FOI-02917

Thank you for your request for information about the following:

##Request

<i>I hope this message finds you well. I am submitting a Freedom of Information request in relation to your organisation’s contract register, procurement strategy, and key contact information.

<b>1. Contract Register</b>

Please provide a <b>complete and current extract</b> of your organisation’s <b>contract register</b> or equivalent database. We are not asking you to compile new information or manually populate missing fields – we simply request the register in its <b>existing form</b>, preferably in <b>Excel or CSV format.</b>

Where available, we are particularly interested in the following fields (though this is not a strict requirement):<br>
<span style="display: block; padding-left: 2em;">•	Contract Title<br>
•	Supplier Name<br>
•	Estimated Spend (Total or Annual)<br>
•	Contract Duration and Total Period (including extensions)<br>
•	Contract Start and Expiry Dates<br>
•	Review Date<br>
•	Contract Description<br>
•	Contract Owner (Name, Job Title, Contact Details if available)<br>
•	Contract Notes<br>
•	Managing Department<br>
•	Award Date<br>
•	Participating Organisations<br>
•	Procurement Category<br>
•	Framework or Tender References<br>
•	Central Purchasing Body<br>
•	Classification Codes (CPV, Pro-Class, etc.)</span><br>
Please don’t spend time populating these fields if they aren’t readily available – we welcome receiving the raw register as it exists in your system.

<b>2. Total Number of Active Contracts</b>

Please confirm the total number of contracts currently listed as active.

<b>3. Procurement Strategy (2025/2026)</b>

Please provide your organisation’s Procurement Strategy for 2025/2026.<br>
<span style="display: block; padding-left: 2em;">• If this is part of a multi-year strategy (e.g., 2024–2028), please provide the most <span style="display: block; padding-left: 0.8em;"> recent version covering 2025/2026 or indicate when this will be available.</span>
• If any parts are redacted, please identify the redacted sections and the reason.</span>

<b>4. Contact Information</b>

If possible, please provide the name, job title, phone number, and email address for the following roles:<br>
<span style="display: block; padding-left: 2em;">•	Responsible officer for API access or data sharing (if applicable)<br>
•	Individual managing the contract register<br>
•	Finance Director<br>
•	Head/Director of Procurement or Purchasing<br>
•	Head/Director of ICT<br>
•	Head of Estates and Facilities<br>
•	Relevant Committee Member, Councillor, or Board Member for <span style="display: block; padding-left: 0.8em;"> Procurement/Finance</span></span><br>
If direct contact details are restricted due to GDPR, please indicate the best department or method of contact.

<b>5. Additional Notes</b>

<span style="display: block; padding-left: 2em;">•	If your contract register is available via an online portal, please ensure all <span style="display: block; padding-left: 0.8em;">records are accessible (as some portals may only show summary data).</span>
•	If your organisation uses a contract management system or CRM, please <span style="display: block; padding-left: 0.8em;">confirm whether it allows for data exports.</span>
•	If you intend to withhold spend figures, please note that we are requesting an <span style="display: block; padding-left: 0.8em;"><b>overall total or indicative spend</b> only – not a line-by-line financial breakdown.</span></span>

<b>Format and Delivery</b>

We would appreciate receiving the information in electronic format, ideally as Excel or CSV, within the statutory FOI response period.’</i>

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).  

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 11June 2025. On 9 July we wrote to you to advise we needed more time to consider the public interest in disclosing information to you, versus the public interest in withholding it. Please see below our final response to your request.

##Our response

Following our extension to consider whether information should be withheld under sections 31 and 43 of FOIA, we do not believe that the public interest favours withholding information under those exemptions.

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds some of the information you have requested.

<b>Question 1 – Contracts Register</b>

Please find attached our contracts register. Unfortunately not all of the information included in your request is contained in our register.

<b>Contract Owner</b>

Please be aware that I have decided not to release details of contract owners as this information falls under the exemption in Section 40 subsections 2 and 3(A)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.   
 
Section 40(2) is an absolute, prejudice-based exemption and therefore is exempt if disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles. In order for disclosure to comply with the lawfulness, fairness, and transparency principle, we either need the consent of the data subject(s) or there must be a legitimate interest in disclosure. In addition, the disclosure must be necessary to meet the legitimate interest and finally, the disclosure must not cause unwarranted harm.

As we do not have the consent of the data subject(s), the NHSBSA is therefore required to conduct a balancing exercise between legitimate interest of the applicant in disclosure against the rights and freedoms of the data subject(s). 

The NHSBSA acknowledges that you have a legitimate interest in disclosure of the information in order to provide the full picture of the requested data held by the NHSBSA; however, we have concluded that those colleagues would not reasonably expect their names to be disclosed in a response to an FOI request and therefore, section 40(2) is engaged. This is because there is a reasonable expectation that patient data processed by the NHSBSA remains confidential. 

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full. 
 
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40 

<b>Question 2 – Number of Active Contracts</b>

The total number is 185. Naturally, this number can change as contracts expire or new contracts are signed/awarded.

<b>Question 3 – Procurement Strategy</b>

I am writing to advise you that following a search of our records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHSBSA. 

Due to the complexity and diversity of services NHSBSA procure on behalf of both ourselves and other Health Family bodies, we carry out a Procurement Options Appraisal for each individual contract rather than hold an overarching procurement strategy. This ensures all considerations required under the Procurement Act 2023, the National Procurement Policy Statement and NHSBSA's own strategy and objectives are taken into account within every procurement exercise.

<b>Question 4 – Contact Information</b>

Please see the below information. Where this is held by the NHSBSA, we have withheld phone numbers of staff under Section 40(2) of FOIA. In relation to contact telephone numbers, disclosure of telephone numbers could expose colleagues to unsolicited contact, harassment, or vishing attempts. See this exemption detailed above.

* <b>Responsible officer for API access or data sharing (if applicable)</b>

<span style="display: block; padding-left: 1em;">This information is not held. There is no single person responsible for this.</span>

* <b>Individual managing the contract register:</b>
 
<span style="display: block; padding-left: 1em;">Withheld under Section 40(2) of FOIA. See this exemption detailed above.</span>
 
* <b>Finance Director:</b><br>
Andrew McKinlay<br>
Chief Financial Officer<br>
Andrew.McKinlay@nhsbsa.nhs.uk


* <b>Head/Director of Procurement or Purchasing:</b><br>
Sean Murphy<br>
Director of Commercial Services<br>
Sean.Murphy@nhsbsa.nhs.uk

* <b>Head/Director of ICT:</b><br>
Darren Curry<br>
Chief Digital, Data and Technology Officer<br>
Darren.Curry@nhsbsa.nhs.uk

* <b>Head of Estates and Facilities:</b><br>
Daniel Allmark<br>
Head of Estates<br>
daniel.allmark@nhsbsa.nhs.uk
 
* <b>Relevant Committee Member, Councillor, or Board Member for Procurement/Finance:</b><br> This information is not held. There is no single person responsible for this.

<b>Question 5. Additional Notes</b>

We have answered each bullet point below:

<span style="display: block; padding-left: 2em;">•	Our contract register is not available via an online portal<br>
•	Our Contract Management System does not allow for data exports<br>
•	We have provided the headline contract value/average spend.</span>

##Data Queries

Please contact <a href="mailto:foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk">foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk</a> ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.

##Reusing the data and copyright

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact <a href="mailto:communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk">communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk</a>. 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 2025”. 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: NHS Procurement
Organization: Freedom of Information Disclosure Log