Councillors as Corporate Parents

S Smith (Account suspended) made this Freedom of Information request to Kent County Council

The request was refused by Kent County Council.

From: S Smith (Account suspended)

3 March 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

08.953 Amended cabinet report on corporate parenting framework.doc

Dear Sir or Madam,

The December 2008 report states:

'A copy of the NCB guidance has already been provided to all
elected Members in conjunction with a Corporate Parenting workshop,
held in June 2008, for elected Members in relation to helping them
understand their Universal (level 1) Corporate Parenting
responsibilities.'

1) Can you please confirm if all Borough Councillors as well as
County councillors received a
copy of the NCB guidance and were invited to attend the 'Corporate
Parenting workshop'in June 2008?

2) Please also clarify how the following legislation is
incorporated for all elected members including Borough Councillors
- (excluding Parish Councillors). Unfortunately this does not
appear clear in the report?

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

Yours faithfully,

S Smith

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Kent County Council

5 March 2009

Dear Mr Smith

This email appears to be a duplicate of your 5th February email which was
logged and acknowledged as a new request for information on 6th February
(our reference FOI/09/116) and a reply should be with you no later than
close of play today which is 20 working days following receipt and is
within statutory timescales.

Best regards

Caroline Dodge
Corporate Access to Information Coordinator, Chief Executive's Department
Kent County Council, Legal & Democratic Services, Room 1.94, Sessions
House, County Hall, Maidstone. ME14 1XQ.
Tel: 01622 221652 - Fax: 01622 694383
[1]http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...

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From: S Smith (Account suspended)

2 April 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please reply directly to this request; so that it is available in
the Public Domain.

I am sure you realize that under the Freedom of Information Act you
should have replied directly by now.

Yours sincerely,

S Smith

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Kent County Council

2 April 2009

Attachment RE FOI 09 116 CFE Response to request received 5 February 2009.html
10K Download

Dear S Smith

We did reply to this request on 5th March (copy attached) and as the
response was emailed to your "whatdotheyknow" email address, it is
already in the public domain
[1]http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/co...

I hope this satisfies your request. If you have a query with the
information provided, please contact me on 01622 221652. However, if you
are unhappy with this response, and believe KCC has not complied with
legislation, please ask for a review by following our complaints process;
details can be found at this link
[2]http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...
on our website. Please quote reference FOI/09/116. If you still remain
dissatisfied following an internal review, you can appeal to the
Information Commissioner, who oversees compliance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. Details of what you need to do, should you wish to
pursue this course of action, are available from the Information
Commissioner's website
[3]http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom...

Best regards

Caroline Dodge
Corporate Access to Information Coordinator, Chief Executive's Department
Kent County Council, Legal & Democratic Services, Room 1.94, Sessions
House, County Hall, Maidstone. ME14 1XQ.
Tel: 01622 221652 - Fax: 01622 694383
[4]http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...

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From: S Smith (Account suspended)

9 April 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

It is shocking to see in your response (below) how blatantly
District/Borough Councillors who are in fact all Universal
Corporate Parents, elected by the Public to represent them
including their 'children', can be removed and disregarded by Kent
County Council.

Yours sincerely

S Smith

Quote:

'Thank you for your request for information made under the Freedom
of
Information Act 2000.

The NCB guidance for elected members titled "Putting Corporate
Parenting
into Practice - understanding the councillor's role" was published
by
the NCB in 2008. The guide was commissioned by the DCSF as part of
the
work supporting Care Matters (white paper) in helping elected
members
understand their responsibilities as corporate parents.

1) The guide has been provide to all elected members of Kent County
Council and other chief officers within the local authority who are
deemed to be the corporate parent's within the authority for those
children and young people looked after by Kent County Council. The
guide has not been provided to district councillors by KCC. It is
not
considered within Kent that district councillors are corporate
parents.
While this may be different in a unitary authority, the way in
which KCC
is structured means that the corporate parent role is specific to
county
councillors. District councils would be expected to support the
corporate parents and local authority as a whole by working in
partnership with the local authority to deliver effective corporate
parenting. For example, this would include ensuring the district
housing authorities are supportive of enabling Care Leavers within
the
authority to obtain suitable accommodation and also (as is
beginning to
happen in some district councils, supporting the delivery of Kent's
Pledge to children and young people in and leaving care, through
making
available free of charge access to district sport and leisure
facilities). it might also include bringing to the attention of the
county councillor any specific cases that a district councillor
might
become aware of that they feel the child's corporate parent should
be
made aware of an issue.'

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Kent County Council

16 April 2009

Dear S Smith

Councillors as Corporate Parents

As you are aware, the Freedom of Information Act gives you a right of
access to recorded information held by public authorities like Kent County
Council. When you make a request, you are asking for all the recorded
information Kent County Council may hold on that subject.

An internal review is the right you have to have your response to your FOI
request reviewed if you think that information has been withheld from you
inappropriately, or you believe we have failed to comply with FOI
legislation in some way. In this instance, it would seem you are
unhappy with the information we provided because you disagree with its
contents, i.e.: KCC's policies and procedures relating to foster care
allowances. As an internal review would simply look at whether we provided
information meeting the scope of your request (which we did), we believe
it more appropriate to deal with your comments in your email as a formal
complaint about KCC's operations.

Therefore, on behalf of the Chief Executive and in accordance with our
corporate complaints process
[1]http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ..., I
will arrange for your comments to be investigated and will write to you
again as soon as I can, and certainly within 4 weeks of date of
receipt (by 12th May).

