FOI/2025/26/162

Request

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request the following information relating to temporary staffing within the trust, covering the following staff groups:

Community Psychiatric Nurses (CPNs)

Registered Mental Health Nurses (RMNs)

Registered General Nurses (RGNs)

Occupational Therapists (OTs)

Pharmacists

 

1 – Agency SpendPlease provide the total agency spend for the last full financial year (or the most recent available 12-month period) for each of the above staff groups.

 

2 – Agency Hourly Charge RatesFor each staff group, please provide the following:

The average hourly charge rate paid to agencies

The highest hourly charge rate paid

The lowest hourly charge rate paid

 

3 – Agency Supply and PSL Structurea. Please list the recruitment agencies currently supplying the Trust for these staff groups.b. Please confirm which agencies are on your Preferred Supplier List (PSL).c. Please outline how your PSL operates, including:

Whether it is tiered

Which agencies are on which tiers

 

4 – Breakdown of Agency Spend and Hours WorkedFor each recruitment agency supplying staff, please provide:

The total spend with that agency in the last full financial year (or most recent 12-month period)

The total number of hours worked by agency staff from that supplier during the same period

 

5 – Bank Staffinga. Please provide the total spend on internal bank staff for the last full financial year, broken down by the above staff groups.b. Please provide the average hourly rate paid to bank workers in each group.

 

6 – Internal Temporary Staffing TeamPlease confirm the annual cost of running the internal temporary staffing/recruitment team, including salaries, overheads, and any relevant platform/technology costs.

 

7 – NHSP SpendPlease confirm the total spend with NHS Professionals (NHSP) for the last full financial year (or most recent 12 months).

 

7 – Staff Bank Contact Details

Please confirm the email address and name of the individual responsible for onboarding framework agencies providing cost saving solutions.

 

If any of this information is already published, I would be grateful if you could direct me to the relevant documents or online resources.

 

Response

Having completed enquiries within CLCH, in respect of Sec1(1)(a) CLCH does hold information relating to your request, however, this information is published online. Therefore, for the purpose of section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), this part of our response serves as a formal notification of refusal of your request on the basis that exemption Section 21 of the FOIA applies.

Section 21 - Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means

(1)Information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant otherwise than under section 1 is exempt information.

(2)For the purposes of subsection (1)—

              (a)information may be reasonably accessible to the applicant even though it is accessible only on payment, and

              (b)information is to be taken to be reasonably accessible to the applicant if it is information which the public authority or any other person is obliged by or under any enactment    to communicate (otherwise than by making the information available for inspection) to members of the public on request, whether free of charge or on payment.

Section 21 is an absolute exemption and where information falls within the scope of an absolute exemption, a public authority is not obliged to communicate it to an applicant and is also not obliged to comply with the duty to confirm or deny the existence of the information requested.

Having said that and in an effort to assist, please see the below in relation to your FOI request.

https://clch.nhs.uk/about-us/foi/foi-requests

https://clch.nhs.uk/about-us/publications/spend-over-25000/spend-over-25k-reports-2025