Thank you for your request for information about the following:

Request

I hope this message finds you well. I am submitting a Freedom of Information request in relation to your organisation’s contract register, procurement strategy, and key contact information.

We would appreciate receiving the information in electronic format, ideally as Excel or CSV, within the statutory FOI response period.’

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

The NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) received your request on 11June 2025. On 9 July we wrote to you to advise we needed more time to consider the public interest in disclosing information to you, versus the public interest in withholding it. Please see below our final response to your request.

Our response

Following our extension to consider whether information should be withheld under sections 31 and 43 of FOIA, we do not believe that the public interest favours withholding information under those exemptions.

I can confirm that the NHSBSA holds some of the information you have requested.

Question 1 – Contracts Register

Please find attached our contracts register. Unfortunately not all of the information included in your request is contained in our register.

Contract Owner

Please be aware that I have decided not to release details of contract owners as this information falls under the exemption in Section 40 subsections 2 and 3(A)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Section 40(2) is an absolute, prejudice-based exemption and therefore is exempt if disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles. In order for disclosure to comply with the lawfulness, fairness, and transparency principle, we either need the consent of the data subject(s) or there must be a legitimate interest in disclosure. In addition, the disclosure must be necessary to meet the legitimate interest and finally, the disclosure must not cause unwarranted harm.

As we do not have the consent of the data subject(s), the NHSBSA is therefore required to conduct a balancing exercise between legitimate interest of the applicant in disclosure against the rights and freedoms of the data subject(s).

The NHSBSA acknowledges that you have a legitimate interest in disclosure of the information in order to provide the full picture of the requested data held by the NHSBSA; however, we have concluded that those colleagues would not reasonably expect their names to be disclosed in a response to an FOI request and therefore, section 40(2) is engaged. This is because there is a reasonable expectation that patient data processed by the NHSBSA remains confidential.

Please click the below web link to see the exemption in full.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40

Question 2 – Number of Active Contracts

The total number is 185. Naturally, this number can change as contracts expire or new contracts are signed/awarded.

Question 3 – Procurement Strategy

I am writing to advise you that following a search of our records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by the NHSBSA.

Due to the complexity and diversity of services NHSBSA procure on behalf of both ourselves and other Health Family bodies, we carry out a Procurement Options Appraisal for each individual contract rather than hold an overarching procurement strategy. This ensures all considerations required under the Procurement Act 2023, the National Procurement Policy Statement and NHSBSA's own strategy and objectives are taken into account within every procurement exercise.

Question 4 – Contact Information

Please see the below information. Where this is held by the NHSBSA, we have withheld phone numbers of staff under Section 40(2) of FOIA. In relation to contact telephone numbers, disclosure of telephone numbers could expose colleagues to unsolicited contact, harassment, or vishing attempts. See this exemption detailed above.

• Responsible officer for API access or data sharing (if applicable)

This information is not held. There is no single person responsible for this.

• Individual managing the contract register:

Withheld under Section 40(2) of FOIA. See this exemption detailed above.

• Finance Director:
  Andrew McKinlay
  Chief Financial Officer
  Andrew.McKinlay@nhsbsa.nhs.uk

• Head/Director of Procurement or Purchasing:
  Sean Murphy
  Director of Commercial Services
  Sean.Murphy@nhsbsa.nhs.uk

• Head/Director of ICT:
  Darren Curry
  Chief Digital, Data and Technology Officer
  Darren.Curry@nhsbsa.nhs.uk

• Head of Estates and Facilities:
  Daniel Allmark
  Head of Estates
  daniel.allmark@nhsbsa.nhs.uk

• Relevant Committee Member, Councillor, or Board Member for Procurement/Finance:
  This information is not held. There is no single person responsible for this.

Question 5. Additional Notes

We have answered each bullet point below:

• Our contract register is not available via an online portal
• Our Contract Management System does not allow for data exports
• We have provided the headline contract value/average spend.

Data Queries

Please contact foirequests@nhsbsa.nhs.uk ensuring you quote the above reference if you have any specific questions regarding this response; or, if you feel you may be misunderstanding or misinterpreting the information; or, if you plan on publishing the data.

Reusing the data and copyright

If you plan on producing a press or broadcast story based upon the data please contact communicationsteam@nhsbsa.nhs.uk. This is important to ensure that the figures are not misunderstood or misrepresented.

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 and is subject to NHSBSA copyright. This information is licenced under the terms of the Open Government Licence detailed at:

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

Should you wish to re-use the information you must include the following statement: “NHSBSA Copyright 2025”. Failure to do so is a breach of the terms of the licence.

Information you receive which is not subject to NHSBSA Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. Please obtain their permission before reproducing any third party (non NHSBSA Copyright) information.