Dear Sir or Madam,

Please detail for me the evidence Mr.Badman used for his assertion
in the Home Education Review, Recommendation 21, sub paragraph
8:12, that "the number of children known to children’s social care
in some local authorities is disproportionately high relative to
the size of their home educating population."

Please supply the full national statistical evidence used by Mr.
Badman, listing and numbering the children 'known' to the Social
services, their educational setting and the outcomes of any cases
that made the child known to the Social Services.

In particular I wish to know the percentage of cases of Home
Educated children 'known' that were deemed 'malicious referrals'
and those where the child is 'known' because they have a child with
'Special needs' otherwise known as SEN, who is accessing the
services in a helpful way because of their Special Needs.

Please clarify the actual Local Authorities who supplied the
"disproportionately high" evidence.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs.J.E.Garrett

Dear Mrs Garrett,

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 2009/0058439

Thank you.

Central Allocation Team

Public Communications Team

Tel: 0870 0002288
www.dcsf.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear Sir or Madam,
I have waited patiently for the requested information. I am now
asking for an Internal Review as it has gone well over the 20
working days.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/13...

Yours faithfully,

Mrs.J.E.Garrett

Dear Mrs Garrett,
I am writing further to you email dated 25 July about your earlier
correspondence, reference 2009/0058439. I should like to apologise for
the delay in replying. The Department is aware that it has missed the
statutory deadline for reply and is in breach of its obligations under the
Act. I very much regret this - the Department should meet its obligations
under the Act.

While I appreciate that it is in no way a justification I should like to
explain that the Department makes every effort to meet deadlines, but the
delay in responding in this case has been due to the unusual volume of
requests the Department has received in recent months. The Information
Commissioner has been informed of the situation.

The Department normally considers requests for an internal review
following a response being sent to you. I can assure you that your
correspondence is currently being considered and a reply will be sent to
you as soon as possible. If you are unhappy with that reply please
contact me in writing and an internal review will be considered.
Yours sincerely,

Josephine Bell (Mrs)

Independent Schools Partnerships and Strategy Team
[email address]
[1]www.dcsf.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0058439.

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Dear Sir or Madam,
I have asked for an internal review. You HAVE responded to me with
stalling and excuses. So do your duty under law and either provide
the information or hold an internal review. I have contacted my MP
about this deplorable situation.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs.J.E.Garrett

Dear Sir or Madam,

I do believe this is my second request for an internal review.
Please sort this.

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Department for
Children, Schools and Families's handling of my FOI request 'Home
Education Review: Recommendation 21 sub 8:12'.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/ho...

Yours faithfully,

Mrs.J.E.Garrett

Dear Mrs Garrett

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
2009/0083302.

Thank you.

Central Allocation Team

Public Communications Team

Tel: 0870 0002288
www.dcsf.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear Mrs Garrett

Thank you for your recent email, dated 1 October, timed at 10:01 ('Home
Education Review: Recommendation 21 sub 8:12'. ), requesting an
internal review of previous correspondence. Could you please advise the
case reference number that would have been assigned to the specific
correspondence in question, in order that we may consider an internal
review of that case.

Yours sincerely

Josephine Bell
Independent Schools Partnerships and Strategy Team

This current request, dated 1 October, at 10:01, has been allocated the
reference number 2009/0083302.

Department for Children, Schools and Families
[1]http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/index.htm

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Dear Sir or Madam,

2009/0058439

Yours faithfully,

Mrs.J.E.Garrett

Dear Mrs Garrett,
Thank you for your email request which we received on 26 June.

Before informing you of the outcome of the internal review I should like to apologise for the delay in
replying. The Department is aware that there has been a considerable delay. I am also aware of your
requests for an internal review of this case because of the delay incurred and that I did advise that
the Department normally considers requests for an internal review once the decision has been received.

I can assure you that the Department does take the matter of delays seriously. At an internal review
panel held in May on a home education case, the panel acknowledged that a breach of the Act had taken
place in that a response had not been made within 20 days. It considered what action had been taken at
the time to deal with the particular request within the deadline, namely that action had been
considered by the Deputy Director responsible for home education to designate resources from elsewhere
in the Division. However, due to high volumes of work and unexpected long term illness, additional
staffing was unavailable at the time. It was agreed that a weekly meeting, chaired by the Deputy
Director would taken place to enable discussion of all current cases in order that new cases are dealt
with in a timely manner and the backlog of old cases was addressed. This has improved the situation,
though regrettably, even with additional staffing now being made available, it is still extremely
difficult to respond to all the requests within the legal timeframe. As I am sure you will appreciate,
the Department has a finite amount of resources, all of which is publicly funded, and therefore we have
to ensure resources are allocated in a way that is even-handed across all areas of business.

