Miss


	26 June 2009

Dear Ms Daley

I refer to your request for an internal review which was received on 5 May. You requested the information below -

I am not happy with this response as some LAs have already released
     their submissions. I would therefore like an internal review done
     as it seems like an excuse to allow LAs to get away with
     slanderous, unjustified remarks about EHE families.

The Department has now completed its internal review process and has carried out a thorough review of the case, chaired by a senior officer who was not involved with the original request. The review reconsidered carefully the public interest balance but decided to uphold the original decision not to disclose the information concerned, the reasons set out in the email reply of 1 May 2009 remaining valid. In particular the following points were noted:

Local authorities, including Birmingham, were under no obligation to provide us with responses to the questionnaire. Were we to release they might not be willing to provide us with the information in the future and our ability to understand the real picture as experienced by home-educated children and the parents and professionals supporting them would be greatly reduced. Future policy-making would be based on an incomplete understanding of actual practice, and its effectiveness would be greatly reduced.
The relationship between the Department and local authorities is based on trust and the ability to have a frank dialogue about important issues. These voluntary responses are part of that dialogue and whilst the majority of them are positive in nature, we believe that releasing them could result in local authorities, including Birmingham, feeling that this had broken the trust that they have with the department.
This response is one of a number of pieces of information which may inform the development of policy proposals. The release of the information, prior to consideration by Ministers, would not further public understanding of the policy area, but could in fact confuse when taken out of context. It could have the effect of closing off future options for Ministers, should they decide they wish to make further provision in this area.
The publication of this information in whole or in part will be seen (however wrongly) as a precedent in other cases, and this is likely seriously to inhibit the free and frank provision of advice with the consequences that future independent reviews will be unable to fulfil their original purpose and secure open and full participation of relevant agencies and their staff.

If you are unhappy with this decision, you have the right to appeal directly to the Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

The Case Reception Unit

Customer Service Team

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Further information about the Information Commissioner's complaints procedure can be found on the Information Commissioner's Office website: http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom_of_information.aspx

In your request for an internal review you have indicated that some local authorities have released copies of their questionnaires. That is a matter entirely for each local authority to decide as a public authority in its own right under the Act. The application of exemptions by this Department under the Act is subject to our own assessment of the information concerned, and of the balance of public interest in release or withholding. Such assessments may differ from one public authority to another, and it would seem that some local authorities as the originating authority have decided that the balance of public interest from their point of view falls in favour of release.

Yours sincerely

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Penny Jones

Deputy Director

Independent Schools and School Organisation

[email address]

Tel: 01325 391001

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