Child Safety on the Internet

Dear Mrs Fitzsimons,

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

We are writing to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 22^nd October
2009, in which you request the disclosure of information under the
provisions of the above Act.

We have begun a search for the information you require and shall contact
you again when we are in a position to respond further. Should we envisage
any delays, or require more details from you, we will contact you
immediately. In the meantime, if you have any queries about the above,
please do not hesitate to contact us, quoting ref. RFI 741/2009.

Yours sincerely,

On behalf of the Freedom of Information Team

Freedom of Information | Access to Information Team

Lancashire County Council, PO Box 78,

County Hall, Preston, PR1 8XJ

Tel: 01772 533997 | Fax: 01772 530949

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Lancashire, a place where everyone matters

********************

Dear Mrs Fitzsimons

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Further to your email dated 22^nd October 2009 in which you request the
disclosure of information under the provisions of the above Act, we are
now in a position to provide you with a response.

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 schools have access to eSafety resources from a variety of
organisations including Becta, CEOP and Childnet. The DCSF National
Strategies also promote eSafety as part of the National Curriculum though
information on implementation will be held locally at school level rather
than by the Local Authority. Schools have access to a number of Local
Authority staff who have completed accredited eSafety training such as the
CEOP Ambassador training. In addition, the Local Authority has hosted a
number of eSafety Conferences which are available to schools.

Links to schools within Lancashire can be found at the following URL:
[1]http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/school_links/

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?

Over 99% of Lancashire maintained schools subscribe to the Lancashire Grid
for Learning (LGfL) as their Internet Service Provider (ISP). Filtered
Internet Access is provided as part of this service. The filtering
software used by LGfL is provided by Smartfilter. In addition, schools
also have local caching devices which provide the ability to block content
locally. The existing Smartfilter contract was renewed on 1st April 2009
and is currently in place until 31st March 2010.

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.

As an ISP providing filtered connectivity, LGfL will record unsuccessful
attempts to access potentially inappropriate content according to
predefined categories. However, no filtering solution is 100% effective
and primarily due to ability to potentially bypass filtering through
`proxy avoidance' sites, LGfL implemented a policy of blocking access to
all Uncategorised websites from February 2009. Should schools become
aware of access to inappropriate content, these can be reported to LGfL
for categorisation and blocking and can also be blocked immediately using
the school caching device.

We trust that our response is satisfactory, but in the event that you wish
to complain about the manner in which your enquiry has been handled, you
should write in the first instance to The Freedom of Information Officer,
Lancashire County Council, PO Box 78, County Hall, Preston PR1 8XJ, or
email [2][Lancashire County Council request email]

If, after this stage, you remain dissatisfied, you have the right to refer
the matter to the Information Commissioner, whose contact details are as
follows:

The Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tel: 01625 545700

Email: [3][email address]

Website: [4]http://www.ico.gov.uk

Your request will now be closed as of this date.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information

Lancashire County Council

PO Box 78

County Hall

Preston

PR1 8XJ

Tel: (01772) 531116

Fax: (01772) 530949

Email: [5][Lancashire County Council request email]

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Lancashire, a place where everyone matters

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References

Visible links
1. http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/school_links/
http://www.lancsngfl.ac.uk/school_links/
2. mailto:[Lancashire County Council request email]
mailto:[Lancashire County Council request email]
3. mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
http://www.ico.gov.uk/
5. mailto:[Lancashire County Council request email]
mailto:[Lancashire County Council request email]