Digital Transformation / ICT Suppliers
Case reference FOI2025/00116
Received 16 January 2025
Published 11 February 2025
Request
1 The contact information of the individual(s) designated as Digital Transformation Officer(s) or equivalent position responsible for overseeing digital transformation initiatives within the council.
2 The name of current software providers currently being utilized as part of your digital transformation strategy.
• Hybrid mail
Supplier name:
• SMS
Supplier name:
Supplier name:
• Portal
Supplier name: None
• Inbound scanner
Supplier name:
3. Who is the software supplier of your Revenue and Benefits application?
How long have they been the supplier, and when does the contract expire?
4. Who is responsible for the Digital Transformation in Revenue and Benefits?
Name:
Email:
Phone number:
5. Do you have a web portal for your Revenue and Benefits business area that allows citizens to access their council tax bills and benefits letters?
Yes/No
How much did you spend on this portal?
Capital Cost:
On-Going costs:
Is there an additional transactional cost for each document you publish (rather than post) via your Council Tax Portal? No
If yes;
What is it:
How much:
How many council tax bills do you send out per year?
What percentage of these are delivered digitally through your council tax portal (rather than being posted)
6. How many council tax bills and associated documents do you create and send out per year in total?
How many of these are published via your web portal?
How many of these are emailed?
How many of these are posted?
7. How many council Benefit Letters and associated documents do you send out per year?
How many of these are published via your web portal?
How many of these are emailed?
How many of these are posted?
Response
1 The contact information of the individual(s) designated as Digital Transformation Officer(s) or equivalent position responsible for overseeing digital transformation initiatives within the council.
Name(s): Simon Basran, Head of Digital and Helun Sandifort, Head of Transformation.
Email(s): Simon.Basran@herefordshire.gov.uk / Helun.Sandifort@herefordshire.gov.uk
Phone number(s): 01432 383245 / 01432 383689
2 The name of current software providers currently being utilized as part of your digital transformation strategy.
• Hybrid mail
Supplier name: None
• SMS
Supplier name: None
Supplier name: Microsoft 365
• Portal
Supplier name: None
• Inbound scanner
Supplier name:
We consider the name of the supplier used to manage our Inbound Scanner to be exempt under Section 31(1) (a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 because disclosure would, or would be likely, to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime.
This exemption is subject to the public interest test and accordingly we have weighed up the reasons for and against disclosure as follows:
Public interest in disclosure:
Openness and transparency regarding the suppliers used to manage our ICT. Providing further information regarding this would provide further assurance of the measures the council has in place for managing compliance and preventing cyber- attacks.
Public interest in non-disclosure:
If the requested information regarding the supplier used were provided it would increase the likelihood of criminals using this information to target cyber-attacks. Responses made under the Freedom of Information Act are essentially a disclosure to the world at large (including being published on our website) not just to the individual who made the request. If further details were provided, criminals could use the information to identify potential weaknesses in the council’s systems or approach to cyber security, which could be exploited by those with malicious intent to mount a targeted cyber-attack; attacking computer systems or gaining access to data, thereby putting the operation of the council at risk.
If the information was used to launch a cyber-attack on our network this in turn could threaten the security of other Government computer systems linked by the Public Sector Network.
If ICT systems were compromised as a result of a cyber-attack there would be a cost to the public purse because further measures would need to be taken to secure these systems further, which would have an associated cost. If, as a result of cyber-attacks, data concerning residents was compromised, there would be an associated cost to the council if the Information Commissioner’s Office decided to fine the council for any data breach as a result of such an attack. There would also be a potential financial risk to residents depending on the type of personal data which has been accessed.
There would also be a reputational risk to the council if such an attack were to occur, because the council has released information into the public domain, which enabled the attack.
Taking the above into consideration I find the balance in favour of not disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in disclosure. Please take this letter as a refusal notice under S17 of the Act for this part of your request.
3. Who is the software supplier of your Revenue and Benefits application?
Software supplier: Capita Business Services
How long have they been the supplier, and when does the contract expire?
Date started: 2004 With an Addendum in 2016
Contract expiry date: N/a Annual Rolling Contract
4. Who is responsible for the Digital Transformation in Revenue and Benefits?
Name:
Email:
Phone number:
The service is outsourced to Hoople Group via an SLA. To obtain this information the requestor will need to direct a request to Hoople.
5. Do you have a web portal for your Revenue and Benefits business area that allows citizens to access their council tax bills and benefits letters?
Yes/No
This is part of Capita Contract detailed in Q4 above
How much did you spend on this portal?
Capital Cost:
On-Going costs:
The Service Area are unable to provide details of the spend on the portal alone because it forms part of the overall contract with Capita for a number of services
Is there an additional transactional cost for each document you publish (rather than post) via your Council Tax Portal? No
If yes;
What is it:
How much:
How many council tax bills do you send out per year?
124,398 (yearly figure based on totals from 23rd Jan 2024 – 22nd Jan 2025)
What percentage of these are delivered digitally through your council tax portal (rather than being posted)
Digital(%): 6.13
Physical(%): 93.87
6. How many council tax bills and associated documents do you create and send out per year in total?
242,900
How many of these are published via your web portal?
7,622
How many of these are emailed?
7,622 (confirmation e-mails of the documents available on the portal)
How many of these are posted?
227,656
7. How many council Benefit Letters and associated documents do you send out per year?
58,791
How many of these are published via your web portal?
3,682
How many of these are emailed?
3682 (confirmation emails of the documents available on the portal)
How many of these are posted?
51,427
If you are a company intending to use the names and contact details of council officers provided in this response for direct marketing, you must be registered with the Information Commissioner to process personal data for this purpose. You must also check that the individual (whom you wish to contact for direct marketing purposes) is not registered with one of the preference services to prevent direct marketing. If they are you must adhere to this preference. You must also ensure you comply with the Privacy Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). For more information see www.ico.org.uk
For the avoidance of doubt, the provision of individual names and contact details under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not give consent to receive direct marketing via any media and expressly does not constitute a 'soft opt-in' under PECR.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.