SOLICITOR TO THE COUNCIL & CORPORATE LEGAL TEAM

MARK HEATH, LLB Solicitor, Dip.LG

Southampton City Council

Civic Centre

Southampton SO14 7LT

Direct Dial: 023 8083 4995 Fax: 023 8083 2308

Email: [email address] Our ref: RP/FOI/0910/642

Please ask for: Mr. Robert Pickering Date: 24 March 2010

Mr. G. Auger,

E-mail: [FOI #30430 email]

Dear Mr. Auger,

Freedom of Information Request

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request received on 10/03/2010. In your request, you have requested the following information:

`I would like to have a breakdown of the teenage girls who, whilst attending a Southampton secondary school, have been pregnant. I would like to know this as a total for each secondary school, covering the last six years.'

Firstly, this Authority only holds statistics for the period commencing with the 2007/08 academic year.

The statistical information that you have requested returns very low values for individual schools, which are within the parameters where the Government Statistical Service considers that disclosure of such numbers is unsafe in that it presents a high risk of the individuals being identified. The Office for National Statistics advises that such low figures should not be disclosed, particularly where there is a very small population to which the statistics relate. The Information Commissioner's guidance on what is personal information states that, `When considering identifiability it should be assumed that you are not looking just at the means reasonably likely to be used by the ordinary man in the street, but also the means that are likely to be used by a determined person with a particular reason to want to identify individuals. Examples would include investigative journalists, estranged partners, stalkers, or industrial spies.' We therefore conclude that the individuals would be identifiable. Consequently, the information is considered to be personal information within the meaning of the Data Protection Act.

By s. 40 (2) and (3) of the Freedom of Information Act, information is exempt from disclosure if it is personal information and disclosure would breach one of the data protection principles in the Data Protection Act. Principle 1, is that the processing (use) of information must be fair and lawful.

Data can only be processed if one of the conditions in Schedule 2 to the Data Protection Act is complied with. Condition 6, states that data can only be processed if it is necessary in pursuance of the legitimate interests of anyone to whom it is disclosed except where the processing is unwarranted by reason of prejudice to the rights, freedoms and legitimate interests of the data subject.

There is legitimate interest in knowing the number of teenage pregnancies in individual schools. In balancing this interest against the interests of the girls concerned there is a presumption of non-disclosure. The girls have no expectation that such information would be disclosed and disclosure would cause distress and potentially place the girls at risk of intrusion into their private lives, bearing in mind that disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act is treated as disclosure to the world at large. We therefore conclude that the disclosure of this information would be an unwarranted infringement of the girls' interests, so that the information cannot be used. For the same reasons, we would also conclude that disclosure would not be fair to the girls.

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24 March 2010

Mr. G. Auger

Consequently, we are of the view that the information is exempt from disclosure as personal information and decline to disclose it.

I am obliged to inform you that all material supplied to you including, layout, presentation, text, logos, icons, photos, and all material is copyright © Southampton City Council (date documents produced), unless otherwise stated. Please note that the Council cannot guarantee the accuracy of information supplied.

Use of any material supplied in response to your Freedom of Information request including reproduction or transmission in any form by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, or stored on any retrieval system of any nature of any material contained in these pages may not be made without permission. No use of any material is authorised without the express written permission of the Solicitor to the Council. The supply of documents does not give you an automatic right to re-use the documents in a way that would infringe copyright.

If you have any complaints in respect of your information request, please write to the Complaints Officer:

Corporate Complaints Officer

Corporate Policy and Performance Division

Southampton City Council

Civic Centre

Southampton SO14 7LT

Alternatively you can telephone 023 8083 3050. If your complaint is not resolved to your complete satisfaction, you have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision.

The Information Commissioner's Office can be contacted by way of letter addressed to:

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

Alternatively you can telephone: 01625 545 700

Please contact me again if you require any further assistance on this matter and I will do my best to provide relevant help and advice.

Yours sincerely,

Robert Pickering

Assistant Information Compliance Officer

for Solicitor to the Council

If you would like this letter sent to you in another format or language, please contact the number at the top of this letter.

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