Finance - Freedom of Information Requests

Disclosure Log - Finance

Audit
Budget
Fees and charges
Financial monitoring
Procurement
Spending (including procurement cards)
Statement of Accounts

2024

March

Reference: 2629623

Subject:

How much has your council received in funding for Levelling Up to date in total?

Can you show the figures for 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 separately?

How much of this funding has your council spent? Again, for 2021/22, 2022/23 and 2023/24 separately.

If full data for 2023/24 is unavailable, please share as much information as possible up to the latest reporting period for this financial year.

How much do you expect to receive and spend in 2024/25?

Response date: 12 March 2024

Response: Response to this request - 2629623.

Reference: 2597818

Subject:

Please may you provide me with how much budget was spent on marketing/ digital marketing in 2023.

If possible would you be able to provide information on the budget in 2022 also.

Response date: 11 March 2024

Response: Response to this request - 2597818.

Reference: 2611617

Subject:

Payroll Services

Who provides your payroll services?
What is the annual cost of running your payroll services?

Finance Structure

How many residents in your district?
Have you retained your housing stock?
Please complete the following table which outlines your current Finance Structure

Response date: 6 March 2024

Response: Response to this request - 2611617.

Reference: 2602570

Subject:

Under the FOI Act, I would like to request the amount of money the council has spent servicing its debt in each of the last 3 financial years (2021-22, 2022-23 and 2023-24).

This would include both debt repayments and payment of interest.

Response date: 01 March 2024

Response: Response to this request - 2602570.

Reference: 2578257

Subject:

In the financial years 21/22, 22/23 and 23/24 (Up to 07.02.24), could you please provide me with the total monetary value of council-related debts (such as council tax, parking fines, failures to pay business rates and housing arrears) which were referred to external enforcement agencies?
Of this figure, please could you provide the amount that was recovered by external debt agencies broken down for each of the financial years referenced?
For each of those financial years, please provide the number of complaints the council has received about the conduct of external bailiffs and debt collectors.

Response date: 1 March 2024

Response: Response to this request - 2578257.

February

Reference: 2578256

Subject:

A list of grants you have made to the voluntary sector (including to any charities, churches, social enterprises, community groups) in the financial year 2022/23. Please include the amount paid to each entity and, if recorded, a description of what each payment is for.
A list of grants you have made or are due to make to the voluntary sector (including to any charities, churches, social enterprises, community groups) in the current financial year. Please include the amount paid to each entity and, if recorded, a description of what each payment is for.

Response date: 19 February 2024

Response: Response to this request - 2578256.

Reference: 2569523

Subject:

What is your current predicted funding gap by the end of this financial year

Response date: 13 February 2024

Response: Response to this request - 2569523.

January

Reference: 2563140

Subject:

How much deficit/pressure/overspend have you identified in your Medium Term Financial Strategy in:
1. 2024-25
2. 2025-26 and
3. 2026-27.

Please do not provide me with a figure for 2023-24 or any year before that.

Please provide:
1. a link to your latest Medium Term Financial Strategy and
2. the page number(s) where the answer to question 1 can be found.

Response date: 11 January 2024

Response: Response to this request - 2563140.

2023

December

Reference: 2544914

Subject:

What is your current predicted funding gap by the end of this financial year
What is your current predicted cumulative funding gap by the end of this financial year?

Response date: 7 December 2023

Response: Response to this request - 2544914.

November

Reference: 2530440

Subject:

Would you please be able to provide copy invoices for electricity, gas and water supplied to 1 Council owned or operated, non-residential property for 2021, 2022 and 2023, in pdf format? Ideally I would like to receive these copy invoices for one of the Council's larger buildings, but if that is in any way problematic, copy invoices for a random building would suffice. To clarify, I would like to receive copies of actual invoices as PDFs for this period, not a summary of utility consumption and costs.

Response date: 10 November 2023

Response: Response to this request - 2530440.

October

Reference: 1859427

Subject:

Which finance system/ ERP system, and which version of it, do you currently use?
What is the expiry date of the current agreement for your finance/ ERP system?
Which HR and Payroll system, and which version of it, do you currently use?
What is the expiry date of the current agreement for your HR and Payroll system?
Are you planning on running, or are currently running, a soft market test or procurement/tender process around your finance/ ERP system? If so what and when?
Who is the primary contact for your finance/ ERP system?

Response date: 6 October 2023

Response: Response to this request - 1859427.

