Disclosure Log - November 2022

In Excel, Information on the number of households claiming Universal Credit and/or housing benefit who have presented to you as homeless while between January 2019 and April 2022

As part of this request, I would like this information to be broken down into the following:

(i) The total number of households claiming Universal Credit presenting as homeless since January 2019, broken down into households living in leasehold property and council-owned property (otherwise known as council tenants) and years

(i) The total number of households claiming housing benefit – part of the legacy welfare system – presenting as homeless since January 2019, broken down into households living in leasehold property and council-owned property (otherwise known as council tenants) and years

Information provided to the applicant in Excel format (where held) which is available upon request

Provision of the following information in respect of providers of exempt accommodation (regardless of whether they are registered as providers of social housing with the HCA) covering the period of the last 3 financial years (i e 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22):

1. Details of the lowest awarded eligible core rent

2. Details of the highest awarded eligible core rent 

3. Details of the lowest awarded gross eligible rent (i e inclusive of the core rent and the eligible service charges) 

4. Details of the highest awarded gross eligible rent (i e inclusive of the core rent and the eligible service charges) 

5. Details of any core rents and gross eligible rents where the claimed amount is higher than the highest awarded amounts and has been or currently is subject to an appeal to the first-tier tribunal social entitlement chamber 

6. Please confirm the names of exempt accommodation providers in your borough. Please name the providers/landlords who currently hold exempt accommodation status in respect of any of their residents and those who have been rejected exempt accommodation status 

Additionally, can you also provide: 

7. A list of all Providers that have been approved on your framework to provide supported living or domiciliary care services in your borough

8. A senior level organisational chart displaying senior staff position/ department and relationship and, if available, contact information 

9. The latest Market Position Statement for Adult Social Care Services in your borough

1.  2019/20 = £28.90

      2020/21 = £29.69

      2021/22 = £30.22 

2.   2019/20 = £221.05

      2020/21 = £224.62

      2021/22 = £234.14 

3.    2019/20 = £123.10

       2020/21 = £127.72

       2021/22 = £129.56

 4.   2019/20 = £344.08

       2020/19 = £344.08

       2021/22 = £372.95

 5. None

 6. North Devon have not rejected any providers 

ADVANCE HOUSING

AUCKLAND HOME SOLUTIONS

ENCOMPASS SOUTHWEST

ENCIRCLE HOUSING

FALCON HOUSING ASSOCIATION CIC

FREEDOM HOUSING

GOLDEN LANE HOUSING

MYSHON

PIVOTAL HOUSING

PROGRESS CARE HOUSING ASSOCIATION

RETHINK

SANCTUARY HOUSING SOUTH WEST LTD

TRINITY HOUSING ASSOCIATION

WESTWARD HOUSING

YOUNG DEVON 

7. Applicant advised to contact Devon County Council for this information as Health and Adult Social Care falls under their remit which will cover North Devon 

8. As 7. above

 9. As 7. above

Section 106 Agreements signed and their associated contributions – 2000 – 2015: 

• The date the agreement was signed along with the corresponding planning reference

• list all contributions and their intended purpose

• the dates of when all and any contributions were received by the council

• the project name and details to which any contributions were allocated, expended or committed

• the total amount allocated, expended or committed per contribution and the date this was done

• the total amount that remains unspent and/or unallocated per contribution

• please confirm whether the contribution monies, either in whole or part, were held in an interest-bearing account

• name of the party/parties that paid the contribution

• name of the party/parties that have been repaid and when

• all council spreadsheets that contain the requested information

• Finally, please include either copies of the s.106 agreements or live links to where the agreements can be found

Information provided to the applicant in Excel spreadsheet format, which is available upon request

Applicant advised that the Council’s Accountancy team no longer has any records prior to 2002/03 and for many of the applications they do not have any record of receiving any Section 106 funding, however where held they have provided the information as far as they have been able to identify

Contributions received would be managed in accordance with the Council’s treasury management practice and which would include interest bearing accounts

Applicant directed to the Council’s planning tracker where copies of Section 106 agreements are published which can be found using the planning application reference provided within the spreadsheet

Information relating to the creation of Yelland Quay Viability Report by Plymouth City Council 

