Contact Details for Schools

Richard Taylor made this Freedom of Information request to Department for Children, Schools and Families

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Department for Children, Schools and Families should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

From: Richard Taylor

13 July 2009

I would like to make a request for the content of the Edubase
database of schools, along with the registration details (eg. name,
email and job title) of registered users associated with each
establishment.

* I believe this information is held by Edubase / Texuna
Technologies Ltd (Texunatech) on behalf of the Department for
Children, Schools and Families.

* I have sought this information from Edubase directly and can
confirm that it is not available to me via that route.

* I believe there is a public interest in the release of this
information as making it available will make it easier to contact
schools. Schools are responsible for spending large amounts of
public money it ought to be easy to contact them to question how
they are spending these funds. Schools also have an enormous role
in shaping society, it ought be easy to contact them to find out
the answers to questions on a wide range of subjects such as
curriculums, school grounds, employment, sport and many others.

* I do not believe that the work email addresses of those employed
in state schools ought be exempted from release on the grounds they
are "personal information". Generic email addresses eg. office -at-
schoolname.sch.uk are also not in my view "personal information".
Any email addresses used for registration are clearly being used in
a formal, professional capacity.

*I would like the information to be released in an plain text based
structured electronic format, eg. XML or CSV.

It would be useful if you could let me know how many establishments
are registered with Edubase and therefore have their email
addresses held by, or on behalf of, the department. I would also be
interested in information about any other substantial database of
contact email addresses for schools held by the department.

--

Richard Taylor

Cambridge

http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

Link to this

Department for Children, Schools and Families

14 July 2009

Dear Richard

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
2009/0063546.

Thank you.

Central Allocation Team

Public Communications Team

Tel: 0870 0002288
www.dcsf.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Link to this

Department for Children, Schools and Families

16 July 2009

Dear Richard,

Further to your email your request has been sent to me to action.

I understand that you have already contacted the Edubase helpdesk and
requested information on the Edubase data.

I have asked them to provide you with a username and password for you to
access the system as the amount of information you have requested will
not go through our email system as the file even zipped will be too
large. Therefore it will be easier for you to select the information
you require via our web service. This can be in any format you require
either Excel or CSV.

If you have any problems with the access please contact the helpdesk on
0870 120 25 27 or email them at [email address]

Many thanks

Regards

debbie

Debbie Bovenizer
Data Services Group
Edubase Asst Contract Manager
1F Area C, Mowden Hall
Staindrop Road
Darlington
DL3 9BG
Tel:01325 392635

show quoted sections

Link to this

From: Richard Taylor

12 August 2009

While I have been sent a login/password for the Edubase system this
does not enable me to access the information I requested.

In my FOI request, which you have allocated reference number
2009/0063546 I stated:

"I would like to make a request for the content of the Edubase
database of schools, along with the registration details (eg. name,
email and job title) of registered users associated with each
establishment."

As I stated in my request I have sought this information from
Edubase directly and can confirm that it is not available to me via
that route.

I have also received no response to the element of my request which
asked:

"It would be useful if you could let me know how many
establishments are registered with Edubase and therefore have their
email addresses held by, or on behalf of, the department. I would
also be interested in information about any other substantial
database of contact email addresses for schools held by the
department."

Correspondence relating to this request can be viewed online at:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/co...

--

Richard Taylor

Cambridge

http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

Link to this

From: Richard Taylor

13 August 2009

I am writing to follow up my Freedom of Information request for the
content of the Edubase database of schools, along with the
registration details (eg. name, email and job title) of registered
users associated with each establishment; you have allocated
reference number 2009/0063546 to this request.

I have received a personal email from Jessica Higgins of the
EduBase Service Desk stating:

Unfortunately, we cannot provide the email addresses of
establishments. If you wish to contact schools via email you can
contact darren.LEAFE at dcsf.gsi.gov.uk and he will send the emails
for you.

I am very grateful for that offer to send emails to schools. I
would however still like a formal reply explaining why DCSF has
judged this information to be exempt from release under the freedom
of information act.

Regards,

--

Richard Taylor

Cambridge

http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

Link to this

Department for Children, Schools and Families

19 August 2009

Dear Mr Taylor,
Thank you for your email dated 13 August 2009 about Edubase Queries. I
have asked the EduBase Help Desk to provide you with the necessary level
of access in order to obtain the information you require. EduBase
includes the details of Head Teacher information for each establishment.
However, email addresses are not shared as part of our obligations with
regard to data sharing and protection protocols.
Yours sincerely,

Inver Birks
SA: DSG
[email address]
[1]www.dcsf.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0071580.

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/

Link to this

From: Richard Taylor

1 September 2009

I am writing to follow up my Freedom of Information request which
you have allocated reference number 2009/0063546

In the latest correspondence you have sent to me you have stated:
"email addresses are not shared as part of our obligations with
regard to data sharing and protection protocols".

Are you able to justify this apparent refusal to release
information with respect to one of the exemptions contained within
the Freedom of Information Act? Can you provide me with a refusal
notice as required under section 17 of the Freedom of Information
Act.

