Freedom of information response

Temporary Accommodation

Publication date: 
Thursday 22 February 2024
Request: 

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request the following specific information about temporary accommodation being provided by the private rental sector (PRS):
 
The total expenditure by your Council on providing temporary accommodation in the private rental sector for each of the past 5 financial years up to 2023. 

A breakdown of the total expenditure for each financial year into: 
1.    Nightly paid, privately managed accommodation  
2.    Hostels 
3.    Bed and breakfast hotels 
Please provide this information in an Excel spreadsheet or other digital document format if possible.

Response: 

We are unable to break this down into its constituent parts as to do so would mean going through 1,000 cost centre cost lines at 5 minutes per line = 5,000 min = 83 hours.

However, please see below for total costs per year:

In issuing our response the council have applied S12 of the Freedom of Information Act.   This means that the council does not have to comply with your request if the cost of doing so exceeds the ‘appropriate limit’, which for local authorities is 18 hours.  This applies to the time taken spent locating and collating the requested information.    

If you wish to narrow the scope of your request and resubmit this to the council then of course we may be able to provide this information. 

Request reference:
FOI 13426