Small Survey Results re EHE

Good Afternoon

Thank you for your e-mail.

In order for your request to be dealt with effectively I have forwarded it
to the Freedom of Information Officer for a response.

A member of this department will reply to your request as soon as
possible.

However should you require any further assistance please do not hesitate
to contact us.

Regards

Julie Foreman

Customer Service Advisor

Ofsted - National Business Unit

TEL: 08456 404040

-------Original Message

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Dear Mr Tyler,

Thank you for your email dated 5 August seeking details of the small
survey conducted by Ofsted in summer 2008 into the effectiveness of
local authority policies to manage the risks to children who are not
attending school nor receiving education elsewhere. You have asked, in
particular, for the survey questions and full results, and which local
authorities responded. You have also asked which local authorities had
expressed the view that "securing adequate safeguarding would be easier
if they had a clear right of access to family homes in the course of
monitoring the suitability of home education" and also the reasons they
gave to support such a response.

This small survey did not feature a questionnaire to be completed.
Therefore, there are no specific, completed questions or results as
such. Information was obtained through interviews with officers within
the following authorities: Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Coventry,
Derby, Leeds, Manchester, Newham, Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, Tower
Hamlets and Wolverhampton. Interviewers were guided by the "suggested
areas for questions", which are attached, although it is possible that
not everything on the list was covered on every occasion.

Our practice for such surveys is to collect and store survey documents
in named folders in our central electronic filing system. However, there
are no notes from any of the above meetings in the appropriate files.
Ofsted's information retention policy provides for the destruction of
inspection evidence and other related documents three months after a
survey is completed. The survey was completed in late 2008 and so it is
likely that these documents were destroyed some time ago. I am not able
therefore, to report which authority said what or the reasons why.

I hope you will find this response useful. If you are unhappy with the
handling of your request, you may seek an internal review by writing to:

Deputy Director of Corporate Services,
Ofsted
Aviation House
125 Kingsway
London
WC2B 6SE

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision as to
whether or not we have complied with our obligations under the Act with
respect to your request. The Information Commissioner can be contacted
at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

Richard Green
Business and Administration Team Manager
Strategy Directorate (wef 1 September 2009)
Ofsted
Aviation House
125 Kingsway
LONDON WC2B 6SE
020 7421 6681

[email address]
www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Dear Mr Tyler,

I am sorry that there will be a slight delay in replying to your email.
Once I have consulted a colleague who has been on leave, I hope to be in
a position to reply to you during next week (commencing 28 September).

Yours sincerely

Richard Green
Strategy Directorate
Business and Administration Team
Ofsted
Aviation House
125 Kingsway
LONDON WC2B 6SE
020 7421 6681
[email address]
www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Dear Mr Tyler,

Thank you for your email dated 27 August 2009. I have dealt with your
request in accordance with the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 and
would like to apologise once again that this response is late.

You have asked for documentary proof to support a statement which Ofsted
made to the Badman Review into Elective Home Education. For
completeness, the statement was:

"Ofsted recently conducted a small survey into the effectiveness of
local authority policies to manage the risks to children who are not
attending school nor receiving education elsewhere. In this survey, some
authorities expressed the view that securing adequate safeguarding would
be easier if they had a clear right of access to family homes in the
course of monitoring the suitability of home education."

I have explained in a previous response to you that, since the fieldwork
for the above small survey was completed in late 2008, the evidence
collected from it will have been destroyed some time ago. However, the
outcome of the survey was an internal report "Children who go missing
from education" which was completed in January 2009. Since EHE was
clearly not the focus of the survey, the report mentions comments made
by local authorities in respect of Elective Home Education only briefly.

Below are the only two paragraphs from the report which mention EHE.

From the key findings of report:

"Elective home education was one legitimate reason for a pupil to be
taken off roll. Some authorities expressed the view that securing
adequate safeguarding would be easier if they had a clear right of
access to family homes in the course of monitoring the suitability of
home education. Some authorities reported that national organisations
for home education were advising parents to deny access to officers from
children's services who were attempting to establish the suitability of
the provision."

And from the body of the report:

"Six of the 12 authorities visited specifically raised concerns about
safeguarding pupils who are taken out of school for elective home
education. They reported that some parents were being advised by
national organisations for home education to deny access to local
authority staff when they asked to check on the provision for education
at home. Two authorities said that the parents wanted single-sex
schools, but insufficient places were available and that was the reason
for their choosing to educate their child at home. Parents are not
required to notify local authorities if they move house subsequently,
which could therefore delay the start of procedures for tracing missing
children and record them on the database."

You will see that the statement for the Badman Review followed the
content of these two paragraphs closely.

I hope you will find this response useful. If you feel we have not
dealt with your request satisfactorily, you can contact me or
[email address] and I will do my best to resolve your concerns.

Alternatively, if you remain dissatisfied with our response or the
handling of your request, you may request a formal internal review. In
order to do this, please write to the following address, setting out
which areas of the response you are unhappy with:

Email: [email address] or write to:

Head of Information Rights
Legal Services Division
Ofsted
Aviation House
125 Kingsway
London
WC2B 6SE

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you also
have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision
as to whether or not we have complied with our obligations under the FOI
Act with respect to your request. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at:

FOI Case Reception Unit
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely,

Richard Green
Business and Administration Team Manager Strategy Directorate
Ofsted Aviation House
125 Kingsway
LONDON WC2B 6SE
020 7421 6681
[email address]
www.ofsted.gov.uk

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