CfBT and Academies in Lincolnshire

The request was partially successful.

Dear Department for Education,

As a Lincolnshire parent, I request details of all communications between DFE and CfBT regarding academies in Lincolnshire.

Yours faithfully,

Zoe Bunting

Department for Education

Dear Ms Bunting

Thank you for your recent email. 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 the reference number 2011/0064086

Thank you.

Central Allocation Team

Public Communications Team

Tel: 0370 0002288
www.education.gov.uk

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Department for Education

Dear Ms Bunting

 

Thank you for your email of 16^th September with the following request:

 

    
     As a Lincolnshire parent, I request details of all communications
     between DFE and CfBT regarding academies in Lincolnshire.

 

I have begun consulting colleagues and it is apparent that your request is
very broad and potentially time consuming.   It would help me to better
and more swiftly deal with your request if you were able to specify a time
frame for the communications (e.g. August 2010 to August 2011) and/or
indicate the specific schools you are interested in.  Any other
clarifications you can provide would be most welcome.
    

 

I look forward to hearing from you

 

 

Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes

Academy Converter Division

Academies Delivery Group

Department for Education

2 St Paul's Place
6th Floor
125 Norfolk Street
Sheffield  S1 2FJ

Tel: 0114 274 2136

 

 

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Department for Education

Dear Ms Bunting

 

I have not yet had a response to my email of 27 September.  We are aiming
to respond to your request for information within a week and I would be
most grateful for a response to my email.

 

Many thanks

 

 

Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes

Academy Converter Division

Academies Delivery Group

Department for Education

2 St Paul's Place
6th Floor
125 Norfolk Street
Sheffield  S1 2FJ

Tel: 0114 274 2136

 

 

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Dear Department for Education,

Sorry for the delay. in response to your question, I require details of all communications between DFE and CfBT regarding academies in Lincolnshire from May 2010 to October 2011.

Yours faithfully,

Zoe Bunting

Department for Education

Dear Ms Bunting

Thank you for your recent email. 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 a new reference number of 2011/0074310

Thank you.

Central Allocation Team

Public Communications Team

Tel: 0370 0002288
www.education.gov.uk

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Department for Education

Dear Ms Bunting

 

Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 2
November 2011. . You requested details of all communications between DFE
and CfBT regarding academies in Lincolnshire from May 2010 to October
2011.  .  I am dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 (“the Act”).

 

The Department holds the information you have requested.  However, I
consider that Section 36 of the Act might apply to your request.

 

The Act says at section 36(2) that certain information is exempt from
disclosure if, in the reasonable opinion of a qualified person (in the
case of government departments, a Minister), disclosure of the information
under the Act would, or would be likely to:

a.                  inhibit the free and frank provision of advice, or the
free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation –
section 36(2)(b); or

b.                  would otherwise prejudice, or would be likely
otherwise to prejudice, the effective conduct of public affairs – section
36(2) (c).

 

The Act obliges the Department to respond to requests promptly and in any
case no later than 20 working days after receiving your request.  However,
where one of the exemptions, such as Section 36 of the Act is applicable,
the Department must consider whether the public interest lies in
disclosing or withholding the information.  In these circumstances the Act
allows the time for response to be longer than 20 working days.

 

In your case the Department estimates that it will take an additional 10
working days to take a decision on where the balance of the public
interest lies.  It is anticipated that you will receive a full response by
15 December 2011.  If it appears that it will take longer than this to
reach a conclusion, we will keep you informed.

 

In addition, the Department considers that the following exemptions apply
to some of the information requested:

 

Exemption  40:   Personal names and contact details of persons mentioned
in the correspondence

 

Exemption 22;    Information intended for future publication

 

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me.  Please
remember to 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 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. 

 

Yours sincerely,

 

 

 

 

Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes

Academy Converter Division

Academies Delivery Group

Department for Education

2 St Paul's Place
6th Floor
125 Norfolk Street
Sheffield  S1 2FJ

Tel: 0114 274 2136

 

 

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Department for Education

2 Attachments

Dear Ms Bunting,
Thank you for your request for information which was received on 2 November 2011.  You
requested details of all communications between DFE and CfBT regarding academies in
Lincolnshire from May 2010 to October 2011. I have dealt with your request under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”).  My colleague Stella Mascarenhas-Keyes emailed you on 1
December 2011 informing you that we were extending the standard time period for a reply so
that greater consideration could be given to your request.  The Department has considered
whether the public interest lies in disclosing or withholding the information you requested.
The Department has decided that under the provisions of the Act some information can be
released (see (a) below) while others (see (b) and (c) below) cannot for reasons set out in
this email.

