Ian Jackson

WDTK

Dear Mr Jackson

Thank you for your request for a second review of your Freedom of Information Request 2246 (2009) which was received on 14^th December 2009 . You stated:-

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for Work and Pensions' handling of my FOI request 'Exited New Deal participants'.

I would like to question the exemption because it is in the public interest. The New Deal contracts allows such disclosure anyway and the statistical basis of knowing how many people were "exited" doesn't breech confidence as no provider will be highlighted - I want a figure inclusive of all providers without a breakdown.

It is a statistic on New Deal - the Government scheme and doesn't have any bearing on private businesses delivering the New Deal.”

We contacted you on 19^th March and apologised for the delay and that, exceptionally, we would undertake a second review.

In your original request (our reference FoI 1934) you had asked:

How many New Deal participants left (prematurely without securing employment) or were exited each year since the New Deal scheme began.

You pointed out that published figures in this area only provide monthly starters and leavers with no indication of whether their course ended or they left prematurely.

I confirm that I have considered your request afresh. In conducting my review I have discussed the original reply with the staff involved in drafting it, with a number of staff who directly deal with information from the New Deal providers, and with the Department's central Freedom of Information Team.

It is normal practice when dealing with an FoI request to conduct a search for the relevant information to establish whether or not it is held. I am satisfied that the officer who replied to your original appeal in the letter to you of 14th December checked the published benefit statistics on the DWP website, paper and electronic records of Departmental responses to Parliamentary Questions and other data requests in the officer's work area, and previous DWP Freedom of Information responses.

I am satisfied that the officer also appropriately consulted Departmental analysts in relevant policy areas, and colleagues in Jobcentre Plus to establish whether the information you seek is held in that format.

I have myself re-checked with colleagues whether our Commercial Directorate, as part of their contract management role, might hold the detailed information you seek on early leavers and dismissals from New Deal programmes.

As you know the Department has a range of information on those who start and those who leave the New Deal programmes. This information is published on our websites and this has previously been supplied (http://83.244.183.180/new_deals/ndyp/live/yp_l_s/j_lvstage/k_newdest/a_stock_r_j_lvstage_c_k_newdest_may09.html and http://83.244.183.180/sanction/sanction/LIVE/dec_fix_dec/q_2gp/q_ndgp/dct_gp/a_stock_r_q_2gp_c_q_ndgp_p_dct_gp_adverse_jul09.html).

I am satisfied following my enquiries that the specific information you have requested is not available.

The information we already hold on the timing of New Deal participants leaving their programme and their subsequent destinations, coupled with the number of sanctions administered, meets the Department's information needs.

Given that the Department does not hold the information you seek the only option left is to commission the collation of the relevant information from all the New Deal providers. The Department has not previously asked for a bespoke collection of the information in the format you have requested.

The contract between the Department and its suppliers of New Deal provision does give us the ability to routinely request information and to ask for bespoke returns. This arrangement enables us to ensure we have access to the information we require and to minimise the burden on suppliers.

However, although we can request the information you are seeking from all our New Deal suppliers, we estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the appropriate limit of £600. This is because information is not already held on a centralised, computerised system so we would need to contact each of the 100 or so main New Deal providers and through them the 500 or so sub-providers. They would have to be asked to manually trawl through a large numbers of forms and report back in a consistent format that we had pre-specified. The data would then have to be centrally collated and quality assured to ensure it was fit for purpose. Regardless of whether this was done for one year or several years the cost of identifying and retrieving the relevant information would exceed the Freedom of Information cost limit

The appropriate limit has been specified in regulations and for central Government it is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 3½ working days in determining whether the Department holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information. Under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act the Department is not obliged to comply with your request and we will not be processing your request further.

My apologies if our earlier response implied that the relevant data actually was already available and that it would be exempt from disclosure on commercial grounds. .

In conclusion, I can confirm that the officer replying to your request carried out a thorough search for the information, but that the specific information you requested is not readily available and could only be obtained from our New Deal Providers at disproportionate cost.

If you have any queries about this review please contact me quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

DWP Central FoI Team

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Your right to complain under the Freedom of Information Act

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner's Office for a decision. Generally the Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our own complaints procedure. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF www.ico.gov.uk

DWP Central Freedom of Information Team

e-mail: [DWP request email]

FOI ref no 2568 (2009)

22 April 2009