Average wait times for Adult Social Work Needs Assessments

The request was successful.

Dear East Lothian Council,

I would like you to provide stats on the average wait times for an Adult Social Work needs assessment over the last 3 years. If possible please break it down by month. If the above breaches the maximum aloud to spend (Section 12 of the FOIA) on a request please prioritise the last year.

I expect a response within 20 working Days.

Yours faithfully,

[name removed]

Freedom Of Information, East Lothian Council

Thank you for your email.

This automated message is East Lothian Council’s acknowledgement that your information request has been received and is receiving attention.

Please note that we are currently experiencing a high volume of information requests so it may not always be possible for us to respond to your enquiry as quickly as we would like. Please be assured, however, that we will respond to you as soon as we can. The statutory time scales for responses are as follows:

Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 20 working days
Environmental Information Regulations 2004 20 working days
Internal Reviews 20 working days

Thank you

Freedom of Information Team
Licensing, Administration and Democratic Services
East Lothian Council
John Muir House
Haddington
EH41 3HA

Tel: 01620 827623
Email: [East Lothian Council request email]<mailto:[East Lothian Council request email]>

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found here<https://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/2105...>.

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council are published here<http://www.eastlothian.gov.uk/info/704/d...>.

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement of Scotland's freedom of information laws. Guidance regarding your rights of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available on the Commissioner’s website<http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/>.

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Freedom Of Information, East Lothian Council

1 Attachment

Our Ref:  2018/536504

Dear [name removed]

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

ENVIRONMENTAL INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) REGULATIONS 2004

I am writing in response to your enquiry of 4 August.  

On behalf of East Lothian Council I wish to apologise for the delay in
responding to your information request.  We always try to respond to
requests as soon as possible within the statutory time frame and I am
sorry that we have been unable to do so on this occasion. 

I am now able to provide the information you require which I hope will be
of interest to you; please refer to the PDF attachment.  Under the terms
of this legislation, if you are unhappy with the way your request has been
handled, you are entitled to request that we undertake an internal
review.  Please note, however, that both the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002 and the Environmental Information (Scotland)
Regulations 2004 only relate to the release of information.  The Scottish
Information Commissioner publishes the following guidance about internal
reviews:

You can ask the authority to review its decision if it does not respond or
you are unhappy with the way it has dealt with your request, for example
by:

·                     refusing to give you the information

·                     failing to reply to you within the time limit
allowed

·                     claiming the information is exempt

·                     failing to give you advice about, and help with,
making your request

·                     asking you to pay a fee that you feel is
unreasonable

For example, if you are unhappy because you do not believe the information
you have received is accurate, an internal review would not apply.  Should
this be the case, however, please let me know and I will try to resolve
this.  If I am unable to help, I will be happy to put you in touch with
someone who can.

We must receive a request to review within 40 working days of the date of
this notice.  A request to review our decision must be in writing (e-mail
is acceptable) or another permanent format.  When writing, you should
include your reasons as to why you are unhappy with our response and why
you wish it to be reviewed.  Your reasons for dissatisfaction must relate
to your information request of 4 August only and should be addressed to:

Information Governance Compliance Officer

Licensing, Administration and Democratic Services

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

Email: [1][East Lothian Council request email]

We will have a maximum of 20 working days from the date we receive your
request in order to complete our review and give you our decision.  In
order to ensure an impartial approach, an independent senior officer will
be appointed to carry out the review.

If you are still not satisfied with our decision following the review
process, then you may ask the Office of the Scottish Information
Commissioner (OSIC) to investigate the matter.  You must appeal to
the Commissioner within six months of receiving the review decision.  You
may submit your appeal online via OSIC’s website, a link to the online
appeal service is provided for your convenience: 
[2]http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...

Alternatively, you may contact OSIC at:

Scottish Information Commissioner

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St Andrews

Fife

KY16 9DS

Telephone:  01334 464610

Fax:  01334 464611

E-mail:  [3][email address]

If you remain dissatisfied following the Commissioner’s decision, you may
be able to appeal to the Court of Session.   You should, however, obtain
legal advice before deciding on this course of action.  This is because an
appeal may only be made on a point of law, not because you disagree with
the Commissioner’s view of the case. 

Yours sincerely

Shelley Neville

Freedom of Information Team

Licensing, Administration and Democratic Services

East Lothian Council

John Muir House

Haddington

EH41 3HA

Tel: 01620 827623

Email: [4][East Lothian Council request email]

Information about East Lothian Council’s complaints procedure can be found
[5]here.

Details of your rights to requesting information from East Lothian Council
are published [6]here.

The Scottish Information Commissioner is responsible for the enforcement
of Scotland's freedom of information laws.  Guidance regarding your rights
of access to information held by Scottish public authorities is available
on the Commissioner’s [7]website.

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