- What is the total value of trade spend FY15/16 (i.e. spend with businesses)?
Devon County Council holds the information you have requested. However our finance systems are not set up to enable us to report on payments specifically to entities defined as “a business”. Therefore in order to answer this question the Council would be required to manually review each payment made in 2015/16 to establish whether the payment was made to “a business”. Given the thousands of payments which the Council makes annually, we feel that this exercise would take greater than the 18 hours we are obliged to spend answering a Freedom of Information request. For this reason we feel that Section 12 of the FOI Act applies (cost of compliance would exceed the appropriate limit).
- What is your current budget for FY 16/17? Please see link Devon County Council budgets
What are your expected budget reductions in FY 17/18, FY 18/19 and FY 19/20 (in % or £)? Please see link Devon County Council budgets
Has the council already projected savings for each of these years to meet this shortfall?
Please see page 18 of the Devon County Council budget on the link above.
What was your target return on cash balances (cash and cash equivalents/ deposits) in FY15/16? FY 16/17?
2015/16 – 0.65%
2016/17 – 0.65% (excluding the CCLA property fund)
- What was your actual return on cash balances (cash and cash equivalents/ deposits) in FY15/16?
2015/16 – 0.76%
- How many staff (FTE’s) do you have in Accounts Payable?
It is not clear what is meant by staff in Accounts Payable. There is a central payments team whose staff process invoices and there are staff in Devon County Council establishments who process invoices. We do not hold information about the number of staff who process invoices.
- Is your AP run in-house or outsourced?
In-house
- How many invoices did you process in FY15/16? 317,000
What is the percentage of invoices (by value) did you pay before the contracted term (definition of term in this instance is invoice date to date paid)?
Devon County Council’s finance systems are not set up to enable us to easily report on this information. Therefore to extract this information from our systems, the Council would be required to manually review each invoice and then assess when this was paid to manually establish if the invoice was paid within the terms of a contract. Given the thousands of invoice the Council receives annually, this information would take greater than the 18 hours we are obliged to spend answering a Freedom of Information request. For this reason we believe that Section 12 of the FOI Act applies (cost of compliance would exceed the appropriate limit).
- What percentage of invoices (by number) was paid to term? (definition of term in this instance is invoice date to date paid)?
FY15/16 – 90% within 20 days, 95% within 30 days
- What percentage of invoices are received electronically? (definition is those invoices that are converted automatically and entered into your accounting system without either scanning or manual re-entry)
Devon County Council does not record the format that an invoice is received.
- Who is your E-invoicing provider?
We do not have an E-invoicing provider.
- Does your council record:
- The percentage of invoices paid within 30 days to first tier suppliers / prime contractors? Please provide this percentage. Do you have a target % for FY 16/17? If so, please provide in each case.
This information is not recorded therefore it is not held.
- The amount of interest (includes both the Fixed Fee and the Daily Interest penalties), paid to suppliers due to late payment of their invoices in accordance with the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations? Please provide this amount.
This information is not recorded therefore it is not held.
- The amount of interest (includes both the Fixed Fee and the Daily Interest penalties), that you have not paid, but that you would be liable to pay to suppliers due to late payment of their invoices if enforced in accordance with the Late Payment of Commercial Debts Regulations? Please provide this amount
This information is not recorded therefore it is not held.
- How many staff (FTEs) do you have in Procurement? How many FTEs do you have in Accounts Payable?
32 staff in Procurement. For staff in Accounts payable please see response to question 7 above.
- Do have or have plans to implement:
- A supplier portal? When? DCC use Pro Contract
- An e-procurement system? When? DCC uses the E tendering system Pro Contract
- Who is your chosen or preferred provider? Pro-Actis
- What value of Early Payment Rebates or discounts did you generate in FY15/16?
This information is not recorded therefore it is not held.
- Who is your Enterprise Resource Planning (or equivalent financial technology) system vendor?
Software AG
- When do you expect to upgrade/retender the systems referred to in question 19?
2023
- Are you, or are you working towards, collaborating with any other councils in the areas of Accounts Payable/Financial systems
Information not held
- How many suppliers do you have on your system?
On 09/05/2017 there are 16,321
- How many of these have traded with you in FY15/16?
This information is not recorded therefore it is not held.
- What is the total number of suppliers that supplied the council via a contract?
This information is not held.
- What is the total value of Goods and Services spent with suppliers whose head office/business address is in the area of the council?
This information is not recorded therefore it is not held.
- What is the total value spent with SME’s*
This information is not recorded therefore it is not held.
- Do you offer suppliers the possibility of payment ahead of contracted term in return for a rebate/discount?
No
- Do any of your suppliers offer you a rebate/discount in return for paying them ahead of contracted term?
Yes
- Do you routinely capture rebates/ discounts against suppliers’ invoices in return for having paid them ahead of contracted term?
This information is not recorded therefore it is not held.
- Against what value of invoices were these rebates/discounts generated?
This information is not recorded therefore it is not held.
- If yes, have you engaged an external provider to support this?
Not applicable.
- Do you have plans to implement an early payment programme (or otherwise to expand your capture of early payment rebates)?
Not currently
- If so, do you expect to engage an external provider to support this? Have you undertaken in the last 12 months/ are you undertaking/ are you planning to undertake in the next 12 months a Purchase-to-Pay process/ efficiency review? When? Are you engaging/ have you engaged a third party to support this?
Not applicable
- Does your Council provide financial support for your suppliers, local SMEs or others by way of soft loans, grants or other investment funding directly or in partnership with other bodies?
Yes
- If so, how much was provided (£) in FY 15/16? Please provide any targets/aims to increase this in FY 16/17 or subsequently
Please see details in the Devon County Council budgets