You requested -

Please detail for me the evidence Mr.Badman used for his assertion
in the Home Education Review, Recommendation 21, sub paragraph
8:12, that "the number of children known to children's social care
in some local authorities is disproportionately high relative to
the size of their home educating population."

Please supply the full national statistical evidence used by Mr.
Badman, listing and numbering the children 'known' to the Social
services, their educational setting and the outcomes of any cases
that made the child known to the Social Services.

In particular I wish to know the percentage of cases of Home
Educated children 'known' that were deemed 'malicious referrals'
and those where the child is 'known' because they have a child with
'Special needs' otherwise known as SEN, who is accessing the
services in a helpful way because of their Special Needs.

Please clarify the actual Local Authorities who supplied the
"disproportionately high" evidence.

The Department has considered your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("the Act").
Under section 21 of the Act, the Department is not required to provide information in response to a
request if it is already reasonably accessible to you. Much of the information you have requested is
already accessible on the Department's disclosures log on the Freedom of Information link on the front
page of the Department's internet site, which takes you to: [1]http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/foischeme/ . In
particular you may want to look at the information provided at the following links -

[2]http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/foischeme/subPage...
- which provides details of a request very similar to yours.

The following response provides additional information in the form of a working paper (not quality
assured) on safeguarding evidence -

[3]http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/foischeme/subPage...
and the following provides a copy of the second questionnaire to local authorities which defines the
basis on which the information `known to social care' was requested -

[4]http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/foischeme/subPage...
.

In addition, the Department has released material, similar to what you are requesting, in Graham
Badman's letter to Barry Shearman of 9 October at

[5]http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters....

In respect of your request for information `listing and numbering the children 'known' to the Social
services, their educational setting and the outcomes of any cases that made the child known to the
Social Services' and `Please clarify the actual Local Authorities who supplied the "disproportionately
high" evidence.' the Department holds information within scope of your requests but it is being
withheld because the following exemptions apply to this information:

- Section 38

- Section 40

- Section 41

Section 38(1)(a) and (b), provides that information is exempt if its disclosure under the Act would, or
would be likely, to

(a) endanger the physical or mental health of any individual; or

(b) endanger the safety of any individual.

This exemption is subject to the public interest test which means that even where prejudice or likely
prejudice can be demonstrated, it is still necessary to consider whether in all the circumstances of
the case the public interest in withholding the information outweighs the public interest in
disclosure. This exemption covers events that could reasonably be expected but do not have to be
definitely foreseeable. In particular the Department considered:

. The circumstances of these cases suggest a strong likelihood of risk to the health and safety
of individuals from release of the information.

. The release of anonymised information could mislead individuals or the public at large.

. Through misunderstanding, there is a likely risk to the health and safety of individuals in no
way connected with the cases or the events considered.

. Perceived risk to the health and safety of those concerned, is likely to have a deterrent
effect on families registered at risk and may deter participation in and cooperation with the
appropriate safeguarding process, leading in the longer term to increased risk to vulnerable children.

The case for disclosure of information protected by this exemption rests mainly on the desirability of
greater openness for the purposes of increasing public understanding and trust, and on encouraging
greater accountability.

Conversely, it is reasonable to expect that the release of any information which might lead to the
identification of the families of those registered as at risk might result in a deterrent effect to
participation in, and co-operation with, the appropriate safeguarding processes in the future, leading
to increased risk to vulnerable children. It is also reasonable not to release information that may
lead to the identification or possibly to misidentification of individuals. The most effective
precaution which could be taken to prevent anticipated danger to individuals lies in not disclosing
information which could put them at risk.

Having carried out the public interest balancing test in respect of the exemption at section 38, the
Department takes the view that it is not in the public interest for any of the information you have
requested to be released.

Section 40 (personal information). Having carefully reviewed the information in scope of your request,
the Department considers that the absolute exemption at section 40 of the Act is engaged because some
of information requested constitutes personal data, disclosure of which would contravene the data
protection principles. Data are `personal data' if, taken with `other information' they enable a living
individual to whom the data relates to be identified.

Section 41 (information provided in confidence) is engaged because this information was imparted in
circumstances whereby those providing it did so in the expectation that it would remain confidential
because of its very nature. The Department therefore considers that disclosure of it to the public
would constitute an actionable breach of confidence.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to quote our reference
number in any future communications.

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 me within two calendar months of the
date of this letter.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information
Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our
complaints/review procedure.
Yours sincerely,

Josephine Bell (Mrs)
Independent Schools Schools Partnerships and Strategy Team
[email address]
[6]www.dcsf.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0058439.

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/foischeme/
2. http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/foischeme/subPage...
3. http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/foischeme/subPage...
4. http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/foischeme/subPage...
5. http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters...
6. http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/