Request for information on consultant reports for stakeholder survey

Good afternoon,

Thank you for your further correspondence regarding your Freedom of Information request (reference 2026-282 and 2026-278).

Having reviewed your latest request, we consider that the information now being sought includes additional data which was not covered by the scope of your original request. We have therefore treated this as a new request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and assigned it reference (2026-289).

Our response is as follows:

Your request:

Publication of FOI response

• Please advise when or if the response to FoI request 2026-282 and any response to this request will be published on the NLWA’s ‘Responses to information requests’ web page.
• If you are not intending to publish one or both FoI request responses, please provide the rationale with specific reference to the model publication policy on the ICO website referenced in your response to request 2026-282.

• The NLWA FoI requests with the following reference numbers (with a prefix of either 2026- or 2025-) also do not, at present, appear to be published on the NLWA Freedom of Information request webpage...

   

Processing Invoices for Draft Reports and Similar Formal Outputs of Consultant Activity

• Aside from the report, how many other formal consultant-produced reports and/or similar outputs were not progressed beyond a draft version, but the associated final invoices were still approved/processed in each of financial years 20/21 and 21/22? Please provide both a number and a percentage of the total such reports or outputs in each financial year for which the relevant invoices were paid.
• In recognition that producing an exact number could be unduly onerous the denominator for each financial year could be an approximation for ease but please also provide this figure in case the actual figure is lost in rounding.

• Please provide a short commentary on the scope of the above denominators noting any significant exclusions, for example if you have excluded outputs from embedded consultants, milestone or progress reports from wider programmes of activity, etc

   

Policy on Signoff of Invoices for Consultancy Work

• In FoI request FoI request 2026-282 I requested the following:

“Please provide the NLWA’s policy at this time around the signoff of invoices relating to reports and similar outputs and the degree of officer signoff required for this. Specifically, did the NLWA’s internal policies expressly permit a report in draft only to be fully paid for as they would a fully finalised and formally signed off report?” 

You responded as follows:

“The work as specified in the project proposal was completed and therefore the invoices were signed off by an authorised officer as per NLWA's standing orders.”

• In order to fulfil this original request please could you provide any internal regulations, guidance, staff handbooks and/or written procedures (including reference to external guidance and/or standards) relevant to the determination of an invoice as ‘valid and undisputed’ (using the terminology of the NLWA’s current Finance Standing Orders) at the time the final invoice covering the report was processed. This should, as a minimum, include the NLWA’s Financial Regulations (or relevant elements thereof) at that time.

Timing of the Submission of the Draft Report

• Please provide the ‘last modified’ date in the document information of the report prior to its redaction for the purposes of its submission in response to FoI request 2026-278 and upon its original submission by AECOM to the NLWA (if different).
• Please confirm if the report is that same report referenced in ‘Focus Groups - Report email 17 Sept. 2021_Redacted.pdf’.
• If no, please state which report (or version thereof) is this email referring to?
• If yes, please provide an explanation for why there is seemingly at least 2.5 months between the June 2021 date on the report and its apparent first submission by AECOM to the NLWA on the 17th September.

Referenced Meetings

• Please confirm whether any of the following meetings took place (or are indicated to have taken place based on the invites being accepted by most or all of the key participants and no cancellation email being available):

o   One or both of the two meetings provisionally planned for March 2021 in the gant chart at the end of the document ‘NLHPP - NLWA Focus Group Inception Minutes 2021-02-24_Redacted.pdf’;

o   The workshop on the 14th July 2021 described in the document ‘NLHPP resident focus groups email 14 July 2021_Redacted.pdf’; and/or

o   The meeting scheduled for the morning of Monday the 27th September noted in the document.

• Please provide the titles of the meetings from the relevant outlook invites or similar.
• Please provide any agendas, Powerpoints, meeting papers or records from these meetings or, for the avoidance of doubt, confirm that no such documents are available.

Our response:

Publication of FOI response

Response: Please visit our website for an update on the published requests. 

https://www.nlwa.gov.uk/ourauthority/responses-information-requests 

Processing Invoices for Draft Reports and Similar Formal Outputs of Consultant Activity

Response: We do not hold this information.

Policy on Signoff of Invoices for Consultancy Work 

Response:

A valid invoice is one that has been issued in accordance with the contract with the supplier/any Purchase Order. The invoice must usually be a valid VAT invoice and contain the appropriate information such as the correct amount to be invoiced, the services, the date and details of the supplier. Furthermore, for it to be undisputed the Authority will need to accept it. For example, if it contained incorrect amounts not in accordance with the contract then it would be disputed and rejected. The NLWA Financial Standing Orders also sets out how the Authority discharges its financial obligations. In particular, officers, as defined in the Standing Orders, are responsible for managing contracts appropriately and exercising professional judgement in the managing of contracts, including the review and approval of invoices prior to payment.

NLWA staff are employed by Camden Council and are employed under their terms and conditions and code of conduct. Our financial systems, policies and procedures are owned by Camden Council. Staff attend mandatory training every two years, organised by Camden Council. If you require all the relevant policies, procedures and training materials then you may wish to contact Camden Council as the history of these policies and any additional details that you require may be held by them. 

Timing of the Submission of the Draft Report

Response: 

Last modified date: The date on the document is 8 June 2021 and it is the full and final report. There are no further modified versions. As previously answered – the report disclosed is the final report and the budget holder would have been satisfied that the work was completed as per the brief. They simply did not request a version with the word draft removed from the cover.
The correspondence and documents disclosed do not show that the findings were first shared in September. The initial findings were shared in June and again in July following the workshop mentioned. There was not a full version of the report ready at this point but these same findings were used in the final report shared in September.

During this time there was a change in personnel from AECOM project managing the focus group work. There was a short period of delay in receiving the final report as the new lead was fully briefed on the report findings before sharing the final report and supporting the second round of focus groups.

Referenced Meetings 

Response:

The meetings listed all took place and the information provided below is taken from the calendar invites. All documentation related to these meetings that is available has been shared in our previous responses.

• Focus Group Meeting 15/04/2021

Stakeholder list

Next steps for organising focus groups

Timescales

AOB

• Borough Liaison Workshop 07/14/2021

The issue: the boroughs have different points of interest or concern related to the project. 

The requirement: targeted comms for each borough which covers:

• Key concerns
• Information requirements
• Who is interested (members – NLWA and other – resident pressure – officer issues)
• Ensuring consistency of message while providing required info
• Approach to joint engagement in briefing
• Points of difference and similarity for the boroughs – potential groupings
• Output from session – plan, together with plan to discuss with Chair and boroughs.
• NLWA/NLHPP Focus Group Report – Discussion 27/09/2021

Dear All,

 "Now that the Focus Group report has been finalised, we would like to review and discuss the report’s findings in advance of presenting our thoughts and an action plan to Martin and David at the next Strategic Comms meeting.  Wendy has provided your availability on 27 September and 11.30am seems to be the best time for all. It is also important that this meeting takes place before our next monthly AECOM/NLWA meeting.

Could you please let me know if this time does indeed work for you. I will forward the report separately."

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you may ask for an internal review, which should be submitted within two months of when you received our response to either informationrequests@nlwa.gov.uk or via our enquiry form quoting the reference above.

If you are not content with the outcome of the review, you may complain to the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. The Information Commissioner will not usually accept complaints before a review has been completed. 

Kind regards,

North London Waste Authority