I am writing to confirm that we have now completed our search for the information you requested on 6 July 2009.

A copy of the information which can be disclosed is enclosed in the format you requested.

The information supplied to you is protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Most documents supplied by this Department will have been produced by government officials and will be Crown Copyright. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder and is regulated by the Reuse of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005. You can find details on the arrangements for re-using Crown Copyright at:

The Information Policy Division,

The Office of Public Sector Information

St Clements House

2-16 Colegate

Norwich NR3 1BQ

Tel: 01603 621 000.

email: [email address]

Information you receive which is not subject to Crown Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their permission before reproducing any third party (non Crown Copyright) information

Some information is being withheld under s40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This is because release would infringe the rights of the individual in question under the Data Protection Act 1998. This is an absolute exemption which requires no public interest considerations.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to quote our reference number in any future communications.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to me within two calendar months of the date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our complaints/review procedure.

Ray Newman

Public Communications Unit

Department for Children, Schools and Families

8^th floor, Sanctuary Buildings

London SW1P 3BT

020 7227 5123

As a UK central government department we are required, as part of our commitment to the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) government secure internet (GSI) connection, to maintain logs of activity on departmental email accounts for a six month period.

We use a commercial web filtering product both to protect the Department from malicious or inappropriate web sites and to record website visits. These logs are secure and can only be queried by staff in human resources after they have applied for and received appropriate security clearance.

The Department does not use any other automated systems for monitoring internet use.

No logging information maintained and hosted by Departmental security tools is available to third parties.

The Department's policy on acceptable internet and email usage is outlined on the staff intranet.

In support of that policy, every time a member of staff logs onto the network they are presented with a message outlining that, by logging on, they are agreeing to use the facilities in accordance with departmental rules, particularly those relating to the use of emails and the internet.

We have an ongoing programme of internal communications around security procedures, the Civil Service Code and internet usage policy. In March 2008, for example, the Permanent Secretary issued a message to all staff, reiterating that the Department allows them to use the internet for personal browsing provided that they keep to the internet usage policy.