Fiona Thorne
Please ask for: Hannah Rumball
Reference: 26348534
Email:
xxx.xxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxxxxxxxx.xxx
Date: 17 February 2022
Dear Fiona Thorne
Thank you for your request for information made under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) 2000 relating to Education Needs - LGO case. Please accept my sincere
apologies for the delay in responding to your request: I appreciate that the Council has
not complied with statutory timescales on this occasion. Please see the response
provided below:
Re The LGO case - Kent County Council (20 005 372)
I request copies of:
1)copies of the above Policies. minutes of meeting relating to the Policy drafting
showing officers involved in making such Policy.
These policies are confirmed as being in place and all health needs information is
available on the website of The Rose wood School. CME guidance is published on
KCC’s website kent.gov.uk
2)Evidence and content of the training that has been carried out with dates and
details of who delivered the training.
KCC’s response to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman states: “With
regards to the staff training requested at point 59 of the final decision, the Local
Authority understands that it should have in place a policy for children missing
education for medical reasons, which should take account of current guidance and
legislation. It is also understood that the policy will impact on relevant areas of the
council and on its partners – significantly on the practice of schools and educational
settings. So, we have raised awareness of this policy more widely. Initially training took
place with relevant Council staff on the statutory duty to provide suitable education
when a child is absent from school due to illness, exclusion or otherwise and the need
to consider the individual circumstances of the case and all the evidence available.
Within SEND specifically, Staff have been informed through their monthly Area Section
Meetings and from training in management meetings of the need to look at the
evidence of each case independently and attention drawn to the attached
documentation and guidance. Staff are fully aware of the individual circumstances of
each case, and they will ensure that provision is made available to a child/young
person which, may include therapies, counselling, social interaction provision, etc.
when they are unable to attend school due to ill health. Staff have also been reminded
and made aware of the availability of Provisional Evaluation Officers whose role within
the County is to support schools with advice on SEND provision and monitor that
provision in terms of that specified in EHC plans.”
3)copies of evidence provided to the LGO.
The majority of the information shared with the LGSCO is personal to the young
person/family who raised the complaint, it relates to their education and personal
circumstances. The only exceptions to this are KCC guidance documents.
To share this evidence containing personal information without the individual’s consent
would amount to a breach of the Data Protection Act 2018. Therefore, this information
is exempt from disclosure under section 40 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act on the
grounds that it is personal information.
Access to personal data is managed via a Subject Access Request under the GDPR
and Data Protection Act, so you may wish to consider obtaining the consent of the
individual concerned and then submitting a request via xxxx.xxxxxxxxxx@xxxx.xxx.xx
If you are unhappy with this response, and believe KCC has not complied with
legislation, you have 40 working days from the date of this response to ask for a review.
You can do this by following our complaints process; details can be found at this link
https://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council/complaints-and-compliments#tab-10 on our
website. Please quote reference [26348534].
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you can appeal to the Information
Commissioner, who oversees compliance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Details of what you need to do, should you wish to pursue this course of action, are
available from the Information Commissioner’s w
ebsite http://ico.org.uk/concerns
Yours faithfully
Hannah Rumball
Information Governance Specialist
Strategic and Corporate Services