The Place Directorate

Transcription

1 The Place Directorate Our Ref: FOI st December 2014 Jessica McKay xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx Dear Jessica McKay, Freedom of Information Act 2000 Request for Information I am writing in respect of your recent enquiry for information held by the Authority under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act Please find herewith the following: Your Request:- Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request the following information: The total cost of ALL Christmas decorations in the entirety of Birmingham and the outlying areas that you manage, in NB: Please give the total cost of the items (i.e. trees, lights) themselves and the projected cost of the electricity to power them for the entire time they are in situ. If possible, could you present this information in an electronic format (excel or PDF). Our Response:- In attempting to answer your question as fully as possible we have split our response into thee:- (a) Cost of Trees (b) Christmas Decorations on Council House (c) Projected electricity costs As per your request we are providing this information in a PDF format.

2 The total cost of ALL Christmas decorations in the entirety of Birmingham and the outlying areas that you manage, in (a) Christmas Trees The table below indicates the cost to Birmingham City Council of purchasing Christmas Trees. Birmingham City Council does not purchase any additional decorations apart from money spent as part of the festive lights programme which are detailed below in response to your second question. Year Amount , (estimated) These figure represents non-recovered cost expenditure to Birmingham City Council. Please note that our 2014 figures are currently only estimates and we are unable to provide you with a final figure for the Actual Spend as this will be unknown until the end of the year when all invoices have been presented. For your information money is spent purchasing Christmas Trees on behalf of sponsors and this is recouped in full from the sponsors. Additionally, Christmas Trees are purchased for the Market, but again this is fully charged to the running cost of the Market and is therefore a fully recoverable expenditure. (b) Christmas Decorations on Council House Christmas decorations installed on the front of the Council House in Victoria Square and consisting of an illuminated Happy Christmas sign cost Birmingham City Council the sum as detailed in the table below:- Festive Period 2014/15 Council House Decorations 450 (c) Projected electricity costs Birmingham City Council estimates the cost of electricity used to power the lights on the illuminated Happy Christmas sign on the Council House to be approximately 70 per festive period. Additionally Birmingham City Council estimate the cost of providing power to light festive lights is as indicated in the table below:-

3 Energy Expenditure on Festive Lights 2014 Energy bills 24,000 est. Actual spend for 2014/15 Unknown until year end Of this figure I would like to know how much was spent on solely lights. It is worthwhile bearing in mind that Festive Lighting in Birmingham covers a number of religious and cultural celebrations; these are Eid, Diwali, Christmas and Chinese New Year. Birmingham City Council has a base budget for festive lights which is supplemented by additional income from:- *(a) Business Improvement Districts (there are 11 across Birmingham) *(a) Local traders or trade organisations *(b) Local centres who decide to use City Council Community Chest funds for festive lights Festive Period 2014/15 BCC base budget City centre 132,146 Total BCC base budget Suburbs ,146 Additional income *(a) External 227,156 est. Total additional income Total known funds available Actual spend for 2014/15 *(b) Internal 69,878 est. 297,034 est. 429,180 est. Unknown until year end Please note that our 2014 figures are currently only estimates and we are unable to provide you with a final figure for the Actual Spend as this will be unknown until the end of the year and all invoices have been presented.

4 Whilst we have undertaken a thorough search of the information held by Birmingham City Council, it may be that, due to the size and amount of information held by Birmingham City Council, some information may have been inadvertently missed. If you have any information which may assist us in determining or locating any missed information, we would be grateful if you would contact us with details of this information, so that we can conduct a further search. If you are not satisfied with the response you may ask for an internal review. Please contact the corporate team at the address below: Corporate Information Governance Team Performance & Information (WS) PO Box Birmingham B2 2YY or xxx.xxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx If subsequently you are not satisfied with the Council s decision you may apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Council. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at the following address: The Information Commissioner Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF Telephone: Web Address: Yours sincerely John Hunter Governance & Compliance Officer Telephone: Data Protection Act 1998 The information you have provided within your Freedom of Information request will be held on our database and may also be held within manual records for a period of 2 years from the date Birmingham City Council received your request. Any

5 personal data that you provide to Birmingham City Council will be held in line with the requirements set out within the Data Protection Act Re Use of Public Sector Information Where Birmingham City Council is the copyright holder of any information that may be released, re-use for personal, educational or non-commercial purposes is permitted without further reference to the City Council. Where the re-use is for other purposes, such as commercial re-use, the applicant should notify the City Council in writing to seek approval or agree terms for re-use.