Education Department Complaints 2018 and 2019

Adrian Hendy made this Freedom of Information request to Powys County Council This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Powys County Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Powys County Council,
I am writing to your to make a request under the Freedom Of Information for the number of complaints received about Powys Education Services regarding schools and safeguarding issues from parents in the Powys area during 2018 and 2019

Yours faithfully,

Adrian Hendy

Information Compliance, Powys County Council

 

Diane Reynolds Rheoli Gwybodaeth/

Head of Digital Services Information Compliance

Pennaeth Gwasanaethau Digidol Neuadd Y Sir / County Hall

Spa Road East

Llandrindod Wells

Powys LD1 5LG
  If calling please ask for / Os yn galw
gofynnwch am
 
Information Compliance
 
Tel / Ffôn:  01597 82 7543        
 
Email/Llythyru electronig:
  [1][email address]

  Our ref / Ein cyf:  2020-0028

Date / Dyddiad:   9/1/20

 

 

Request Accepted

 

FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000

Reference No: 2020-0028

 

Dear Mr Hendy

 

Thank you for your request for information, received at this office on 
8/1/20, in which you requested details of the following:

 

Complaints about Powys Education Services        

 

The above is a summary of your request. The full details of the
information sought is provided to the officer to whom the request is
tasked.

 

Your request will now be considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act, subject
to the information not being exempt or containing a reference to a third
party. In some circumstances Powys County Council may be unable to achieve
this deadline. If this is likely you will be informed and given a revised
time-scale at the earliest opportunity.

 

There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of
the information you request. If this is the case you will be informed and
the 20 working day timescale will be suspended until we receive payment
from you. If you choose not to make a payment then your request will
remain unanswered.

 

Some requests may also require either full or partial transference to
another public authority in order to answer your query in the fullest
possible way. Again, you will be informed if this is the case.

 

The due date for responding to this request for information is 5/2/20.

 

The Information Compliance team have noted that they have received 2
similar requests from you, therefore all of these requests will be
amalgamated which may result in all of the responses to the requests being
exempt under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information. This exemption
gives authorities the right to refuse requests for information where the
cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, as detailed
in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate limit) Regulations
2004.

 

The limit for public authorities is set at £450 which amounts to a maximum
of 18 hours of search and retrieval time charged at £25.00 per person per
hour.

 

Should you need to discuss this further please contact the Information
Compliance Team on 01597 827543.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in
Powys County Council.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Information Compliance Team

 

 

We keep your details safe and we have updated our privacy notice in line
with the requirements set out in General Data Protection Regulations.  We
will only ever use the details you share with us to enable us to undertake
our statutory obligations.  You can find out more by looking on our web
site. [2]https://en.powys.gov.uk/privacy

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://en.powys.gov.uk/privacy

Dear Information Compliance,

I am disappointed to find out that this FOI has not been responded to promptly by law. Communication from Powys County Council has been at best poor and mostly non existent. I am therefore asking for an internal review to procedures as Powys County Council appears to not take FOI requests seriously

Yours sincerely,

Adrian Hendy

Information Compliance, Powys County Council

Dear Mr Hendy,

As you have expressed dissatisfaction with the lateness our response we will be undertaking an internal review of that response. We endeavour to respond to an internal review within 20 working days but are not always able to do so.

Many Thanks
Carl Bryden
Information Compliance Officer.

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Information Compliance, Powys County Council

1 Attachment

 

Diane Reynolds Rheoli Gwybodaeth/

Head of Digital Services Information Compliance

Pennaeth Gwasanaethau Neuadd Y Sir / County Hall
Digidol
Spa Road East

Llandrindod Wells

Powys LD1 5LG
  If calling please ask for / Os yn galw gofynnwch
am
 
 
 
Tel / Ffôn: 01597 82 7543         

Email/Llythyru electronig:
[1][email address]

Our ref / Ein cyf: 2020-0028F

Date / Dyddiad:06/02/2020

 

Reference No: 2020-0028F

 

 

Dear Mr Hendy

 

Thank you for your request for information dated 08/01/2020 concerning
Complaints About Powys Education Services

 

This is to inform you that your request has been considered and I can
provide the following response:

 

Request:

 

I am writing to your to make a request under the Freedom Of Information
for the number of complaints received about Powys Education Services
regarding schools and safeguarding issues from parents in the Powys area
during 2018 and 2019

 

Response

 

Individual school governing bodies are responsible for dealing with
parental complaints or safeguarding allegations and they will hold the
information you have requested, therefore this information is not held
centrally, and as such Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act is
engaged.

 

Under Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act a public authority is
required to inform you

1 (a) whether the information requested is held by the public authority,
and

(b) to have that information communicated if that is the case.

In this case the information requested is not held.

 

However, to be of assistance, you may wish to contact the individual
schools directly. Contact details for Powys County Council Schools is
available at the following URL (Select either primary or secondary from
the drop down menu and click search for the listing):

 

[2]https://en.powys.gov.uk/article/3873/Fin...

 

We regret the delay you have experienced with this request. We acknowledge
that Powys County Council has failed in its obligation under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000, to provide you with a response to your request
within the statutory timescale of 20 working days. Please accept our
apologies for this and for any inconvenience this may have caused.

 

We believe that this request is now complete and shall be closed
immediately. Should any further information be requested regarding this
topic, a separate request will need to be submitted.

 

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in
Powys County Council.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Information Compliance Team

 

 

The supply of documents under Freedom of Information does not give the
person or organisation who receives them an automatic right to re-use the
documents in a way that would infringe copyright.

 

You are free to use any information supplied for your own use, including
for non-commercial research purposes. The information may also be used for
the purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for
example, by publishing the information or issuing copies to the public
will require the permission of the copyright owner.

 

The copyright of most of the information that we provide in response to
Freedom of Information Act requests will be owned by Powys County Council.
The copyright in other information may be owned by another person or
organisation, as indicated in the information itself.

 

For HMSO Guidance Notes on a range of copyright issues, see the Office of
Public Sector Information(OPSI) website.

[3]http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copy...

 

If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received in relation to
your request and wish to make a complaint, please contact Information
Compliance. Our complaints procedure is available on request or on our
website.

 

If you are still not satisfied following this, you can make an appeal to
the Information Commissioner, who is the statutory regulator. The
Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

 

Information Commissioner's Office

2nd floor

Churchill House

Churchill way

Cardiff

CF10 2HH

Tel: 0330 414 6421

Email: [4][email address]

[5]www.ico.org.uk

 

 

[6]Footer_banner[1]

 

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://en.powys.gov.uk/article/3873/Fin...
3. http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/crown-copy...
4. mailto:[email address]
5. http://www.ico.org.uk/

Information Compliance, Powys County Council

Dear Mr Hendy,

Powys County Council apologises for the delay in your response. I note that a response has now been completed and sent to you on the 06/02/2020 against the due date of 05/02/2020 and that the delay was apologised for in that response.

We note your comments that Powys County Council appears not to take Freedom of Information requests seriously and would reassure you that all requests are considered, and the relevant legislation is adhered to. There are of course instances, where there is a delay in the information being received or where information has to be checked, this will have a knock-on effect on the response times. When this occurs, an apology is issued to the requestor as has happened in this instance.

If you are still not satisfied following this review, you can make an appeal to the Information Commissioner, who is the statutory regulator. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office
2nd floor
Churchill House
Churchill way
Cardiff
CF10 2HH
Tel: 0330 414 6421
Email: [email address]
www.ico.org.uk

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