Tuesday 5 February 2019

710-page file makes interesting reading

EXCLUSIVE by EWAN LAMB

The publication of a thick file of information provides a detailed insight into payments made by Scottish Borders Council to its suppliers over the last two years.

A Freedom of Information request to SBC by Nikhil Prabhu who has lodged similar FOIs with local authorities throughout the UK asked for "all transactions over £500 from 1st April 2017 to 31st December 2018".

The council supplied Mr Prabhu with 710 pages of data which he has posted on the What Do You Know website. SBC's own FOI archive has not been updated for a year which means Freedom of Information request 12570 may not be available locally for some time.

Each entry on the file gives a date, the name of the business receiving the cash and the amount paid to them. In many instances multiple payments are recorded as having been made to the same supplier.

Details of the goods or services provided are not included in the disclosure so any of the items featured in this Not Just Sheep & Rugby article will be reproduced without comment.

The amounts vary from repeat transactions running into millions of pounds to Scottish Borders Education Partnership which manages three Public Private Partnership schools and IT specialists CGI to individual payments involving Borders pubs and restaurants.

Law firms and consultants including a selection of recruitment firms have been paid sizeable sums for services. At the more modest end of the financial scale SBC has paid money to a diverse range of suppliers from Eskdale Shooting Services which, according to its website, provides "luxury bespoke game shooting packages" (£5,194 and £1,680) to Where's The One - music workshops and team building - seven payments totalling some £20,000.

A £1,000 payment was made by SBC on 21st July 2017 to "BRS Conservatives" and on June 14th 2018 £1,560 was paid to offshore law firm Mourant Ozannes. Their website indicates they advise on the laws of British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Guernsey and Jersey.

Council taxpayers will no doubt wish to browse the document to see for themselves where their cash ended up. The remainder of our selection - including a number of multiple transactions - is published in the form set out in the file sent to Mr Prabhu. By way of explanation each item has a date followed by the name of the recipient, then the amount paid.

Audit Scotland - Scotland's public spending watchdog -181003 Audit Scotland 6,664.00 181003 Audit Scotland 8,000.00 181003 Audit Scotland 90,076.00 180523 Audit Scotland 6,663.00 180523 Audit Scotland 8,000.00 180523 Audit Scotland 92,077.00 180131 Audit Scotland 3,600.00 180126 Audit Scotland 6,663.00 180115 Audit Scotland 8,000.00 180115 Audit Scotland 88,077.00 171122 Audit Scotland 5,823.00 171117 Audit Scotland 90,057.00 170913 Audit Scotland 6,570.00 170811 Audit Scotland 5,824.00 170811 Audit Scotland 6,570.00 170621 Audit Scotland 92,390.00.

Baillie Gifford - asset managers - 181206 Baillie Gifford & Co 43,872.46 181206 Baillie Gifford & Co 132,808.64 180913 Baillie Gifford & Co 39,764.80 180913 Baillie Gifford & Co 136,657.22 180503 Baillie Gifford & Co 37,577.11 180503 Baillie Gifford & Co 148,089.79 180131 Baillie Gifford & Co 42,791.15 180131 Baillie Gifford & Co 146,901.53 171018 Baillie Gifford & Co 40,907.38 171018 Baillie Gifford & Co 139,176.37 170809 Baillie Gifford & Co 137,281.70 170719 Baillie Gifford & Co 40,067.02 170524 Baillie Gifford & Co 41,408.27 170524 Baillie Gifford & Co 136,616.45.

CGI IT UK Ltd, awarded a £92 million contract by the council in 2016 to include the creation of 200 new jobs -  181123 CGI IT UK Limited 120,000.00 181114 CGI IT UK Limited 3,375.60 181114 CGI IT UK Limited 556,581.14 181031 CGI IT UK Limited 27,166.80 181019 CGI IT UK Limited 556,581.14 181017 CGI IT UK Limited 24,000.00 181017 CGI IT UK Limited 421,532.40 181003 CGI IT UK Limited 14,794.80 181003 CGI IT UK Limited 556,581.14 180815 CGI IT UK Limited 561,893.30 180706 CGI IT UK Limited 21,780.00 180704 CGI IT UK Limited 571,686.97 180615 CGI IT UK Limited 565,492.30 180613 CGI IT UK Limited 120,000.00 180511 CGI IT UK Limited 576,261.60 180413 CGI IT UK Limited 617,372.40 180404 CGI IT UK Limited 4,290.00 180404 CGI IT UK Limited 180,260.40 180323 CGI IT UK Limited 9,616.02 180321 CGI IT UK Limited 53,469.60 180314 CGI IT UK Limited 118,768.80 180307 CGI IT UK Limited 577,690.80 180226 CGI IT UK Limited 24,000.00 180223 CGI IT UK Limited 586,162.80 180221 CGI IT UK Limited 5,911.20 180221 CGI IT UK Limited 6,506.40 180221 CGI IT UK Limited 7,473.60 180216 CGI IT UK Limited 3,375.60 180216 CGI IT UK Limited 59,155.20 180214 CGI IT UK. Limited 3,375.60 180214 CGI IT UK Limited 6,979.20 180214 CGI IT UK Limited 75,194.40 180214 CGI IT UK Limited 89,552.40 180131 CGI IT UK Limited 7,473.60 180131 CGI IT UK Limited 7,473.60 180131 CGI IT UK Limited 8,920.80 180129 CGI IT UK Limited 7,473.60 180110 CGI IT UK Limited 578,113.20 171208 CGI IT UK Limited 578,113.26 171120 CGI IT UK Limited 4,737.60 171108 CGI IT UK Limited 6,795.34 171108 CGI IT UK Limited 579,073.20 171106 CGI IT UK Limited 288,775.80 171009 CGI IT UK Limited 580,258.80 170927 CGI IT UK Limited 142,815.60 170915 CGI IT UK Limited 120,000.00 170913 CGI IT UK Limited 580,258.80 170908 CGI IT UK Limited 3,870.00 170904 CGI IT UK Limited 8,433.60 170825 CGI IT UK Limited 71,224.20 170823 CGI IT UK Limited 30,000.00 170823 CGI IT UK Limited 144,000.00 170816 CGI IT UK Limited 2,752.80 170816 CGI IT UK Limited 3,834.00 170816 CGI IT UK Limited 8,253.60 170809 CGI IT UK Limited 581,427.60 170807 CGI IT UK Limited 78,028.80 170726 CGI IT UK Limited 4,391.63 170707 CGI IT UK Limited 420,000.00 170707 CGI IT UK Limited 586,882.80 170705 CGI IT UK Limited 48,920.40 170621 CGI IT UK Limited 60,000.00 170621 CGI IT UK Limited 150,000.00 170621 CGI IT UK Limited 180,000.00 170621 CGI IT UK Limited 585,517.20 170613 CGI IT UK Limited 831,600.00 170607 CGI IT UK Limited 831,600.00 170602 CGI IT UK Limited 60,000.00 170524 CGI IT UK Limited 585,517.20 170426 CGI IT UK Limited 687,674.40.

Further information from the 710 pages of data may be included in a follow-up post on this site. Meanwhile the document in its entirety can be accessed here:

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/543397/response/1300013/attach/2/FOI%2012570.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1







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