Child Safety on the Internet

Our Ref: 2859615

26-OCT-09

Dear Mrs Fitzsimons,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

I acknowledge your request for information received on 22-OCT-2009.

Your request is being considered and if the information requested is held
by the County Council it will be sent to you within the statutory
timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Freedom of Information Act
2000, subject to the information not being exempt or containing a
reference to a third party.

If appropriate, the information will be provided in paper copy, normal
font size. If you require alternative formats, e.g. language, audio,
large print, etc. then please let me know.

For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions that may
prevent release of the information you have requested. There will be an
assessment and if any of the exemption categories apply then the exempt
information will not be released. You will be informed if this is the
case, including your rights of appeal.

If the information you request contains reference to a third party then
they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on whether or not to
release the information to you.

There may a fee payable for this information to cover photocopying,
postage and any other production costs. This will be considered and you
will be informed if a fee is payable. In this event the fee must be paid
before the information is processed and released. The 20 working day time
limit for responses is suspended until receipt of the payment.

In line with the Information Commissioner's directive on the disclosure of
information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 your request will
form part of our disclosure log. Therefore, a version of our response
which will protect your anonymity will be posted on Durham County Council
website.

If you have any queries or concerns then please contact:

Kevin Bell

Freedom of Information / Data Protection Coordinator

Durham County Council

Rivergreen Centre

Aykley Heads

Durham

DH1 5TS

Tel: 0191 370 8803

Email: [Durham County Council request email]

Further information is also available from the Information Commissioner
at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545 745

Fax: 01625 524 510

Email: [email address]

www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Yours sincerely,

Neale Boswell

Freedom of Information Team

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Our Ref: 2859615

16-NOV-09

Dear Mrs Fitzsimons

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Your request for information on Child Safety on the Internet, received on
22-OCT-2009, has been considered.

Please see the below responses to your enquiries.

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

Within your schools is there 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/timeframes are being taken for implementation?

All school management teams have been invited to e-safety training with
advice on how to implement this in schools. This training was provided by
CEOP Ambassadors. The schools are advised that they need to ensure that
e-safety is addressed in the curriculum and given a list of resources
websites with the CEOP one highlighted as having Key Stage Specific
resources.

In addition to this courses have been run for schools to train their own
staff and pupils using the CEOP materials.

Schools are responsible for adapting the County Internet policy for their
own establishment and implementing their own training for staff, pupils
and parents although support is available from Education Development
Service for helping with this process. Some schools have used EDS staff
to provide training directly to teachers and parents.

A model Internet policy is made available for schools to adopt / customise
to their situation. The current policy is under review.

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?

Durhamnet provide Internet filtering. Details of Durhamnet are available
on its website at [1]http://www.durhamnet.org.uk/

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.

All security breaches and improper use of the internet are referred to the
DCC Security Officer.

We are currently collating further information in response to this part of
your request, and will forward this as soon as possible. I am sorry for
any inconvenience this may cause.

For special programmes such as Computers for Pupils where pupils are
provided with computers for use at home, the LA monitors internet use via
NetIntelligenc. All improper uses of the internet are referred to the
pupil's school.

I hope that this information is of assistance, however, if you are
dissatisfied with the handling of your request please contact:

Kevin Bell

Freedom of Information / Data Protection Coordinator

Durham County Council

Rivergreen Centre

Aykley Heads

Durham

DH1 5TS

Tel: 0191 370 8803

Email: [email address]

After you have exhausted our internal appeals procedure you also have a
right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545 745

Fax: 01625 524 510

Email: [email address]

Most of the documents that we provide in response to Freedom of
Information Act requests will be subject to copyright protection. In most
cases the copyright will be owned by Durham County Council. The copyright
in other documents may be owned by another person or organisation, as
indicated on the documents themselves.

You are free to use any documents supplied for your own use, including for
non-commercial research purposes. The documents may also be used for the
purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for
example, by publishing the documents or issuing copies to the public will
require the permission of the copyright owner.

For documents where the copyright is owned by Durham County Council,
please contact me for details of the conditions on re-use.

For documents where the copyright is owned by another person or
organisation, you would need to apply to the copyright owner to obtain
their permission.

Kind regards

David

David Walker

Durham County Council

County Hall

Durham

DH1 5UL

Tel: 0191 370 8802

VPN: 7777 8802

Email: [Durham County Council request email]

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Our Ref: 2859615

Dear Mrs Fitzsimmons

I refer to my email of 19 November in which I indicated that we were still
collating a response to your question 3. I apologise for the delay in
responding to you further.

You asked whether 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.

I can advise you that no incidents have been reported. For information,
the Council only becomes aware of breaches where a school reports them and
asks the Council's ICT Security Officer to investigate. To obtain further
information, it will be necessary for you to address your request to the
appropriate schools within the County. Contact details are available on
the Council's website
[1]http://nd.durham.gov.uk/durhamcc/directo... .

I hope that this information is of assistance, however, if you are
dissatisfied with the handling of your request please contact:

Kevin Bell

Freedom of Information / Data Protection Coordinator

Durham County Council

Rivergreen Centre

Aykley Heads

Durham

DH1 5TS

Tel: 0191 370 8803

Email: [2][Durham County Council request email]

After you have exhausted our internal appeals procedure you also have a
right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545 745

Fax: 01625 524 510

Email: [3][email address]

Most of the documents that we provide in response to Freedom of
Information Act requests will be subject to copyright protection. In most
cases the copyright will be owned by Durham County Council. The copyright
in other documents may be owned by another person or organisation, as
indicated on the documents themselves.

You are free to use any documents supplied for your own use, including for
non-commercial research purposes. The documents may also be used for the
purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for
example, by publishing the documents or issuing copies to the public will
require the permission of the copyright owner.

For documents where the copyright is owned by Durham County Council,
please contact me for details of the conditions on re-use.

For documents where the copyright is owned by another person or
organisation, you would need to apply to the copyright owner to obtain
their permission.

Kind regards

David

David Walker

Durham County Council

County Hall

Durham

DH1 5UL

Tel: 0191 370 8802

VPN: 7777 8802

Email: [4][Durham County Council request email]

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