Dear South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust (Northern Ireland),

I am writing to make a request for the following information which I am entitled to under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

This request relates to the complaints and allegations concerning foster carers under the operation of the Regional Policy and Procedure for Managing Allegations and Complaints made in respect of Foster Carers in Northern Ireland (April 2015)

The Regional Policy and Procedure for Managing Allegations and Complaints (April 2015) states “A record of all allegations and complaints must be kept by the Trust and reported annually via the Delegated Statutory Functions (DSF) reporting mechanism.”

Also, the UK Minimum Standards for Foster Care (1999) state “Management Systems are in place to collate and evaluate information on the circumstances, number, and outcome of all allegations of neglect or abuse of a child in foster care.”

In addition, Department of Health Circular (OSS) 4/2015: Statutory functions/professional oversight states “ensuring the appropriate collection, maintenance and analysis of data to monitor service provision, including the discharge of DSF, and sharing such information with the HSCB;”

Please provide a copy of the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust's annual report concerning foster carers of all allegations and complaints under the Regional Policy and Procedure for Managing Allegations and Complaints (April 2015) for each of the last five years (2020-21, 2019-20, 2018-19, 2017-18, 2016-17)

I would like the above information to be provided to me as an electronic copy.

If the request is too broad or unclear, I would be grateful if you could contact me as I understand under the Act you are required to advise and assist requesters. If any of the information is already in the public domain, please send it to me directly with page references or URLs when necessary.

If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance under the section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine the request.

I understand that you are required to respond to my request within 20 working days after receiving this request. I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing you have received this request.

Yours faithfully,

Alastair Scott-McKinley

Dear South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust (Northern Ireland),

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

I am writing to request an internal review of South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust (Northern Ireland)'s handling of my FOI request 'Allegations and Complaints made in respect of Foster Carers SEHSCT'.

I understand this information should both be processed, managed and reported on an annual basis as per the policies and standards quoted in the original request.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/a...

Yours faithfully,

Alastair Scott-McKinley

Dear Information Governance,
Thank you for your response to my request for internal review.
My understanding it that Delegated Statutory Function reporting requirements make clear that this data should be reported annually and should therefore be available.
Thank you for the information concerning ICO.
I will proceed with this request by following their complaints process.
Yours sincerely,

Alastair Scott-McKinley

Dear South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust (Northern Ireland),
I note that you did not include a calculation or explanation of the costs involved in providing the information. It would be useful if you could do so, to allow me to understand how best to reframe my request and not exceed the cost limit.
As I am sure you are aware, the FOI Act states that it is "the duty of a public authority to provide advice and assistance, so far as it would be reasonable to expect the authority to do so", and the ICO consider it best practice to provide "arguments or evidence" when applying this exemption.

Yours faithfully,

Alastair Scott-McKinley