Freedom of information response

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.

• Britannic

2. Annual Average Spend: For each supplier, please state the annual average (over 3 years) spend for each supplier

• 38k

3. Contract Duration: For each supplier, please state the contract duration of the contract expires. If available please also include any contract extensions.

• 5 years

4. Contract Expiry: For each supplier, please state the date of when the contract expires.

• December 2023

5. Contract Review: For each supplier, please state the date of when the contract will be reviewed.

• Currently in progress

6. Contract Description: For each supplier, please state a brief description of the services provided of the overall contract.

• Support services and software assurance

7. Contact Details: For each supplier, please state the person from within the organisation responsible for the contract. Please provide me with their full name, actual job title, contact number and direct email address. At the very least please provide me with their actual job title.

• Job Title: Service Manager - Networks and Telephony

8. Number of Agents; please provide me with the total number of contact centre agents;

• 140 total, maximum 70 active

9. Number of Sites; please can you provide me with the number of sites the contact centre covers.

• NA

10. Manufacturer of the contact centre: Who is the manufacturer of the contact centre system that you operate?

• Mitel

11. Do you use Microsoft Exchange 2003 as your email server? If not, then which products do you use?

• Exchange 365

12. Number of email users: Approximate number of email users across the organisations.

• 2200

The second part of my request relates to the use inbound network services contracts which could relate to one of the following:

1. 0800, 0845, 0870, 0844, 0300 number

2. Routing of calls

3. Caller Identifier

4. Caller Profile- linking caller details with caller records

5. Interactive voice response (IVR)

For a contract relating to the above please can you provide me with?

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

• Gamma business communications ltd

2. Annual Average Spend: For each supplier, please state the annual average (over 3 years) spend for each supplier

• 46,578

3. Contract Expiry: For each supplier, please state the date of when the contract expires.

• September 2024

4. Contract Review: For each supplier, please state the date of when the contract will be reviewed.

• February 2024

5. Contract Description: For each supplier, please state a brief description of the services provided of the overall contract.

• Inbound SIP Services

6. Contact Details: For each supplier, please state the person from within the organisation responsible for the contract. Please provide me with their full name, actual job title, contact number and direct email address.

• Job Title: Service manager – Networks and Telephony

Unfortunately we are unable to provide in full the information you have requested.  We do hold the information but an absolute exemption applies.  Personal Information (Section 40,2)

Personal data of any other person (third party data) is exempt under section 40(2) if disclosure would breach one of the data protection principles. This aspect of Section 40 is an Absolute Exemption and is therefore not subject to the Public Interest Test.

The names of officers working for the Council is personal data specific to them. It is therefore subject to the provisions of the Data Protection Act. Information can be withheld if its disclosure would be likely to breach one or more of the Principles of the Data Protection Act. There is no prior expectation on the part of team Managers (or other officers working below the level of Director) that their names and job titles / positions would be published into the wider public domain under FOI. A disclosure made under FOI constitutes a publication to the world at large. We believe that to disclose this would be likely to breach the first Principle of the Data Protection Act by unfairly contravening their right to privacy and confidentiality in the work place.

You are free to use any information supplied to you for your own use, including non-commercial research purposes.  However, any other type of re-use, for example, by publishing the information or issuing copies to the public will require the permission of the copyright owner.

Where the copyright is owned by Thurrock Council, you must apply to the Council to re-use the information.  Please email information.matters@thurrock.gov.uk if you wish to re-use the information you have been supplied. For information where the copyright is owned by another person or organisation, you must apply to the copyright owner to obtain their permission.

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which the council have managed your FOI request you can pursue an Internal Review by contacting us using the above email address. Your request will be considered by a senior member of the Information Management Team who will update you with the outcome of the review. 

If you remain unhappy following the outcome of your Internal Review you may wish to refer your case to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and details of this organisation can be found at www.ico.org.uk . Please be advised that the ICO will not consider your case until they have confirmation that you have already been through the Internal Review stage with the council.