1. Names of officers and their role and Councillors involved in commissioning, acceptance and development of the Viability Report by Plymouth City Council - credited to [name available upon request]

2. Minutes of meetings relating to the commissioning, acceptance and development of the viability report 

3. The Brief/Tender agreed between North Devon District Council and Plymouth City Council relating to the commissioning of the viability report

4. Details of the Brief/Tender issued by North Devon District Council with respect to this work being undertaken 

5. The names and contact details of all parties to whom the Brief/Tender was issued 

6. Details of responses to the Brief/Tender including any proposals for undertaking the work

1. [Name available upon request], Lead Planning Officer, North Devon Council (who no longer works for the authority)

[Name available upon request], Development Viability Officer, Plymouth City Council

[Name available upon request], Development Delivery Officer, Plymouth City Council

[Name available upon request]and [Name available upon request], Gates Consultants 

There is no record of any Councillors involvement in the request to Plymouth City Council held 

2. No information held 

3. No formal brief or tender was produced, however please refer to the attached email (available upon request) from [Name available upon request] to the Woodward Smith Chartered Architects 16 March 2020, seeking consent to instruct Plymouth City Council to produce the Viability Report at their client's expense and the email [Name available upon request] then sent (available upon request) to Plymouth City Council that same day instructing them 

The attachments (on one of the emails disclosed) have not been included in the response as the information is marked and considered to be commercially sensitive and as such its disclosure would adversely affect the confidentiality of the information, more particularly where such confidentiality is provided by law to protect a legitimate economic interest.  The Council considers that the release of this sensitive financial information that is specifically calculated for the Yelland Quay site falls under Regulation 12(5)(e) Commercial Confidentiality. The release of this information would be prejudicial to both the commercial and economic interests of the owner of this information, the planning application applicant and their Agent/representative who supplied the information to the Council’s Planning department in confidence in order for them to consider and process the application confidentially and away from public scrutiny 

The full explanation to this exception is available upon request 

4. As 3. above 

5. As 1. above 

6. As 3. above

1. The number of people placed in temporary accommodation (including Bed and Breakfasts, hotels etc) after making a homeless application 

Over the last 3 financial years plus the first 6 months of this financial year: 

a) financial year ending March 2020

b) financial year ending March 2021

c) financial year ending March 2022

d) first six months of this financial year from April 2022 - September 30th, 2022 

2. The total cost of temporary accommodation (including Bed and Breakfasts, hotels etc) 

Over the last 3 financial years plus the first 6 months of this financial year: 

a) financial year ending March 2020

b) financial year ending March 2021

c) financial year ending March 2022

d) first six months of this financial year from April 2022 - September 30th, 2022 

3. How many homeless applications have the council received over the last 3 financial years plus the first 6 months of this financial year: 

a) financial year ending March 2020

b) financial year ending March 2021

c) financial year ending March 2022

d) first six months of this financial year from April 2022 - September 30th, 2022

1. a) 252

    b) 348

    c) 368

    d) 220

2. In accordance with Sections 16 and 21 of the Act, applicant referred to the Council’s dataset that provides the costs of providing TA in response to a) through c). In accordance with Section 22 of the Act, the dataset will be due for updating in September 2023

3. a) 1,899

    b) 1,730

    c) 1,707

The applicant is supporting a groundwater investigation at Saunton Golf Club. As part of this survey, they are hoping to identify any privately owned water supplies (PWS) held in the area of the golf course and requests any details that the Council holds regarding private water supplies within a 2km radius of National Grid Reference SS 46490 37488

Please provide information on how many young people/families have been placed in holiday lets by council departments/bodies working on behalf of the council e g social services, housing associations, etc

Please break this down into which platform was used to book the holiday let e g Airbnb/Booking.com 

Please also provide information on total costs of using this type of accommodation 

Please provide this information for the last five years (2018 - 2022 inclusive), and please break the information down year-by-year 

Example:

2018

5 bookings on Airbnb

3 bookings on Booking.com

Total cost £8,000

Information relating to language guides within the Council

Please include the following information:

Whether there is a current style guide and/or language guide produced by the council for use by council officers and/or councillors

