Birmingham City: Unauthorised FPN / Convictions

Waiting for an internal review by Birmingham City Council of their handling of this request.

Dear Birmingham City Council,

I write in connection with the statutory offences in S.444(1)/(1A)
of the Education Act 1996.

Can you please provide me with the following information. Please
break down the information by school. and further by school year
for the years 2013-2014, 2014-2015.

1) How many referrals to the "unauthorised pupil holiday" team were made.
2) How many FPN's were issued?
3) How many of these FPN's were rescinded / cancelled.
4) How many FPN's were paid
5) How many were not paid (it should be 2 - (4 +3) but it may not
be?)
6) Of those FPN's unpaid, how many prosecutions were attempted?
7) How many prosecutions were successful?
8) How many prosecutions did the council fail to acheive?
9) What was the total revenue from FPN's (per school / year)

I would appreciate the results of this request in an excel
document, where possible in the format:

School /13- 2014 / 14-2015
----- / Referrals / FPN ISSUED / FPN RESCINDED / FPN PAID / UNPAID
/ PROSECUTIONS BEGAN / PROSECUTION SUCCESSFUL / fpn revenue/
Referrals / FPN ISSUED / FPN RESCINDED / FPN PAID / UNPAID /
PROSECUTIONS BEGAN / PROSECUTION SUCCESSFUL / fpn revenue

Additionally:
10) What was the cost of running the team/service per year?

Yours faithfully,

Sara Goode

Tracey Robinson, Birmingham City Council

Dear Sara

 

Thank you for your request for information held by the Council under the
provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which was received on
14.3.16.

 

We will contact you again once it has been ascertained what data is held
by Birmingham City Council.  In some circumstances a fee may be payable
and if that is the case, we will let you know.  A fees notice will be
issued to you, and you will be required to pay before we will proceed with
your request.

 

If you require any further information or are not happy with our response
please do not hesitate to contact me quoting the reference number above in
any future communications.  Steve Cullen should also be copied in on any
correspondence relating to this request.

 

Yours sincerely

Tracey Robinson

Business Continuity and Information Governance Officer

 

 

Sent on behalf of:

Steve Cullen

Information Governance Manager

Governance and Policy

Children, Young People and Families Directorate

Birmingham City Council

 

Tel: 0121 464 4591

Email: [1][email address]

 

Data Protection Act 1998

The information you have provided within your Freedom of Information
request will be held on our database and may also be held within manual
records for a period of 2 years from the date Birmingham City Council
received your request. Any personal data that you provide to Birmingham
City Council will be held in line with the requirements set out within the
Data Protection Act 1998.

 

Re Use of Public Sector Information

Where Birmingham City Council is the copyright holder of any information
that may be released, re-use for personal, educational or non-commercial
purposes is permitted without further reference to the City Council. Where
the re-use is for other purposes, such as commercial re-use, the applicant
should notify the City Council in writing to seek approval or agree terms
for re-use

***********************************************************************

***********************************************************************

The information contained within this e-mail (and any attachment) sent by
Birmingham City Council is confidential and may be legally privileged. It
is intended only for the named recipient or entity to whom it is
addressed. If you are not the intended recipient please accept our
apologies and notify the sender immediately. Unauthorised access, use,
disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted and may be unlawful. Any
e-mail including its content may be monitored and used by Birmingham City
Council for reasons of security and for monitoring internal compliance
with the office policy on staff use. E-mail blocking software may also be
used. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the originator
and do not necessarily represent those of Birmingham City Council. We
cannot guarantee that this message or any attachment is virus free or has
not been intercepted and amended.

***********************************************************************

References

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1. mailto:[email address]

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Tracey Robinson, Birmingham City Council

Dear Sara

Further to our acknowledgement we have been asked to seek clarification
from you.  Most of the penalty notices we issue are not in relation to
leave in term time but general unauthorised absence.

 

Do you want penalty notice data only in relation to leave in term time or
all pupil absence from school?

Also we don’t have a "unauthorised pupil holiday" team.

