Home Education bill communications

The request was partially successful.

Dear Hampshire County Council,

In the second reading of the Home Education bill in the House of Lords.
https://goo.gl/kBXzgJ

Lord Soley stated:

"I have had help from across the board, but two of the councils that have been most helpful to me on this are Hampshire and Kent. They have given me information that I hope that the Government will see in due course."

Please provide a copy of all communications (if any) specific to the Home Education bill from or to your local authority between 2016 - 2017. This includes, but is not limited to; Lord Soley, the House of Lords, other local authorities and MPs.

Please redact any identifiable information under S40.

Yours faithfully,

A Thurstan

Children's Services Freedom of Information requests, Hampshire County Council

Dear A Thurstan

 

Your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

 

Thank you for your request for information, which was received by
Hampshire County Council on 29 November 2017. You requested:

 

In the second reading of the Home Education bill in the House of Lords.

[1]https://goo.gl/kBXzgJ

 

Lord Soley stated:

 

"I have had help from across the board, but two of the councils that have
been most helpful to me on this are Hampshire and Kent. They have given me
information that I hope that the Government will see in due course."

 

Please provide a copy of all communications (if any) specific to the Home
Education bill from or to your local authority between 2016 - 2017. This
includes, but is not limited to; Lord Soley, the House of Lords, other
local authorities and MPs.

 

Please remember to quote the reference number above (13183 Thurstan) in
any future communications.

 

The Children's Services Department will provide a response by 20 working
days.

Yours sincerely

FoI Co-ordinator
Children's Services Department
Email:  [2][email address]

If you have a Freedom of Information request please redirect to the
following email address - [3][email address
Any statutory timeframe will not commence until the request is received at
this address.

 

 

References

Visible links
1. https://goo.gl/kBXzgJ
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]

Fiona Nicholson left an annotation ()

Could be as late as Jan 3rd then? Still before committee stage, though.

Children's Services Freedom of Information requests, Hampshire County Council

1 Attachment

Dear A Thurstan

 

Your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

 

Please find attached Hampshire County Council’s response to your Freedom
of Information request.

Yours sincerely

FOI Co-ordinator
Email: [1][email address]

If you receive this email by mistake due to an error in addressing,
transmission, or any other reason please reply to the sender immediately
and let them know. If you are not the intended recipient you should not
disclose, distribute, copy, print or use in any way the information
contained in the email. Thank you.

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

Fiona Nicholson left an annotation ()

Hampshire County Council does not hold written correspondence. However, under Section 16 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, we have a duty to provide advice and assistance. We can therefore advise that information about the increase in the number of Electively Home Educated pupils was shared with Lord Soley verbally. This verbal information confirmed that in Hampshire we currently have 1224 electively home educated children and that the figure has tripled over the last five years.

Fiona Nicholson left an annotation ()

More background information here https://edyourself.wordpress.com/2017/11...

A Thurstan left an annotation ()

Verbal information regarding increase in numbers shared.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h...

Fiona Nicholson left an annotation ()

Actually, a tiny bit more than that, according to a related FOI response from Kent CC https://edyourself.wordpress.com/2017/12...

Fiona Nicholson left an annotation ()

This LA seems to have overlooked a number of highly relevant emails?

I have provided them here https://edyourself.wordpress.com/2018/01...

Dear Children's Services Freedom of Information requests,

I am following up due to recent FOI responses from other LAs.

Can you please clarify that Hampshire holds no copies of correspondence by e-mail or post for the purposes of this FOI?

Please see the following FOIs. I would appreciate copies of those received and sent by Hampshire County Council for the time period specific in the original Freedom of Information request.

Kent: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h...

Lancashire: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h...

Yours sincerely,

A Thurstan

Children's Services Freedom of Information requests, Hampshire County Council

1 Attachment

Dear A Thurstan

Thank you for your email. I can confirm that Hampshire County Council's response to your Freedom of Information request is unchanged since our reply on 21 December 2017. I attach a copy of that letter again for your information.
Kind regards.

FoI Co-ordinator
Children's Services Department
Email:  [email address]
If you have a Freedom of Information request please redirect to the following email address - [email address
Any statutory timeframe will not commence until the request is received at this address.

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Dear Hampshire County Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Hampshire County Council's handling of my FOI request 'Home Education bill communications'.

It is accepted that some information has been provided.

However, it is also clear from Freedom of Information requests submitted to other local authorities, that there has indeed been written correspondence (in others words, more than the verbal information stated in this FOI) in relation to this bill both to and from Hampshire County Council.