September

Reference: 1842633

Subject:

The FOI request is based around Direct Payments, prepaid cards, cash and voucher options that the council has for Residents, Service Users and Staff. Please note the follow are areas that commonly use these services, but not limited to:

Direct Payments
Client Financial Affairs (The Council acting as Corporate Appointee and property & affairs Deputy
No Recourse to Public funds
Finance – Petty Cash Cards
Care Agencies – In House or External
Adult or Children Social Care – Emergency Cards
Household Support Payments

Do you currently use a PrePaid card or other type of card provider, and if so what is the provider's name?
What date does the current contract expire?
What is the name, E-Mail Address & phone number of the person and team that manages the Contract?
Which services within the Council or associated partners have a programme or platform with the provider?
How much does each card cost?
What transaction costs are there and how much are they?
What is the annual cost or upper limit to the council?

Does the Council have a functioning cashier counter to enable cash to be paid out?

Do you use a provider to enable Service Users or Residents to collect cash, receive a text message or barcode, and if so what is their name?
When does this contract end?
What is the name, E-Mail Address & phone number of the person and team that manages the Contract?
Which services within the Council or associated partners use this provider?
How much does each payment cost?
What is the annual cost or upper limit to the council?

Do you use a provider to enable Service Users or Residents to send and receive shopping vouchers by text message or bar codes or other ways, and if so what is their name?
When does this contract end?
What is the name, E-Mail Address & phone number of the person and team that manages the Contract?
Which services within the Council or associated partners use this provider?
How much does each voucher cost?
What is the annual cost or upper limit to the council?

Does the Council use a third party to manage Direct Payment Managed accounts, if so who?
What Services do they provide on behalf of the council?
When does the contract end?
What is the name, E-Mail Address & phone number of the person and team that manages the Contract?
How much does each service cost?
What is the annual cost or upper limit to the council?

Does the Council offer payroll services for Direct Payment employers and their employees?
What is the name, E-Mail Address & Contact number of the person and team that is the lead?
How many staff deal with the payroll?
What annual cost is there to the council for the payroll staff?
£50,000 - £60,000
£60,000 - £70,000
£70,000 - £80,000
£80,000 - £90,000
Other

Response date: 26 September 2023

Response: Response to this request - 1842633.

Reference: 1838854

Subject:

Can you please confirm whether your organization has a corporate or departmental debt collection policy? If yes please specify which and provide copies of the policy or a link to the source where it can be accessed.
Can you please confirm whether your organization has a corporate or departmental write-off policy? If yes please specify which and provide copies of the policy or a link to the source where it can be accessed.
Can you please confirm whether your organization utilizes enforcement agents to collect statutory debts? If yes, could you also confirm if any added value services are extracted due to this contract, such as fintech utilization or financial assistance? Additionally, please provide a list of the types of debts for which enforcement agents are used.
Can you please confirm whether your organization utilizes debt collection agents (DCA) to collect debts owed to the organization? ? If yes, could you also confirm if any added value services are extracted due to this contract, such as fintech utilization or financial assistance? please provide a list of the types of debts for which Debt collection agents are used.
Can you please confirm whether your organization has a local authority-owned enforcement agent facility for undertaking "taking control of goods fees regulations" debt collections? If yes, please provide a list of debts for which this the debts the team collects, and kindly provide a copy of the notice of enforcement that is used.
Please confirm the total amount of debt written off by your local authority for the years 2021/22 and 2022/23. Please break down the figures by debt area, such as Council Tax, Parking, and Sundry Debt etc.

Response date: 19 September 2023

Response: Response to this request - 1838854.

August

Reference: 1814175

Subject:

Please may you provide me, in Microsoft Excel or an equivalent electronic format, with a list of invoices that were not paid within 30 days for the last 6 financial years (2017/18 to 2022/23 inclusive) which would feed into the Regulation 113 Notice you are required to publish each year as part of your obligations under The Public Contracts Regulations 2015, with the following information for each invoice (where available):

The name of the Supplier
Supplier email address
Supplier company registration number
Supplier postal address
Supplier telephone number
Supplier website
The date of the invoice
The invoice reference
The gross value of the Invoice
The date the invoice should have been paid by
The actual payment date of the invoice
The total amount of interest liability due to late payment of the invoice
The total amount of interest paid to the supplier due to late payment of the invoice.

Response date: 1 August 2023

Response: Response to this request - 1814175.