 

Yours sincerely

Tracey Robinson

Governance and Policy

Directorate for People

Business Continuity & Information Governance Officer

Postal address: PO Box 16568

10 Woodcock Street

Birmingham

B2 2FX

 

Building address:

Zone 6, 1^st Floor

10 Woodcock Street

Birmingham

B7 4BG

0121 464 0085

 

From: Tracey Robinson
Sent: Monday, March 14, 2016 12:00 PM
To: 'Sara Goode'
Cc: Steve Cullen
Subject: Acknowledgement of FOI request 14452

 

Dear Sara

 

Thank you for your request for information held by the Council under the
provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which was received on
14.3.16.

 

We will contact you again once it has been ascertained what data is held
by Birmingham City Council.  In some circumstances a fee may be payable
and if that is the case, we will let you know.  A fees notice will be
issued to you, and you will be required to pay before we will proceed with
your request.

 

If you require any further information or are not happy with our response
please do not hesitate to contact me quoting the reference number above in
any future communications.  Steve Cullen should also be copied in on any
correspondence relating to this request.

 

Yours sincerely

Tracey Robinson

Business Continuity and Information Governance Officer

 

 

Sent on behalf of:

Steve Cullen

Information Governance Manager

Governance and Policy

Children, Young People and Families Directorate

Birmingham City Council

 

Tel: 0121 464 4591

Email: [1][email address]

 

Data Protection Act 1998

The information you have provided within your Freedom of Information
request will be held on our database and may also be held within manual
records for a period of 2 years from the date Birmingham City Council
received your request. Any personal data that you provide to Birmingham
City Council will be held in line with the requirements set out within the
Data Protection Act 1998.

 

Re Use of Public Sector Information

Where Birmingham City Council is the copyright holder of any information
that may be released, re-use for personal, educational or non-commercial
purposes is permitted without further reference to the City Council. Where
the re-use is for other purposes, such as commercial re-use, the applicant
should notify the City Council in writing to seek approval or agree terms
for re-use

***********************************************************************

***********************************************************************

The information contained within this e-mail (and any attachment) sent by
Birmingham City Council is confidential and may be legally privileged. It
is intended only for the named recipient or entity to whom it is
addressed. If you are not the intended recipient please accept our
apologies and notify the sender immediately. Unauthorised access, use,
disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted and may be unlawful. Any
e-mail including its content may be monitored and used by Birmingham City
Council for reasons of security and for monitoring internal compliance
with the office policy on staff use. E-mail blocking software may also be
used. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the originator
and do not necessarily represent those of Birmingham City Council. We
cannot guarantee that this message or any attachment is virus free or has
not been intercepted and amended.

***********************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]

hide quoted sections

Dear Tracey Robinson,

I would appreciate just the term time holiday fines. However if it proves an issue with cost to extract the data (ie manual review) please supply all.

Yours sincerely,

Sara Goode

Tracey Robinson, Birmingham City Council

Dear Sara

 

I am writing in respect of your recent enquiry for information held by the
Authority under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000:

 

I write in connection with the statutory offences in S.444(1)/(1A)

     of the Education Act 1996.

    

     Can you please provide me with the following information. Please

     break down the information by school. and further by school year

     for the years 2013-2014, 2014-2015.

    

     1) How many referrals to the "unauthorised pupil holiday" team were

     made.

     2) How many FPN's were issued?

     3) How many of these FPN's were rescinded / cancelled.

     4) How many FPN's were paid

     5) How many were not paid (it should be 2 - (4 +3) but it may not

     be?)

     6) Of those FPN's unpaid, how many prosecutions were attempted?

     7) How many prosecutions were successful?

     8) How many prosecutions did the council fail to achieve?

     9) What was the total revenue from FPN's (per school / year)

    

     I would appreciate the results of this request in an excel

     document, where possible in the format:

    

     School /13- 2014 / 14-2015

     ----- / Referrals / FPN ISSUED / FPN RESCINDED / FPN PAID / UNPAID

     / PROSECUTIONS BEGAN / PROSECUTION SUCCESSFUL / fpn revenue/

     Referrals / FPN ISSUED / FPN RESCINDED / FPN PAID / UNPAID /

     PROSECUTIONS BEGAN / PROSECUTION SUCCESSFUL / fpn revenue

    

     Additionally:

     10) What was the cost of running the team/service per year?

