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Coronavirus cases in Schools in Bury

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Dear Department for Education,

I write to request full details of the following since 1 September, 2020:

1. All confirmed coronavirus cases in secondary schools in Bury, Greater Manchester.
2. How many children were sent home across the borough to isolate as a result of cases in secondary schools in the borough.
3. How many members of staff contracted coronavirus in secondary schools in the borough.
4. How many members of staff were sent home to isolate as a result of cases in secondary schools in the borough.
5. How many deaths there have been across staff and students in secondary schools within the borough within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test.

Yours faithfully,

Carla James.

MINISTERS, Department for Education

1 Attachment

Thank you for contacting the Department for Education. If you are
contacting us about coronavirus (COVID-19) you can find advice and
guidance on [1]GOV.UK. This includes [2]guidance for educational settings
in England. You can also contact our coronavirus helpline on 0800 046
8687. Lines are open Monday to Friday from 8am to 6pm and weekends 10am to
4pm.

For emails and other written enquiries you will usually receive a reply
within 15 working days. You can find out how the department processes your
personal information by reading our [3]Privacy Notice.

 

 

[4]cid:image001.jpg@01D42E43.58989C30

 

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/collection...
https://www.gov.uk/government/collection...
3. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

ACCOUNT, Unmonitored, Department for Education

Dear  Carla James 

Thank you for your recent enquiry which was received on 22 October.

A reply will be sent to you as soon as possible. For information; the
departmental standard for correspondence received is that responses should
be sent within 20 working days as you are requesting information under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Your correspondence has been allocated
reference number 2020-0059808. 

Department for Education

Ministerial and Public Communications Division

Tel: 0370 000 2288

Web: [1]https://www.education.gov.uk
Twitter: [2]https://www.twitter.com/educationgovuk
Facebook: [3]https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk

 

 

 

 

References

Visible links
1. https://www.education.gov.uk/
2. https://www.twitter.com/educationgovuk
3. https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk

ACCOUNT, Unmonitored, Department for Education

Dear Carla James,       

        

Re: pupil and staff absences due to COVID-19 in schools      

        

Thank you for your email received on 22nd October, reference number:
2020-0059808. Your request was as follows:       

      

“Dear Department for Education, 

I write to request full details of the following since 1 September, 2020: 

1. All confirmed coronavirus cases in secondary schools in Bury, Greater
Manchester. 

2. How many children were sent home across the borough to isolate as a
result of cases in secondary schools in the borough. 

3. How many members of staff contracted coronavirus in secondary schools
in the borough. 

4. How many members of staff were sent home to isolate as a result
of cases in secondary schools in the borough. 

5. How many deaths there have been across staff and students in secondary
schools within the borough within 28 days of a positive coronavirus test. 

Yours faithfully, 

Carla James.”      

     

I have dealt with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(“the act”).   

 

Please accept our apologies for the delay with responding to your
request.  

 

The Department does not hold information related to the number of deaths
as a result of COVID-19. 

 

The Department holds the information for the numbers of pupils and staff
asked to self-isolate you have requested at local authority (LA) level,
but it is being withheld because an exemption under Section 22 of the Act
applies. Section 22 provides for information to be exempt from disclosure
where the information is held by the Department with a view to its
publication by the Department or any other person at some future date.  It
was so held at the time your request was made, and it is reasonable in all
the circumstances that the information should be withheld until that
date. 

 

The Department intends to publish regional and local authority level data
for schools on 15 December. Also, the Department intends to publish school
workforce attendance data from the new year. This data will be included as
part of the publication ‘Attendance in education and early years settings
during the coronavirus (COVID- 19) outbreak’. 

 

Section 22 of the Act is a qualified exemption which means that a public
interest test needs to be carried out, and in doing so the following
factors have been considered:  

  

• It is acknowledged that there is a general public interest in disclosure
because of the need for there to be open and transparent government and
that the sharing of information with the public should be free and
open.    

  

• However, the public interest in permitting the Government to publish
information in a manner and at a time of its own choosing is also
important. It is part of the effective conduct of public affairs that the
general publication of information is a conveniently planned and managed
activity within the reasonable control of the public authority.    

  

• The Government has already determined that it will publish such
information on the [1]www.gov.uk website in due course. The latest list of
forthcoming publications is available
at: [2]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

  

• It is not reasonable for the Government to be expected to release
piecemeal information in advance of its planned timetable and there is a
strong argument in favour of allowing everyone to view this information at
the same time.  

   

The arguments for and against release have been considered and it is our
view that the balance of public interest falls in favour of the
maintenance of this exemption in relation to the information relating to
this request.        

 

From 12 October the Education Settings Status form has been updated
to collect more comprehensive data on pupils being asked to self-isolate,
or with confirmed or suspected cases of COVID-19. The data for England has
been published as part of an official statistics series, and can be found
here: [3]https://explore-education-statistics.ser...

   

Please note that Public Health England (PHE) leads in holding data on
infection, incidence and COVID-19 cases overall. PHE already publishes
data on COVID-19 incidents by institution, including educational settings,
which can be found
here [4]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

       

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by copyright.
You are free to use it for your own purposes, including for private study
and non-commercial research, and for any other purpose authorised by an
exception in current copyright law. Documents (except photographs) can be
also used in the UK without requiring permission for the purposes of news
reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would
require the permission of the copyright holder.        

        

Most documents produced by a government department or agency will be
protected by Crown Copyright. Most Crown copyright information can be
re-used under the Open Government Licence
([5]http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...). For
information about the OGL and about re-using Crown Copyright information
please see The National Archives website
-http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/infor...
.        

        

Copyright in other documents may rest with a third party. For information
about obtaining permission from a third party see the Intellectual
Property Office’s website at [6]www.ipo.gov.uk.       

         

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.       

      

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you should
make a complaint to the Department by writing to me within two calendar
months of the date of this letter. Your complaint will be considered by an
independent review panel, which were not involved in the original
consideration of your request.         

        

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint to the
Department, you may then contact the Information Commissioner’s
Office       

        

Yours sincerely,       

 Marvin Rose
Senior Executive Officer
COVID Attendance Statistics
Data Insights and Statistics Division
Data Directorate, Operations Group
Department for Education
[7][email address] | [8]www.education.gov.uk
 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.gov.uk/
2. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
3. https://explore-education-statistics.ser...
4. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...
5. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...
6. http://www.ipo.gov.uk/
7. mailto:[email address]
8. http://www.education.gov.uk/

We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are Carla James please sign in and let everyone know.