1. Number of MFDs (Multi-functional devices) and photocopiers at North Devon Council 

2. Name of incumbent 

3. Start/end date of contract (if expired, WHEN do you expect to revisit the marketplace) 

4. Details of any extension options 

5. What framework / Route to market used 

6. Number of regular/desktop printers (in addition to above) 

7. Is there a support contract on above, if yes state start/end date

8. Does the Council have a Print Room

9. If yes, name of supplier, number of devices and start/end date of contract, also details of any extension options 

10. Total annual print/copy volumes for (a) mono and (b) colour 

11. What print software does the Council run 

12. Who supplies any outsourced print requirements 

13. Start/end date of this contract 

14. Name of person responsible for print at the Council

1. 25
2. Kyocera Document Solutions
3. Start 1st November 2022 – End 31 October 2024
4. No extension option
5. RM6174
6. Three card printers, one plotter
7. N/A
8. Yes
9. Kyocera Document Solutions x 1 Start July 2020 – End June 2025
10. Mono 1042007, Colour 238407
11. Papercut
12. Services acquired on ad-hoc basic dependent on requirements
13. Not Applicable
14.  Sarah Higgins, Head of Customer Focus

Please provide the following information in respect of the property listed below

• the rates payable (inclusive of any transitional phasing) for the periods listed

• the ratepayer name(s) – excluding those exempt under Section 40 of the Act, for the periods listed:

Tesco, Seven Brethren Bank, Barnstaple, EX31 2AS, BA Reference: 04059300504 – 01.04.17 – 03.12.17

Tesco, Seven Brethren Bank, Barnstaple, EX31 2AS, BA Reference: 04059300508 – 04.12.17 – 31.03.2018 and 2018/19

Tesco, Seven Brethren Bank, Barnstaple, EX31 2AS, BA Reference: 04059300504 – 01.04.17 – 03.12.17 – Amount Payable = £646,371.98 – Ratepayer = Tesco Stores Ltd

CON29 information relating to a property at EX33 1PW

Applicant advised that no information is held

Motor Vehicles registered for public hire i e Taxi/Private Hire/Hackney Carriage that were either issued a new or renewal licence in the period 1 July 2022 to 31 October 2022

Specifically in Excel format:

Vehicle registration number      

Manufacturer (Make)            

Model                               

Licence issue date                        

Licence expiry date        

Information provided to applicant in Excel, which is available upon request

Could you please provide me with an up-to-date name, job titles and email addresses for your Senior IT staff, such as 

1. Chief Information Officer

2. Chief Digital Officer

3. Chief Technology Officer

4. Head of Digital Transformation

5. Director of IT/ICT/IM and T/ Digital/Information/Technology

6. Head of IT/ICT/IM and T/Digital/ Information/Technology

7. IT/ICT/IM and T/Digital/ Information/Technology Manager

8. Chief/Deputy Operating Officer

9. Head/Director of Cyber Security

10. ICT Project Manager

11. ICT Programme Manager

12. Network Manager/Head/Director

13. ICT Infrastructure

14. ICT Business Manager

15. Head of IT Procurement

16. ICT Officer

17. ICT Network Officer

1. through 13, 15, 16 and 17. The position is not held by the Council

14. Andrew Tapp, ICT Manager

Where the Council has indicated that the position is not held, please direct any enquiries relating to those positions to the Council’s Head of Customer Focus as ICT falls under their service area. Also, this officer is the Council’s Senior Information Risk Owner

Applicant referred onto the following page on the Council’s website with regards to Accountability at North Devon Council

1. How many planning decisions, in which an application for a major residential development (10 plus units) was refused, have been overturned at appeal in (a) 2017/18, (b) 2018/19, (c) 2019/20, (d) 2020/21, and (e) 2021/22 to date

2. Please provide the application reference for every major residential development planning application (10 plus units) that has been awarded costs at appeal in (a) 2017/18, (b) 2018/19, (c) 2019/20, (d) 2020/21, and (e) 2021/22 to date

3. Please provide the amount spent by the authority in costs for every major residential development (10 plus units) planning application that has been awarded costs at appeal in (a) 2017/18, (b) 2018/19, (c) 2019/20, (d) 2020/21, and (e) 2021/22 to date

4. Please provide the amount spent by the authority on planning appeals, including the solicitation of external advice, in a) 2017/18, (b) 2018/19, (c) 2019/20, (d) 2020/21, and (e) 2021/22 to date

1. and 2. This information was provided in a table within an emailed response (where held) and is available upon request

3. This information is not recorded

4. This information is not recorded

CON29 information relating to a property at EX34 7BT

Applicant provided with the information, where held and also directed to the Council’s website for some of the information

CON29 information relating to a property at EX35 6DD

Applicant advised that no information is held

Information regarding the Council’s preparation and understanding of GDPR compliance:

Q1. Who is responsible for data protection compliance within the organisation?