 

Please see response below:

LiTT = Leave in Term Time

  2013/14 2014/15
Referrals for Leave in Term Time PNs 80 95
LiTT Penalty Notices issued 56 137
LiTT Penalty Notices
resinded/cancelled 0 0
LiTT Penalty Notices paid 56 128
LiTT Penalty Notices not paid 0 9
LiTT Prosecutions attempted 0 9
LiTT Prosecutions successful 0 9
LiTT Prosecutions unsuccessful 0 0
Total Revenue £3,120 £6,000

 

In relation to the data:

Schools refer pupils to the team but Penalty Notices are issued per parent
per child so the data relating to PNs issued will be different (for
example, there could be two parents or one parent, one child or four etc;)

 

In relation to question 10, we don't have an "unauthorised pupil holiday"
team as the 'Leave in Term Time (Penalty Notice) process' is a small part
of the work of the Attendance and Court team.  We also have staff in the
team who work on supporting families through the School Attendance order
process.  It is therefore impossible to determine how much the team costs
in relation to 'Leave in Term Time', which is a very small aspect of our
work.

 

If you have any information which may assist us in determining or locating
any missed information, we would be grateful if you would contact us with
details of this information, so that we can conduct a further search.

 

If you are not satisfied with the response you may ask for an internal
review.  If subsequently you are not satisfied with the Council's decision
you may apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision.  Generally,
the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints
procedure provided by the Council.  The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at the following address:

 

The Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 01625 545745             Web Address: [1]www.ico.gov.uk

 

Yours sincerely,

Tracey Robinson

Business Continuity and Information Governance Officer

 

 

Sent on behalf of:

Steve Cullen

Information Governance Manager

Governance and Policy Team

Directorate for People

Birmingham City Council

 

Tel: 0121 464 4591

Email: [2][email address]

***********************************************************************

***********************************************************************

The information contained within this e-mail (and any attachment) sent by
Birmingham City Council is confidential and may be legally privileged. It
is intended only for the named recipient or entity to whom it is
addressed. If you are not the intended recipient please accept our
apologies and notify the sender immediately. Unauthorised access, use,
disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted and may be unlawful. Any
e-mail including its content may be monitored and used by Birmingham City
Council for reasons of security and for monitoring internal compliance
with the office policy on staff use. E-mail blocking software may also be
used. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the originator
and do not necessarily represent those of Birmingham City Council. We
cannot guarantee that this message or any attachment is virus free or has
not been intercepted and amended.

***********************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
2. mailto:[email address]

hide quoted sections

Dear Tracey Robinson,

Of the nine prosecutions... Can you confirm the following...
How did the person plead
What was the attendance rate of the children involved.

I don't wish for any personal information... Please respond with prosecution 1-9 / pleas / attendance

Yours sincerely,

Sara Goode

Tracey Robinson, Birmingham City Council

Dear Sara
Thank you for your email.
Information on pleas lies with the Magistrates Court. The details of the prosecutions are a matter of public record but it is court data not ours. You will need to contact the courts for these records. Due to that, to reveal the attendance of the children involved would breach confidentiality.
Yours sincerely
Tracey Robinson
Governance and Policy
Directorate for People
Business Continuity & Information Governance Officer
Postal address: PO Box 16568
10 Woodcock Street
Birmingham
B2 2FX

Building address:
Zone 6, 1st Floor
10 Woodcock Street
Birmingham
B7 4BG
0121 464 0085

-----Original Message-----
From: Sara Goode [mailto:[FOI #321897 email]]
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2016 7:15 PM
To: Tracey Robinson
Subject: Re: Response to FOI request 14452

Dear Tracey Robinson,

Of the nine prosecutions... Can you confirm the following...
How did the person plead
What was the attendance rate of the children involved.