(a) A copy of the information which can be disclosed is enclosed. This consists of two email
chains relating to discussions between officials of DfE and CfBT.  In accordance with
Section 40 (2) of the Act, the names and contact details of these officials have been
redacted because release would infringe the rights of individuals under the Data Protection
Act 1998.  This is an absolute redemption and does not require a public interest test.

 

The information supplied to you continues to be protected by copyright. You are free to use
it for your own purposes, including for private study and non-commercial research, and for
any other purpose authorised by an exception in current copyright law. Documents (except
photographs) can be also used in the UK without requiring permission for the purposes of
news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would require the
permission of the copyright holder.

 

Most documents produced by a government department. will be protected by Crown Copyright.
Most Crown copyright information can be re-used under the Open Government Licence
([1]http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...). For information about
the OGL and about re-using Crown Copyright information please see The National Archives
website
-[2]http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/infor...
.

 

Copyright in other documents may rest with a third party. For information about obtaining
permission from a third party see the Intellectual Property Office’s website at
[3]www.ipo.gov.uk.

 

The Department holds the remainder of the information you requested, but it is being
withheld under sections 36 and 22 of the Act.

 

·        Sections 36(2) (b) and 36(2) (c) of the Act exempt from disclosure certain
information if, in the reasonable opinion of a qualified person (in the case of government
departments, a Minister), disclosure of the information under the Act:

o       would, or would be likely to, inhibit the free and frank provision of advice –
section 36(2)(b)(i) or

o       would, or would be likely to, inhibit the free and frank exchange of views for the
purposes of deliberation,  - section 36(2)(b)(ii)  or

o       would otherwise prejudice, or would be likely otherwise to prejudice, the effective
conduct of public affairs – section 36(2) (c)

This section requires that the Department balances the public interest in withholding the
information against the public interest in disclosing the information.

 

(b) Some communications between DfE and CfBT are being withheld under Section 36 because a
Minister has decided that, in his reasonable opinion, their disclosure would be likely to
inhibit the free and frank exchange of views and provision of advice. This 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:

 

·        It is acknowledged that there is a general public interest in disclosure because of
the need for there to be open and transparent Government and that the sharing of information
with the public should be free and open

·        It is central to this exemption that officials have the space to develop their
thinking and explore available options and in so-doing to engage in the free and frank
exchange of views. (Section 2 (b) (ii)).  Furthermore, it is important for the process of
effective government and therefore in the public interest that officials are then able to
provide free and frank advice to Ministers (Section 2 (b) (I)).  Disclosing the information
requested would work directly against this, inhibiting Ministers and officials from
exploring options due to fear that information might be disclosed at an early stage before
decisions are taken on whether to proceed. 

·        Releasing information relating to schools that have applied to convert with the
help of CfBT might create an expectation that information about other applications or future
applications received by the Department would be released. This might deter future
applicants from submitting applications, for fear of intrusive and unhelpful enquiries. This
could impact on the delivery of the Academy programme by deterring interested parties from
submitting applications.

The arguments for and against release have been considered and it has been decided that the
balance of public interest falls in favour of the maintenance of this exemption in relation
to the information requested.

 

(c) We also hold other correspondence which relates to discussions about the content of
Funding Agreements between the DfE and CfBT regarding three schools that had applied to
convert to Academies.  Draft Funding Agreements are attached to these emails and they are
exempt from disclosure under Section 22 of the Act which exempts information requested by an
applicant if it is intended for future publication.

 

Two of the three schools, Mount Street and Stamford Queen Eleanor School have already
converted to Academy status and their Funding Agreements are available on the DfE website.
The third school, Deepings School, is currently going through the conversion process and on
conversion to Academy status the Funding Agreement will be on the Department’s website.

 If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to 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 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.   
Yours sincerely,

Stephen Standret
Academy Converters Division
[email address]

Tel: 0114 274 2367

[4]www.education.gov.uk

Your correspondence has been allocated the reference number 2011/0074310.

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References

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