Appendix I

Education & Recreation

Our Ref:

ACE 32775

Education & Recreation Woodhill House

Your Ref:

Westburn Road Please ask for:

Joanna Shirriffs

Direct Dial:

01224 665351

E-mail:

[email protected]

Aberdeen AB16 5GB Telephone 01224 664630 Fax 01224 664615 14 October 2005

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 - (“The Act”)

Applicants Name

: Ian Cameron

Applicants Address : [email protected] Dear Mr Cameron I refer to your request for information from the Council dated 16 September 2005, regarding Huntly Nordic Ski Centre. In your request you ask for a full and complete list of all franchises held either under the auspices of Aberdeenshire Council or held by employees of Aberdeenshire Council working at or using the address of the Ski Centre. Aberdeenshire Council took over the operation of Huntly Nordic Ski Centre in June 1999, prior to which the Centre was run by an arms-length, independent Management Committee. We are unaware of any franchises held by the Centre Management Committee prior to 1999, other than the fact that the Management Committee itself operated the Centre on behalf of Aberdeenshire Council from the inception of the facility in 1995, until June 1999. The Centre has trading agreements with various equipment suppliers, necessary to keep the core business of the Ski Centre operational (tuition, club and public use). None of these trading agreements could be construed as a franchise. They are simply normal arrangements, in line with those of any other Council supplier. The Centre has a close working relationship with Mr Roy Young, who operates a small local business under the trading name of ‘Tout Tele’, which supplies specialist roller ski and nordic skiing equipment. Whilst Mr Young is a Council employee, working within the Council’s Training Unit, and on a casual and occasional basis as a specialist British Association of Ski Instructors Coach for the Nordic Ski Centre, the registered trading address of ‘Tout Tele’ is My Young’s home address. -1-

For convenience, arrangements are in place where deliveries for ‘Tout Tele’ from certain specialist ski equipment suppliers (e.g. Fisher, Salomon and Orian) can, on occasion, be made to the Huntly Nordic Ski Centre. Whilst this may give the impression that the business is operated from the Centre, the arrangement is simply for convenience as such deliveries are normally made during the day. There is one supplier, Fisher, which despite having been informed on a number of occasions that ‘Tout Tele’s’ trading address is Mr Young’s home address, continues to send invoices to ‘Tout Tele’ c/o the Huntly Nordic Ski Centre. The arrangements with ‘Tout Tele’ are therefore at an arms length, with staff making occasional, one-off purchases of specialist roller ski and nordic ski equipment and, on occasions, helping out by receiving daytime deliveries on behalf of the company. I can also confirm that no equipment, previously owned by Aberdeenshire Council or the Huntly Nordic Ski Centre Management Committee has ever been sold on to ‘Tout Tele’. In your request you also ask for details of procurement and receipts for a number of items held at the Nordic Ski Centre. As the items you refer to are purchased infrequently, the following information relates to purchases made between January and March 2004, with the help of funding from the Big Lottery Fund (formerly the New Opportunities Fund). The purchases were made following a small scale tendering process whereby shops and businesses in Aviemore, Portsmouth, Edinburgh and Huntly were contacted and asked to provide prices: 

Mountainbikes – purchased from Changing Gear Bike Shop, Granary Street, Huntly

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Rollerblades – purchased from Changing Gear Bike Shop, Granary Street, Huntly

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Roller Skis – purchased from Tout Tele, Willmount, Huntly

The snow shoes held at the Huntly Nordic Ski Centre were purchased by the Huntly Hillwalking Club and remain in their ownership. For convenience, and to support a local club, the snow shoes are stored at the Nordic Ski Centre on behalf of the Hillwalking Club. As the snow shoes were not purchased by the Council we do not hold any information relating to their purchase. I have copies of purchase orders for the Mountainbikes, Rollerblades and Roller Skis. I will forward these to you at the address you provided in your email. Please contact me as the officer responsible for responding to your request if you have any further queries. If, for any reason, you are not satisfied with this response, please refer to the further information attached. Yours sincerely Joanna Shirriffs Project Coordinator Education & Recreation

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FURTHER INFORMATION:

Aberdeenshire Council’s Review Procedure under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002:If you wish Aberdeenshire Council to review its actions and/or decisions with respect to your Request for Information, you should contact:Alastair Nicol, Principal Committee Officer, Aberdeenshire Council, Woodhill House, Westburn Road, Aberdeen AB16 5GB; (e-mail [email protected]): no later than 40 days after you receive the Notice intimating the decision that you want to have reviewed. Your request for review must be in writing or in another form which has some permanency and is capable of being used for subsequent reference (e.g. audio/video tape recording). You must state your name and address for correspondence. You must also give details of the information which you originally requested and the reasons why you are dissatisfied with the way in which your application for information has been dealt with. The Principal Committee Officer will arrange for your application for review to be considered by the Review Panel. The Review Panel will write to you informing you of its decision by not later than twenty working days after receipt of your request for a review. The Review Panel will also provide you with a statement of its reasons for arriving at the decision it has made. Your Right to Complain to the Scottish Information Commissioner: If you are dissatisfied with the Review Panel’s decision, you may appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner. An appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner must be made within six months, specifying:

the Request for Information to which the requirement for review by relates;



the reasons for your dissatisfaction with the review decision;

The Scottish Information Commissioner can be contacted at:Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9BS (Telephone – 01334 464610; Fax - 01334 464611; Email – enquiries@its publicknowledge.info)

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