Small items posted to the public - Find a freedom of information request

I am interested in understanding the procedures and policies related to the mailing of small items (weighing less than 1kg) to members of the public within your local authority's jurisdiction. This information is crucial for research and analysis purposes. Specifically, I would appreciate your assistance in providing the following details:



Small Items Mailed to the Public: Please provide a list of small items that your local authority, or its commissioned providers, regularly mails to members of the public. These items can include but are not limited to nicotine replacement therapy for smoking cessation, contraception for sexual health services, reusable shopping bags, COVID-19 tests, or any other items of a similar nature.



Responsibility Departments: Kindly specify which departments within your local authority are responsible for the issuance and distribution of these items.



For example, if nicotine replacement therapy is issued, please indicate which department oversees this process (e.g., the Public Health Department).



Contact Information: Please provide the names and contact email addresses of the individuals who are responsible for the management of the departments mentioned in item #2. This will enable me to reach out for further clarification if necessary. 

1. Lincolnshire County Council have a Corporate Postal Policy in place that centralises the management of post in the authority. To post small items we use the Royal Mail postal service, and all items of post are sent via royal mail 2nd class unless there is a business need for them to be sent via other means but this is in exceptional circumstances.

The team responsible for dealing with post is the central print and post team that Andrew Hancy, Head of Business Support is responsible for.

The Children's Health Team regularly send out bed wetting alarms and watches to parents, newborn blood spot equipment to health visitors, Personal Child Health Record (PCHR) (red books) to parents, they also send out vitamins to parents and do also occasionally send out care of next infant (CONI) alarms for new parents but this is also not very often.

Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) also send out asbestos bags to members of the public who book asbestos removal via the Website https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/recycling-waste/book-white-asbestos-disposal

Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) and Smoking Cessation – Lincolnshire County Council do not hold this information. provision of NRT to the public is handled in its entirety by LCC’s commission provider, Thrive Tribe. Any information requests relating to this should be referred to them directly.

Sexual health – LCC’s commission provider Lincolnshire Community Health Service (LCHS) will post STI /HIV self-sampling/self-test kits and condoms to their service users. LCC commission sexual health outreach provider, Positive Health, post condoms too.