In October 2023 Derby News published an article raising questions about the new Home to School Transport transport contract for vulnerable children.

Would you put your vulnerable child into an unmarked minibus? Derby City Council expects you to!

A week later, Derby City Council issued a defensive Parent and Carer Bulletin to clarify some of the issues suggested in the article

Derby City Council issue defensive “bulletin” on new school minibus contract.

One of the statements in the Bulletin was:

“The contract was awarded to Nottingham Specialist Transport following a fully compliant, transparent and competitive procurement process”

It’s notable that the Council was keen to state that the procurement process was “transparent” and “compliant”. Under the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 it clearly states:

“Local authorities should expect to publish details of contracts newly entered into – commercial confidentiality should not, in itself, be a reason for local authorities to not follow the provisions of this Code.”

Given the Council’s declaration of transparency, Derby News submitted a Freedom of Information Request on 9 October 2023

“Please forward all of the paperwork associated with the procurement process for the “DPS SMART Contract Ivy House School St Andrew’s School St Giles School (inc. The Hive) St Clare’s School St Martin’s School” including , but not limited to, the request for quote/invitation to tenders (or equivalent DCC document), all responses from potential suppliers, response analysis and the final contract with Nottingham Specialist Transport”

A fairly simple request to fulfil.

On 17 October 2023, the Council emailed to state that it wanted time to review whether this request was subject to a “public interest test”. The response time was increased by 20 days.

“…because the contract is considered to be commercially sensitive”

On 4 December 2023, on the deadline date, a further email was sent by the Council.

“Unfortunately, it is taking the Council longer than expected to deal with the public interest test due to the workload of the department responsible for the providing the information.”

Comment

The Council continues to “checkmate” itself on the apparent sensitivity of commercial public contracts. The Transparency Code is clear – PUBLISH. Confidentiality is not a reason for avoiding transparency.

In principle, the public will be interested in all commercial contracts and particularly ones of this nature.

The Transparency Code also mandates:

“…local authorities should consider inserting clauses in new contracts allowing for the disclosure of data in compliance with this Code”

Derby City Council’s dithering over the release of this contractual information speaks volumes over its commitment to transparency. There is no commercial sensitivity over this contract – it’s for a minibus service where nearly everything is in the public domain – cost of minbuses, fuel, labour costs, maintenance etc …apart from the extent to which “corners” might be being cut!

What are they hiding?