EHE department -suitable education

Dear Tania,

Thank you for your request for information relating to EHE department -
suitable education. Your request was received on 3rd August 2009 and I am
dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
and/or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I will
let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact Sue Smith or
Stephen Hughes on telephone number 01254 585761. Alternatively, our email
address is [1][Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council request email]

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

Regards

Fozia Khan

Audit & Assurance Administrator | Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Audit & Assurance
Tower Block, F Floor| King William Street | Blackburn | BB1 7DY

@: [2][email address]| (: 01254 585649

.

References

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1. mailto:[Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council request email]
2. mailto:[email address]

Dear Tania

I am writing to let you know that the Council has completed its search
for the information that you requested on 2 August 2009. Your question,
together with our answers, are below:

I read that you currently have 47 children registered as Electively
Home Educated. Therefore for the purposes of this FOI request, these
children are either de-registered from a school or have never been
registered with a school.

A) I would like to know of these children how many are there where the
visiting person has concerns that a 'suitable' education is
being provided?

Answer: none (but there may be occasion where the monitoring officer may
make suggestions to support the family)

B) I would also appreciate it if this information could be broken down
into categories: 1)whether they feel that no education is taking place?
2)whether they feel that the philosophy of education is inadequate -for
example in the case of autonomous or child led learning , that
particular child is not appearing to be learning 'enough'? 3)whether
there are concerns because the family have not implemented a structured
approached? 4)or whether the fact that the national Curriculum is not
being followed is causing concern?

Answer: not applicable

C)If there are children in the above 4 categories , please indicate if
further steps are being taken- for example, issuance of a School
Attendance Order?

Answer: not applicable

D)Please also indicate if any any Education Supervision Orders are
currently in court for this population.?

Answer: not applicable

E) Please can you confirm whether any children who fit into the above
categories of concern about 'educational provision suitability' would
also therefore be referred to Social Services?

Answer: not applicable

F) Lastly is it possible in your Local Authority that Social Services
are involved with a family but that The EHE department do not know of
this involvement (This involvement would be on an on-going basis rather
than a one off referral which is found to be of no genuine concern)

Answer: not applicable

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to
your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our
decision, you should write to Susan Smith at the address at the bottom
of this message.

If you are not content with the outcome your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have
exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the council. The
Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire
SK9 5AF.

If you have any queries about this message please contact me, quoting
reference 7328.

Yours sincerely,

Stephen Hughes
Audit & Assurance Officer (Information Governance)
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council
F Floor
Town Hall
Blackburn
Lancashire
BB1 7DY

www.blackburn.gov.uk
[email address]

Telephone: 01254 585 852
Fax: 01254 585 417

Dear Ms Berlow

Thank you for your email and in reply please see under each of the
questions my response.

I hope that this is useful

Dear Sir or Madam,

I read that you currently have 47 children registered as Electively Home
Educated. Therefore for the purposes of this FOI request , these children
are either de-registered from a school or have never been registered with
a school.

A) I would like to know of these children how many are there where the
visiting person has concerns that a 'suitable' education is being
provided?

The answer is none. The monitoring officer has on occasions offered
suggestions where improvement could be made.

B) I would also appreciate it if this information could be broken down
into categories: Not applicable (see above)

1)whether they feel that no education is taking place?

2)whether they feel that the philosophy of education is inadequate -for
example in the case of autonomous or child led learning , that particular
child is not appearing to be learning 'enough'?

3)whether there are concerns because the family have not implemented a
structured approached? 4)or whether the fact that the national Curriculum
is not being followed is causing concern?

C)If there are children in the above 4 categories , please indicate if
further steps are being taken- for example , issuance of a School
Attendance Order? Not applicable (see above)

D)Please also indicate if any any Education Supervision Orders are
currently in court for this population.? None

E) Please can you confirm whether any children who fit into the above
categories of concern about 'educational provision suitability' would
also therefore be referred to Social Services? Not applicable

F) Lastly is it possible in your Local Authority that Social Services are
involved with a family but that The EHE department do not know of this
involvement (This involvement would be on an on-going basis rather than a
one off referral which is found to be of no genuine concern) No - young
people known to be on elective home education are checked via the social
care database to check whether there is any other involvement with the
family.

Yours faithfully,

Tania Berlow

Andrew Hutchinson
Strategy Support Manager
The Exchange
Tel (01254) 666445
[mobile number]