Our Ref: SS/CIGT/ FOI 3416

Mr Luqman Khan

Sent via email

Email address: [FOI #19515 email]

Date: 11 December 2009

Dear Mr Khan

Freedom of Information Act - Appeal

I write further to your email dated 6 November 2009, seeking a review of the decision of the City Council to refuse your request,

FOI Request

1 Provide details of what action Birmingham City Council Chief Executive took to implement the recommendations in the 2007 report about the Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk.

2 Provide details of what action Birmingham City Council Leader and the Deputy Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for Children Services took to implement the recommendations in the 2007 report about the Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk.

3 Provide copies of all the correspondence between the Council Chief Executive and other Council officials from 2006 onwards about Birmingham Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk.

4 Provide details of the percentage of children (census classification) by racial groups of the children potentially at risk.

5 Provide details from 2004 onwards of the racial equality impact assessment undertaken by Birmingham Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk.

6 Provide details from 2004 onwards of the action plans that came out of the racial equality impact assessment of the Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk.

7 Provide details of the actions taken by the Council Chief Executive to do with the Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk after the Commission for Racial Equality served an Enforcement Order in January 2007 on the Council because Birmingham Council was not complying with racial equality law in the Council services and in the Council employment.

8 Provide details of the actions taken by the Council Chief Executive to do with the Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk after the the Audit Commission Comprehensive Performance Assessment Report in February 2007 said that Birmingham Council was not complying with racial equality law.

9 Provide details of the consultations the Birmingham Council has undertaken from 2006 onwards to do with the Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk.

10 Provide details of the action plans that came out of consultations undertaken Birmingham Council from 2006 onwards to do with the Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk.

11 Provide details of how many complaints have been submitted to Birmingham Council from 2006 onwards regarding Council children services to do with the children potentially at risk.

12 Provide details of how many complaints have not been investigated by Birmingham Council from 2006 onwards regarding Council children services to do with the children potentially at risk.

13 How many grievances are submitted by Birmingham Council employees working in the Council children service potentially at risk.

14 How of the grievances were upheld and how many of the grievance were dismissed submitted by Birmingham Council employees working in the Council children service potentially at risk.

Revised Request

1 Provide details of what action Birmingham City Council Chief Executive took to implement the recommendations in the 2007 report about the Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk and what percentage of the children at risk were ethnic minorities. Please give in percentages the children at risk by racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on.

2 Provide details of what action Birmingham City Council Leader and the Deputy Leader of the Council and the Cabinet Member for Children Services took to implement the recommendations in the 2007 report about the Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk. Please give in percentage the children at risk by racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on, affected by the actions.

3 Provide copies of all the correspondence between the Council Chief Executive and other Council officials from 2006 onwards about Birmingham Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk. Please show in percentages the racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on, of the children potentially at risk whose well-being would be affected by the correspondence.

4 Provide details of the percentage of children (census classification) by racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on, of the children potentially at risk.

5 Provide details from 2004 onwards of the racial equality impact assessment undertaken by Birmingham Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk. Please give in percentages the racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on.

6 Provide details from 2004 onwards of the action plans that came out of the racial equality impact assessment of the Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk. Please give in percentages the racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on.

7 Provide details of the actions taken by the Council Chief Executive to do with the Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk after the Commission for Racial Equality served an Enforcement Order in January 2007 on the Council because Birmingham Council was not complying with racial equality Law in the Council services and in the Council employment. Please give in percentages the racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on, children potentially at risk affected.

8 Provide details of the actions taken by the Council Chief Executive to do with the Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk after the Audit Commission Comprehensive Performance Assessment Report in February 2007 said that Birmingham Council was not complying with racial equality law. Please give in percentages the racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on, children potentially at risk affected.

9 Provide details of the consultations Birmingham Council has undertaken from 2006 onwards to do with the Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk. Please give in percentages those consulted, by racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on.

10 Provide details of the action plans that came out of the consultations undertaken by Birmingham City Council from 2006 onwards to do with the Council children services regarding the children potentially at risk. Please give in percentages by racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on, the children potentially at risk affected by the action plans.

11 Provide details of how many complaints have been submitted to Birmingham City Council from 2006 onwards regarding Council children services to do with the children potentially at risk. Please give in percentages by racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on the people making complaints and in percentages by racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on the complaints were concerned with.

12 Provide details of how many complaints have not been investigated by Birmingham Council from 2006 onwards regarding Council children services to do with the children potentially at risk. Please give in percentages the racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on, of the children potentially at risk that the complaints, which have not been investigated were concerned with.

13 How many grievances are submitted by Birmingham City Council employees working in the Council children service potentially at risk. Please give in percentages by racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on, of the employees who submitted the grievances.

14 How many of the grievances were upheld and how many of the grievances were dismissed submitted by Birmingham Council employees working in the Council children service potentially at risk. Please give in percentages the racial groups such as Pakistanis and so on, whose grievances were upheld and whose grievances were dismissed.

An appeal panel met on 24 November 2009 to consider your request for an internal review, in deliberating its decision the panel gave consideration to:

The Panel's decision was to uphold the original decision.

The panel felt that the decision to advise requestor of the cost and apply the fees notice and the response provided is correct. The panel felt that original requests and the modified requests are too broad, even if each request is looked at individually. However, the panel considered that even if it was possible to aggregate some of the requests, the fees limit would still apply.

The panel considered the requests solely under access rights under the Freedom of Information Act, as under the Race Relations Act, the council has a general duty to give regard to the information. However, the Race Relations Act does not give access rights to information.

If however, you are not satisfied with the City Council's decision, you may apply to the Information Commission for an independent review at the following address:-

The Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tele No: 01625 545700

www.ico.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Malkiat Thiarai

Corporate Governance and Information Manager

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