I am requesting an investigation as to why records of this written correspondence and/or documentation have not been kept by Hampshire County Council.

If it is found that written records have been kept, I am requesting a further investigation as to why these records have not been included as part of this freedom of information request. In the initial request, it was stated quite clearly that any redaction needed under S40 would be perfectly acceptable.

Please see; https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisatio...

"Email attachments and enclosures to letters

43. If the requester asks for a copy of an email, and that email contains an electronic attachment, that attachment also falls within the scope of the request.

44. This means that the authority needs to consider the release of all the recorded information in the email and all the recorded information in the attached document. The same principle also applies to enclosures to letters."

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h...

Please see the corresponding information from other local authorities here;

Kent: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h...

Lancashire: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/h...

Yours faithfully,

A Thurstan

Freedom of Information, Hampshire County Council

Dear A Thurstan,

We acknowledge receipt of your email requesting an Internal Review into your recent Freedom of Information disclosure.

The review will be undertaken in due course. We shall endeavour to provide you with a response within 20 working days of your request for a review.

Yours sincerely,

Jenny

Jenny Holden-Warren

Senior Information Governance Officer
Corporate Services - Governance
Hampshire County Council
The Castle
Winchester
Hampshire
SO23 8UJ
Tel 01962 667958
www.hants.gov.uk
This email, and any attachments, is strictly confidential and may be legally privileged.  It is intended only for the addressee. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or other use of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message in error, please contact the sender. Any request for disclosure of this document under the Data Protection Act 1998 or Freedom of Information Act 2000 should be referred to the sender.

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Freedom of Information, Hampshire County Council

1 Attachment

Dear A Thurstan

 

Please see the attached letter in response to your recent internal review
request.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Elizabeth Gilbert

Senior Compliance Officer

Corporate Services - Governance
Hampshire County Council
The Castle
Winchester
Hampshire
SO23 8UJ

Tel No: 01962 846522

 

Fiona Nicholson left an annotation ()

Maintains that it was all given verbally?

Fiona Nicholson left an annotation ()

Correspondence from Hampshire April 2017 here https://edyourself.wordpress.com/2018/03...

Dear Elizabeth Gilbert,

Thank you for your response. This has now been passed on to the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Yours sincerely,

A Thurstan

A Thurstan left an annotation ()

"26th March 2018

Case Reference Number FS50*********

Dear Mr Thurstan

Your ref: Home Education Bill

Your information request to Hampshire County Council

Thank you for your correspondence of 03/03/18 in which you make a complaint about the above public authority’s handling of your request for information.

Your complaint has been accepted as eligible for further consideration and will be allocated to a case officer as soon as possible.

We aim to deal with complaints in chronological order and, because of the number of complaints we are required to deal with, there may be a delay in allocating your case. Where possible and appropriate your case may be accelerated. Once your case is allocated to an officer they will contact you to explain how your complaint will be progressed.

If you wish to send any further documentation while the case is awaiting allocation, please quote the reference number at the top of this letter. This will ensure that the information is added directly to your case.

Please be aware that this is an automated process. The information will not be read by a member of our staff until your case is allocated to an officer.

If you have any specific concerns before your case is allocated to an officer, please contact our helpline on 0303 123 1113, being sure to quote the reference number at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely"

Freedom of Information, Hampshire County Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Thurstan

 

Following correspondence from the ICO identifying that information is
already in the public domain, please find attached documents relevant to
your previous FOI (13183).

 

Redactions have been made where the information is considered to be exempt
under s40 Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), as the information
consists of personal data.

 

S40(2) of FOIA provides that personal data of another individual is exempt
if its disclosure would breach any of the data protection principles in
the General Data Protection Regulation 2018. The County Council considers
that the information withheld consists of personal data of third parties
and that disclosure would constitute unfair and unlawful processing. This
is an absolute exemption and does not require a public interest test.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Elizabeth Gilbert

Information Governance Manager

Corporate Services - Governance
Hampshire County Council
The Castle
Winchester
Hampshire
SO23 8UJ

Tel No: 01962 846522

 

Fiona Nicholson left an annotation ()

The 21 December 2017 FOI response said"Hampshire County Council does not hold written correspondence."

Perhaps Hampshire's detailed proposals to Lord Soley on April 10th 2017 for the contents of his upcoming home education bill were initially overlooked in the FOI search by the LA's data controller as they were in the form of a letter rather than an email?

In any event, it's good to have this tidied up now.