Q2. Do they know who performs the data sanitisation processes for the organisation?

Q3. Are they aware of the Information Commissioner’s Office approved GDPR certification scheme?

Q4. If no, would they find these schemes useful to help with their compliance?

Q5. If yes, do they specify the use of GDPR certification schemes for vendor selection?

1. Data Protection Officer

2. Yes

3. Yes

4. N/A

5. Not specifically although GDPR and Data Protection are given appropriate consideration

6. Yes https://www.stonegroup.co.uk/our-accreditations

CON29 information relating to a property at EX31 2FG

Applicant provided with the information, where held and also directed to the Council’s website for some of the information

Contaminated Land enquiry regarding Unit 5, Abbey Road, Barnstaple, EX31 1JU

Applicant advised that the Council holds some information regarding the premises which was provided within an Excel spreadsheet

Applicant also advised that Council’s Environmental Protection team confirms that they do not hold any other records regarding potentially contaminated in this area and recommend that the applicant contact the Environment Agency and Devon County Council regarding any information that they may hold in relation to the site or land in the vicinity

North Devon Council has not yet fully inspected its area to identify sites of contaminated land as required by Part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990. As such, it is not possible to say whether or not this site will be classified under this legislation. At this time, it is considered unlikely that this site would be the subject of inspection under this legislation in the future

1. What telephone system does the organisation use?

2. How many users use the telephone system?

3. Is the telephone system cloud based?

4. When will the organisation next review their telephony contracts?

5. Who is the main network provider the organisation uses for its mobile phones?

6. How many employees have a mobile phone supplied by the organisation?

7. What is the date that the organisation will next review its main mobile phone contract?

8. What Video Conferencing Solutions does the organisation use?

9. Does the organisation run webinars or online events?

10. Does the organisation provide click to chat functionality on its website?

1. Skype for Business

2. 333

3. No

4. January 2023

5. Vodafone

6. 156

7. May 2026

8. Teams, Zoom, Skype

9. Some Committee meetings are live and recorded

1. How many fines has the council issued in regard to ‘fly-tipping’ between the dates of 25th December until the 29th of January of 2019 2020 and 2021?

2. How much in pounds and pence were each of these fines?

3. How many of these fines were paid on time?

Applicant directed to the Council’s Open Data page of its website for the requested years: Environmental Fixed Penalty Notices

The datasets are published annually in CSV and so they can be easily filtered for just the fly-tipping fines in each of the requested years

The total tonnage of waste submitted to landfill sites in your division between the following periods:  

- 1 January 2020 - December 31, 2020 

- 1 January 2021 - December 31, 2021 

- 1 January 2022 - October 31, 2022 

The average tonnage of waste sent to landfill sites in your division per day

The Council’s Waste and Recycling team confirms that the Council has sent zero tonnage to landfill for the requested three years

CON29 information relating to a property at EX31 3UF

Applicant provided with the information, where held and also directed to the Council’s website for some of the information

1. How many play parks have been closed in the area in the last 10 financial years?

2. How many complaints have been received about the general state of play parks in the area in the last five financial years?

3. How much has been spent on the upkeep and/or refurbishment of play parks in the last five financial years?

4. How many reports of vandalism in play parks have there been in the last five financial years?

5. How many injuries have been reported in play parks in the last five financial years, and what were the nature of those injuries?

1. As follows:

2012/13 = One

2013/14 = One

Zero for each requested in    each year from 2014/15 to and including 2021/22    

2. Zero for each requested year

3. 2017/18 = £27,552.79

    2018/19 = £27,608.48

    2019/20 = £24,471.08

    2020/21 = £24,267.61

    2021/22 = £18,172.90

4. This information is not recorded

Would you please be able to confirm if you currently use any contracted security services provider? If so, are you please able to tell me the name and when their associated contact is up for renewal?

