The Unaccompanied care leavers and asylum seekers report

FOI/1340 Potter

Dear Ms Potter

We are writing in regard to your Freedom of Information Request below.

During an internal audit of our requests from last year it has come to
light that we have no record of a response being given to your FOI
request below.

Please accept our sincere apologies for the long delay in our response.
This was as a result of receiving an overwhelming response for requests
for information and this coupled with officer absence resulted in delays
in even processing requests.

We have reviewed our processes and hope that future requests will be
responded to in a timely manner.

As You are aware the Freedom of Information Act 2000 creates a
statutory right of access to information, however this right of access
is subject to a limited number of exemptions.

S12 of the FOIA states that a Public Authority is not obliged to
respond to a request for information under S1 of the FOIA where it
estimates that the cost of doing so would 'exceed the appropriate
limit'. The 'appropriate limit', as laid down in the Freedom of
Information and Data Protection (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations
2004 (the 'Regulations'), is £450 which equates to 18 hours work.

The department that holds this information estimated that it would take
over 18 hours of officer time to locate, collate and extract the
information you are seeking. In this instance our records are not
structured in such a way to make this information easily identifiable
and retrievable. We estimate that the cost of manually searching
through each of our asylum files and searching our records to ascertain
whether the information is held and to collate this information would be
over the 'appropriate limit' as laid down in the Regulations and as such
is exempt under S12 of the FOIA.

We apologise that we cannot be of assistance on this occasion and
please accept our sincere apologies for the delay you have experienced.

If you are not satisfied with our response you should put your
complaint in writing, within two months, to:

Principal Corporate Lawyer, Legal Services, Civic Centre, High St,
Uxbridge, UB8 1UW (or via email to [Hillingdon Borough Council request email] marked for the
attention of the Principal Corporate Lawyer).

Please remember to quote the reference number(s) above in any future
communications.

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.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire,
SK9 5AF

Legal Services (3E 04)
London Borough of Hillingdon
Civic Centre
High Street
Uxbridge
UB8 1UW
01895 55(6923)

Please note, all material provided by the London Borough of Hillingdon
in response to your request for information is for your personal,
non-commercial use. The London Borough of Hillingdon reserves all
rights in the copyright of the information provided. Any unauthorised
copying or adaptation of the information without express written
confirmation from The London Borough of Hillingdon will constitute an
infringement of copyright. Any intention to re-use this information
commercially will require consent. Please forward any requests for
re-use of information to the Freedom of Information officer.

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Dear Ms Potter

I am writing further to your email below regarding your Freedom of Information Request. I can confirm that we are processing your request, but we require further clarification regarding your request.

You are requesting to know:

In the final quarter of 2008 (October, November and December 2008) how many newly arrived 16 and 17 year old UASC you accommodated under Section 20 for the first time and for each individual UASC please advise of:

A) The exact age of each individual UASC was when first accommodated - Using the formula that indicates how many full years and months has elapsed since birth. Such as 16.4, meaning 16 years and 4 months.

B) The exact date each individual first became accommodated under Section 20.

C) An indication, of a Yes or No, on whether you have provided any individual UASC with Section 17 support, prior to them being accommodated under Section 20 on the date given in section B.

D) If, at present, any individual has been discharged from Section 20, please advise of the exact date this discharge took effect.

E) Whether any services are currently provided, to each individual, under the Children (Leaving Care) Act.

F) Whether any services are currently provided, to each individual, under Section 17 of the Children Act .

G) The exact date any individual UASC was assessed as being 18 or more years of age.

Can you clarify whether all the questions relate to the cohort describes (i.e 'newly arrived 16 and 17 year olds UASC' during the period Oct, Nov, Dec 2008? In particular can you clarify this in relation to Qs D and G?

thanks

Richard Ingle
Data Protection &
Freedom of Information Officer

Legal Services (3E 04)
London Borough of Hillingdon
Civic Centre
High Street
Uxbridge
UB8 1UW
01895 55(6923)

Please note, all material provided by the London Borough of Hillingdon in response to your request for information is for your personal, non-commercial use. The London Borough of Hillingdon reserves all rights in the copyright of the information provided. Any unauthorised copying or adaptation of the information without express written confirmation from The London Borough of Hillingdon will constitute an infringement of copyright. Any intention to re-use this information commercially will require consent. Please forward any requests for re-use of information to the Freedom of Information officer.

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Dear foi,

I wish to restrict the information I am requesting to that which
you hold on your Electronic Care Records System, which should be
relatively straightforward to extract as it is also used to report
similar information to central government on matters of
performance, inspection and auditing.

Yours sincerely,

Ms T Potter

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prior agreement.

Dear Ms Potter

I am writing in response to your email below. Thank you for the clarification provided which I am assuming indicates that Qs D and G do relate to the cohort of newly arrived UASCs in Oct, Nov, Dec 2008. Please let me know, if I have misunderstood this.

