Badman Report - Conduct of the Review

Dear Sir or Madam

Thank you for your recent email, dated 10 September, timed at 22:33
('Badman
Report - Conduct of the Review'. ), requesting an internal review of
previous correspondence. Could you please advise the case reference
number that would have been assigned to the specific correspondence in
question, in order that we may consider an internal review of that case.

Yours sincerely

Josephine Bell
Independent Schools Partnerships and Strategy Team
[1][email address]

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Dear C Blades

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 2009/0078572

Thank you.

Central Allocation Team

Public Communications Team

Tel: 0870 0002288
www.dcsf.gov.uk

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Dear C Blades

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 2009/0078636

Thank you.

Central Allocation Team

Public Communications Team

Tel: 0870 0002288
www.dcsf.gov.uk

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Dear c Blades

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.

The below correspondence has been allocated the reference number
2009/0070820

Thank you.

Central Allocation Team

Public Communications Team

Tel: 0870 0002288
www.dcsf.gov.uk

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Dear Ms Blades,
Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 10 August. . Before answering your
request I should like to apologise for the delay in replying. The Department is aware that it has missed
the statutory deadline for reply and is in breach of its obligations under the Act. I very much regret
this - the Department should meet its obligations under the Act. While I appreciate that it is in no way a
justification I should like to explain that the Department makes every effort to meet deadlines, but the
delay in responding in this case has been due to the unusual volume of requests the Department has
received in recent months. The Information Commissioner has been informed of the situation.

I have dealt with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. You requested -

On page 4 of the report, under the heading "Conduct of the Review"
it is stated that: "The review was conducted by means of structured
interview with a range of stakeholders including home educating
parents and children, visits to local authorities and home
education groups, a public call for evidence and a questionnaire to
all top tier local authorities in England." Please answer the
following questions regarding this statement

The information to your questions, that we hold, is advised below -

1) What is meant by structured interview? If it means that a set
list of topics or questions was raised with each of the
stakeholders, please send me a copy of the structure of the
interviews with each of the groups mentioned - parents, children,
local authorities and home education groups.

The framework of questions used by Graham Badman is attached. This was modified for each group of people,
for instance, Mr Badman pursued some issues with some groups more, and pursued other lines of enquiry as
and when they arose.

2a) How many home educating parents and children were interviewed?

The Department does not hold this information. The main vehicle for talking to parents was at group
meetings.

If possible, please break down the figures into fathers, mothers
and children.

The Department does not hold this information.
2b) Which towns or cities or local authority areas or counties did
the home educating parents and children come from? (I am trying to
gain a feel of the geographical spread of the interviewees so
please feel free to choose just one of the breakdowns I suggest:
for example counties.)

Bexley, Worcestershire, St Albans, North Yorkshire, other parents from London area
2c) How was it decided which home educating parents to interview?

The final decision was largely due to which groups were operating on the days that Graham Badman was also
available.

3a) How many local authorities were visited?

Four - but a further eight were involved in the review

3b) Which local authorities were visited?

North Yorkshire, Wandsworth, Birmingham, and Staffordshire
3c) How was it decided which local authorities to visit?

This was based on geographic spread, type of local authority, recommendation from Education Otherwise and
policy colleagues, approach to the local authority.

4a) How many home education groups were visited?

Three

4b) Which home education groups were visited?

Education Otherwise and Home Education Advisory Service
4c) How was it decided which home education groups to visit?

Advice from Education Otherwise and Home Education Advisory Service
5) How was the public call for evidence advertised? Please give
full details. For example if a television advert appeared please
state which stations it was aired on and how many times it was
aired.

The public call for evidence was advertised through a press notice the DCSF consultation website, and by a
targeted e-mail to key stakeholders.

Press notice - available on the Every Child Matters website at

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters...

Consultation website, available on the DCSF consultation website at
[1]http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations/ind...

The information supplied to you is protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Any documents
produced by government officials will be covered by Crown Copyright. You are free to use the information
for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news
reporting. Any other reuse, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the
copyright holder and is regulated by the Reuse of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005. You can
find details on the arrangements for re-using Crown Copyright at:

Office of Public Sector Information
Information Policy Team
Kew
Richmond
Surrey
TW9 4DU

Email: [2][email address]

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,

Josephine Bell
Independent Schools Partnerships and Strategy Team
[email address]
[3]www.dcsf.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0070823.

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Dear Ms Blades,
I refer to your request for internal review which was received on 11
September 2009.

Before informing you of the outcome of the internal review I should like
to apologise for the delay in replying. The Department is aware that there
has been a very considerable delay. I much regret this. While I appreciate
that it is in no way a justification I should like to explain that the
Department makes every effort to respond quickly to requests for internal
reviews, but the delay in responding in this case has been due to the
unusual volume of requests the Department has received in recent months.

On 10 August 2009 you made the following request:-

Re: The Report to the Secretary of State on the Review of Elective
Home Education in England by Graham Badman.

On page 4 of the report, under the heading "Conduct of the Review"
it is stated that: "The review was conducted by means of structured
interview with a range of stakeholders including home educating
parents and children, visits to local authorities and home
education groups, a public call for evidence and a questionnaire to
all top tier local authorities in England." Please answer the
following questions regarding this statement:

1) What is meant by structured interview? If it means that a set
list of topics or questions was raised with each of the
stakeholders, please send me a copy of the structure of the
interviews with each of the groups mentioned - parents, children,
local authorities and home education groups.

2a) How many home educating parents and children were interviewed?
If possible, please break down the figures into fathers, mothers
and children.

2b) Which towns or cities or local authority areas or counties did
the home educating parents and children come from? (I am trying to
gain a feel of the geographical spread of the interviewees so
please feel free to choose just one of the breakdowns I suggest:
for example counties.)

2c) How was it decided which home educating parents to interview?

3a) How many local authorities were visited?

3b) Which local authorities were visited?

3c) How was it decided which local authorities to visit?

4a) How many home education groups were visited?

4b) Which home education groups were visited?

4c) How was it decided which home education groups to visit?

5) How was the public call for evidence advertised? Please give
full details. For example if a television advert appeared please
state which stations it was aired on and how many times it was
aired.

We replied on 18 September 2009, attaching the only information held by
the Department.

The Department has now completed its internal review process and has
carried out a thorough review of the case, chaired by a senior officer who
was not involved with the original request.

The panel noted that your request for internal review was received in the
Department before you had received our final reply. On that basis, it was
decided that the internal review could only consider the issue of the
Department missing its statutory deadline for reply. The panel discussed
the following points/issues -

. The panel discussed that you have requested internal reviews on
three other cases. As with this case, the internal review requests were
received in the Department before you had received our final reply. It
was agreed that the other cases be considered on the same basis as this
case.

. The panel noted that in all cases we have apologised for the
delay in replying, accepted that the delays should not have happened and
explained the complaints procedure.

. The panel agreed that it would be appropriate for the Department
to again acknowledge that a breach of the Act had taken place and to
apologise for that fact, but again to point out that the delays were
unavoidable.

. The panel agreed that four separate responses should be sent to
you.

It was agreed therefore that a letter be sent to you, acknowledging the
considerable delays you have experienced. Please see the letter attached
at Annex A.

If you are unhappy with this decision, you have the right to appeal
directly to the Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner can
be contacted at:

The Case Reception Unit

Customer Service Team

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Further information about the Information Commissioner's complaints
procedure can be found on the Information Commissioner's Office website:
[1]http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom...

Yours sincerely,

Penny Jones

Deputy Director

Independent Education and Schools Governance Division

[2]www.dcsf.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0077893.

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
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References

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2. http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/