Elective Home Education team and numbers of children known and deregistered

The request was partially successful.

Dear Kirklees Borough Council,

I am submitting this freedom of information request to find out the following information regarding elective home education. When I refer to 'children', I mean they are either de-registered from a school or have never been registered with a school. Please provide copies of all available documents, research and paperwork.

A) I would like to know which department within the local authority deals with elective home education?
1) I would like to know who is currently employed in this team, and who the team leader is.
2) I would like to know who they report to.
3) What form of contact they use with families the first time they contact them.
i) Please supply copies of policies and procedures used for elective home education, for staff use or supplied to Home educators.

B) Has the LA made the team dealing with elective home education aware that there is no requirement to investigate a case or for the LA to seek to satisfy itself that a suitable education is being provided when they know the reason why a child has ceased to attend school? The specified reason being, parents have given legal notification to a school that they are educating otherwise than at school.

C) I would like to know how many children are currently known as being electively home educated in the local authority.

D) How many pupils have been de-registered from school to be electively home educated?
Please provide numbers for: July 2015, July 2016 and July 2017. Please categorise these into:
- Children with no known SEN
- Children with SEN
- Children de-registered from special schools
- Children with care plans
- Children under services such as; CAHMS

Yours faithfully,

Katherine Norman

Freedom Info, Kirklees Borough Council

Dear Ms Norman

16729 - Norman - Elective Home Education team and numbers of children known and deregistered

I confirm receipt of your information request and that I am looking into this.

I will respond to you in due course.

Regards

Information Governance Team
The Democracy Service
Telephone: 01484 221000 (voice activated switchboard – please ask for Freedom of Information)

This email and any attachments are confidential. If you have received it in error - notify the sender immediately, delete it from your system, and do not use, copy or disclose the information in any way. Kirklees Council monitors all emails sent or received.

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Freedom Info, Kirklees Borough Council

2 Attachments

Dear Ms Norman

 

16729 - Elective Home Education team and numbers of children known and
deregistered

 

I am writing in response to your request dated 8 February 2018.  This has
been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

You asked for the following information regarding elective home
education., saying “When I refer to 'children', I mean they are either
de-registered from a school or have never been registered with a school.
Please provide copies of all available documents, research and paperwork.”

 

The Council’s response to your specific questions is set out below:

 

A)     I would like to know which department within the local authority
deals with elective home education?

 

Attendance and Pupil Support Service

 

1)      I would like to know who is currently employed in this team, and
who the team leader is.

 

1 Service Manager, 4 Senior Practitioners, 17.3 Practitioners

 

2)      I would like to know who they report to.

 

Head of Service – Education Inclusion and Safeguarding

 

3)      What form of contact they use with families the first time they
contact them.

 

Letter or telephone

 

i)        Please supply copies of policies and procedures used for
elective home education, for staff use or supplied to Home educators.

 

The Council does hold the requested information but considers this is
exempt under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act, because the
information is reasonably accessible to you by other means, because it is
already in the public domain.

 

Section 21 of the Act provides that:

 

(1) Information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant otherwise
than under section 1 is exempt information.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)—

(a) information may be reasonably accessible to the applicant even though
it is accessible only on payment, and

(b) information is to be taken to be reasonably accessible to the
applicant if it is information which the public authority or any other
person is obliged by or under any enactment to communicate (otherwise than
by making the information available for inspection) to members of the
public on request, whether free of charge or on payment.

(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), information which is held by a
public authority and does not fall within subsection (2)(b) is not to be
regarded as reasonably accessible to the applicant merely because the
information is available from the public authority itself on request,
unless the information is made available in accordance with the
authority’s publication scheme and any payment required is specified in,
or determined in accordance with, the scheme.

 

The Council publishes this information on its website at:
[1]http://www.kirklees.gov.uk/beta/schools/...
Please note that the policies and procedures are currently under review.

 

B)      Has the LA made the team dealing with elective home education
aware that there is no requirement to investigate a case or for the LA to
seek to satisfy itself that a suitable education is being provided when
they know the reason why a child has ceased to attend school? The
specified reason being, parents have given legal notification to a school
that they are educating otherwise than at school.

 

Yes

 

C)      I would like to know how many children are currently known as
being electively home educated in the local authority.

 

325

 

D)     How many pupils have been de-registered from school to be
electively home educated?

Please provide numbers for: July 2015, July 2016 and July 2017. Please
categorise these into:

- Children with no known SEN

- Children with SEN

- Children de-registered from special schools

- Children with care plans

- Children under services such as; CAHMS

 

Please see the attached document “16729 Answer D” and the associated
refusal notice which sets out the reasons for refusal and process of
appeal against this decision.

 

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Information Governance Team

The Democracy Service

Telephone: 01484 221000 (voice activated switchboard – please ask for
Freedom of Information)

 

This email and any attachments are confidential. If you have received it
in error - notify the sender immediately, delete it from your system, and
do not use, copy or disclose the information in any way. Kirklees Council
monitors all emails sent or received.

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