I am aware of the time that it has taken for us to process this matter and I personally appreciate your patience I will endeavour to provide you with a response as soon as possible.

If you have any queries regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me on the details below.

Richard Ingle
Data Protection &
Freedom of Information Officer

Legal Services (3E 04)
London Borough of Hillingdon
Civic Centre
High Street
Uxbridge
UB8 1UW
01895 55(6923)

Please note, all material provided by the London Borough of Hillingdon in response to your request for information is for your personal, non-commercial use. The London Borough of Hillingdon reserves all rights in the copyright of the information provided. Any unauthorised copying or adaptation of the information without express written confirmation from The London Borough of Hillingdon will constitute an infringement of copyright. Any intention to re-use this information commercially will require consent. Please forward any requests for re-use of information to the Freedom of Information officer.

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Dear foi,

FOI/1340 Potter

Further to your June 2010 letter
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/th...

To help with your apparent need for some clarification on questions
D and G, please see the entries below:

D) In the final quarter of 2008 (October, November and December
2008) how many newly arrived 16 and 17 year old UASC you
accommodated under Section 20 for the first time and for each
individual UASC please advise of:

If, at present (as of 8 June 2009), any individual has been
discharged from Section 20, please advise of the exact date this
discharge took effect.

G) In the final quarter of 2008 (October, November and December
2008) how many newly arrived 16 and 17 year old UASC you
accommodated under Section 20 for the first time and for each
individual UASC please advise of:

The exact date any individual UASC was assessed as being 18 or
more years of age.

If this does not clarify the query you submitted on 29 June 2010, I
am happy to get responses to the other questions, submitted on as
of 8 June 2009 as an interim measure, that being:

A) In the final quarter of 2008 (October, November and December
2008) how many newly arrived 16 and 17 year old UASC you
accommodated under Section 20 for the first time and for each
individual UASC please advise of:

The exact age of each individual UASC was when first
accommodated - Using the formula that indicates how many full years
and months has elapsed since birth. Such as 16.4, meaning 16 years
and 4 months.

B) In the final quarter of 2008 (October, November and December
2008) how many newly arrived 16 and 17 year old UASC you
accommodated under Section 20 for the first time and for each
individual UASC please advise of:

The exact date each individual first became accommodated under
Section 20.

C) In the final quarter of 2008 (October, November and December
2008) how many newly arrived 16 and 17 year old UASC you
accommodated under Section 20 for the first time and for each
individual UASC please advise of:

An indication, of a Yes or No, on whether you have provided any
individual UASC with Section 17 support, prior to them being
accommodated under Section 20 on the date given in section B.

E) In the final quarter of 2008 (October, November and December
2008) how many newly arrived 16 and 17 year old UASC you
accommodated under Section 20 for the first time and for each
individual UASC please advise of:

Whether any services are currently provided, to each individual,
under Section 17 of the Children Act .

F) In the final quarter of 2008 (October, November and December
2008) how many newly arrived 16 and 17 year old UASC you
accommodated under Section 20 for the first time and for each
individual UASC please advise of:

Whether any services are currently provided, to each individual,
under Section 17 of the Children Act.

Yours faithfully,

Ms T Potter

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I am writing in response to your Freedom of Information request below.

Please see attached for the information that you are requesting that we are able to extract from our electronic records.

Please Note: The pattern of uasc arrivals via Heathrow is such that many children usually have to be placed by our EDT/Standby Team after hours or at weekends. Where there appears to be a delay between placement and becoming LAC this is likely to be due to the fact that in 2008 the LAC episode was not being backdated.

I trust this provides you with the information you are seeking. If you have any queries in regards to this matter please do not hesitate to contact me.

Richard Ingle

Data Protection &
Freedom of Information Officer
Legal Services (3E 04)
London Borough of Hillingdon
Civic Centre
High Street
Uxbridge
UB8 1UW
01895 55(6923)

Please note, all material provided by the London Borough of Hillingdon in response to your request for information is for your personal, non-commercial use. The London Borough of Hillingdon reserves all rights in the copyright of the information provided. Any unauthorised copying or adaptation of the information without express written confirmation from The London Borough of Hillingdon will constitute an infringement of copyright. Any intention to re-use this information commercially will require consent. Please forward any requests for re-use of information to the Freedom of Information officer.

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Dear foi,

RE: "I am writing in response to your email below. Thank you for
the clarification provided which I am assuming indicates that Qs D
and G do relate to the cohort of newly arrived UASCs in Oct, Nov,
Dec 2008. Please let me know, if I have misunderstood this."
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/th...

I confirm that your apparent need for assumption on Qs D & G is
capable of being easily perceived or understood are correct, in the
exact same way that Qs A, B, C, E and F sections had been for my 8
June 2009 information request.
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/th...

Yours sincerely,

Ms T Potter

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