FOI release

FOI2024_00010S Top Ten Suppliers

Published 2 October 2024

Thank you for your email of 4 September 2024 asking for information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000. You asked:

I’m writing to amend my FOI request (attached) to mitigate the issue of exceeding the appropriate cost. Please find my amended request below:

I would like to request information on your actual spend since Jan 2023 to date (September 2024) regarding the top ten suppliers in the following categories:

a) Contingency workers - agency/temporary/long-term

b) Consultancy (all forms)

c) Statement of Works - (SoW)

d) Recruit, Train and Deploy - refers to the recruitment process of selecting candidates with or without lower qualification levels who are placed on a targeted training programme before joining the organisation on specific projects.

For the avoidance of doubt, ‘by supplier’ I mean employment agencies, RPO providers, contractor providers – consultancy providers.

In terms of the deliverable, I would like a PDF or CSV/Excel file which shows the top 10 suppliers based on actual spend since Jan 2023 per categories a-d.

If any of the requests are outside the scope of the FOIA, please answer what you can and advise and assist on the best route forward.

Following a clarification request sent to you on 6 September 2024, you further clarified that you require information relating to ‘all categories’ of consultancy.

I am writing to confirm that we have now completed the search for the information which you requested. 

I can confirm that FCDO Services does hold information relevant to your request, as set out below.

a) and b) - please see attached PDF.

Please note, the spend data for August and September 2024 is not yet finalised and therefore spend data for January 2023 to July 2024 has been provided.

c) No information held.

d) No information held.

Once an FOI request is answered, it is considered to be in the public domain.  To promote transparency, FCDO Services may now publish the response and any material released on GOV.UK in the FOI releases section.  All personal information in the letter will be removed before publishing.

The copies of information being supplied to you continue to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.  You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting.  Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.  Most documents supplied by the FCDO will have been produced by government officials and will be protected by Crown Copyright.  To re-use Crown Copyright documents please consult the Open Government Licence v3 on the National Archives website.

Information you receive which is not subject to Crown Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their permission before reproducing any third party (non-Crown Copyright) information.

If you would like to request a review of our decision, you should write to the Data Protection Officer (DPO), Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) Team, FCDO Services, Hanslope Park, Milton Keynes, England, MK19 7BH (e-mail: [email protected]).  Please note you have 40 working days to do so from the date of this letter. Please quote the reference number above in any future communications.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may then apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.  Generally, the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the FCDO. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, or online at: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

Yours sincerely,

FOI Officer

Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) Team

FCDO Services