Software Suppliers - Freedom of information requests
Title or Description
Software Suppliers
FOI Number
15888
Date Received
08/12/2021
Type of Request
FOI
Request or Question
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2002. 1. Please can you provide the name of the software supplier and product name used within the Council for the following areas:- Building Control
- Planning (Development Control)
- Environmental Health
- Local Land Charges
- Grounds Maintenance
- Licensing (incl. taxi, alcohol, animal, etc)
- Private Sector Housing (HMO)
- Fleet Management
- Trading Standards
- Waste Management
2. For each of the areas listed in Question 1, can you please provide the current contract expiry date;
3. For each of the areas listed in Question 1, can you please provide the current contract value and the annual support and maintenance costs;
4. Please can you confirm whether any of the above areas are done as a shared service, if so, which ones?
5. For each of the areas listed in Question 1, are you planning to go to market for a different software supplier? If so, when?
Response
1. The Council is unable to release this information into the public domain. Section 35 (1) (a) exempts information if its disclosure is likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime.
Section 35 is a qualified exemption and we are required to conduct a public interest test when applying any qualified exemption. This means that after it has been decided that the exemption is engaged, the public interest in releasing the information must be considered. If the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in withholding it then the exemption does not apply and the information must be released. In FOISA there is a presumption that information should be released unless there are compelling reasons to withhold it.
The public interest has now concluded and the balance of the public interest has found in favour of withholding information covered by the section 35(1) (a) exemption. Considerations in favour of the releasing the information included consideration of public interest in transparency and accountability and disclosure of information about Scottish Borders Council procedures and commercial outsourcing contracts.
However, release of this information would make Scottish Borders Council more vulnerable to crime; namely, a malicious attack on Scottish Borders Council computer systems. As such release of this information would be seen to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime, by making Scottish Borders Council computer systems more vulnerable to hacking, therefore facilitating the possibility of a criminal offence being carried out. There is an overwhelming public interest in keeping Scottish Borders Council computer systems secure which would be served by non-disclosure. This would outweigh any benefits of information release. It has therefore been decided that the balance of the public interest lies clearly in favour of withholding the information on this occasion. Please note that this decision does not imply that you intend to engage in any criminal or malicious activities. However as the Freedom of Information Scotland Act is an open access regime, this exemption has been applied to protect Scottish Borders Council systems.
2. - Building Control - expiry date 31st March 2023 with option to extend until 31st March 2025
- Planning (Development Control) - expiry date 31st March 2023 with option to extend until 31st March 2025
- Environmental Health - expiry date 31st March 2023 with option to extend until 31st March 2025
- Local Land Charges – n/a
- Grounds Maintenance – n/a
- Licensing (incl. taxi, alcohol, animal, etc) - expiry date 31st March 2023 with option to extend until 31st March 2025
- Private Sector Housing (HMO) – Information not held.
- Fleet Management - expiry date 31st March 2022 with option to extend a further year
- Trading Standards - expiry date 31st March 2023 with option to extend until 31st March 2025
- Waste Management – n/a
3. We consider this information to be commercially sensitive therefore we rely on S33(1)(b) to withhold this information. We have considered the public interest test and it will always be in the public interest for the Council to obtain best value and by disclosing this information would prejudice this.
