FOI request (FOIR-815471691)

1. Use of temporary accommodation

For each of the following calendar years – 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 – please provide:

a.              The total number of temporary accommodation placements or bookings made

b.              Of these, the total number of placements or bookings made with private providers

c.              The total number of private providers of temporary accommodation that the council made payments to

d.              The total amount paid by the council to private providers of temporary accommodation

2. Costs
For the calendar year 2025, please provide:

a.        The average monthly cost of temporary accommodation per person, and please provide this separately for:

·       Accommodation provided by private sector providers

·       Accommodation owned or managed by the council

b.     The average monthly amount charged to residents for utilities and/or service charges in private sector temporary accommodation, where these costs are charged in addition to the accommodation cost covered by the local authority.

3. Largest private providers
Please provide the following information for the three private providers that received the highest total payments from the council for temporary accommodation in 2025:

· Provider name

· Total amount paid to each provider

· The number of accommodation sites operated by each provider

· A breakdown of the types of accommodation used (for example, number of hostel placements, B&B placements, nightly paid accommodation, or other categories, where recorded)

· The average monthly charge per placement (or equivalent measure of cost) for each provider

Please provide your answers in CSV format.

NOTICE OF REFUSAL

Parts of the information you have requested is commercially sensitive and falls under Section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act – Commercially Sensitive Information

Information prejudicing commercial interests – commercial interest relating to an organisations commercial activity and may include trading activity procurement and relationships with third parties.

The exemption afforded by Section 43 is subject to what is known as the ‘public interest test’.  When applying the test in a particular case a public authority is deciding whether the public interest is better served by non-disclosure than by disclosure. 

Although the Freedom of Information Act does not define ‘in the public interest’, there is a presumption under Freedom of Information that openness is in the public interest.  In applying the public interest test a public authority will take into account the distinction that has been often made by courts between things that are in the public interest, and things that merely interest the public.  Where applicants have not identified public interest considerations succinctly or accurately, the public authority has a responsibility under the Act to make their own assessment of the public interest considerations in the particular case.

We have identified the following public interest factors that may be seen as encouraging the disclosure of information:

a)    accountability of public spending

We consider these factors to be of limited relevance in relation to the information in question.

Public interest factors seen as encouraging non-disclosure are, generally, the exemptions themselves.   In consideration of this matter we came to the following conclusions:

a)   ensuring that companies are able to compete for business fairly

b)   damage to reputation and/or financial interests

In weighing the factors for and against disclosure we have concluded that the likely benefit to the applicant and the wider public of disclosure is outweighed by the likely prejudice caused by such disclosure and that therefore the public interest is better served by non-disclosure. 

For the reasons given above we will not be communicating to you the information you have requested.