Yours sincerely

Corporate Access to Information Team, Chief Executive's Department
Kent County Council, Legal & Democratic Services, Room 1.94, Sessions
House, County Hall, Maidstone. ME14 1XQ.
Tel: 01622 696265 or 01622 694261 - Fax: 01622 694383
[2]http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...

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From: S Smith (Account suspended)

22 April 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please refrain from providing waffle, obviously this does not abode
well with public opinion regarding Kent County Council's continual
lack of direct response to FOI requests.

Can you please explain to what your comment below eludes ?

What has this got to do with Councillors being Corporate Parents ?

"In this instance, it would seem you are
unhappy with the information we provided because you disagree with
its
contents, i.e.: KCC's policies and procedures relating to foster
care
allowances."

Yours sincerely

S Smith

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Kent County Council

24 April 2009

Dear S Smith

Thank you for your email pointing out my typing error. What I meant to say
is,

"In this instance, it would seem you are unhappy with the information we
provided because you disagree with KCC's process, i.e.: what KCC did with
the NCB guidance and who it was circulated to"

The purpose of the internal review process is to investigate whether the
Council handled your Freedom of Information request in accordance with
legislation. It is not the appropriate mechanism to challenge the
validity, accuracy or context of the information you were provided with.
However, because we recognise that you are unhappy with what you perceive
as KCC's "disregard of district councillors", we have acknowledged your
comments as a formal complaint and will be investigating them accordingly.

Ultimately, if you believe KCC has not complied with Freedom of
Information legislation, you should escalate your complaint to the
Information Commissioner
[1]http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom... and if you
believe KCC is guilty of maladministration, then you should pursue your
grievance with the Local Government Ombudsman.
[2]http://www.lgo.org.uk/making-a-complaint/

Best regards

Corporate Access to Information Team, Chief Executive's Department
Kent County Council, Legal & Democratic Services, Room 1.94, Sessions
House, County Hall, Maidstone. ME14 1XQ.
Tel: 01622 696265 or 01622 694261 - Fax: 01622 694383
[3]http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...

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From: S Smith (Account suspended)

31 May 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Thank you for your reply.

Please confirm when any information concerning "disregard of
district councillors", will be
acknowledged and the formal investigation completed.

Yours sincerely,

S Smith

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Kent County Council

1 June 2009

Dear S Smith

Thank you for your numerous emails on this subject. The Chief Executive
is sorry that you have concerns about our response to your request for
information (our reference FOI/09/116) which relates to District
Councillors being "disregarded" by Kent County Council and has arranged
for your comments to be investigated. Please accept my apologies for the
delay in providing Kent County Council's response which is as follows:-

District and Borough Councils are separate local authorities that do not
have social service responsibilities. If the district and
boroughs believe they have a corporate parent requirement in other areas,
it is up to them to ensure that their councillors are aware of and can
meet their responsibilities. It is not KCC's role to police this.

If you are unhappy with this response, you should now pursue your
grievance with either the Information Commissioner
[1]http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom... (if you
believe KCC has failed to comply with the Freedom of Information Act 2000)
or the Local Government Ombudsman
[2]http://www.lgo.org.uk/making-a-complaint/ (if you believe KCC is
guilty of maladministration)

Best regards

Corporate Access to Information Team, Chief Executive's Department
Kent County Council, Legal & Democratic Services, Room 1.94, Sessions
House, County Hall, Maidstone. ME14 1XQ.
Tel: 01622 696265 or 01622 694261 - Fax: 01622 694383
[3]http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Corporate Complaints - CED
Sent: 24 April 2009 11:35
To: S Smith
Subject: RE: CE/COMP/09/008 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COMPLAINT ABOUT COUNCILLORS
AS CORPORATE PARENTS
Importance: High

Dear S Smith

Thank you for your email pointing out my typing error. What I meant to say
is,

"In this instance, it would seem you are unhappy with the information we
provided because you disagree with KCC's process, i.e.: what KCC did with
the NCB guidance and who it was circulated to"

The purpose of the internal review process is to investigate whether the
Council handled your Freedom of Information request in accordance with
legislation. It is not the appropriate mechanism to challenge the
validity, accuracy or context of the information you were provided with.
However, because we recognise that you are unhappy with what you perceive
as KCC's "disregard of district councillors", we have acknowledged your
comments as a formal complaint and will be investigating them accordingly.

Ultimately, if you believe KCC has not complied with Freedom of
Information legislation, you should escalate your complaint to the
Information Commissioner
[4]http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom... and if you
believe KCC is guilty of maladministration, then you should pursue your
grievance with the Local Government Ombudsman.
[5]http://www.lgo.org.uk/making-a-complaint/

Best regards

Corporate Access to Information Team, Chief Executive's Department
Kent County Council, Legal & Democratic Services, Room 1.94, Sessions
House, County Hall, Maidstone. ME14 1XQ.
Tel: 01622 696265 or 01622 694261 - Fax: 01622 694383
[6]http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democ...

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From: S Smith (Account suspended)

4 June 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Thank you for giving your ceo Peter Gilroy's opinion.

I am sure you are aware that Kent County Council is made up of
borough/district's , who most unfortunately have to work in
partnership with KCC and that all councillor's have a Universal
duty to children and their parents as elected members.

Yours sincerely,

S Smith

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Things to do with this request

Anyone:
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