ELC Discretionary Deferral Funding Data for Session 2019-2020

The request was successful.

Patricia Anderson

Dear East Lothian Council,

Please accept this email as a Freedom of Information request. I have been advised by a third party that the information previously in a previous FoI request is no longer up-to-date: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/j.... I would therefore be grateful if the Council could provide an updated response to the questions below (please note the addition of question 2c and 3c):

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 for children whose fifth birthdays fall between 15th August 2019 (the day after the school start date in ELC in August 2019) and 31st Dec 2019.

2) A breakdown of the total number in 1. above by requests for
a) continued funding in private/voluntary/independent settings.
b) continued funding in council run settings.
c) continued funding split between a council setting and private/voluntary or independent 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/independent settings.
b) council run settings.
c) split placements between a council setting and private/voluntary or independent 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 1 Nov 2018 and 1 Nov 2019?

Yours faithfully,

Patricia Anderson

Freedom Of Information, East Lothian Council

Thank you for your email.

 

This automated message is East Lothian Council’s acknowledgement that your
information request has been received and is receiving attention.  The
statutory timescales for responses are as follows:

 

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 20 working days
Environmental Information Regulations 2004 20 working days
Internal Reviews 20 working days

 

We will contact you again in due course.

 

Freedom of Information Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [1][East Lothian Council request email]

 

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[2]here.

 

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [3]here.

 

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s [4]website.

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[East Lothian Council request email]
2. https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/2105...
3. Link to ELC website
http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/704/d...
4. Link to SIC website
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/

Freedom Of Information, East Lothian Council

1 Attachment

Our Ref:  2019/670505

 

Dear Ms Anderson

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2004

 

In response to your enquiry of 4 November, on behalf of East Lothian
Council I am now able to provide the information you require; please refer
to the PDF attachment.

 

Under the terms of this legislation, if you are unhappy with the way your
request has been handled, you are entitled to request that we undertake an
internal review.  Please note, however, that both the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information
(Scotland) Regulations 2004 only relate to the release of information. 
The Scottish Information Commissioner publishes the following guidance
about internal reviews:

 

You can ask the authority to review its decision if it does not respond or
you are unhappy with the way it has dealt with your request, for example
by:

 

·                     refusing to give you the information

·                     failing to reply to you within the time limit
allowed

·                     claiming the information is exempt

·                     failing to give you advice about, and help with,
making your request

·                     asking you to pay a fee that you feel is
unreasonable

 

For example, if you are unhappy because you do not believe the information
you have received is accurate, an internal review would not apply.  Should
this be the case, however, please let me know and I will try to resolve
this.  If I am unable to help, I will be happy to put you in touch with
someone who can.

 

We must receive a request to review within 40 working days of the date of
this notice.  A request to review our decision must be in writing (e-mail
is acceptable) or another permanent format.  When writing, you should
include your reasons as to why you are unhappy with our response and why
you wish it to be reviewed.  Your reasons for dissatisfaction must relate
to your information request of 4 November only and should be addressed to:

 

Information Governance Compliance Officer

Licensing, Administration and Democratic Services

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Email: [1][East Lothian Council request email]

 

We will have a maximum of 20 working days from the date we receive your
request in order to complete our review and give you our decision.  In
order to ensure an impartial approach, an independent senior officer will
be appointed to carry out the review.

 

If you are still not satisfied with our decision following the review
process, then you may ask the Office of the Scottish Information
Commissioner (OSIC) to investigate the matter.  You must appeal to
the Commissioner within six months of receiving the review decision.  You
may submit your appeal online via OSIC’s website, a link to the online
appeal service is provided for your convenience:
 [2]http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...

 

Alternatively, you may contact OSIC at:

 

Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St Andrews

Fife

KY16 9DS

 

Telephone:  01334 464610

Fax:  01334 464611

E-mail:  [3][email address]

 

If you remain dissatisfied following the Commissioner’s decision, you may
be able to appeal to the Court of Session.   You should, however, obtain
legal advice before deciding on this course of action.  This is because an
appeal may only be made on a point of law, not because you disagree with
the Commissioner’s view of the case. 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Shelley Neville

Freedom of Information Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [4][East Lothian Council request email]

 

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[5]here.

