Fixed Penalty Notices for unauthorised school absences

The request was successful.

Dear Hackney Borough Council,

I would like to request the following data under the Freedom of Information Act 2000:

1. How many Fixed Penalty Notices has your council handed out between September 2018 – July 2019 to parents for the following unauthorised school absences:
a. Persistent lateness (arriving after the register has been taken)
b. Unauthorised leave in term time (e.g. being taken out of school for holiday)
c. Delayed return from authorised leave
d. General unauthorised absence/truancy (including parentally condoned absence)
2. How many FPNs have not been paid within the 21 day allocated time frame?
3. How many FPNs have not been paid within the 28 day allocated time frame, and subsequently gone to court?
4. How much revenue has been collected from FPNs between September 2018 - July 2019?
5. Could you please provide a comparison for questions 1-4 for the previous school year (2017-2018)?

Yours faithfully,

Naomi Aharony

hackney@infreemation.co.uk,

Dear Naomi

We acknowledge receipt of your email to Hackney:

Freedom of Information request - Fixed Penalty Notices for unauthorised
school absences

If you have submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) or the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), we will aim to
respond within the statutory timescale of 20 working days. If you have
submitted a Subject Access Request your request will be considered and you
will receive our response within the statutory timescale of one calendar
month.

The reference number for your email is FOI-4385.

Should you have any further inquiries concerning this matter, please reply
to this email leaving the subject line unchanged.

Yours sincerely,
Hackney Council

Dear Hackney Borough Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Hackney Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Fixed Penalty Notices for unauthorised school absences'.

The request is way overdue (original deadline was 19th November 2019), and so I was wondering when this would be available?

Yours faithfully,

Naomi

hackney@infreemation.co.uk,

Dear Naomi

We acknowledge receipt of your email to Hackney:

Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Fixed Penalty Notices
for unauthorised school absences

If you have submitted a request under the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) or the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR), we will aim to
respond within the statutory timescale of 20 working days. If you have
submitted a Subject Access Request your request will be considered and you
will receive our response within the statutory timescale of one calendar
month.

The reference number for your email is FOI-5146.

Should you have any further inquiries concerning this matter, please reply
to this email leaving the subject line unchanged.

Yours sincerely,
Hackney Council

hackney@infreemation.co.uk,

Dear Naomi, 

Re: Freedom of Information Request

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, received 22 October 2019. Firstly, please accept out
apologies for the delay in providing this information.

I understand you have requested an internal review due to this delay.
While the Council will of course comply with this request if still
required, we thought it would be prudent to provide the information you
requested in the meantime.

Please confirm if, having received the response below, you would still
like the Council to undertake an internal review.

Your request has now been considered and our response is in bold below.

You requested the following:

I would like to request the following data under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000:

1. How many Fixed Penalty Notices has your council handed out between
September 2018 - July 2019 to parents for the following unauthorised
school absences:
a. Persistent lateness (arriving after the register has been taken)
b. Unauthorised leave in term time (e.g. being taken out of school for
holiday)
c. Delayed return from authorised leave
d. General unauthorised absence/truancy (including parentally condoned
absence)
2. How many FPNs have not been paid within the 21 day allocated time
frame?
3. How many FPNs have not been paid within the 28 day allocated time
frame, and subsequently gone to court?
4. How much revenue has been collected from FPNs between September 2018 -
July 2019?
5. Could you please provide a comparison for questions 1-4 for the
previous school year (2017-2018)?

The Council’s Response

 

1. How many Fixed Penalty Notices has your council handed out between
September 2018 - July 2019 to parents for the following unauthorised
school absences: 

a. Persistent lateness (arriving after the register has been taken)

Answer = 0 No absences were recorded with the ‘U’ code.
b. Unauthorised leave in term time (e.g. being taken out of school for
holiday)

Answer = 698
c. Delayed return from authorised leave

Answer = 0 No fines were recorded for delayed return from authorised
leave.

d. General unauthorised absence/truancy (including parentally condoned
absence)

Answer = 456

2. How many FPNs have not been paid within the 21 day allocated time
frame?  

Answer = 495
3. How many FPNs have not been paid within the 28 day allocated time
frame, and subsequently gone to court?

Answer = 471 unpaid fines. None of which were taken to court for
non-payment.
4. How much revenue has been collected from FPNs between September 2018 -
July 2019?

Answer = £38,460 for the academic year.

 

Appeals & Complaints Procedure

If you are dissatisfied with this response and wish to appeal, please
write to the Information Management Team and this will be dealt with
through our Internal Review procedure.

Information Management Team - Governance

London Borough of Hackney

Hackney Service Centre

1 Hillman Street

London E8 1DY

[Hackney Borough Council request email] 

 

Your request for an internal review should be submitted to us within 40
working days of receipt by you of this response. Any such request received
after this time will only be considered at the discretion of the Council.

If you are still not satisfied following the Internal Review, you have a
right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at the contact details
provided below.

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF 

Telephone: 01625 545 700

[1]www.ico.org.uk

 

Yours sincerely

 

Information Management Team

ICT Services

London Borough of Hackney 

References

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1. http://www.ico.cgov.uk/