Re: Freedom of Information Request Number 4005

Re: Freedom of Information Request Number 4005

Date:04/04/2014

Dear Sir/Madam,

Re: Freedom of Information request number 4005

Thank you for your request for the following information:

Staff Travel Expenditure

I would appreciate if you could provide the following information for the last financial year:

  1. How much did the council spend on reimbursing employee travel & subsistence expenses, including mileage allowances, public transport, general employee expenditure, car parking, conference expenses, subsistence etc?
  2. Do employees submit claims for expenses electronically? If yes, what is the name of the system currently in place?
  3. How many expenses claims are processed by the council per month (approximately)?
  4. Do you have a contract with a Travel Agency? If yes, could you please provide me with the name?
  5. What is the name of the ERP system you are currently using?
  6. Do you use this ERP system for invoices as well? If not, could you please provide me with the name of your invoice system?
  7. Do you use your ERP system for payroll as well? If not, could you please provide me with the name of your payroll system?

You clarified your request as referring to the financial year 2012/13.

The information on page 3 has been supplied in response to your request for the

above mentioned information. We are only able to supply some of the information you have requested. Below is an explanation of what cannot be supplied and why. We hope the information supplied is helpful.

We are unable to supply all the information requested in question 3 relating to expense claims other than mileage due to FOI cost implications. This is because the computer system for processing these claims changed from March 2013. We have provided the number of claims other than mileage for March 2013. However, it is not possible to produce a report to identify the number of claims for these items for the period April 2012 to February 2013. A detailed search of all transactions in the system would be required. This would exceed the cost threshold.

The cost to process this part of your request exceeds £450

In accordance with our Information Requests Charging Policy, and in accordance with the Fee Regulations set by Central Government, the Council is not obliged to respond to a written request for information, where it estimates that the cost of complying with the request would be in excess of £450 (which equates to 18 hours of work at £25 per hour).

Section 12 of the FOI Act allows the Council to refuse to deal with a request where it estimates that it would exceed the appropriate limit (£450). Therefore the Council refuses to provide information in these cases. However, we would like to offer you the opportunity to discuss with you whether you would prefer to modify the request to reduce the cost. It is possible that we may be able to reduce costs by defining the search more thoroughly. If you wish to contact the office to discuss this then please do so.

If you are unhappy with the Council’s response you can make a complaint via the Council's complaints procedures and this will be looked into. If you are not happy with this decision you may then appeal to the Information Commissioner.

Information supplied in response to your request is the copyright of Thurrock Council. The information has been supplied for your personal use. Except for permitted acts under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, the information supplied may not be copied, distributed, published, or exploited for commercial purposes or financial gain without the explicit written consent of Thurrock Council.

Yours faithfully,

LABone

Linda Bone

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator

Telephone (01375) 366260

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FOI 4005 Response

Staff Travel Expenditure

I would appreciate if you could provide the following information for the last financial year:

1.How much did the council spend on reimbursing employee travel & subsistence expenses, including mileage allowances, public transport, general employee expenditure, car parking, conference expenses, subsistence etc?

The figures provided are for the financial year 2012/13:

Reimbursement Of Fares / £120,927
Business User Allowance (includes mileage) / £1,023,434
Parking Fees / £5,110
Subsistence Allowance Staff / £34,280
Volunteers Travel and Subsistence / £84,973
Volunteers Other Expenses / £12

Please note, we cannot identify conference expenditure as a separate item.

2.Do employees submit claims for expenses electronically? If yes, what is the name of the system currently in place?

Currently expenses are submitted electronically using Oracle i-expenses.

3.How many expenses claims are processed by the council per month (approximately)?

Mileage: Approximately 650 claims were processed each month in 2012/13.

Other claims: 112 for March 2013.

Please see page 1 for the reason why we are unable to provide any further information for this question.

4.Do you have a contract with a Travel Agency? If yes, could you please provide me with the name?

No

5.What is the name of the ERP system you are currently using?

Oracle

6.Do you use this ERP system for invoices as well? If not, could you please provide me with the name of your invoice system?

Oracle Financials

7.Do you use your ERP system for payroll as well? If not, could you please provide me with the name of your payroll system?

The Oracle system is also used for Payroll processing.

1 Macro FOI.Part Supplied.letter