2021-2022 Deferral Rates & Related Questions - Aberdeenshire

The request was successful.

Patricia Anderson

Dear Aberdeenshire Council,

Please accept this email as a Freedom of Information request. I am sending this request to all 32 Scottish local authorities.

Please could the Council provide:

1) The total number of requests received to date for the Council to provide discretionary funding for a further year of early learning and childcare (nursery/ childminder etc) for children whose fifth birthdays have will fall between the day after the school start date in August 2021 and 31st Dec 2021.

2) A breakdown of the total number in 1. above by requests for

a) continued funding in private/voluntary settings and

b) continued funding in council run settings and

c) continued funding for split placements where a child attends both a private/voluntary and a council run setting.

3) In relation to question 2, please provide the number of places the Council has agreed to provide continued funding for in

a) private/voluntary settings and

b) council run settings and

c) split placements where a child attends both a private/voluntary and a council run setting.

4. How many of the children applying have a December birthday?

5a. How many appeals (challenges if there is no official appeals process) did the Council receive against the Council’s decision not to grant funding?

5b. How many of these appeals/challenges resulted in the initial decision being overturned?

6. How many official complaints has the Council received regarding discretionary deferral funding decisions between Nov 2020 and the date of your response to this FoI request?

7a. How many applications did the Council receive for children to be permitted early entry to primary school to start in Aug 2021 instead of Aug 2022 (for children who will turn five on or after 1st March 2022)?

7b. How many of these early entry applications were approved?

8. Is the Council’s discretionary deferral funding policy currently under review or are there any plans to update it for 2022-2023?

9. How many parents/carers are currently financing a further year of nursery for their child's deferral year themselves in a council-run nursery after the Council refused to fund their request for this?

10a. How many requests did the Council receive for older children* to defer their primary one start till Aug2022?

*(by "older children" I mean those who had already reached the age of five by the school commencement date in August 2021).

10b. How many older children* has the Council permitted to defer their primary one start till Aug 2022?

*(by "older children" I mean those who had already reached the age of five by the school commencement date in August 2021).

11. Has the Council requested to be part of the 2022-2023 expansion of the Scottish Government's pilot scheme to fund a further year of ELC for all mid-Aug to 31 Dec born children deferring their p1 start before the law is rolled out nationally from Aug 2023?

12a. Please provide SIMD deciles for all applications received as per the total number provided in your response to question 1.

12b. Please provide SIMD deciles for all applications granted as per the total number provided in your response to question 3.

12c. Does the Council take the SIMD decile of applicants into consideration when deciding whether to authorise a discretionary deferral ELC funding application?

Yours faithfully,

Patricia Anderson

Acknowledge email,

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your information request.

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Education, Aberdeenshire Council

Dear Patricia Anderson

 

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (“The Act”)

 

We refer to your request dated 26/08/2021 23:05, for the following
information regarding Discretionary Funding Early Learning and Childcare. 

 

We confirm that the Council holds the following information, which we
believe satisfies your request.

 

1. The total number of requests received to date for the Council to
provide discretionary funding for a further year of early learning and
childcare (nursery/ childminder etc) for children whose fifth birthdays
have will fall between the day after the school start date in August 2021
and 31st Dec 2021. 

95
2. A breakdown of the total number in 1. above by requests for 
a) continued funding in private/voluntary settings and 

15

b) continued funding in council run settings and 

80

c) continued funding for split placements where a child attends both a
private/voluntary and a council run setting. 

This information is not collected during the deferral process

3. In relation to question 2, please provide the number of places the
Council has agreed to provide continued funding for in

a) private/voluntary settings and

14

b) council run settings and

76 (of the original 80 applications for council run settings 2
applications were declined and 2 applications were withdrawn)

c) split placements where a child attends both a private/voluntary and a
council run setting

This information is not collected during the deferral process.

4. How many of the children applying have a December birthday?

50

5a. How many appeals (challenges if there is no official appeals process)
did the Council receive against the Council’s decision not to grant
funding?

1

5b. How many of these appeals/challenges resulted in the initial decision
being overturned?

0

6. How many official complaints has the Council received regarding
discretionary deferral funding decisions between Nov 2020 and the date of
your response to this FoI request?

There hasn’t been any from parents of children eligible to apply for
discretionary deferral funding – there were 2 from parents whose children
would be 5 at the start of term, of those 2 parents one also contacted
their MSP who lodged a complaint of their behalf.

7a. How many applications did the Council receive for children to be
permitted early entry to primary school to start in Aug 2021 instead of
Aug 2022 (for children who will turn five on or after 1st March 2022)?

7b. How many of these early entry applications were approved?

There are no pupils with a date of birth that would make them an early
entry into P1 in August 2021.

8. Is the Council’s discretionary deferral funding policy currently under
review or are there any plans to update it for 2022-2023?

Aberdeenshire Council has requested to be included in the Scottish
Government’s pilot scheme.  If successful, our policy will be amended
accordingly.

9. How many parents/carers are currently financing a further year of
nursery for their child's deferral year themselves in a council-run
nursery after the Council refused to fund their request for this?

Information not held

10a. How many requests did the Council receive for older children* to
defer their primary one start till Aug2022?

*(by "older children" I mean those who had already reached the age of five
by the school commencement date in August 2021).

Information not Held.  Aberdeenshire adheres to the Education Scotland Act
1980 which states children reach school aged whey they reach five years
old. 

10b. How many older children* has the Council permitted to defer their
primary one start till Aug 2022?

*(by "older children" I mean those who had already reached the age of five
by the school commencement date in August 2021).

0

11. Has the Council requested to be part of the 2022-2023 expansion of the
Scottish Government's pilot scheme to fund a further year of ELC for all
mid-Aug to 31 Dec born children deferring their p1 start before the law is
rolled out nationally from Aug 2023?