July

Reference: 1823702

Subject:

I am interested in researching the issue of the Inspection of Accounts rights under the Accounts and Audit Regulations 2014, to see if or how it is being used across local government in the UK.

Response date: 26 July 2023

Response: Response to this request - 1823702.

June

Reference: 1114408

Subject:

How many payments were made to Rushcliffe Borough Council each day during January, February and March 2023, and how many of those payments failed? Numbers to be provided daily, or weekly if daily is not available.

Response date: 5 June 2023

Response: Response to this request - 1114408.

May

Reference: 1107470

Subject:

Can you tell me how much money is spent from the council tax on your pensions, ie Rushcliffe and Notts County, or if you cannot on the Notts County then who do I contact for this.

Response date: 19 May 2023

Response: Response to this request - 1107470.

April

Reference: 1099510

Subject:

How many personal injury claims were made against the council during 17 April 2022 to 17 April 2023?
What were the causes of these claims, for example, potholes and slips, trips and falls?
How much did the council pay out in compensation in personal injury claims during this time?

Response date: 28 April 2023

Response: Response to this request - 1099510.

Reference: 1099516

Subject:

The current total of your General Fund debt.
The total interest payments on your General Fund debt paid in the financial year 2022/23.
The total revenue you obtained from the sale of General Fund assets, including buildings and land, in the financial year 2022/23.
The estimate (if any) you have on the number of new homes that have been built or are due to be built on the land and buildings that you sold from your General Fund assets in the financial year 2022/23.

Response date: 24 April 2023

Response: Response to this request - 1099516.

Reference: 1078791

Subject:

Payment of Local Authority Invoices

For the period between June 2022 and January 2023, please provide the statistics as follows:

The average number of days taken to make payments of invoices, measured from the date of receipt of invoice or other notice to the date the cash is received by the supplier
The percentage of payments made within the reporting period which were paid in 30 days or fewer, between 31 and 60 days, and in 61 days or longer
The percentage of payments due within the reporting period which were not paid within the agreed payment period

Response date: 20 April 2023

Response: Response to this request - 1078791.

Reference: 1060889

Subject:

Could you please confirm the following:

Whether your Council’s Internal Audit Services are performed internally or if the services are outsourced externally;
Where provided internally, the costs of the service to the Council in the last complete financial year;
Where provided externally:

The name of your current external provider;
Annual cost to the Council;
Copy of the Council’s specification for the services and / or SLA / contract entered into with the external provider.

Response date: 3 April 2023

Response: Response to this request - 1060889.

2022

November

Reference: 963693

Subject:

Can you please provide all available files relating to disclosure of payments to suppliers over £500 in CSV or XLS format for the periods April 2022 to present as these do not appear to be published on the web site.

Response date: 11 November 2022

Response: Response to this request - 963693.

August

Reference: 915802

Subject:

Please include the information for each of the following financial years, broken down by quarter; 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22:

The number of invoices not paid within statutory deadlines
The amount of interest accrued as a result of late payments which the council is liable for

Response date: 2 August 2022

Response: Response to this request - 915802.

July

Reference: 906112

Subject:

Total insurance costs for cover for the following years:

2019-2020
2020-2021
2021-2022
2022-2023

Response date: 11 July 2022

Response: Response to this request - 906112.

June

Reference: 889414

Subject:

What is your current predicted funding gap by the end of the financial year 2023/24?
What is your current predicted cumulative funding gap by the end of the financial year 2024/25?
In reference to council funding and efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions:
1. Has your council estimated the costs of reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions? Yes / No / Don't know
2. How much does your council estimate reaching net zero will cost? (Please state amount and any associated timescale)
3. Can your council access enough funding to be able to deliver your emission reduction ambitions? Yes / No / Don’t Know

Response date: 22 June 2022

Response: Response to this request - 889414.

May

Reference: 856356

Subject:

Please provide me with information on any spending by the council on refreshments for council meetings in the past financial year, 2021-22:

Please include total spending as well as a breakdown of what was purchased, for example tea, coffee, biscuits, sandwiches, takeaways
Please include this for all council meetings held over the last financial year

Response date: 11 May 2022

Response: Response to this request - 856356.

April

Reference: A1346694

Subject:

Could you tell me the amount the authority has spent on producing bids for funding through the The Community Renewal fund, Future High Streets, the Levelling Up Fund, and Towns Deals, since 2019? Please also provide a breakdown of this figure, for each scheme.

