Dear Mr McEwan

Request pursuant to Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Request No 868.

I refer to your recent enquiry for information held by the Council.

Under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, the authority must state whether or not the information exists and I confirm that we do hold the information you requested.

Please find the information you requested enclosed. You requested and then further clarified;

1. Does your local authority presently employ Education Counsellors

(see note below), rather than "buying in" such a service from an

external provider?

2. If the answer to question 1 above is "yes", please state for

each Education counsellor employed by the local authority:

(i) Whether they have been deemed to be eligible to join the

Teachers Pension Scheme; and

(ii) The date when they joined the Teachers Pension Scheme;

(iii) Are they employed on Teachers Terms and Conditions of

employment.

3. If your local authority does not presently employ Education

Counsellors have they done so in the past?

4. If the answer to question 3 above is yes, please state for each

school counsellor employed by the local authority since March 2004

(i) whether they were deemed to be eligible to join the Teachers

Pension Scheme and;

(ii) when they joined the Teachers Pension Scheme.

NB. Education Counsellors meaning those employed to support pupils

in education. No personal data is required in response to the

above.

Further Clarification;

My only definition is that they are employed as specialist

education/school counsellors with a counselling qualification.

They are not employed to undertake any other function but as

specialist counsellors.

I can confirm that we do not employ these staff. However a number of schools independently have employed counsellors. We as an authority pre April 2009 drafted guidance for schools around these support staff.

If after viewing the information you are for whatever reason unhappy with our response to your application you are entitled to pursue any dissatisfaction through the Council's Internal Review Procedure. Pursuant to Section 17 (7) of the Act the procedure provided by the Council for dealing with complaints about the determination of this request for information is the Council's Corporate Complaints Procedure, a copy of which can be obtained on request or is set out at: www.bedford.gov.uk

Your attention is drawn to the provisions of section 50 of the Act set out below regarding applications for decision by the Commissioner:

“50. - (1) Any person (in this section referred to as "the complainant") may apply to the Commissioner for a decision whether, in any specified respect, a request for information made by the complainant to a public authority has been dealt with in accordance with the requirements of Part I.

(2) On receiving an application under this section, the Commissioner shall make a decision unless it appears to him-

(a) that the complainant has not exhausted any complaints procedure which is provided by the public authority in conformity with the code of practice under section 45,

(b) that there has been undue delay in making the application,

(c) that the application is frivolous or vexatious, or

(d) that the application has been withdrawn or abandoned.

(3) Where the Commissioner has received an application under this section, he shall either-

(a) notify the complainant that he has not made any decision under this section as a result of the application and of his grounds for not doing so, or

(b) serve notice of his decision (in this Act referred to as a "decision notice") on the complainant and the public authority.

(4) Where the Commissioner decides that a public authority-

(a) has failed to communicate information, or to provide confirmation or denial, in a case where it is required to do so by section 1(1), or

(b) has failed to comply with any of the requirements of sections 11 and 17, the decision notice must specify the steps which must be taken by the authority for complying with that requirement and the period within which they must be taken.

(5) A decision notice must contain particulars of the right of appeal conferred by section 57.

(6) Where a decision notice requires steps to be taken by the public authority within a specified period, the time specified in the notice must not expire before the end of the period within which an appeal can be brought against the notice and, if such an appeal is brought, no step which is affected by the appeal need be taken pending the determination or withdrawal of the appeal.

(7) This section has effect subject to section 53.”

Yours sincerely

Charlie

Mrs Charlie Gartland

Access to Records Officer

Borough Hall,

Cauldwell Street, Bedford MK42 9AP

Telephone (01234) 267422 Fax (01234) 221606

Room 133, Borough Hall,

Cauldwell Street, Bedford MK42 9AP

Telephone (01234) 267422 Fax (01234) 221606