FOI-01251

Thank you for your request for information about the following:

[Q1] For the use of agencies, please can you confirm if the NHS Business Services Authority works under, Non-Clinical Temporary and Fixed Term Staff CCS Framework RM6160 and the new CCS Non-Clinical Staffing Framework Agreement RM6277.

[Q2] Please can you confirm the list of agencies that have supplied to the company under the framework through the dates of January 2022 – December 2022.

[Q3] For the same 12-month period, please can you provide the list of agencies that have supplied to you staff outside of the framework CCS Framework RM6160 .

[Q4] Please outline your spending per agency, broken down by grade and speciality of roles or lots department for the above time period.
Lot 1 – administration and secretarial roles
Lot 2 – finance, accounts and audit roles
Lot 3 – IT technicians, analysts and technical engineer specialists

[Q5] Please can you confirm on what occasions you would look to go outside of the framework for roles as below;
Lot 1 – administration and secretarial roles
Lot 2 – finance, accounts and audit roles
Lot 3 – IT technicians, analysts and technical engineer specialists

[Q6] Please can you confirm the highest agency hourly charge rate and their speciality staffing, for;
Lot 1 – administration and secretarial roles
Lot 2 – finance, accounts and audit roles
Lot 3 – IT technicians, analysts and technical engineer specialists

[Q7] What contractual relationships are in place for supplying Temporary and Fixed Term Staff CCS Framework RM6160 and the new CCS Staffing Framework Agreement RM6277.
Lot 1 – administration and secretarial roles
Lot 2 – finance, accounts and audit roles
Lot 3 – IT technicians, analysts and technical engineer specialists

[Q8] And who is responsible for managing them?

[Q9] Please can you please provide me with the name, contact number & email address of the person responsible for agreeing on staffing contracts for your organisation

[Q10] Please can you provide details of the names of the decision-makers who ultimately decide which agencies your organisation uses for non-clinical staff for CCS Staffing Framework Agreement RM6277 and the previous Temporary and Fixed Term Staff CCS Framework RM6160.

Your request was received on 20 June 2023 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

##Response

###Question 1
The NHSBSA uses CCS RM3749 Public Sector Resourcing for use of temporary agency staff.  RM6010 has been used on an ad-hoc basis.  RM6277 has not yet been used.

###Question 2
Fylde Office Service Bureau Limited has supplied to NHSBSA via RM6160 during these dates.

###Question 3
Temporary staff supplied outside of RM6160 have been provided via RM3749 Public Sector Resourcing.  The supplier of RM3749 is Alexander Mann Solutions.

###Question 4
    Lot 1 – £48,786 Fylde Office Service Bureau Limited
    Lot 2 – £0
    Lot 3 – £0

###Question 5
If roles cannot be fulfilled by RM3749 NHSBSA will use RM6160 (or RM6277) on an ad-hoc basis.

###Question 6
NHSBSA does hold the requested information. NHSBSA considers this information exempt from disclosure under Section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, as releasing this information would adversely affect the commercial interests of NHSBSA.
Section 43(2) is a prejudice based ‘qualified’ exemption and is subject to the public interest test. This means that not only does the information have to prejudice one of the purposes listed, but before the information can be withheld, the public interest in preventing that prejudice must outweigh the public interest in disclosure.

###Prejudice Test:
Disclosure of the requested information will have an impact supplier’s competitive advantage in the market as will disclose their confidential pricing structure. 
In addition, releasing the requested information may reduce the competitive nature and innovation in pricing when services are put out to retender as it could identify the upper or lower limit NHSBSA is willing to pay. This may cause future more economically efficient providers to raise their prices in line with what has previously been paid by the NHSBSA. This would likely prejudice the NHSBSA’s ability to obtain the best quality of service and value for money when negotiating contracts. 
It is also likely to damage the reputation of business confidence as information relating to the pricing of services is defined as confidential and commercial sensitive in the current off-call contract. 
The current market conditions future strengthens the prejudice argument as the Crown Commercial Services Framework, which the NHSBSA off-call contract currently sits under, is currently out to tender and disclosure of the supplier’s pricing rates may provide an unfair advantage to potential bidders for the CCS Framework.

###Public Interest Test:

###Considerations in favour of disclosure:
* The inherent public interest in the openness and transparency of public authority dealings. 
* The public interest in demonstrating that public authorities are spending public money wisely and getting best value for money.

###Considerations against disclosure:
* Disclosing this information may cause more economically efficient providers to raise their prices.
* Disclosing this information could prejudice NHSBSA’s ability to obtain best quality of service and value.
* Disclosing this information could weaken NHSBSA’s position as potential companies would not have the confidence that NHSBSA would keep sensitive financial data confidential as bidders are advised when tending for a contract. 
* NHSBSA have a legal obligation under the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (PCR) to keep this information confidential. Disclosure of this information could subsequently leave NHSBSA liable for breaching the PCR.
* The overall contract value is published and available in the public domain.

###Conclusion:
NHSBSA recognised that there is a public interest in the disclosure of the information which facilitates the accountability and transparency of public authorities; however, there is also a public interest in NHSBSA being able to work and strive within competitive workforce market which is put to the wider public interest. 
Given that the definition of ‘public’ under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is considered to be the public at large, rather than just the individual applicant and that ‘public interest’ is not necessarily the same as what interests the public, it is considered that to release this commercially sensitive information into the public domain is likely to prejudice the commercial interests of NHSBSA which is not outweighed by the public interest for disclosure. 

###Question 7
Any ad-hoc requirements under RM6160 or RM6277 will be contracted using the CCS framework terms and conditions.

###Question 8
The relevant line manager manages temporary staff

###Question 9
The Commercial Service Team can be contacted using the following email: commercialserviceteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk 

###Question 10
NHSBSA is mandated to use RM3749 -  commercialservicesteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk

As you have asked about our contracts you may find it helpful to know the following:

a)	Many of the NHSBSA’s requirements are sourced using existing Crown Commercial Service Framework agreements.  The details of these are available at
 
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/crown-commercial-service 

b)	For contracts opportunities that fall outside the scope of the above framework agreements you can either:

1.	register on Bravo where all NHSBSA tenders are placed https://commercialsolutions.bravosolution.co.uk/web/login.shtml OR
2.	view existing government contracts at https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder

##Data Queries

If you have any queries regarding the data provided, or if you plan on publishing the data please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ 

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement:
“NHSBSA Copyright 2023” This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/ 

Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated.  Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.


Tags: Corporate Finance, Temporary Workers, contract register
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log