Can you also confirm whether the council hired external contractors to produce all or part of the bid in each instance?

Response date: 4 April 2022

Response: Response to this request - A1346694.

February

Reference: A1346404

Subject:

Please provide the following information for 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21:

The value of grants made to each of the organisations listed below. Please provide the information for each of the three financial years separately, and list all grants separately.
The value of loans made to each of the organisations listed below. Please provide the information for each of the three financial years separately, and list all loans separately.

The payments made to charities and third sector organisations relate to the following only:

Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH)
Independent Sage
NHS Confederation
Keep our NHS public
SOS NHS
Care and Support Workers Organise
UNITED VOICES OF THE WORLD
Health Campaigns Together
Doctors for the NHS
We Own It
The People's Assembly
Zero Covid Coalition
Health Campaign Together
Docs Not Cops
British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin
Association of Pakistani Physicians of Northern Europe
Royal College of General Practitioners
Royal College of Ophthalmology
Royal College of Psychiatrists
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Response date: 18 February 2022

Response: Response to this request - A1346404.

Reference: A1346449

Subject:

Information about bids for Round 1 Levelling Up Funding.

Response date: 15 February 2022

Response: Response to this request - A1346449.

January

Reference: A1346336

Subject: Information about:

Costs incurred by the Council for car and chauffer services for council employees.
Costs incurred by the Council for taxi fares expensed by council employees.

Response date: 25 January 2022

Response: Response to this request - A1346336.

Reference: A1346327

Subject: Information about:

Whether the Council has bid for the "Levelling Up Fund"?
If the Council has, please provide all bid documents submitted to the Government.
If the Council has, please provide all correspondence between the Council and the local Member of Parliament about the bid.

Response date: 25 January 2022

Response: Response to this request - A1346327.

2021

December

Reference: A1346102

Subject:

I would be grateful if you could explain why the employer contribution to the LGPS tripled from £1,183m in 2019/20 to £4,017m in 2020/21 (see p44 2021 annual report).

The 2020/21 figure includes the results of the 2019 actuarial valuation, so I would have expected a small change.

Was this a pre-payment of future cash contributions? If so, could you please point me to the pre-payment asset in the accounts?

Response date: 15 December 2021

Response: Response to this request - A1346102.

October

Reference: A1345860

Subject:

Name, position and email address of the staff responsible for the council’s staff purchase/expense cards.
If an automated business expense management is in place, what is the name of the system/card provider and the amount of cards currently in use?
If this on a contacted basis, please provide the contract end date.
The estimated (or actual) amount of spend (£) in business expenses either by department or as an overall total for the most recent financial year.
Name, position and email address of the staff or department responsible for reducing the carbon emissions (CO2) within the council as part of the overall strategy to achieve carbon neutrality.

Response date: 29 October 2021

Response: Response to this request - A1345860.

September

Reference: A1345552

Subject: Information about the Council's Financial Management/ERP system.

Response date: 28 September 2021

Response: Response to this request - A1345552.

Reference: A1345586

Subject: Information request relating to payments made to charities and third sector organisations.

Response date: 10 September 2021

Response: Response to this request - A1345586

August

Reference: A1345522

Subject: Has the council stopped accepting cash payments in any of the following areas of council business?

Response date: 26 August 2021

Response: Response to this request - A1345522

July

Reference: A1345396

Subject: Sources of revenue.

Response date: 28 July 2021

Response: Response to this request - A1345396.

Reference: A1345378

Subject: Predicted funding gaps for 2022/23 and 2023/24.

Response date: 6 July 2021

Response: Response to this request - A1345378

June

Reference: A1345296

Subject: Payments to Stonewall.

Response date: 7 June 2021

Response: Response to this request - A1345296.

May

Reference: A1345224

Subject: Right to Buy, clawback agreement.

Response date: 20 May 2021

Response: Response to this request - A1345224.

April

Reference: A1345011

Subject: A list of any capital projects that were due to start within your Local Authority area after May 2010 but that were cancelled either by central government or as a result of central government funding cuts.

Response date: 22 April 2021

Response: Response to this request - A1345011.

Reference: A1345108

Subject: Information about energy companies including profits.

Response date: 20 April 2021

Response: Response to this request - A1345108.

Reference: A1344970

Subject: Information about arrears and debt of council tax and business rate payers.

Response date: 8 April 2021

Response: Response to this request - A1344970.

Disclosure Log