FOI release

FOI 115 - INSS Contributions to Stonewall

Updated 2 February 2022

Date: 17 December 2021

Dear

Re: Freedom of Information Act 2000

Thank you for your email of 20th November 2021 in which you requested from the Insolvency Service:

1) In respect of each of the years 2015-2021, please confirm what funding has been provided to Stonewall by:

Insolvency Service

2) Please specify whether the funding in 1 above has been in the form of:

(a) direct grants for unlimited purposes;

(b) direct grants for limited purposes (in that event, stating the purpose);

(c) payment for goods or services (specifying the relevant goods and services).

3) Where the funding in 1 above has been by way of payment for goods or services, please specify:

(a) what analysis has been conducted to ascertain whether these goods or services meet contractual and/or legal requirements;

(b) what contractual or other recourse exists to reclaim in respect of goods or services that are defective, substandard or delivered in contravention of the law;

(c) what steps are being taken to seek recourse for any such contractual or legal shortfalls.

4) In respect of the payments referred to in 1 above, please state:

(a) What criteria were applied in deciding to make payments by way of direct grants;

(b) What tendering process was conducted with regard to provision of goods or services;

(c) What alternative suppliers of goods or services were considered.

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

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

1) We have the information for the previous three years only and do not hold information for the earlier period requested.

Year	Amount
2021	£3000
2020	£3000
2019	£3000

2) Payment was made for membership of Stonewall – the benefits of membership are available on their website.

3) Not applicable, we do not make payments for goods and services. We review our membership of Stonewall annually to ensure that we are receiving value for money and receive enough benefit to justify continued membership. We have a relationship manager and discussions are held regularly to ensure that the benefit we receive meets our needs.

4) There are no direct grants. There was no tendering process because membership of an organisation is with a single supplier; we must declare that as part of our commercial process and justify the business case for the payment. Alternatives where applicable are raised in that commercial process.

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 Commissioners 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.

Kind regards

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