looked fater children

Dear Ms. Wileman,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST

Thank you for your request for information, which we received on 1st
October 2009. This e-mail is intended to acknowledge your request, and
we will respond in a separate e-mail.

Most information requests are dealt with under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. However environmental information is considered
for disclosure under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. If
the information you have requested is personal information about
yourself, we must consider disclosure under the Data Protection Act
1998. If this is the case we will provide you with a subject access
request form for completion and notify you of relevant timescales and
fees.

We will transfer the request to the correct legislation automatically,
as required by the Freedom of Information Act. For further information
on how we will deal with your request, please see the table below.

If you have any queries or concerns then please contact me.

Yours sincerely,

BEVERLEY GRIFFITHS
INFORMATION OFFICER
Freedom of Information Act 2000 &Environmental Information
Regulations 2004

We will consider the following points in dealing with your request for
information.

Timescales for responding to you We will consider your request
and you should receive the information within the statutory timescale of
20 working days, unless the information is not held or is exempt from
disclosure. Both the Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental
Information Regulations allow this timescale to be extended in certain
circumstances. If your request is affected by a timescale extension we
will explain this to you.
Third Party Information If the information you request contains
reference to a third party they may be consulted prior to a decision
being taken on whether we disclose the information to you. We will tell
you if this is the case.
Format of Information provided We will try to respond in the format
that you have requested. If this is not possible we will let you know.
If you require alternative formats, e.g. language, audio, braille, large
print, etc. then please let us know.
Exemptions The Freedom of Information Act and the Environmental
Information Regulations 2004 define a number of exemptions, which may
prevent release of the information you have requested. Before we
provide the information we will consider whether it is proper to release
it. If any of the exemption categories do apply then the information
will not be released. We will tell you if this is the case, and you
will have a right of appeal.
Fees You may have to pay a fee for this information under the Freedom
of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limits and Fees
Regulations) 2004. We will consider this and let you know. If so you
will have to pay the fee before we process and release the information.
The 20 working day time limit for responding will not resume until we
receive your payment.
You have the right to appeal against our decision. If you wish to
appeal please set out in writing your grounds of appeal and send to:
Information UnitCaerphilly county borough council,Tredomen
House,Tredomen Park,Ystrad Mynach,Hengoed. CF82 7WFAppeals will be
determined by Mr. Stuart Rosser - Chief Executive. If you are
unhappy with that decision you have the right to appeal to:Information
Commissioner's Office - Wales, Cambrian Buildings, Mount Stuart Square,
Cardiff, CF10 5FLWebsite: www.ico.gov.ukTelephone: 029 2044 8044 Fax:
029 2044 8045Email: [email address]

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Please find attached the response in relation to your Freedom of
Information Request received on 30th September 2009.

<<05. Scanned Response dated 12.10.09.pdf>>

Any queries, please contact me on 01443 864535.

Many Thanks

Hayley Bowen
Data Protection
Performance Management Unit

01443 864535.

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Dear Ms. Wileman,

I acknowledge your request for an internal appeal in relation to your
recent Freedom of Information request.

Internal appeals are determined by Mr. Stuart Rosser the Chief Executive
of Caerphilly county borough council.

We aim to the determine all internal appeals with 20 working days of
receipt.

Regards

Carl Evans
Assistant Information Officer - Information Unit
Caerphilly county borough council
Email: [email address]
Tel: 01443 864320

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Dear Ms Wileman,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - Internal appeal

I refer to your e-mail dated the 21^st October 2009 appealing against the
refusal notice in relation to your request for the following information:

1) How many children were taken into local authority care on interim care
orders and emergency protection orders under the category of emotional
harm during the above period? I do not wish you to include any children
for any other categories of harm/abuse.

2) Out of these children who were taken into care for emotional harm how
many of them were specifically for domestic violence between their
parents? Again I do not wish you to include children who had violence
directed at them as that would fall into a different category being
physical abuse.

3) Out of these children who were put into care for domestic violence how
many were returned to family or extended family?

4) Out of these how many children were put on full care orders?

5) Of the children put on full care orders how many were adopted during
these periods.

Your request was covered by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("the
Act"). The process in this Council is that I deal with appeals under the
Act personally and, if I need advice, I obtain that from people who were
not involved in the original decision-making.

My role in dealing with the appeal is to review the matter and decide
whether, in light of the representations you have made to me, the Council
should disclose the information, or confirm the original decision.

I have looked at the request and your appeal emails and I have determined
that the main issues to consider are:

1. Was the council's response correct in that we do not record a category
of emotion harm when children are placed on interim care orders and
emergency protection orders?
2. Would the council be able to manually search through individual case
files for the information requested in your appeal?

In the original response you were advised "Caerphilly county borough
council's, Directorate of Social Services do not record a category of
emotional harm when children are placed on interim care orders and
emergency protection orders".

Caerphilly county borough council is required to categorise interim care
orders and emergency protection orders, by type of need, according to a
set of categories / codes in order to complete SSDA 903 returns. SSDA 903
returns are the annual data collection on children looked after provided
by local authorities to the Welsh Assembly Government. The categories /
codes used are sourced from the Guidance Notes for the completion of SSDA
903 records issued by Local Government Data Unit - Wales, in partnership
with the Welsh Assembly Government, and consist of the following
categories:

* Abuse or Neglect
* Disability
* Parental illness or disability
* Family dysfunction
* Socially Unacceptable Behaviour
* Low Income
* Absent Parenting (including child given up for adoption)
* Adoption disruption

Caerphilly county borough council does not, and are not required to,
categorise interim care orders and emergency protection orders in relation
to a category of emotional harm.

I therefore conclude that the response sent to you which states that the
Directorate of Social Services does not record a category of emotional
harm when children are placed on interim care orders and emergency
protection orders, is correct.

In relation to your appeal, while emotion harm is not a recognised
category that is used in relation to interim care orders and emergency
protection orders, it may be a contributing factor in the decision to
place such orders. Therefore references to emotional harm may be
contained on individual case files in documents such as Looked After
Children (LAC) reviews. Even if a child suffered emotional harm according
to documents on file, this is different from a child being taken into
local authority care on an interim care order or emergency protection
order under the category of emotional harm, which was requested.

I will now consider if we would be able to carry out a search for how many
children were taken into local authority care on interim care orders and
emergency protection orders where emotional harm was a major contributing
factor, by looking into individual case files. While you have requested
information from 2004 to date, I have just considered this request in
relation to current cases.

Caerphilly county borough council has in excess of 55 current cases in
relation to interim care orders and emergency protection orders. While
emotion harm is more likely to be a contributing factor in some need
categories than others, potentially it can be a contributing factor in any
of the these cases.

Therefore I can confirm that the Council holds information falling within
the description specified in your request, but we are refusing to supply
this information under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
It is estimated that the cost of complying with your request would
significantly exceed the appropriate limit of £450 for local government,
which is specified in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection
(Appropriate Limits and Fees) Regulations 2004.

In order to determine whether your request exceeds this limit, an estimate
of the time we expected to take to in comply with your request must be
multiplied by £25 per hour. If the cost of complying with your request
would exceed the appropriate limit of £450 (more than 18 hrs), your
request can be refused. In making this calculation we are able to include
the time taken to determine whether we hold the information and time taken
to locate, retrieve and extract the information. The hourly rate of £25
per hour is set by the Fees Regulations and is not dependent on the
seniority of the officer who carries out the work.

If you are able to re-focus your request, so that the cost of complying
with it falls below the appropriate limit of £450, we may be able to
supply the information to you. Please contact the Carl Evans - Assistant
Information officer E-mail [1][Caerphilly Council request email], if you would like
assistance in re-focusing the request.

In conclusion, I consider the council's response to you that Caerphilly
county borough council do not record a category of emotional harm when
children are placed on interim care orders and emergency protection orders
to be correct. While I can confirm that information in relation to
emotional harm would be held on individual case files, we are refusing to
supply this information under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act
2000, as it is estimated that the cost of complying with your request
would exceed the appropriate limit of £450 for local government (Freedom
of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limits and Fees)
Regulations 2004).

You have the right to appeal against my decision in relation to your
Freedom of Information Request. The appeal must be made without
unreasonable delay to The Information Commissioner's Office, Wales,
Cambrian Buildings, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff, CF10 5FL, E-mail:
[email address], website: [2]www.ico.gov.uk
[3]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk, telephone: 029 2044 8044, fax: 029
2044 8045.

Yours faithfully,

Stuart Rosser
Chief Executive

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