Yes

12a. Please provide SIMD deciles for all applications received as per the
total number provided in your response to question 1.

Information not recorded as part of the deferral process

12b. Please provide SIMD deciles for all applications granted as per the
total number provided in your response to question 3.

Information not recorded as part of the deferral process

12c. Does the Council take the SIMD decile of applicants into
consideration when deciding whether to authorise a discretionary deferral
ELC funding application?

SIMD deciles of applicant is not taken into consideration.

 

Please contact me as the officer responsible for responding to your
request if you have any further queries.

 

If, for any reason, you are not satisfied with this response, please refer
to the further information below.

 

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

Freedom of Information Co-ordinator

Education & Children's Services

 

 

 

Further Information:

Aberdeenshire Council’s Review Procedure under the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland)
Regulations 2004 can be accessed at the following link:

http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/council-...

 

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Aberdeenshire Council.

Dh’fhaodadh fiosrachadh sochaire, a tha a-mhàin airson an neach gu bheil
am post-dealain air a chur, a bhith an seo. Ma tha thu air am post-dealain
fhaighinn mar mhearachd, gabh ar leisgeul agus cuir fios chun an neach a
chuir am post-dealain agus dubh às am post-dealain an dèidh sin. ’S e
beachdan an neach a chuir am post-dealain a tha ann an gin sam bith a
thèid a chur an cèill agus chan eil e a’ ciallachadh gu bheil iad a’
riochdachadh beachdan Chomhairle Shiorrachd Obar Dheathain.

www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk

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Patricia Anderson

Dear Aberdeenshire Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Aberdeenshire Council's handling of my FOI request '2021-2022 Deferral Rates & Related Questions - Aberdeenshire'. A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/2...

The Council's responses to question 6 and question 10a are inconsistent. Question 6 asked how many official complaints has the Council received regarding discretionary deferral funding decisions between Nov 2020 and the date of your response to this FoI request? You responded that, "There hasn’t been any from parents of children eligible to apply for discretionary deferral funding – there were 2 from parents whose children would be 5 at the start of term, of those 2 parents one also contacted their MSP who lodged a complaint of their behalf." However, question 10a asked "How many requests did the Council receive for older children* to defer their primary one start till Aug2022?" and you responded, "Information not held". Does this mean that these 2 parents did not submit requests to defer their child after all or should these 2 requests have been included in 10a? If the latter is the case, please can you also provide an updated response to question 10b.

Yours faithfully,

Patricia Anderson

FOI Reviews, Aberdeenshire Council

Dear Patricia Anderson

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REVIEW REQUEST

 

I write to acknowledge receipt of your email dated 12 October, 2021,
requesting a review of the Council’s response to your request for
information relating to Discretionary Funding Early Learning and
Childcare.

 

The Council’s Internal Review Procedure provides for a Review Panel of
senior officers to consider written submissions from both sides.  If there
is anything more you wish to put before the Review Panel in addition to
the comments in your review request, please let me have that as soon as
possible and by no later than Friday 22 October, 2021.  You are entitled
to have the decision of the Review Panel sent to you within 20 working
days of my receipt of your email.  That means my reply with the decision
of the Review Panel has to be sent by 9 November, 2021.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clerk to Review Panel

 

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This e-mail may contain privileged information intended solely for the use
of the individual to whom it is addressed. If you have received this
e-mail in error, please accept our apologies and notify the sender,
deleting the e-mail afterwards. Any views or opinions presented are solely
those of the e-mail's author and do not necessarily represent those of
Aberdeenshire Council.

Dh’fhaodadh fiosrachadh sochaire, a tha a-mhàin airson an neach gu bheil
am post-dealain air a chur, a bhith an seo. Ma tha thu air am post-dealain
fhaighinn mar mhearachd, gabh ar leisgeul agus cuir fios chun an neach a
chuir am post-dealain agus dubh às am post-dealain an dèidh sin. ’S e
beachdan an neach a chuir am post-dealain a tha ann an gin sam bith a
thèid a chur an cèill agus chan eil e a’ ciallachadh gu bheil iad a’
riochdachadh beachdan Chomhairle Shiorrachd Obar Dheathain.

www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk

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FOI Reviews, Aberdeenshire Council

2 Attachments

Dear Patricia Anderson

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REVIEW REQUEST

 

I refer to my e-mail of 15 October, 2021, in connection with the above
matter and now write to advise you of the decision of the Freedom of
Information Review Panel relating to your request for information.

 

The Review Panel found in your favour and I attach the Decision Notice
from the Panel and the Statement of Reasons which includes the additional
information which the Panel instructed that you be given.

 

I trust that this will be of assistance to you.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clerk to Review Panel

 

Enc

 

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This e-mail may contain privileged information intended solely for the use
of the individual to whom it is addressed. If you have received this
e-mail in error, please accept our apologies and notify the sender,
deleting the e-mail afterwards. Any views or opinions presented are solely
those of the e-mail's author and do not necessarily represent those of
Aberdeenshire Council.

Dh’fhaodadh fiosrachadh sochaire, a tha a-mhàin airson an neach gu bheil
am post-dealain air a chur, a bhith an seo. Ma tha thu air am post-dealain
fhaighinn mar mhearachd, gabh ar leisgeul agus cuir fios chun an neach a
chuir am post-dealain agus dubh às am post-dealain an dèidh sin. ’S e
beachdan an neach a chuir am post-dealain a tha ann an gin sam bith a
thèid a chur an cèill agus chan eil e a’ ciallachadh gu bheil iad a’
riochdachadh beachdan Chomhairle Shiorrachd Obar Dheathain.

www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk

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