 

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [6]here.

 

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s [7]website.

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom of Information dept,

Thank you for your response today to my FOI Ref: 2019/670505 but please could you conduct an internal review. I would be very grateful if you could clarify why the answers given to questions 5a, 5b and 6 differ from the answers given to the exact same questions I asked in FOI Ref: 2019/636222 which you responded to on 8/8/19.

ELC's 8/8/19 response
5a. seven
5b. three
6. three

Today's response (13/11/19)
5a. six
5b. two
6. two

I am unclear how the number of appeals/challenges (Q5a), decisions overturned as a result of appeals/challenges (Q5b) and official complaints (Q6) can go down despite the number of applications (Q1) having gone up between 8/8/19 and today 13/11/19. I would therefore be very grateful if this data could be double-checked.

Yours faithfully,

Patricia Anderson

Freedom Of Information, East Lothian Council

Thank you for your email.

 

This automated message is East Lothian Council’s acknowledgement that your
information request has been received and is receiving attention.  The
statutory timescales for responses are as follows:

 

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 20 working days
Environmental Information Regulations 2004 20 working days
Internal Reviews 20 working days

 

We will contact you again in due course.

 

Freedom of Information Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [1][East Lothian Council request email]

 

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[2]here.

 

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [3]here.

 

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s [4]website.

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[East Lothian Council request email]
2. https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/2105...
3. Link to ELC website
http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/704/d...
4. Link to SIC website
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/

Patricia Anderson

Dear East Lothian Council,

I have not received a response to my request for an internal review which I believe should have been completed by yesterday at the latest (3/12/19). I would be very grateful if you could prioritise this before the weekend.

A full history of my request can be seen here: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/e...

Yours faithfully,

Patricia Anderson

Freedom Of Information, East Lothian Council

Thank you for your email.

 

This automated message is East Lothian Council’s acknowledgement that your
information request has been received and is receiving attention.  The
statutory timescales for responses are as follows:

 

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 20 working days
Environmental Information Regulations 2004 20 working days
Internal Reviews 20 working days

 

We will contact you again in due course.

 

Freedom of Information Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [1][East Lothian Council request email]

 

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[2]here.

 

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [3]here.

 

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s [4]website.

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[East Lothian Council request email]
2. https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/2105...
3. Link to ELC website
http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/704/d...
4. Link to SIC website
http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/

Freedom Of Information, East Lothian Council

Our Ref:  2019/670505

 

Dear Ms Anderson

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2004

 

Thank you for your email.

 

I note your comments, however, Public Authorities have a maximum of 20
working days from the date a review request is received in order to
complete an internal review.  Guidance on the Scottish Information
Commissioner’s website explains that: [1]“"Working" days means Monday to
Friday - weekends do not count, and nor do bank holidays.”  In this
instance, East Lothian Council received your internal review request after
business hours on 13 November.  As 2 December 2019 was a bank holiday in
lieu of St Andrew’s day, the deadline for the internal review decision is
13 December.

 

Please be assured, that an independent senior officer has been appointed
to carry out the internal review and you may expect to receive their
decision as soon as possible and no later than 13 December.  I will also
make the reviewing officer aware that you have been in touch about this
matter.

 

We will contact you again in due course but if you require any assistance
in the meantime please do not hesitate to contact us.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Shelley Neville

Freedom of Information Team

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

 

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [2][East Lothian Council request email]

 

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[3]here.

 

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [4]here.

 

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s [5]website.

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Parker, Richard, East Lothian Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Anderson

 

Please find attached the response to your request for a review of your FOI
enquiry.

 

Regards

 

Richard Parker

Education Service Manager (Strategy & Operations)

Department of Resources & People Services

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

Tel: 01620 827494

Email: [email address]

 

show quoted sections