Data of how direct payments are being used by users
Dear Vale of Glamorgan Council,
Could you provide any data you hold regarding what direct payments are specifically being used for by users? The more comprehensive and specific this list is, the better. For example, data showing DPs being used for a gym membership would be far better than data showing DPs being used for "leisure activities" which would be too broad and nonspecific.
If you require dates to extract this data could you extract it from the last five financial years as follows:
• 2018-2019
• 2019-2020
• 2020-2021
• 2021-2022
• 2022-2023
Yours faithfully,
[name removed]
Dear [name removed]
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST
Thank you for your request for information about:
Data of how direct payments are being used by users
Your request was received on 16/05/2023 and is being handled under the
terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Your query has been given the reference 00205330
In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case I will
let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before I will proceed to deal with your request.
You will receive the information requested within 20 working days unless
the Council does not hold the information or there is a reason for it to
be withheld. I will write to you in any event.
If you have any requirements regarding the format any information should
be supplied in, e.g. the language to be used, audio, large print and so
on, then if you have not already done so please let me know.
If you have any queries or concerns then please do not hesitate to contact
me. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.
Further information about your rights is also available from the
Information
Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner's Office - Wales
Second Floor, Churchill House
Churchill Way,
Cardiff
CF10 2HH
029 20678400 / Fax:029 20678399
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Officer
Legal Services
Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg
tel / ffôn: 01446 700111
mob / sym:
e-mail / e-bost: [email address]or [email address]
Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really
need to.
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angen.
Visit our Website at [1]www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk
Ewch i'n gwefan yn [2]www.bromorgannwg.gov.uk
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Dear [name removed],
The service area has asked if you could please provide some clarity around
what direct payments you are referring to?
Please also note the response time will be put on a temporary hold until
we receive this.
Kind regards,
Information Governance Officer
Legal Services
Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg
tel / ffôn: 01446 700111
mob / sym:
e-mail / e-bost: [email address]or [email address]
Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really
need to.
Ystyriwch yr amgylchedd. Peidiwch ag argraffu'r neges hon oni bai fod gwir
angen.
Visit our Website at [1]www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk
Ewch i'n gwefan yn [2]www.bromorgannwg.gov.uk
[3]Find us on Facebook / Cewch ddod o hyd i ni ar Facebook
[4]Follow us on Twitter /Dilynwch ni ar Twitter
Correspondence is welcomed in Welsh or English / Croesewir Gohebiaeth yn y
Gymraeg neu yn Saesneg.
References
Visible links
1. http://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/
2. http://www.bromorgannwg.gov.uk/
3. http://en-gb.facebook.com/valeofglamorga...
4. http://twitter.com/vogcouncil
Dear Vale of Glamorgan Council,
Please see an updated, more refined request below:
☆For the attention of Adult Social Services☆
Could you provide any data you hold regarding what direct payments are specifically being used for by users? The more comprehensive and specific this list is, the better. For example, data showing DPs being used for a gym membership would be more useful and insightful than data showing DPs being used for "leisure activities" which would be too broad and nonspecific.
If you require dates to extract this data could you extract it from the last five financial years as follows:
• 2018-2019
• 2019-2020
• 2020-2021
• 2021-2022
• 2022-2023
I appreciate that this data might be quite vast and could even prevent you from fulfilling this FOI request. If this is the case, then please refine my query even further as follows:
- Include data for adults aged 19 - 59 ONLY. Other ages can be disregarded/excluded from the data.
AND
- Include data for the previous 2 financial years ONLY - 2021/2022 & 2022/2023 respectively.
This should ensure a less intensive trawl and allow this freedom of information request to be fulfilled. Thank you.
Yours faithfully,
[name removed]
Dear [name removed],
Please accept this email as an acknowledgement of your clarification. I have now passed the request to the correct team.
Kind regards,
Information Governance Officer
Legal Services
Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg
tel / ffôn: 01446 700111
e-mail / e-bost: [email address] or [email address]
Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.
