16+ Looked after Children Placement Costs and Data Information

Ms Wilson made this Freedom of Information request to Croydon Borough Council as part of a batch sent to 147 authorities Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.

The request was successful.

Dear Croydon Borough Council,

I am writing to request information about the numbers and cost of placements for 16 and 17 year old looked after children in your local authority.

Can you please answer the following questions:

1) How many 16 and 17 year old looked after children is your local authority responsible for currently?

2) How many 16 and 17 year old looked after children in your local authority are currently placed out of area?

3) How many 16 and 17 year old looked after children were accommodated in spot purchased placements (off framework/contracted arrangements) in the 22/23 financial year?

4) What was the cost of placements/supported accommodation for 16 and 17 year olds per week for the 22/23 financial year?
a) lowest cost
b) highest cost
c) average cost

5) Are there sufficient placements in your local authority area for 16 and 17 year old looked after children who have a high level of complex needs?

Yours faithfully,

Ms Wilson

croydon@infreemation.co.uk, Croydon Borough Council

Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]

 

NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email. If
you have a processing request, please ensure you quote that reference in
your emails to us.

DEAR . Wilson

 

Freedom of information request - FOI/7488

 

Subject: 16+ Looked after Children Placement Costs and Data Information

Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days, subject to the application of
any exemptions. Where consideration is being given to exemptions the 20
working day timescale may be extended to a period considered reasonable
depending on the nature and circumstances of your request. In such cases
you will be notified and, where possible, a revised time-scale will be
indicated. In all cases we shall attempt to deal with your request at the
earliest opportunity.

If we are unable to provide you with the information requested we will
notify you of this together with the reason(s) why, and details of how you
may appeal.

Please note that the directorate team may contact you for further
information where we believe that the request is not significantly clear
for us to respond fully. 

Kind Regard

Information Management Team

 

Croydon Digital Services

Assistant Chief Executive Directorate

 

7th Floor, Zone B

Bernard Weatherill House

8 Mint Walk

Croydon CR0 1EA

Dear [email address],

Would it be possible to have an update as to when this information will be provided?

Yours sincerely,

Ms Wilson

croydon@infreemation.co.uk, Croydon Borough Council

Good afternoon,

We apologise for the time this is taking to process.

Your request is still receiving attention and we are urgently chasing the
answering department for a response.

Once we have this we will immediately send out to you.

Apologies for any inconvenience.

Kind regards,

Information Team

Croydon Council

 

Dear [email address],

Would it be possible to have an update as to when this information will
be provided?

Yours sincerely,

Ms Wilson

show quoted sections

Dear Croydon Borough Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Croydon Borough Council's handling of my FOI request '16+ Looked after Children Placement Costs and Data Information'.

This is now long over due and there has been no communication since July when I followed up to see when this information would be made available.

Yours faithfully,

Ms Wilson

croydon@infreemation.co.uk, Croydon Borough Council

Information Team Croydon
Digital Services
Assistant Chief Executive Directorate
Bernard Wetherill House
7th Floor, Zone B
Croydon
CR0 1EA

Contact: Information Team
[Croydon Borough Council request email]

 

Dear Ms . Wilson

Request FOI/7488

Freedom of Information Request

Your request has been considered under the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act. Please accept our apologies for the lengthy delay in
responding to you. Specifically, you have requested the following
information:

I am writing to request information about the numbers and cost of
placements for 16 and 17 year old looked after children in your local
authority.

Can you please answer the following questions:

1) How many 16 and 17 year old looked after children is your local
authority responsible for currently?

172

2) How many 16 and 17 year old looked after children in your local
authority are currently placed out of area?

82

3) How many 16 and 17 year old looked after children were accommodated in
spot purchased placements (off framework/contracted arrangements) in the
22/23 financial year?

The Council can confirm it does hold this information, however, the
Council considers that individuals could potentially be identified from
the very low numbers (less than 5) and that such identification would
constitute a breach of one of the principles set out in the Data
Protection Act 1998 and is therefore exempt under section 40(2) of the
Act.

It is important to remember that when information is released under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000, it is considered released to the wider
public.  Any such disclosure of personal information would not be
compliant with the provisions of the General Data Protection Regulations
2018.

4) What was the cost of placements/supported accommodation for 16 and 17
year olds per week for the 22/23 financial year?

a) lowest cost
b) highest cost
c) average cost

This information is not separately captured in a way that it can easily be
retrieved by way of a reasonable search in the relevant electronic
databases.  In order to provide this information the Council would need to
undertake a specific piece of work which would exceed the appropriate
limit.  The Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit)
Regulations 2004 specifies an “appropriate limit” for the amount of time
the council needs to spend undertaking that search.  If the council
estimates that the time taken to locate, retrieve and extract the
information requested will exceed the appropriate limit, then under
Section 12 of the Act, it is not obliged to comply with that request.

The appropriate limit currently specified by the Regulations for local
authorities is £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person
spending two and a half working days in locating, retrieving and
extracting the information from where it is stored.  We estimate that the
cumulative time it would take officers to retrieve the complete records
you are seeking would exceed the appropriate limit. Therefore, we are
unable to disclose the information you are seeking.

5) Are there sufficient placements in your local authority area for 16 and
17 year old looked after children who  have a high level of complex needs?

There is currently a national placements shortage. We are currently
reviewing our sufficiency strategy.  

The Council publishes Access to Information requests and responses on its
online Disclosure Log. (Any request included within this log will be
anonymised appropriately)

To view the Council’s Disclosure Log, please visit our website available
here:

[1]The Freedom of Information (FOI) Act | Croydon Council
(disclosure-log.co.uk)

If you are dissatisfied with the way the Council has handled your request
under the Freedom of Information Act you may ask for an internal review. 
This should be submitted to us within 40 working days of this response. 
You can do this by outlining the details of your complaint by:

Email:        [Croydon Borough Council request email]

Writing:     Information Team

London Borough of Croydon
Bernard Weatherill House
3^rd Floor - Zone E
8 Mint Walk
Croydon CR0 1EA

Any requests received after the 40 working day time limit will be
considered only at the discretion of the council.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

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

Yours sincerely 

Croydon Council

 

 

References

Visible links
1. https://croydon.disclosure-log.co.uk/