Thank you for your recent FOI / EIR request.  Please find attached an
acknowledgement for this request.

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Dear Andrew Ralph

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST

Thank you for your request for information received on the 9^th February
2022. We have considered your request and enclose the following
information -

I would like to request the following figures for the most recent 5 years
for which records are available (broken down by year):

(1) How many children have been referred to CCBC Social Services, due to
concerns about possible neglect or abuse by their parents?

Below are the total number of referrals received -

Total No of
Date referrals
period received
01.01.21
-
31.12.21 8,901
01.01.20
-
31.12.20 7,439
01.01.19
-
31.12.19 6,489
01.01.18
-
31.12.18 6,240
01.01.17
- Information
31.12.17 not held

We do not record the information separately concerning possible neglect or
abuse by parents.

We estimate that the cost of complying with your request would exceed the
appropriate limit of £450 for local government, which is specified in the
Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limits and Fees)
Regulations 2004.  Therefore we are refusing to supply this information
under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. In order to
determine whether your request exceeds this limit, we must multiply an
estimate of the time we expect to take to comply with your request by £25
per hour.  If the cost of complying with your request would exceed the
appropriate limit of £450 (more than 18 hours), we can refuse your
request.  In making this calculation we are able to include the time taken
to determine whether we hold the information and time taken to locate,
retrieve and extract the information.  The hourly rate of £25 per hour is
set by the Fees Regulations and is not dependent on the seniority of the
officer who carries out the work.

Under the Freedom of Information Act, we a have a duty to provide advice
and assistance to help you narrow, reform or refocus your request so that
the cost of complying with it falls below the appropriate limit of £450. 
Unfortunately, on this occasion, as the information is not separately held
and would require the examination and extraction from the number of
records above, we are unable provide the detail requested without
exceeding the appropriate fees limit.

(2) How many children have, as a result, been taken from their parents and
put up for adoption?

Please see attached Excel sheet.

(3) Please give a breakdown of those adoption figures by age group:
Under-3; 3-5; 6-10; Over-10

Please see attached Excel sheet.

We supply this information based on your original request. If this is not
what you wanted or if you feel we have not fully understood your request
please do not hesitate to contact me to clarify your exact requirements.

If you have any queries or concerns or are in any way dissatisfied with
the handling of your request please contact [1][Caerphilly County Borough Council request email].

Yours sincerely

Corporate Information Governance Unit

Freedom of Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations
2004

You have the right to appeal against our decision.
If you wish to appeal please set out If you are unhappy with that decision
in writing your grounds of appeal you have the right to appeal to:
and send to:
 
Corporate Information Governance
Unit Information Commissioner’s Office –
Caerphilly county borough council, Wales
Penallta House 2nd Floor, Churchill House
Tredomen Park Churchill Way
Hengoed. CF82 7PG Cardiff CF10 2HH

Appeals will be determined by an Tel: 0330 414 6421
appropriate senior officer.
Website: [2]www.ico.org.uk

Email: [3][email address]

Re-use of information without permission may infringe the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988. Re-use can include, but is not limited to,
making multiple copies, publishing and issuing copies of the information
to a wider audience. If you would like to re-use copyright material owned
by Caerphilly County Borough Council, please contact us. Authorisation to
re-use copyright material not owned by this Authority should be sought
directly from the copyright owner.

How we will use your information

Caerphilly County Borough Council will process your request, the
information relevant to your request, your identity and contact details
for the purposes of providing you with a response. A copy of your request
and your response will be kept for 3 years. Some requests and responses
may be kept longer but this will be in an anonymised form.

Your request including your identity and contact details will be
distributed to relevant service areas and elected members who may either
hold the information you have requested or are involved in the processing
of requests. Other organisations and individuals who may be affected by
the disclosure of the information you have requested may be consulted
prior to a decision being made on the disclosure.

If you have made a complaint to the Information Commissioners Office (ICO)
or others in relation to the processing of your request, copies of your
request, response and any additional correspondence between you and
Caerphilly County Borough Council in relevant to your request may be
shared with them.

You have a number of rights in relation to your information including the
right of access to information we hold about you and the right of
complaint if you are unhappy with the way that we have handled your
request or your information.

For further information on how we process your information and your rights
please click the following link:

[4]https://www.caerphilly.gov.uk/Caerphilly...

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