FOI release

FOI 168 Information regarding suppliers, contracts and spending

Updated 17 August 2022

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Our ref: FOI20/21-168

Date: 10/02/2021

Re: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request

Thank you for your email of 13 January in which you requested from the Insolvency Service:

I would be most grateful if you would provide me, under the Freedom of Information Act, details in respect to the point below.

Forms/Applications provided by the Insolvency Service

The details I request are:

  1. Rough quantity of paper forms/applications received from PDFs per annum?
  2. Current existing supplier for digital applications/forms on your website?
  3. Current existing supplier for your CRM?
  4. Current spend for both of the above softwares?
  5. Whether the organisation uses any 3rd party contractors to assist with this?
  6. Start date of contracts with Technology suppliers?
  7. End date of contracts with Technology suppliers?
  8. Is there an extension clause in the contracts with digital suppliers and, if so, the duration of the extension? 9. Has a decision been made yet on whether the contracts are being either extended or renewed?
  9. Who is the senior officer (outside of procurement) responsible for these contracts?

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

In order for us to answer question 1, under section 8(1)(c) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 I reasonably require further information in order to identify and locate the information that you have requested. In particular, it would be useful to know what you mean by “form”; are you making reference to requests for action?

With regards to question 2,3,4,6 and 7, I can confirm we hold the information that you have requested however, the information is exempt from disclosure under section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and we have provided the relevant links below.

Section 21(1) provides that information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant otherwise than under section 1 is exempt information. This is an absolute exemption and does not require a public interest test. The answers to questions 3,4, 6 and 7, the information can be found by accessing the link below:

https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/aca5d581-3570-4bec-a722- 12538530cc2c

The answers to questions 2 and 4, the Insolvency Service does not specifically have a supplier who provides this service. We do have a Supply Partner who provides some support within this area. The information relating to that Contract can be found by accessing the link below:

https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/bf04b788-cb11-4123-ac70- f2414efa12df

The answer to question 5 is that the Insolvency Service does not use any 3rd party contractors to assist with this.

With regards to question 8, we can confirm that the extension clause in the contract with the digital supplier may be extended by up to 24 months. The answer to question 9 is that re-procurement is underway for Customer Relationship Management software.

In respect of the final question, we 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

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