I don't wish for any personal information... Please respond with
prosecution 1-9 / pleas / attendance

Yours sincerely,

Sara Goode

-----Original Message-----

Dear Sara

 

I am writing in respect of your recent enquiry for information
held by the
Authority under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act
2000:

 

I write in connection with the statutory offences in S.444(1)/(1A)

     of the Education Act 1996.

    

     Can you please provide me with the following information.
Please

     break down the information by school. and further by school
year

     for the years 2013-2014, 2014-2015.

    

     1) How many referrals to the "unauthorised pupil holiday"
team were

     made.

     2) How many FPN's were issued?

     3) How many of these FPN's were rescinded / cancelled.

     4) How many FPN's were paid

     5) How many were not paid (it should be 2 - (4 +3) but it may
not

     be?)

     6) Of those FPN's unpaid, how many prosecutions were
attempted?

     7) How many prosecutions were successful?

     8) How many prosecutions did the council fail to achieve?

     9) What was the total revenue from FPN's (per school / year)

    

     I would appreciate the results of this request in an excel

     document, where possible in the format:

    

     School /13- 2014 / 14-2015

     ----- / Referrals / FPN ISSUED / FPN RESCINDED / FPN PAID /
UNPAID

     / PROSECUTIONS BEGAN / PROSECUTION SUCCESSFUL / fpn revenue/

     Referrals / FPN ISSUED / FPN RESCINDED / FPN PAID / UNPAID /

     PROSECUTIONS BEGAN / PROSECUTION SUCCESSFUL / fpn revenue

    

     Additionally:

     10) What was the cost of running the team/service per year?

 

Please see response below:

LiTT = Leave in Term Time

  2013/14 2014/15
Referrals for Leave in Term Time PNs 80 95
LiTT Penalty Notices issued 56 137
LiTT Penalty Notices
resinded/cancelled 0 0
LiTT Penalty Notices paid 56 128
LiTT Penalty Notices not paid 0 9
LiTT Prosecutions attempted 0 9
LiTT Prosecutions successful 0 9
LiTT Prosecutions unsuccessful 0 0
Total Revenue £3,120 £6,000

 

In relation to the data:

Schools refer pupils to the team but Penalty Notices are issued
per parent
per child so the data relating to PNs issued will be different
(for
example, there could be two parents or one parent, one child or
four etc;)

 

In relation to question 10, we don't have an "unauthorised pupil
holiday"
team as the 'Leave in Term Time (Penalty Notice) process' is a
small part
of the work of the Attendance and Court team.  We also have staff
in the
team who work on supporting families through the School Attendance
order
process.  It is therefore impossible to determine how much the
team costs
in relation to 'Leave in Term Time', which is a very small aspect
of our
work.

 

If you have any information which may assist us in determining or
locating
any missed information, we would be grateful if you would contact
us with
details of this information, so that we can conduct a further
search.

 

If you are not satisfied with the response you may ask for an
internal
review.  If subsequently you are not satisfied with the Council's
decision
you may apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision. 
Generally,
the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the
complaints
procedure provided by the Council.  The Information Commissioner
can be
contacted at the following address:

 

The Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 01625 545745             Web Address: [1]www.ico.gov.uk

 

Yours sincerely,

Tracey Robinson

Business Continuity and Information Governance Officer

 

 

Sent on behalf of:

Steve Cullen

Information Governance Manager

Governance and Policy Team

Directorate for People

Birmingham City Council

 

Tel: 0121 464 4591

Email: [2][email address]

References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
2. mailto:[email address]

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #321897 email]

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be
published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read
the latest advice from the ICO:
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your
web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

***********************************************************************

***********************************************************************

The information contained within this e-mail (and any attachment) sent by Birmingham City Council is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended only for the named recipient or entity to whom it is addressed. If you are not the intended recipient please accept our apologies and notify the sender immediately. Unauthorised access, use, disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted and may be unlawful. Any e-mail including its content may be monitored and used by Birmingham City Council for reasons of security and for monitoring internal compliance with the office policy on staff use. E-mail blocking software may also be used. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the originator and do not necessarily represent those of Birmingham City Council. We cannot guarantee that this message or any attachment is virus free or has not been intercepted and amended.