In my original request I asked if you could let me know how many
establishments are registered with Edubase and therefore have their
email addresses held by, or on behalf of, the department. I would
still like that part of my request answered.

The full history of correspondence relating to this request can be
viewed online at:

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/co...

--

Richard Taylor

Cambridge

http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

Link to this

Department for Children, Schools and Families

1 September 2009

Dear Richard

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
2009/0075351.

Thank you.

Central Allocation Team

Public Communications Team

Tel: 0870 0002288
www.dcsf.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Link to this

Department for Children, Schools and Families

29 September 2009

Dear Mr Taylor,

I refer to your request for information, which was received on 1^st
September. You requested the number of email addresses held by Edubase and
clarification on a previous response. I have dealt with your request
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Edubase contains 27,877 records.

The email addresses we hold have been provided by schools. Some schools
have provided their establishment address however in most cases it is
unclear if the address provided by the school is personal or establishment
based. We are unable to share personal information.

In reviewing this, the Department estimates that the cost of complying
with your request would exceed the cost threshold applicable to central
Government. This is -L-600 and represents the estimated cost of one person
spending 3 1/2 working days locating, retrieving and extracting the
information for other sites.

Commercial companies do provide school email distribution lists, for
example [1]www.direct2education.com and
[2]http://www.schoolsmailserver.co.uk .

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,

Darren Leafe
Communications
[email address]
[3]www.dcsf.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0075351.

show quoted sections

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

References

Visible links
1. http://www.direct2education.com/
2. http://www.schoolsmailserver.co.uk/
3. http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/

Link to this

From: Richard Taylor

29 September 2009

I am writing to follow up my Freedom of Information request which
you have allocated reference numbers 2009/0063546 and 2009/0075351.

Many thanks for your response; while it is very helpful and
informative there are two points on which I would like
clarification. In the latest correspondence you have sent to me you
have stated:

"You requested the number of email addresses held by Edubase and
clarification on a previous response. I have dealt with your
request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Edubase contains
27,877 records."

Could you please explicitly clarify if you hold an email address
for each record.

In addition you have implied that you are rejecting my request at
least in part due to cost grounds. Could you please explain exactly
which part the cost limit exemption applies to. If you are
referring differentiating between "personal" and "establishment
based" addresses; could you not easily provide me all records with
.gov.uk or .ac.uk or .sch.uk addresses on the grounds that these
are clearly "establishment based".

Regards,

--

Richard Taylor

Cambridge

http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

Link to this

Department for Children, Schools and Families

30 September 2009

Dear Mr Taylor,

Thank you for your recent email. A reply will be sent to you as soon as possible (where a response is required). For information, the departmental standard for correspondence received is that responses should be sent within 15 working days or 20 working days if you are requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0082922

Thank you.

Central Allocation Team

Public Communications Team

Tel: 0870 0002288
www.dcsf.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Link to this

Feargal Hogan left an annotation (30 September 2009)

That would imply that they have someone capable of extracting such data actually on their payroll

Link to this

Department for Children, Schools and Families

27 October 2009

Dear Mr Taylor

I refer to your request for information, which was recieved on 1^st
September. You requested the number of email addresses held by Eduserve
and clarification on a previous response. I have dealt with your request
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We do not hold an email address for every record in Edubase.

We have looked into the possibility of providing the types of emails you
suggest. We have identified a processs by which we can identify
estblishment email addresses and have begun to write a software process
for this. Unfortunately this is taking a little longer than expected,
however we will aim to provide you with an extract of the data by 11^th
November.

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

Darren Leafe
[1]www.dcsf.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0082922.

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/

Link to this

Andy Kearns left an annotation (10 December 2009)

Dear Richard,

Have you had any further success yet ? I am seeking the exact same data as yourself and was somewhat annoyed to note that although the data is deemed to be of a personal nature and therefore not suitable for public release, DCSF are quite happy to point you in the direction of someone who will sell it to you !

I follow with interest.

Andy Kearns

Link to this

Jason left an annotation (18 December 2009)

I too would be very glad to have such a list, as it would save me buying it from a commercial company. I would question the wisdom of such a list being publicly available, as every Tom, Dick and Harry could then use it without any effort or expense, with the likely consequence of all the addresses being rendered obsolete after a flood of spam. School secretaries already receive vast amounts of email, and only the cost of obtaining them restricts this to its present level.

Link to this

Richard Taylor left an annotation ( 7 January 2010)

This information is to be released in the main Edubase dataset from http://www.data.gov.uk

It is available now to those with the ability to login to the system.

Link to this

Francis Mercer left an annotation (18 February 2011)

Hi Richard

Thank you for your persistence & I totally agree with your points raised especially with Mr Cameron's "Big Society"
I work for a charity (Beatbullying) so want to ensure all schools have information about the free support and services we have available for all young people.
I've been researching how we can do this cost effectively and as others have commented you can buy them which we can't afford so will be finding if I can obtain a password etc

Regards Francis Mercer

Link to this

Things to do with this request

Anyone:
Department for Children, Schools and Families only: