Authority over CAFCASS & Council's

Dear Mr Gerrish,

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
2009/0086321.

Thank you.

Central Allocation Team

Public Communications Team

Tel: 0870 0002288
www.dcsf.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Gerrish,
Thank you for your request for information dated 13 October about the
Children and Family Courts advisory service (CAFCASS). I am dealing with
your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
The first part of your request asked what authority DCSF has over a)
CAFCASS and b) local authorities.

CAFCASS is a Non-Departmental Public Body of this Department, and the
Secretary of State appoints the Chief Executive to manage the operation of
CAFCASS and delegates responsibility for its day-to-day functions to him.
For this reason, it would be inappropriate for the Department to impinge
on the Chief Executive's responsibility for the operation of the Service
by becoming involved in individual cases.

The legislative provisions establishing CAFCASS and detailing the
Secretary of State's authority over CAFCASS can be found in the Criminal
Justice and Courts Services Act 2000, in Section 11 and Schedule 2. Please
note that Ministerial responsibility for CAFCASS was transferred from the
Lord Chancellor to the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and
Families (or Education and Skills as it was at the time) in January 2004.

The Department's interaction with local authorities is extremely
far-reaching and is set out in legislation which is already in the public
domain. However, if I can help you with specific information you require
under the Freedom of Information Act, please do let me know.

All public bodies and NDPBs which come under the Freedom of Information
Act have an obligation to be open and transparent under the Act.

The second part of your request asked for all communication held both sent
and received regarding advice given to CAFCASS and Kent County Council. In
order to identify and locate the information that you have asked for I
need some further information from you. Could you specify the topic of the
communications you are interested in please? As I'm sure you appreciate we
have regular contact with NDPBs and local authorities on a wealth of
topics (although the Department does not ordinarily give advice to CAFCASS
on its day to day business), so it would be helpful if you could be more
specific please.
If you have any queries about this email, 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 email. 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,

Carolan Goggin
Children & Family Court Advisory & Support Services
[email address]
[1]www.dcsf.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0086321.

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/

Dear Mr Gerrish,
Thank you for your request for information dated 13 October about the
Children and Family Courts advisory service (CAFCASS). I am dealing with
your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
The first part of your request asked what authority DCSF has over a)
CAFCASS and b) local authorities.

CAFCASS is a Non-Departmental Public Body of this Department, and the
Secretary of State appoints the Chief Executive to manage the operation of
CAFCASS and delegates responsibility for its day-to-day functions to him.
For this reason, it would be inappropriate for the Department to impinge
on the Chief Executive's responsibility for the operation of the Service
by becoming involved in individual cases.

The legislative provisions establishing CAFCASS and detailing the
Secretary of State's authority over CAFCASS can be found in the Criminal
Justice and Courts Services Act 2000, in Section 11 and Schedule 2. Please
note that Ministerial responsibility for CAFCASS was transferred from the
Lord Chancellor to the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and
Families (or Education and Skills as it was at the time) in January 2004.

The Department's interaction with local authorities is extremely
far-reaching and is set out in legislation which is already in the public
domain. However, if I can help you with specific information you require
under the Freedom of Information Act, please do let me know.

All public bodies and NDPBs which come under the Freedom of Information
Act have an obligation to be open and transparent under the Act.

The second part of your request asked for all communication held both sent
and received regarding advice given to CAFCASS and Kent County Council. In
order to identify and locate the information that you have asked for I
need some further information from you. Could you specify the topic of the
communications you are interested in please? As I'm sure you appreciate we
have regular contact with NDPBs and local authorities on a wealth of
topics (although the Department does not ordinarily give advice to CAFCASS
on its day to day business), so it would be helpful if you could be more
specific please.
If you have any queries about this email, 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 email. 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,

Carolan Goggin
Children & Family Court Advisory & Support Services
[email address]
[1]www.dcsf.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0086321.

show quoted sections

Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/