8 CPPs in Mr Badman's letter: from Nottingham City LA?

Dear Jennifer

Thank you for your recent email. A reply will be sent to you as soon as
possible. For information, the departmental standard for correspondence
received is that responses should be sent within 20 working days as you
are requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2010/0005805

Thank you.

Central Allocation Team

Public Communications Team

Tel: 0870 0002288
www.dcsf.gov.uk

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Dear Ms
Moore,
Your Ref: 2010/0005805
Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 25 January 2010.

You requested the following -

On 9 October 2009, Mr Graham Badman sent a letter to Barry
Sheerman, Chairman of the CSF Select Committee. Annex 2 of the
letter includes a bar graph entitled "Number of EHE Child

Protection Plans by Local Authority". This shows that one (and only
one) Local Authority had eight Child Protection Plans applying to
EHE children.

My question is simple: is that one LA with 8 CPPs Nottingham City,
or is it not?

Please note that this answer will not reveal any new information
about Nottingham City LA itself, as the LA has already put into the
public domain its entire response to Mr Badman's September 2009
research. I simply wish to confirm whether the "8" in Nottingham
City's response is the "8" appearing in Mr Badman's bar graph. (It
seems likely, but I did not want to assume this without checking.)

I believe therefore that there should not be any issue of
confidentiality, or any need to seek permission from Nottingham
City LA before releasing this information.

I have dealt with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("the Act").

We are unable to supply the information you have requested for reasons I have set out below.

The data provided in Graham Badman's letter to Barry Sheerman on the number of child protection plans is
presented as a frequency distribution to assist users in understanding the range provided by different
local authorities.

Where there are typically fewer than ten children in each local authority the Department employs
statistical disclosure controls to ensure that statistics including those collected for research purposes
do not reveal the identity of an individual, or any private information relating to them, taking into
account other relevant sources of information. These statistical disclosure controls protect against both
specific known risks and more general risks including unknown risks.

It is the Department's policy not to release any information that might lead to individual children being
identified and consider that the absolute exemption at Section 38(1)(a) and (b) of the Act is engaged,
which provides that information is exempt if its disclosure under the Act would, or would be likely, to

(a) endanger the physical or mental health of any individual; or
(b) endanger the safety of any individual.

This exemption is subject to the public interest test which means that even where prejudice or likely
prejudice can be demonstrated, it is still necessary to consider whether in all the circumstances of the
case the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in disclosure. This
exemption covers events that could reasonably be expected but do not have to be definitely foreseeable. In
particular the Department considered:

* The circumstances of these cases suggest a strong likelihood of risk to the health and safety of
individuals from release of the information.

* The release of anonymised information could mislead individuals or the public at large.

* Through misunderstanding, there is a likely risk to the health and safety of individuals in no way
connected with the cases or the events considered.

* Perceived risk to the health and safety of those concerned, is likely to have a deterrent effect on
families registered at risk and may deter participation in and cooperation with the appropriate
safeguarding process, leading in the longer term to increased risk to vulnerable children.

The case for disclosure of information protected by this exemption rests mainly on the desirability of
greater openness for the purposes of increasing public understanding and trust, and on encouraging greater
accountability.

Conversely, it is reasonable to expect that the release of any information which might lead to the
identification of the families of those registered as at risk might result in a deterrent effect to
participation in, and co-operation with, the appropriate safeguarding processes in the future, leading to
increased risk to vulnerable children. It is also reasonable not to release information that may lead to
the identification or possibly to misidentification of individuals. The most effective precaution which
could be taken to prevent anticipated danger to individuals lies in not disclosing information which could
put them at risk.

Having carried out the public interest balancing tests in respect of the exemption at sections 38, the
Department takes the view that it is not in the public interest for any of the information you have
requested to be released.

The Department also considers that the absolute exemption at section 40 of the Act is engaged because some
of information requested constitutes personal data, disclosure of which would contravene the data
protection principles. Data are `personal data' if, taken with `other information' they enable a living
individual to whom the data relates to be identified.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number
above in any future communications.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you should make a complaint to the
Department by writing to me within two calendar months of the date of this letter. Your complaint will be
considered by an independent review panel, who were not involved in the original consideration of your
request.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint to the Department, you may then contact the
Information Commissioner's Office.
Yours sincerely,

Lisa White
[1]www.dcsf.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2010/0005805.

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