Child Safety on the Internet

Mrs Fitzsimons made this Freedom of Information request to North Lanarkshire Council

The request was partially successful.

From: Mrs Fitzsimons

21 October 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

This request relates to the safe use of the Internet by Primary and
Secondary School pupils in your region.

Resources:
1. The Byron Review, published 27 March 2008,
2. The Byron Review Action Plan, published 24th June 2008.
3. Written Answer from Scottish Parliament, Maureen Watt dated 24
January 2008. (S3W-08434)

The resources above relate to the safety and education of children
using the Internet at Home and School, and the responsibility of
government, local and national to ensure that children are educated
and protected whilst doing so.

Maureen Watt’s written answer stated that “The Scottish Government
wants children and young people to make full use of the internet
and is committed to ensuring that they are able to do so in a safe
and responsible manner”.

I hereby request under the Freedom of Information Act full details
of the Internet Safety Actions and Initiatives currently in place
throughout the region.

1. Internet Safety Education provided as part of the school
curriculum.

- Within your schools has a specific program aimed at teaching
children about staying safe online, including cyber bullying been
integrated into the curriculum?
- If yes, who is responsible for delivery and what
accreditations/training have they received? For example, teacher,
CEOP trained ambassador.
- If yes, how often is internet safety training integrated into the
school curriculum, i.e. weekly, monthly etc
- If no, what steps/time frames are being taken for implementation?

2. Internet Filtering

- Do the primary and secondary schools within your authority have
internet filtering in place?
- If yes, what tools do you use? For example Hardware or Software?
- If yes, what is the name of your internet filtering supplier and
when was their contract last renewed/due for renewal?

3. Internet Filtering Breaches

- Have any of the Schools within the past 24 months experienced a
breach of Internet Filtering where children were able to access
pornography or Indecent images. Please provide details of School
Type(Primary or Secondary), Date of Breach and Type of Unsuitable
material accessed.
- If a breach of security occurred how was your authority notified?
For example, by a parent, by the school, through an automated alert
provided by hardware/software supplier.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs A Fitzsimons

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From: Hazarika Sandra
North Lanarkshire Council

23 October 2009

Dear Mrs Fitzsimons,

I acknowledge receipt of your email below which is receiving attention.

I shall contact you again when I am in a position to respond more fully
to your request.

Yours sincerely,

Sandra Hazarika
For Corporate Freedom of Information Officer
North Lanarkshire Council
Civic Centre
Windmillhill Street
Motherwell
ML1 1AB
(01698) 302232

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From: Mrs Fitzsimons

19 November 2009

Dear Hazarika Sandra,

I received your acknowledgement on 23rd October regarding my
request under the Freedom of Information Act.

By law, your authority should have answered promptly unless there
is a legal reason why more time is needed to respond.

By law, your authority was required to respond by 18th November.

I look forward to receiving your response without delay.

Yours sincerely,

Mrs Fitzsimons

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From: Hazarika Sandra
North Lanarkshire Council

19 November 2009

Dear Mrs. Fitzsimons,

Request for Information

I refer again to your e-mail dated 21 October 2009 seeking information on
child safety on the Internet.

Having investigated, my response to your questions numbered (1) to (3) is
as follows:-

(1) Within the North Lanarkshire area, a range of internet safety
measures have been or are being implemented in schools, including:-

. as part of the NL Kid Programme, the delivery of
internet safety workshops by Primary Development Officers to primary 7
pupils

. the availability of a range of internet safety
information to support the 5/14 ICT programme of study materials -
currently being trialled prior to the general release to all schools

. inbuilt PC passport security

. internet safety links in Parentzone areas of school
websites

. supported training on internet safety by ICT
Development Officers

. internet safety tasks for pupils to undertake

. display of internet safety posters for schools to
download

. the inclusion of internet safety in Service
Improvement Plan

The undernoted links may also be of some assistance:-

http://www.ea.n-lanark.sch.uk/ecc/Links/...

http://www.st-stephens.n-lanark.sch.uk/p...

https://portal.gloscotland.org.uk/establ...

ICT Development Officers are scheduled to attend Child Exploitation and
Online Protection internet safety introduction and Ambassador courses in
December.

(2) Internet filtering is included within the WAN managed service
contract. The current contractor is Carillion/Capita IT Services and their
contract will terminate on 31 December 2009. A new five year contract -
recently subject to competitive tender - has been awarded to Northgate Managed
Services Limited from 1 January 2010.

(3) I regret to advise you that there is no register of breaches,
and this part of your request would involve the manual interrogation of thousand
of records. The cost of complying with your request would exceed the amount
prescribed in the Regulations made by the Scottish Ministers. This as you
possibly know, constitutes a ground of exemption in terms of Section 12 of the
Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and, in all of the circumstances of
the case, it has been concluded that the public interest in disclosing the
information is outweighed by that in maintaining the exemption. In the event
that it might be of assistance, there is no anecdotal evidence.

I can advise that North Lanarkshire Council, having regard to the
provisions of Section 21 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act
2002, has established a procedure whereby any person who has requested
information and is in any way dissatisfied with the decision on that
request, can require a review of that decision by writing to the Executive
Director of Corporate Services, Civic Centre, Windmillhill Street,
Motherwell ML1 1AB. Accordingly, if you are dissatisfied with this
decision and seek such review please write to the Executive Director of
Corporate Services.

I would advise, also, that in terms of Section 47 of the Act a person who
is dissatisfied with a notice given by the local authority under Section
21 of the Act - ie. a notice following a review of a decision by a local
authority, or by the failure of a local authority to give such a notice -
may make application to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a
decision as to whether, in any respect specified in that application, the
request for information to which the requirement relates has been dealt
with in accordance with the Act. Such an application must be in writing
or in another form which, by reason of it having some permanency is
capable of being used for subsequent reference - for example a recording
made in audio or video tape - must state the name of the applicant and an
address for correspondence and must specify the request for information to
which the requirement for review relates, the matter which gave rise to
the applicant's dissatisfaction with the original decision of the local
authority and the matter which gives rise to the applicant's
dissatisfaction with the decision on review by the local authority or the
failure of the local authority to issue such a decision. The Scottish
Information Commissioner can be contacted as follows:-

Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St. Andrew's

KY16 9DS

I hope this information is sufficient for your purpose. If, however, you
require further information - or I can assist in any other way - please
let me know.

Yours sincerely,

Sandra Hazarika
For Corporate Freedom of Information Officer
North Lanarkshire Council
Civic Centre
Windmillhill Street
Motherwell
ML1 1AB
(01698) 302232

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Things to do with this request

Anyone:
North Lanarkshire Council only: