Serious Case Review Figures presented to Graham Badman as part of EHE Review

Dear Mr/Ms Thorn,

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 2009/0073391

Thank you.

Central Allocation Team

Public Communications Team

Tel: 0870 0002288
www.dcsf.gov.uk

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Dear Mr/Ms Thorn

Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 21 August 2009. I have dealt with
your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act).

Before answering your request 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.

You requested:

Please release the Serious Case Review (SCR) data provided to Graham Badman as part of the Review into
Elective Home Education in England. I understand that Mr Badman was given data which demonstrated that
Home Educated children were almost twice as likely to be the subject of a SCR than their School
Educated peers. Although the figures comparing SCR carried out for Home Educated children with SCR
carried out for school educated children was not included in the version of the review that was
released to the public, it is my understanding that journalists were briefed with this figure by Graham
Badman himself at the Press Conference when the review was published.

The Department does not hold a recording of the press conference. The only notes held are
attached.

For information a link to the Department's press release of 11 June is here:

[1]http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi...

I think it is likely that some confusion has arisen with the statement at paragraph 8.12 of the report
of the review which indicated 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'.

As you will appreciate the Department cannot consider the release of information which it does not
hold, but with regard to your requests we have taken them to refer to the information underpinning the
reference in paragraph 8.12 as this is likely to be more helpful to you. As background, a copy of
information that has already been released to other FOI requesters can be found attached to the
Department reply at:

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

There is a calculation error in the fourth point of this release. This has however been released
because it is information which the Department holds and which appears to be within - or most nearly
within - scope of your request, and which does not engage exemptions under the Act. I understand that
the error does not affect the overall findings at paragraph 8.12 of Mr Badman's report.

The Department holds other information within scope of your requests as we have interpreted them, but
it is being withheld because the following absolute exemptions under the Act apply :

Section 40. Having carefully reviewed the information, the Department considers that the absolute
exemption at section 40 of the Act is engaged because the 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 relate 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.

In addition the following qualified exemption, requiring a public interest test, is engaged:

Section 38(1)(a) and (b) this section 38 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.

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 individuals or families 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. Under certain circumstances unlawful action might be taken against those thought
to be in some way culpable. Such action could never be justified, nor would release of information
leading to 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 balancing test, the Department takes the view that it is not in the public
interest for the any of the further information to be released.

The information supplied to you is protected by the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. Any
documents produced by government officials will be covered by Crown Copyright. You are free to use the
information for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the
purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for example commercial publication, would require the
permission of the copyright holder and is regulated by the Reuse of Public Sector Information
Regulations 2005. You can find details on the arrangements for re-using Crown Copyright at:

Office of Public Sector Information

Information Policy Team

Kew

Richmond

Surrey

TW9 4DU

Email: [email address]

Any information which is not subject to Crown Copyright continues to be protected by the copyright of
the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. You must ensure that you gain their
permission before reproducing such information.

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

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you should make a complaint to the
Department by writing to me within two calendar months of the date of this letter. Your complaint will
be considered by an independent review panel, who were not involved in the original consideration of
your request.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint to the Department, you may then contact the
Information Commissioner's Office.
Yours sincerely

Nicola Whimperley
Public Communications Unit
[3]www.dcsf.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2009/0073391. To correspond by email with
the Department for Children, Schools and Families please contact [4][DCSF request email].

If you have any further queries why not browse our Popular Questions website. This site has been built
to allow you to quickly find the answer to your question [5]http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/popularquestions

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