***********************************************************************

hide quoted sections

Dear Tracey Robinson,

In which case please forward my request onto the magistrates court. In line with s.16 please provide the reference numbers etc for the cases

Yours sincerely,

Sara Goode

CIG Contacts, Birmingham City Council

Dear Sara

Thank you for your email.  I have been advised by our Corporate
Information Governance Team that you will need use the link below and make
the request directly as we can't transfer your request under S.16.

 

I have copied the relevant information for your use below.

 

How to make a Freedom of Information request

 

Freedom of Information requests to the Judicial Office are managed
centrally via the Ministry of Justice.

 

There is no right of access under the Freedom of Information Act to
information contained in court records, which is an absolute exemption
under Section 32 (Court Records) of the Act. If you are a party to
proceedings you should contact the court directly and apply for the court
records under the appropriate procedure rules.

 

The Judicial Office already provides a range of information and before
considering making a request, you should try searching this website using
the search box or sitemap.

 

Alternatively, if you are unable to find what you are looking for, you can
make a request by filling in this online form:

 

https://www.justice.gov.uk/information-a...

 

or by writing to:

 

Data Access and Compliance Unit

Postal Point 10.31, Floor 10

102 Petty France

London

SW1H 9AJ

 

 

Yours sincerely

Tracey Robinson

Governance and Policy

Directorate for People

Business Continuity & Information Governance Officer

Postal address: PO Box 16568

10 Woodcock Street

Birmingham

B2 2FX

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Sara Goode [mailto:[FOI #321897 email]]
Sent: Monday, March 21, 2016 12:53 PM
To: Tracey Robinson
Subject: RE: Response to FOI request 14452

 

Dear Tracey Robinson,

 

In which case please forward my request onto the magistrates court. In
line with s.16 please provide the reference numbers etc for the cases

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Sara Goode

 

-----Original Message-----

 

Dear Sara

Thank you for your email.

Information on pleas lies with the Magistrates Court. The details of the
prosecutions are a matter of public record but it is court data not ours.
You will need to contact the courts for these records. Due to that, to
reveal the attendance of the children involved would breach
confidentiality.

Yours sincerely

Tracey Robinson

Governance and Policy

Directorate for People

Business Continuity & Information Governance Officer Postal address: PO
Box 16568

10 Woodcock Street

Birmingham

B2 2FX

 

Building address:

Zone 6, 1st Floor

10 Woodcock Street

Birmingham

B7 4BG

0121 464 0085

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:

[1][FOI #321897 email]

 

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:

[2]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...

 

For more detailed guidance on safely disclosing information, read the
latest advice from the ICO:

[3]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...

 

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

 

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 

***********************************************************************

***********************************************************************

The information contained within this e-mail (and any attachment) sent by
Birmingham City Council is confidential and may be legally privileged. It
is intended only for the named recipient or entity to whom it is
addressed. If you are not the intended recipient please accept our
apologies and notify the sender immediately. Unauthorised access, use,
disclosure, storage or copying is not permitted and may be unlawful. Any
e-mail including its content may be monitored and used by Birmingham City
Council for reasons of security and for monitoring internal compliance
with the office policy on staff use. E-mail blocking software may also be
used. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the originator
and do not necessarily represent those of Birmingham City Council. We
cannot guarantee that this message or any attachment is virus free or has
not been intercepted and amended.

***********************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[FOI #321897 email]
2. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...
3. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/ico-...

hide quoted sections

Dear CIG Contacts,

In which case tracy. I will refer you to your response and therefore request an internal review stating I expect you to disclose the information I requested

There is no right of access under the Freedom of Information Act to
information contained in court records, which is an absolute exemption
under Section 32 (Court Records) of the Act. If you are a party to
proceedings you should contact the court directly and apply for the court
records under the appropriate procedure rules.

S.40 isn't invoked as I only seek statistical information which add you state would already be public information.

Yours sincerely,

Sara Goode