FOI release

FOI 164 Request for information about networks and telecoms

Updated 17 August 2022

Our ref: FOI20/21-164

Date: 04/02/2021

Re: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request

Thank you for your email of 08 January in which you requested network and telecoms information from the Insolvency Service

Your request has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

I can confirm the agency holds the information that you have requested and I have provided answers to your questions below:

Contract 1

1 Current Lines/Voice Services (Analogue, ISDN VOIP, SIP etc) Provider- Please can you provide me with the name of the supplier for the contract.

VOIP using Teams. Symity provide the Teams configuration and Gamma provide the underlying ISDN links. The below Contracts Finder Notices provide all the relevant detail for these contracts.

Symity: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/28560ad2-11f8-44cc-81bf-4fc77fc99191

Gamma: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/a6efee12-5865-4cd9-b839-936f74c55291

2 Fixed Line- Contract Renewal Date- please provide day, month and year (month and year are also acceptable). If this is a rolling contract please provide me with the rolling date of the contract. If there is more than one supplier please split the renewal dates up into however many suppliers

I can confirm the agency holds the information that you have requested however, the information is exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and is therefore refused. Section 21(1) provides that information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant otherwise than under section 1 is exempt information.

Please refer to the contract finder links in the response for question 1

3 Fixed Line- Contract Duration- the number of years the contract is for each provider

I can confirm the agency holds the information that you have requested however, the information is exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and is therefore refused.

Please refer to the contract finder links in the response for question 1

4 Type of Lines- Please can you split the type of lines per each supplier? PSTN, Analogue, SIP

Gamma – SIP and DDII

Symity – Teams VOIP

5 Number of Lines- Please can you split the number of lines per each supplier? SIP trunks, PSN Lines, Analogue Lines

I can confirm the Insolvency Service holds this information however, this is exempt information under section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and your request is therefore refused.

Sections 43(2) of the Act provides that information is exempt 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).

In order to apply this exemption, I have undertaken a public interest test and I am satisfied that it is not appropriate to disclose this information. Breaking down this information, alongside the redacted contract and information with Contract Finder Notice may allow the requestor to reverse engineer the pricing for Gamma, which is commercially sensitive and could prejudice the commercial interests of the agency.

Contract 2 – As we do not have a contract to buy minutes, these questions are not applicable.

6 Minutes/Landline Provider- Supplier’s name (NOT Mobiles) if there is no information available please can you provide further insight into why?

NA

7 Minutes/Landline Contract Renewal Date- please provide day, month and year (month and year is also acceptable). If this is a rolling contract please provide me with the rolling date of the contract.

NA

8 Minutes Landline Monthly Spend- Monthly average spend on calls for each provider. An estimate or average is acceptable.

NA

9 Minute’s Landlines Contract Duration: the number of years the contract is with the supplier.

NA

10 Number of Extensions- Please state the number of telephone extensions the organisation currently has. An estimate or average is acceptable.

NA

Contract 3

11 Fixed Broadband Provider- Supplier’s name if there is not information available please can you provide further insight into why?

Thales UK Limited.

12 Fixed Broadband Renewal Date- please provide day, month and year (month and year is also acceptable). If this is a rolling contract please provide me with the rolling date of the contract. If there is more than one supplier please split the renewal dates up into however many suppliers

I can confirm the agency holds the information that you have requested however, the information is exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and is therefore refused.

This information can be found in the Contracts Finder Notice, which will show that the contract was extended to expire in Q2 2022.

13 Fixed Broadband Annual Average Spend- Annual average spend for each broadband provider. An estimate or average is acceptable.

I can confirm the agency holds the information that you have requested however, the information is exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and is therefore refused.

The Contract Value can be found in the Contracts Finder Notice.

Contract 4

14 WAN Provider- please provide me with the main supplier(s) if there is no information available please can you provide further insight into why?

Thales UK Limited

15 WAN Contract Renewal Date- please provide day, month and year (month and year are also acceptable). If this is a rolling contract please provide me with the rolling date of the contract. If there is more than one supplier please split the renewal dates up into however many suppliers

I can confirm the agency holds the information that you have requested however, the information is exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and is therefore refused.

This information can be found in the Contracts Finder Notice, which will show that the contract was extended to expire in Q2 2022.

16 Contract Description: Please can you provide me with a brief description of the contract

I can confirm the agency holds the information that you have requested however, the information is exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and is therefore refused.

This information can be found in the Contracts Finder Notice.

17 The number of sites: Please state the number of sites the WAN covers. Approx. will do.

Twenty-two

18 WAN Annual Average Spend- Annual average spend for each WAN provider. An estimate or average is acceptable.

I can confirm the agency holds the information that you have requested however, the information is exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and is therefore refused.

The Contract Value can be found in the Contracts Finder Notice.

19 For each WAN contract can you please provide me with information on how this was procured, especially around those procurement that used frameworks, please provide me with the framework reference.

I can confirm the agency holds the information that you have requested however, the information is exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and is therefore refused.

This information can be found in the Contracts Finder Notice.

20 Internal Contact: please can you send me their full contact details including contact number and email and job title for all the contracts above.

I can confirm the agency holds the information that you have requested however, it is exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of the FOIA, because it constitutes personal data.

Personal data can only be released if to do so would not contravene any of the data protection principles set out in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018.

The release of the requested personal information in this instance would be unlawful, and not be in keeping with data protection principles outlined above.

This is an absolute exemption and does not require a public interest test.

If you are not satisfied with the response we have provided you and would like us to reconsider our decision by way of an internal review (IR), please contact our Information Rights Team at foi@insolvency.gov.uk or by post at:

Information Rights Team
The Insolvency Service
3rd Floor
Cannon House
18 Priory Queensway
Birmingham
B4 6FD
United Kingdom

You also have the right to contact the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) if you wish for them to investigate any complaint you may have regarding our handling of your request. However, please note that the ICO is likely to expect an IR to have been completed in the first instance.

Yours sincerely,

Information Rights Team

The Insolvency Service The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Official receivers and the Adjudicator are Data Controllers in respect of personal data processed by the Insolvency Service. For the details about how personal data is processed by the agency, please see the full Insolvency Service Personal Information Charter here: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/insolvency-service/about/personal-information-charter