Are you able to confirm how much you spent last year on security services? 

Would you also please be able to confirm the details of any training provider frameworks you currently utilise and when these frameworks are open for new applications? This is in terms of the Adult Education Budget for unemployed local residents or staff training 

Are you able to confirm how much your current skills budget is and how much of this you subcontract out?

Applicant advised that the Council does have contract in place with Vanguard Security Services, details of which are published on our Contract Register which includes when the contract is due to be reviewed and end

Total spend with security contractor across all departments for 20211/22 was £31,294 including VAT

I wish to submit to the organisation a freedom of information request relating to the organisation’s ICT contracts, specifically around:

1. contact centre contract(s)

2. inbound network services contract (s) 

The first part of my request relates to contact centre service contracts which could relate to one of the following: 

1. Advanced call distribution to control the flow of calls and maximise customer experience

2. Email, website live chat and integrations with popular social media apps like Facebook and Instagram

3. Performance monitoring tools to track performance, customer satisfaction and other key sales metrics 

This could be part of a whole package or separate service applications 

Please send me the following information for each provider: 

1. Incumbent Supplier: For each of the contract(s) please can you provide me with the supplier of the contract

Contact Centre contract(s) 

1.Nasstar

2. £37,000

3. Three years plus one, plus one

4. 31 October 2023, option to extend a further year

5. 2 January 2023

6. Omni channel contact centre, integration to CRM and IVR

7. Andy Tapp, ICT Manager, 01271 388232

8. 50 agents, 30 concurrent

9. Two sites plus homeworking

10. Enghouse

11. MS 365

12. 420

Inbound Network services contract(s) 

1. Nasstar

2. £31,488

3. 31 October 2023, we have a one year option to extend

4. 2 January 2023

5. Hosted Skype for Business

6. Andy Tapp, ICT Manager, 01271 388232

In Excel/CSV format:

• The number of asylum seekers placed in hotel accommodation within your area from January 2018 to the latest complete month, broken down by year and month

• The number of hotels within your area being used to house asylum seekers from January 2018 to the latest complete month, broken down by year and month

In addition, please answer the following questions with a yes or no, if you cannot do this, please provide additional details:

1. Are you (the council) currently engaged in or considering taking legal action to stop asylum seekers being housed in hotel accommodation in your area? (yes/no). If yes, what legal action have you taken/considered?

The following information was provided in Excel format:

Year: 2022

Month: November

Number of asylum seekers in hotel accommodation: 148

Number of hotels housing asylum seekers: One

1. Currently taking advice as to possible grounds of action arising from the decision to use the hotel in the Council’s area

2. Yes, the Council is considering this

The above information is provided based on Council records.  It may not be aware of the use of accommodation by the Home Office or any of its contractors and so for a complete picture the applicant was directed to raise the same questions with those agencies

1.The ICNIRP certificates issued for 5G masts in the Council`s area 

2.The power output of each antenna in dbm or Watts for each 5G mast in the Council`s area and the power intensity drop off calculations supplied by the applicants for any 5G beams emitted from such antennae, since 5G beams do not obey the inverse square law 

3.A copy of the section of the Council`s public liability insurance policy showing indemnity cover for any potential personal injury claims which might be brought to the Council in relation to harm caused by wireless pulsed microwave radiation from this 5G technology

it is alleged that a USA telecom company is making provision for such claims in its statutory accounts and wireless technology has the same technical signature worldwide. For example, a 5G technical parameter is beam-forming 

4.The Environmental Impact Assessments conducted by the Council for 5G masts

1. The Council does not hold this information
2. The Council does not hold this information
3. The Council does not hold this information
4. The Council does not hold this information

How much land does the council currently have that is unused and unoccupied?

The Council publishes two datasets regarding this information:

Vacant, unused or underused land in Council area – This is updated annually with the next update due in April 2023

Vacant land and properties owned by the Council - This is updated annually with the next update due in June 2023

In accordance with Section 21(1) of the Act, the Council is not obliged to provide information that is already in the public domain. However, it does have a duty under Section 16(1) to provide all applicants advice and assistance in order to assist with locating the information, which it has done so in providing the applicant with the links above

Applicant also provided with the following link to the main Open Data page which provides links to all other published datasets on the website