Further call for HE evidence

S Tyler made this Freedom of Information request to Lancashire County Council

The request was refused by Lancashire County Council.

From: S Tyler

7 October 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please supply the Local Authority response made to Graham Badman's
call on 17 September 2009 for further evidence regarding the Report
into Home Education.

Yours faithfully,

S Tyler

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From: Freedom of Information
Lancashire County Council

8 October 2009

Dear Sir/Madam,

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

We are writing to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 7^th 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 694/2009.

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

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Lancashire, a place where everyone matters

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Link to this

From: Freedom of Information
Lancashire County Council

13 October 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Further to your email, dated 7 October, in which you request the
disclosure of information under the provisions of the above Act, we are
now in a position to respond.

It is clear that this request has not been made in isolation, and forms
part of a wider campaign for information about home education being
conducted by a number of individuals via the 'whatdotheyknow' website.

Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act provides that public
authorities are not obliged to comply with requests for information if to
do so would exceed the 'appropriate limit' set by the Freedom of
Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations
2004 ("the Regulations").

As prescribed in Section 5(1)(b) of the Regulations, a public authority
can aggregate the cost of complying with requests under the Act if two or
more requests for the same or similar information are made by 'different
persons who appear to the public authority to be acting in concert or in
pursuance of a campaign' within a period of 60 consecutive working days. 
We have accordingly taken the decision to aggregate the cost of complying
with your request with the cost of complying with all related requests
received within the last 60 working days. It has been determined that
complying with all related requests incurs a commitment of resources in
excess of the limit of £450 set by the Regulations, which equates to 18
hours of work.  As such, we regret to inform you that your request is
refused by virtue of Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

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
[1][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: [2][email address]

Website: [3]http://www.ico.gov.uk

If you have any queries regarding our response, or you require any
additional information, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information

Lancashire County Council

PO Box 78

County Hall

Preston

PR1 8XJ

Tel: (01772) 531116

Fax: (01772) 530949

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

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Lancashire, a place where everyone matters

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References

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

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Tania Berlow left an annotation (16 October 2009)

Take this one all the way to the information commissioner if need be. can u get back to them and say that it is your right under law to request this data and no one else has asked for this particular new piece of 'evidence '.

maybe they are just cheesed off because they are the LA who 'accidentally' added the case studies which identified actual families -i.e. did not redact them fully

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S Tyler left an annotation (16 October 2009)

Sadly they are correct in this one - the first thing I did was to check the FOI law quoted. The Government stitched us up on that one (and that means all citizens, as it applie sot all FOIs)

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Tania Berlow left an annotation (25 October 2009)

No they are not correct. Any councillor or politician may request whihc technically means making abigger deal out of this but there are enough on board to make this request- so basically a time wasting excercise for all concerned .

actually seeing how long each LA takes to answer and how it answers tells you just as much about how they see themselves in relation to the EHE community as their actual 'numbers' they give do.

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From: S Tyler

3 November 2009

Dear Freedom of Information,

On a further look at this refusal, I notice that you reject my
request on the basis of "two or more requests for the same or
similar information are made by 'different persons who appear to
the public authority to be acting in concert or in pursuance of a
campaign' within a period of 60 consecutive working days"

My request is independent of any other request and asks for
information not yet released by this authority.

I repeat my request as follows:

On 17 September, Graham Badman via a DCSF email made a further call
for evidence to Local Authorities regarding the Review/Report into
Elective Home
Education.

I am requesting Lancashire's response to that call.

The documents requested by the DCSFcan be found at the link below:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/
publications/documents/laeelectivehomeeducation/

Note I have inserted a space before the word 'publications' to
ensure the link is visible.

I look forward to receiving the information.

Yours sincerely,

S Tyler

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From: S Tyler

12 November 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Since you have chosen to ignore my previous message and the 20-day
time limit for a response to my original request has now passed, I
am writing to request an internal review of Lancashire County
Council's handling of my FOI request 'Further call for HE
evidence'.

In not providing a response within the 20 working-day limit of 4th
November, you are now breaking the law.

The information requested is reiterated below:

On 17 September, Graham Badman via a DCSF email made a further call
for evidence to Local Authorities regarding the Review/Report into
Elective Home
Education.

I am requesting your response to that call.

The documents requested by the DCSF can be found at the link below:
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/
publications/documents/laeelectivehomeeducation/

Note I have inserted a space before the word 'publications' to
ensure the link is visible.

Please also note that I am NOT requesting your Public Consultation
response.

Kindly now supply the information requested as a matter of urgency
as your 'reasons' for withholding the information are not valid. It
should be a simple matter to obtain the information requested from
your computer records.

Yours faithfully,

S Tyler

Link to this

From: Young, Ian
Lancashire County Council

13 November 2009

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am writing in response to your request dated 12 November 2009 to review
the response you received in relation to the above request for information
made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

I have considered your original request dated 7 October, the response
provided to you on 13 October and your subsequent emails of 3 and 12
November.

In your email of 3 November you state:

"My request is independent of any other request and asks for information
not yet released by this authority."

It is clear from information available on www.whatdotheyknow.com ('the
website') that your request is not independent, and is one submitted by a
number of users who are clearly acting in concert. This is evidenced by
numerous annotations on several requests on the website, which make it
clear that a number of users of the website are requesting the same or
similar information about elective home education and the 'Badman Review'
as part of a co-ordinated campaign. All requests received by Lancashire
County Council on this subject matter via the website have been submitted
by people who can quickly be linked together by annotations and
instructions left on the website by other users.

Accordingly, I am of the opinion that the decision to aggregate the cost
of complying with your request with the cost of complying with related
requests was appropriate. Furthermore, I agree that, once aggregated, the
cost of complying with the requests exceeds the appropriate limit that has
already been explained to you. Accordingly, the decision to refuse your
request under Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 was
accurate and appropriate.

As previously advised, if you remain dissatisfied you may refer this
matter to the Information Commissioner whose contact details have already
been provided.

Regards

Ian Young
Deputy County Secretary & Solicitor
Lancashire County Council
Tel 01772 533531
Fax 01772 534702
Email [1][email address]

DISCLAIMER

The information in this message including any files transmitted with it is
confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the
addressee. Access to this message by anyone else is unauthorised. If you
are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, or distribution
of the message, or any action or omission taken by you in reliance on it,
is prohibited and may be unlawful. As a public body, Lancashire County
Council may be required to disclose this email [or any response to it]
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, unless the information in it is
covered by one of the exemptions in the Act. Please immediately contact
the sender if you have received this message in error.

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Lancashire, a place where everyone matters

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Link to this

S Tyler left an annotation (13 November 2009)

So they can write whatever they like to smear you, but you are not allowed to see the 'evidence' to clear your name.

"Lancashire, a place where everyone matters"

Ironic eh?

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Tania Berlow left an annotation ( 9 December 2009)

Lord Lucas managed to obtain a copy of their questionnaire responses.

'Lancashire- a place where everyone matters , especially those with Titles.'

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Things to do with this request

Anyone:
Lancashire County Council only: