Rob McEvoy
[mailto:[FOI #23427 email]]
Your ref:CAF283
Cafcass
Our ref: JJ/CAF283
6th Floor Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
Date: 8th December 2009
London
SW1P 3BT
Dear Mr McEvoy
Tel: 0844 353 3317
Fax 0844 353 3398
Re: Freedom of Information Request
Thank you for your recent email requesting the information below.
1. How many FOI requests have been made to CAFCASS in 2008/9?
2. How many FOI requests have been answered within the timescale set out in law?
3. How many FOI requests have not been acknowledged
4. How many FOI requests have been subject to an internal review?
5. How many FOI requests internal reviews have been answered within the timescale set
out in law?
6. How many FOI requests have involved the Information Commissioners Office?
7. What lessons have CAFCASS learnt from the intervention of the Information
Commissioners Office?
8. Who at CAFCASS is ultimately responsible for answering FOI requests?
9. When did this officer commence these duties?
10. How many times has this officer written (or emailed) the member of public making a
request.
11. Does CAFCASS think it is acceptable for them to break the law?
Please see below:
1. How many FOI requests have been made to CAFCASS in 2008/9?
2. How many FOI requests have been answered within the timescale set out in law?
3. How many FOI requests have not been acknowledged
4. How many FOI requests have been subject to an internal review?
5. How many FOI requests internal reviews have been answered within the timescale set
out in law?
6. How many FOI requests have involved the Information Commissioners Office?
7. What lessons have CAFCASS learnt from the intervention of the Information
Commissioners Office?
Cafcass aims to publish an annual report on the number and types of Freedom of information
request it receives and processes – as requested above. The 2008/09 report has not yet
been published. It will however be placed on the Cafcass website. Section 22 1 (b) of the
Baroness Valerie Howarth Chair
Anthony Douglas CBE Chief Executive
Cafcass, The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)
Freedom of Information Act applies – stated below. You may however find the 2007/08 report
at the following link
http://www.cafcass.gov.uk/publications/board_reports_and_minutes/board_reports_2008.asp
x
June – Item BI-06-08.
8. Who at CAFCASS is ultimately responsible for answering FOI requests?
Jasvinder Jassal is the freedom of information officer within Cafcass. The Freedom of
Information Policy can be found at the following link:
http://www.cafcass.gov.uk/system_page/freedom_of_information.aspx
9. When did this officer commence these duties?
The officer commenced the duty of Freedom of Information Officer with Cafcass in August
2006.
10. How many times has this officer written (or emailed) the member of public making a
request.
Cafcass is not required to collect this information on a regular basis and I am therefore
unable to provide you with a response to how many times I correspond to requestees.
11. Does CAFCASS think it is acceptable for them to break the law?
This is not a request for information that Cafcass holds.
If you are unhappy with the decisions made in relation to your request, you may ask for an
internal review to be undertaken. If you are dissatisfied with the way the internal review is
handled or with the final decision made at that review about the information released, you are
free to contact the Information Commissioner’s office
(www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk) Post
Fax
Information Commissioner's Office
01625 524 510
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely,
Miss Jasvinder Jassal
Information Assurance & Data Handling Officer
[email address]
Baroness Valerie Howarth Chair
Anthony Douglas CBE Chief Executive
Cafcass, The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)
Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act provides that:
1. Information is exempt information if -
(a) the information is held by the public authority with a view to its publication, by the authority or any
other person, at some future date (whether determined or not),
(b) the information was already held with a view to such publication at the time when the request for
information was made, and
(c) it is reasonable in all the circumstances that the information should be withheld from disclosure until
the date referred to in paragraph (a).
2. The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that, compliance with section 1 (1)(a) would
involve the disclosure of any information (whether or not already recorded) which falls within subsection (1).
Baroness Valerie Howarth Chair
Anthony Douglas CBE Chief Executive
Cafcass, The Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service, is a non-departmental public body of the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF)
