR6219 Thank you for your Freedom of Information request dated 20 th January 2016, received by us on 21 st January Your request has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and is detailed below in italics with our response in bold. Our Response The Freedom of Information Team has been provided with the following information in response to your recent request on behalf of Northamptonshire County Council (NCC). This Freedom of Information Request is made regarding the Social Services section of Northamptonshire County Council (NCC). Please separate the responses by Directorate and then Service Area. 1. How much has NCC paid in agency fees to staff agencies or consultants since April 2014? 2. What percentage of the amount paid to the individual worker is added to the cost to NCC by the agency? The margin paid varies depending on the role in question. The information is commercially sensitive as it relates to agency profit. We have therefore applied FOIA 2000 exemption s.43, Commercial interests, to this section of your request. See below for full details: (1) Information is exempt information if it constitutes a trade secret. (2) Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial Northamptonshire County Council County Hall Northampton NN1 1ED w. t e. freedomofinformation@northamptonshire.gcsx.gov.uk

2 interests of any person (including the public authority holding it). (3) The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that, compliance with section 1(1)(a) would, or would be likely to, prejudice the interests mentioned in subsection (2). 3. Including companies that have a contract to recruit for the County Council, What is the average cost per agency worker per hour and how much of that goes to the agency/consultancy/provider? 4. How many people are "employed" by NCC who are a limited company? This information is not centrally held and recorded by HR. We would need to check all relevant invoices to ascertain whether they are paid to a person or a company. Unfortunately, I have estimated that the time it will take to undertake this exercise will exceed the fee limit as set out in the Appropriate Limit and Fees Regulations. Therefore, the Council is not obliged to provide a response and I will not be processing your request further. For information purposes, the fee limit set down by the Regulations is and in our case this equates to a maximum of 18 hours of search and retrieval time. In accordance with Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a refusal to release the information you have requested. Section 12-Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit (1) Section 1 (1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit. 5. How many staff from agencies are limited companies?

3 6. How many current vacancies for permanent posts are there in social care and where are they advertised? Please detail this within directorate and service area and length of time the vacancy has been without a permanent establishment staff member. Adult Social Care Younger Adults South Team 1 FT Social Work Vacancy and 2 FT Care Manager/Social work vacancies since December Recruitment freeze. Younger Adults North 2.5 Care Co-ordinators which are not currently being advertised. Continuing Health Care No vacancies for permanent staff. Health Partnership Team/Community Health Partnership Teams Kettering General Hospital - 1 FT care manager vacancy - recruitment freeze. Northampton General Hospital - no vacancies. Community Health Partnership Team 1 FT care coordinator December 2015 Approval to recruit January. 0.5 care manager December Older People 17 permanent vacancies across adult social care and they are advertised on Jobs go Public website. Care co-ordinators 8 posts from December to date in the process of being reviewed or recruited across 4 different teams. Care Managers 8 posts from December to date in the process of being reviewed or recruited across 6 different teams. Community Reablement workers 1 post being reviewed. Adult Social Care Services and Children, Families & Education vacancies are advertised at Public Sector Jobs East, please see link below. The following information is requested from the Chief Executives office throughout NCC. 7. How many consultants or other workers are employed by NCC in a non-establishment post, including the Chief Executive's Department? Unfortunately, I have estimated that the time it will take to undertake the necessary search, retrieval and preparation work that will enable us to respond to the request you have made will exceed the fee limit as set out in the Appropriate Limit and Fees Regulations.

4 This information is not centrally held and recorded by HR and we would need to check with every team within NCC. Therefore, the Council is not obliged to provide a response and I will not be processing your request further. For information purposes, the fee limit set down by the Regulations is and in our case this equates to a maximum of 18 hours of search and retrieval time. In accordance with Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a refusal to release the information you have requested. Section 12-Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit (1) Section 1 (1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit. 8. How much has NCC paid them in total since April 2014, separated by Directorate and Service Area? See response to Q7. 9. How many of these are limited companies or working through an agency/contract? See response to Q What staff recruitment and retention packages are in place accross the council? The Council offers a number of attractive terms and conditions of employment that support recruitment and retention, including: Generous annual leave entitlements which increase with continuous local government service Competitive pay arrangements Access to a wide range of in-house learning and development opportunities Ability to purchase additional annual leave through a salary sacrifice scheme Flexible and mobile working opportunities Nationwide pension schemes Staff discount schemes national and local discounts

5 A healthy work environment, with a range of organised wellbeing events and activities on offer Relocation packages as appropriate 11. Is NCC still operating an office or presence in Brussels and if so what has been the total cost (including staff time, travel, rent, PR and any other cost)? The overall cost of the Brussels office to 31/12/2015 including, staff time, travel, rent, and PR is Education 12. How much is spent on providing temporary staff for education services? Please break this down between service area. 13. How much has been spent on school transport in the period since April 2014? During the period 01/04/2014 to 31/12/2015, 24,325, has been spent on school transport. 14. How much has been spent on hiring Educational Psychologists and other experts in education since April 2014? The information supplied is provided for private use, such as non-commercial research purposes, and news reporting. Any other type of re-use will require the permission of the copyright owner under the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations If you are unhappy with the way in which the Council has handled your request, you can ask the Council to review it. To do this, please write to the address below: Janine Lythe Corporate Support Manager Northamptonshire County Council Room 223 County Hall Northampton NN1 1ED

6 If our internal review does not resolve the issue to your complete satisfaction, you have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision at the following address: Information Commissioner Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF Or, if you have any complaints in respect of your information request please complete the on-line comments form that can be found at along with a full set of guidance. Yours sincerely Freedom of Information/Data Protection Officer Business Intelligence and Performance Improvement - freedomofinformation@northamptonshire.gcsx.gov.uk

We are now pleased to respond to your request for information under the FOI Act.

We are now pleased to respond to your request for information under the FOI Act. Information Governance Wrightington Hospital Hall Lane Appley Bridge Lancashire WN6 9EP Tel: 0127 488271 Email: FOI@wwl.nhs.uk Web: www.wwl.nhs.uk Ref: FOI2018/4449 Date Received: 29 th January 2018 Response