12 February 2010

D.Boucher

[FOI #27840 email]

Dear Mr/Ms.Boucher,

Thank you for your recent enquiry, made under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act, in which you asked us to provide you with detail of the amounts paid by each school in Islington to third parties in relation to temporary staffing cover … (via) an electronic breakdown of amounts paid:

We regret that it is not possible for us to provide the information you request in the detail you require, as such information is not held centrally.

We can only inform you that, although each school is allocated a particular sum for the purchase of cover for temporary staff absences, schools are not required to spending this funding on such purchase.

The funding allocated contributes to a larger pot, which, under current regulations, schools have the power to determine how they spend. They may, therefore, spend either more or less of their resources on temporary cover for absent staff than is nominally allocated for this purpose. Further, there is no requirement for a headteacher, or for the governors of a school, to report to the local authority on the expenditure of their total financial resource allocation in the degree of detail required to provide you with the information requested.

I trust that the information above is sufficient to explain why we are unable to fully meet your requirements. Should any clarification of this information be required, please contact the officer whose name and details appear at the head of this response.

Should any fresh question(s) arise as a result of your enquiry, however, this/these will need to be addressed via a new FoI enquiry, to [Islington Borough Council request email] .

If you have a complaint about the handling of this information request, please contact: Jeremy Tuck, Chief Information Officer, Corporate Resources, 60 Highbury New Park, London, N5 2DJ., or by email to [email address]

Further information is also available from the Information Commissioner's Office, at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.  Telephone: 01625 545 700.  Web: www.ico.gov.uk

Yours sincerely,

Tracy Williams

Head of Finance

Information provided following Freedom of Information (FoI) enquiries

Copyright and possible re-use of information

Please be aware that most of the information that we provide in response to freedom of Information (FoI) requests will be subject to copyright protection. In most cases the copyright will be owned by Islington Council and/or Cambridge Education @ Islington.

You are free to use any information supplied for your own non-commercial research or private study purposes. The information may also be used for any other purpose allowed by a limitation or exception in copyright law, such as news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example by publishing the information in analogue or digital form, including on the internet, will require the permission of the copyright owner.

Should you wish to seek permission to use the information for purposes under which copyright law pertains, please apply in writing to our communications team at the address given above (or by email to [email address]), marking your letter with the unique FOI enquiry number as our reference and header it `FoI Copyright Permission: FAO Ken Witham.

Please read London Borough of Islington's re-use policy found at this link:

http://www.islington.gov.uk/Council/CouncilStructure/Access_to_Information/FreedomofInformation/reusinginformation/

Cambridge Education @ Islington is working in partnership with Islington Council in the provision of education services

Cambridge Education @ Islington is a division of Cambridge Education which is a member of the Mott MacDonald Group.

For more information visit www.islingtonschools.net