FOI - Contracts with Veolia [OCT 2024]

Request:

I am writing to request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000:

A copy of the current contract between the Greater London Authority and Veolia or any of its subsidiaries.

Details of any amendments, extensions, or revisions made to the contract since its inception.

Any related performance reports or assessments carried out by the Greater London Authority in relation to Veolia's services under this contract, including key performance indicators (KPIs) and their results.

Response:

I can confirm that the GLA holds information within the scope of your request.

We have interpreted your request about subsidiaries in line with the legal notice on Veolia’s website:

“This website is owned and operated by the following companies registered in England and Wales under the following numbers (and all subsidiaries and group companies of the same): Veolia UK Limited (2664833); Veolia Environmental Services Group (UK) Limited (2215767); Veolia Water UK Limited (2127283); Veolia Energy UK Limited (883131) collectively referred to as Veolia”

The GLA’s published contracts list includes one current contract between the GLA and Veolia ES (UK) Plc (Cleaning and waste management services for Trafalgar Square and Parliament Square Gardens)

Our responses are as follows:

A copy of the current contract between the Greater London Authority and Veolia or any of its subsidiaries.

I can confirm that the GLA holds a copy of the current contract with Veolia from September 2021 to September 2024. A copy is attached.

Please note that the reference to September 2023 is a typographical error and September 2024 is the correct date.

• [Exempt information - see below]

Details of any amendments, extensions, or revisions made to the contract since its inception.

There was one cost variation in 2023 which was related to horticultural works on the lawn at Parliament Square Gardens - FOI response MGLA090523-6752 | london.gov.uk

Any related performance reports or assessments carried out by the Greater London Authority in relation to Veolia's services under this contract, including key performance indicators (KPIs) and their results.

The GLA does not hold information in scope of the first part of your request (Any related performance reports or assessments carried out by the Greater London Authority in relation to Veolia's services under this contract).

The GLA hold results submitted by Veolia to the GLA. Veolia self-report on key operational areas.

*

Exempt information

Personal data

Please note that some names of members of staff are exempt from disclosure under s.40 (Personal information) of the Freedom of Information Act. This information would identify specific employees and as such constitutes personal data which is defined by Article 4(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to mean any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual. It is considered that disclosure of this information would contravene the first data protection principle under Article 5(1) of GDPR which states that Personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject.

Commercial interests

Some information within these documents is exempt from disclosure under section 43 (2) Commercial interests of the Act. Section 43(2) exempts information whose disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any legal person (an individual, a company, the public authority itself or any other legal entity).

The information in question relates to detailed rates on page 2 of the document.

A commercial interest relates to a person’s ability to participate competitively in a commercial activity.

Veolia shared the detailed rates under an expectation of confidentiality. Disclosure would prejudice Veolia’s commercial interests because it would reveal commercially sensitive information to their competitors, which would assist their competitors (to the detriment of Veolia) and would negatively impact on Veolia's ability to win future bids.

Section 43(2) constitutes a qualified exemption from our duty to disclose information under the Act and consideration has to be given as to whether the public interest favouring disclosure of the information covered by this exemption outweighs the public interest considerations favouring maintaining the exemption and withholding the information.

Public interest test

The GLA recognises the public interest in transparency across public authorities, in building public trust and ensuring a suitable level of scrutiny around procurement and spending.

The public interest is largely met by the publication of the remainder of the call-off contract and the contract summary listing.

However, it is not in the public interest to release information which would be likely to prejudice the position of service providers by providing their competitors with information which they could use to their advantage. There is a real and significant risk that the prejudice described above would occur.

We find that on balance the public interest in favour of disclosure is outweighed by the public interest in maintaining the exemption.