Schools that work for everyone

The request was partially successful.

Dear Department for Education,

Please kindly provide the Government response to consultation "Schools that work for everyone". It was promised in Spring 2017. It's now Autumn 2017 and we cannot see the response.

https://consult.education.gov.uk/school-... Backup: https://d.pr/tS2k4H

Yours faithfully,

Lee Jefferson
Journalist

ACCOUNT, Unmonitored, Department for Education

Thank you for contacting the Department for Education. We can confirm that
we have received the Freedom of Information request you submitted.

We will respond to you within 20 working days.

 

ACCOUNT, Unmonitored, Department for Education

 

 

Dear Mr Jefferson

 

Thank you for your recent enquiry. 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 2017-0046908.

 

Thank you

 

Department for Education

Ministerial and Public Communications Division

Tel: 0370 000 2288

 

ACCOUNT, Unmonitored, Department for Education

Dear Mr Jefferson,

 

Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 25
September 2017. You requested the Government response to consultation
"Schools that work for everyone". 

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

The department holds a draft response to the Schools that work for
everyone consultation. A final version of the consultation response is not
held.

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

The Act obliges the Department to respond to requests promptly, and in any
case no later than 20 working days after receiving your request. However,
when a qualified exemption applies to the information and the public
interest test is engaged, the Act allows the time for response to be
longer than 20 working days, and a full response must be provided within
such time as is reasonable in all circumstances of the case. We do, of
course, aim to make all decisions within 20 working days, including cases
where we need to consider the public interest. In this case, however, we
have not yet reached a decision on where the balance of the public
interest lies.

The specific exemption that applies in relation to your request is section
35(1)(a) as the information relates to the formulation and development of
government policy. In your case, we estimate that it will take an
additional 10 days to take a decision on where the balance of the public
interest lies. Therefore, we plan to let you have a response by 6 November
2017. If it appears that it will take longer than this to reach a
conclusion, we will keep you informed.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision,
you should write to me quoting our reference number.

If you are not content with the outcome your complaint or review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally,
the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted our
complaints/review procedure.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Victoria Dare 

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 Mr Jefferson,

Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 25
September 2017. You requested the Government response to consultation
"Schools that work for everyone".  

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

The department holds a draft response to the Schools that work for
everyone consultation. A final version of the consultation response is not
held. The draft response to the Schools that work for everyone
consultation is being withheld under the exemption in Section 35(1)(a) of
the Act, covering information relating to the formulation and development
of Government policy. In applying section 35(1)(a), the Act requires that
the department balances the public interest in withholding the information
against the public interest in disclosing the information.

I wrote to you on 23 October explaining that the Department needed longer
to consider the balance of public interest in this case, and expected to
respond to you by 6 November. The Department has now concluded its
considerations.

I have set out below the particular factors which the department
considered when deciding where the public interest lay:

·        There is a general public interest in disclosure. Knowledge of
the way Government works increases if the information on which key
decisions have been made is available, and the public can see how
Government policy has evolved. This can lead to public contribution to the
policy making process becoming more effective.

·        Conversely, it is in the public interest that the formulation of
Government policy and Government decision making can proceed in the
self-contained space needed to ensure that it is done well. Good
Government depends on good decision making which needs to be based on the
best advice available and a full consideration of the options. Without
protecting the thinking space and the ability for Ministers and senior
officials to receive free and frank advice, there is likely to be a
corrosive effect on the conduct of good Government, with a risk that
decision making will become poorer and will be recorded inadequately.

·        The document held by the department is a draft document. The
Government is still considering how best to progress the policy proposals
set out in Schools that work for everyone in light of the responses to the
consultation, and so this document is not a reflection of final Government
policy. Releasing a draft document in to the public domain, while the
policy development process is still underway is not in the public
interest, as it may be misleading or lead to unnecessary confusion about
what the Government plans to do.

It is the Department's view that the public interest in non-disclosure
outweighs the public interest in disclosure in this case. Disclosure of
the withheld information would be likely to have a potentially corrosive
effect on good Government. This is not in the public interest. The
Department has concluded that, in this instance that public interest
consideration was greater than the general public interest considerations
for disclosure described above.

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, who 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,

Victoria Dare

Dear ACCOUNT, Unmonitored,

Thank you for the message. We would be interested in a copy of the draft response with any information relating to formulation of Government policy redacted.

As you will appreciate the Government did promise to release a completed document thus the method we suggest would help maintain Government integrity. To not release anything would demonstrate a Government unable to keep its promises.

Yours sincerely,

Lee Jefferson
Journalist.

ACCOUNT, Unmonitored, Department for Education

Thank you for contacting the Department for Education. We can confirm that
we have received the Freedom of Information request you submitted.

We will respond to you within 20 working days.

 

ACCOUNT, Unmonitored, Department for Education

Dear Mr Jefferson,

Thank you for your request for information dated 27 October 2017. You
requested the Government response to the "Schools that work for everyone"
consultation with details related to the formulation of Government policy
redacted. 

I have dealt with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The Department responded to your previous request to state that the draft
response was being withheld under Section 35(1)(a) of the Act, covering
information relating to the formulation and development of Government
policy.

The Department has considered your new request and judged that the whole
of the draft response is covered by Section 35(1)(a), as the whole draft
concerns the development of the policy proposals outlined in the
consultation document, and no part of the document is a reflection of
final Government policy. Accordingly, and as stated in the Department’s
response to your previous request, disclosure would not be in the public
interest as it may be misleading or lead to unnecessary confusion about
what the Government plans to do.  

However, the Department does plan to publish the consultation response in
due course.

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, who review panel, who 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

Ian Floyd

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

Dear ACCOUNT, Unmonitored,

Thank you for your assistance. We look forward to seeing a released version in future as you advised.

Yours sincerely,

Lee Jefferson
Journalist

ACCOUNT, Unmonitored, Department for Education

Thank you for contacting the Department for Education. We can confirm that
we have received the Freedom of Information request you submitted.

We will respond to you within 20 working days.

 

Lee Jefferson left an annotation ()

It was finally released in May 2018 - here is a copy of it https://d.pr/f/yLYQt0