Single Departmental Plan

The request was refused by Department for Education.

Dear FOI team,

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

During the May 24 session of the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Select Committee, government lead non-executive Sir Ian Cheshire confirmed that the public versions of the Single Departmental Plans published online by each department represent top-level summaries of management information held internally. (Link: http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidenc...)

I am therefore writing to request a copy of every version of the Single Departmental Plan currently used by the Department for Education, either externally or internally.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you need any clarification with this request.

Yours faithfully,

Matt Foster

Department for Education

Dear Mr Foster

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 2016-0030940.

Thank you

Department for Education
Ministerial and Public Communications Division
Tel: 0370 000 2288

show quoted sections

Department for Education

Dear Mr Foster,

Thank you for your request for information which was received on the 20th June 2016. I am dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information act (the “Act”).

We have, unfortunately, missed the deadline for responding to you within 20 working days. I am currently considering your request, however, and I wanted to let you know that I will endeavour to send you a response a soon as possible.

Your sincerely,

Conor O’Connor

Department for Education

Dear Matt Foster,

Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 20th June 2016. I apologise for the delay in responding.

You requested “a copy of every version of the Single Departmental Plan currently used by the Department for Education, either externally or internally”. I have dealt with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”).

The Department holds the information you have requested; I am, however, withholding it as set out below.

Under section 21 of the Act, the Department is not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you. The Department for Education published a summary Single Departmental Plan (“SDP”), so that the public can track the Department’s progress against key outcomes, on the 19 February 2016 and you can access the plan on GOV.UK at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio....

The remainder of the information is being withheld under section 36(2)(c).

Under Section 36(2)(c), the Department is not required to provide information, if in the reasonable opinion of a qualified person (a Minister in the case of Government Departments) disclosure of the information under the Act would otherwise prejudice, or would be likely otherwise to prejudice, the effective conduct of public affairs.

In relation to your request, a Minister has decided that, in their reasonable opinion, disclosure of this information is likely to have this prejudicial effect and therefore the exemption in Section 36 applies.
Section 36 is a qualified exemption and therefore a public interest test has been carried out. In doing so the following factors have been taken into consideration:

There is a public interest in the release of this information because of the importance of openness, and the need for government to demonstrate that it has operated in a fair and transparent way.

We consider that on this occasion, however, the arguments for upholding the exemption and withholding the information outweigh those in favour of disclosure as releasing specific performance indicators is likely to create a burdensome level of scrutiny for the department outside of established mechanisms. This additional scrutiny is likely to impede the ability of the department to deliver its policy and commercial objectives as we may be regularly asked for updates by different parties on very specific, or minor, areas taking resources away from our key commitments.

The Department considers the information falls under section 36(2)(c) if the Act insofar as disclosure would prejudice, or would be likely otherwise to prejudice, the effective conduct of public affairs. The publication of details regarding specific deliverables will mean the Department is less able to adapt to challenging circumstances without undue scrutiny. This led us to the conclusion that the public interest requires the exemption in section 36 to be upheld.
Taking into account all the circumstances of this case, I have concluded that the balance of the public interest favours withholding this information.

Please contact the Department if you have any queries about this response, ensuring you 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.

David Brown

Web: https://www.education.gov.uk<https://www.education.gov.uk/>
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/educationgovuk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk

[https://www.education.gov.uk/images2/iri...