Council DoLS Service Provision.
Dear Common Council of the City of London,
Please can you provide the following information under the Freedom of Information Act:
1 - How many assessments under the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards were conducted during the period 01/05/2009 to 01/05/2017 by the following:
a.) Council employed Best Interest Assessors.
b.) Independent Best Interest Assessors (not employed directly by the Local Authority).
c.) Mental Health Assessors.
d.) Assessments allocated to 3rd part recruitment agency contracts.
2- Total budget spend on the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards from 01/05/2009 to 01/05/2017, broken down to include:
a.) The total council spend on DoLS assessments split between employed Best Interest Assessors, Independent Best Interest Assessors, Mental Health Assessors and/or recruitment agencies for the period 01/05/2009 to 01/05/2017
b.) Price paid per BIA assessment.
c.) Price paid per Mental Health Assessment for DoLS.
d.) Total DoLS team budget for 2017-2018.
e.) Details of the current DoLS team members by name / job title and number of qualified Best Interest Assessors working in your local authority. Please include contact details for the current MCA/DoLS Service lead and DoLS team manager.
Yours faithfully,
A.G. Johnson
Dear A G Johnson,
Thank you for your email of 9 May 2017 to the City of London (CoL).
Please note that section 8 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) states as follows:
"8.—(1) In this Act any reference to a 'request for information' is a Request for
reference to such a request which—
… (b) states the name of the applicant …"
Before we progress your request, please would you confirm on whose behalf your request is made. In considering this, please note the guidance “Recognising a request made under the Freedom of Information Act (Section 8)” (version 1.2, 2 Nov 2016), published on the website of the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) at:
http://ico.org.uk/for_organisations/guid...<http://ico.org.uk/for_organisations/guid...>
The guidance states that, to be a valid request, “the request must state the real name of the party on whose behalf the agent is acting … A request which only includes the real name of the agent will be invalid”.
It is clear that the section 12 and section 14(1) provisions of the Act could be circumvented where the party on whose behalf the agent is acting is not stated.
So, if you are acting on behalf of another party, we shall also need the real name of that company or organisation.
Once we have received from you the name of the company or organisation on whose behalf you are acting, we can progress your request as a valid request.
Yours sincerely,
Information Officer
Comptroller & City Solicitor’s Department
City of London
Tel: 020 7332 1209
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk<http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk>
Dear COL - EB - Information Officer,
I am wanting the information for my own research.
Yours sincerely,
Giles Johnson
Dear Mr Johnson,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) – REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
The City of London (CoL) acknowledges receipt of your request for information of 9 May 2017 and clarification of 10 May that you are not acting as an agent.
Public authorities are required to respond to requests within the statutory timescale of 20 working days beginning from the first working day after they receive a request, or any subsequent clarification. The Act does not always require public authorities to disclose the information which they hold.
The FOIA applies to the CoL as a local authority, police authority and port health authority. The CoL is the local and police authority for the “Square Mile”, ie the historic City of London, and not for London as a whole. Please see the following page containing a link to a map (Explore the City), which shows the local authority area covered by the CoL:
https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/maps/Pag....
The CoL does have some functions, including Port Health Authority functions, which extend beyond the City boundary. For further information please see: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk<http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk>.
Yours sincerely,
Information Officer
Comptroller & City Solicitor’s Department
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk<http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk>
Dear Mr Johnson
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST
Following receipt of your request for information on 9 May 2017, your
clarification received on 10 May 2017 and our acknowledgement of the same
date, the City of London (CoL) responds as follows:
1 - How many assessments under the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards were
conducted during the period 01/05/2009 to 01/05/2017 by the following:
a.) Council employed Best Interest Assessors.1
b.) Independent Best Interest Assessors (not employed directly by the
Local Authority).61
c.) Mental Health Assessors.57
d.) Assessments allocated to 3rd part recruitment agency contracts.0
2- Total budget spend on the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards from
01/05/2009 to 01/05/2017, broken down to include:
a.) The total council spend on DoLS assessments split between employed
Best Interest Assessors, Independent Best Interest Assessors, Mental
Health Assessors and/or recruitment agencies for the period 01/05/2009 to
01/05/2017 – All costs are coded to one budget line and are not broken
down by the provider of the assessment
2013/14 = £300.
2014/15 = £1,140.
2015/16 = £23.056.
2016/17 = £21,888.
b.) Price paid per BIA assessment. Approx. £300
c.) Price paid per Mental Health Assessment for DoLS. Approx £175
d.) Total DoLS team budget for 2017-2018. –£20,000.
e.) Details of the current DoLS team members by name / job title and
number of qualified Best Interest Assessors working in your local
authority. Please include contact details for the current MCA/DoLS Service
lead and DoLS team manager. The CoL do not have a dedicated DoLS team, all
DoLs are managed by the Adult Social Care Team.
Please note that the City (the "Square Mile") has a resident population of
about 8,760* which includes approximately 1200 children aged up to 19
years old.
*Office of National Statistics 2016
We hope this assists.
If you wish to make a complaint about the way the CoL has handled your
enquiry, please make your complaint in writing to email address:
[1][email address]
For a link to the CoL's FOI complaints procedure, please visit the
following page: [2]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Feedback, at the end of which
is located the FOI complaints procedure. If, having used the CoL's
Complaints Procedure, you are still dissatisfied, you may request the
Information Commissioner to investigate. Please contact: Information
Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Telephone: (01625) 545 700. Website: [3]www.ico.org.uk.
Please note that the Act applies to the City of London only as a local
authority, police authority and port health authority.
The CoL holds the copyright in this communication. Its supply does not
give a right to re-use in a way that would infringe that copyright, for
example, by making copies, publishing and issuing copies to the public or
to any other person. Brief extracts of any of the material may be
reproduced under the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988 (sections 29 and 30) for the purposes of research for
non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and news
reporting, subject to an acknowledgement of the copyright owner.
Yours sincerely
[4]http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporati... Business Support Manager
| Commissioning and
Partnerships Division
City of London Corporation
|Telephone 020 7332 3498|
[5]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
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