Home education and abuse - statistics

Dear Sir/Madam

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request, received by us on
Monday 30 March.

Our twenty working day deadline for your request is Wednesday 29 April
2009 and we aim to respond as soon as possible within the time period.

You will be informed in advance if there is a charge for supplying
copies of the information. We will also provide an explanation if any
information is not released to you. If the requested information
contains references to any third parties, we may need to consult with
them before deciding whether or not to release the information.

Should you have any queries regarding your request, please feel free to
contact us at [Norfolk County Council request email] .

Yours sincerely

Matthew Smith
Freedom of Information and Data Protection Assistant
Corporate FOI and DP Unit
Norfolk County Council

[Norfolk County Council request email]

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Dear Sir/Madam

Please find our response to your FOI request below.

A. The number of persons in the local authority of compulsory school age
who are, or claimed to be, electively home educated and who have been
either suspected or found to be involved in child abuse, neglect, forced
marriage, sexual exploitation or domestic servitude?

There have been no cases where there has been a direct link between
someone becoming home educated and being involved in child abuse,
neglect, forced marriage, sexual exploitation or domestic servitude. We
have about 6 children per year who NCC would say are neglected insofar
as their parents deregister them in order to avoid court proceedings but
do not actually take any responsibility for their education.

B. How many (if any) Serious Case Reviews or Joint Area Reviews have
reported with respect to home educated children in the LA?

There have been no Serious Case Reviews relating to home educated
children. NCC attends, on average, two Child Protection Conferences a
year where the child is home educated.

Joint Area Reviews are an inspection process to review the overall
provision of services for children and young people. They do not
specifically report on individual cases. The report of Norfolk County
Council's most recent Joint Area Review was published in November 2008
and is available as a pdf on our website.
http://www.norfolk.gov.uk/consumption/gr...
c062055.pdf

If you are dissatisfied with how your request has been handled, you have
the right of appeal through the Council's internal complaints procedure
by setting out the grounds of your appeal in writing to the Freedom of
Information Officer at:

Freedom of Information & Data Protection Unit
The Archive Centre
Martineau Lane
Norwich NR1 2DQ

e-mail: [Norfolk County Council request email]

If you are dissatisfied after pursuing the complaints procedure, you may
apply to the Information Commissioner under Section 50 of the Act for a
decision whether your request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of Part I of the Act. Contact details
as follows:-

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Telephone 01625 545 700
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Matthew Smith
Freedom of Information and Data Protection Assistant
Corporate FOI and DP Unit
Norfolk Record Office
Norfolk County Council
Martineau Lane
Norwich
NR1 2DQ

[Norfolk County Council request email]

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