Ystyriwch yr amgylchedd. Peidiwch ag argraffu'r neges hon oni bai fod gwir angen.
Visit our Website at http://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/
Ewch i'n gwefan yn http://www.bromorgannwg.gov.uk/
Find us on Facebook / Cewch ddod o hyd i ni ar Facebook
Follow us on Twitter /Dilynwch ni ar Twitter
Correspondence is welcomed in Welsh or English / Croesewir Gohebiaeth yn y Gymraeg neu yn Saesneg.
Dear FOI Unit,
To compliment the core request, could you also provide your practice guidance policies on direct payments, personal budgets and any other policies which you feel are relevant to this request.
Yours sincerely,
[name removed]
Dear [name removed]
Thank you for your request for information with regards to direct payments which we received on the 16th of May 2023.
Your request
Could you provide any data you hold regarding what direct payments are specifically being used for by users? The more comprehensive and specific this list is, the better. For example, data showing DPs being used for a gym membership would be far better than data showing DPs being used for "leisure activities" which would be too broad and nonspecific.
If you require dates to extract this data could you extract it from the last five financial years as follows:
* 2018-2019
* 2019-2020
* 2020-2021
* 2021-2022
* 2022-2023
Our response
The information requested is not captured as part of the Direct Payment set up or monitoring processes of the Vale of Glamorgan Council. To gather the information, individual Service Request Forms and/or Care and Support Plans would need to be interrogated.
We have considered your request and have estimated that the cost of complying with the extraction of the non-standard report data will exceed £450.00. We have made this calculation in accordance with Regulation 4 of the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limits and Fees Regulations) 2004 and we note under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act we are not obliged to comply with your request for information if we estimate that the total cost of complying would exceed the appropriate fee limit. This calculation is based on an estimate that the act of compiling the information required would exceed the appropriate limit and be an unreasonable burden on council resources.
This letter is therefore a formal refusal notice under section 17(5) of the Act for the non-standard report data.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and should be addressed to: The Monitoring Officer, Civic Offices, Holton Road, Barry, CF63 4RU.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office - Wales
Second Floor, Churchill House
Churchill Way,
Cardiff
CF10 2HH
029 20678400 / Fax:029 20678399
[email address]
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Officer
Legal Services
Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg
tel / ffôn: 01446 700111
mob / sym:
e-mail / e-bost: [email address] or [email address]
Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.
Ystyriwch yr amgylchedd. Peidiwch ag argraffu'r neges hon oni bai fod gwir angen.
Visit our Website at http://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/
Ewch i'n gwefan yn http://www.bromorgannwg.gov.uk/
Find us on Facebook / Cewch ddod o hyd i ni ar Facebook
Follow us on Twitter / Dilynwch ni ar Twitter
Correspondence is welcomed in Welsh or English / Croesewir Gohebiaeth yn y Gymraeg neu yn Saesneg.
Dear FOI Unit,
Could you randomly select 100 care and support plans to extract the data (within the age parameters of 21-55). This should keep the cost below the £450.00 threshold. It might also be worth considering previous audits to source the data too.
Yours sincerely,
[name removed]
Dear [name removed]
Thank you for your further email.
I have forwarded your request to our Social Services department and will let you know as soon possible if they are now able to provide the information.
Kind regards
Information Governance Officer
Legal Services
Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg
tel / ffôn: 01446 700111
mob / sym:
e-mail / e-bost: [email address] or [email address]
Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.
Ystyriwch yr amgylchedd. Peidiwch ag argraffu'r neges hon oni bai fod gwir angen.
Visit our Website at http://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/
Ewch i'n gwefan yn http://www.bromorgannwg.gov.uk/
Find us on Facebook / Cewch ddod o hyd i ni ar Facebook
Follow us on Twitter / Dilynwch ni ar Twitter
Correspondence is welcomed in Welsh or English / Croesewir Gohebiaeth yn y Gymraeg neu yn Saesneg.
Dear FOI Unit,
I have further refined my request which I have included in full below. I hope this helps.
☆For the attention of Adult Social Services☆
The term data in the heading above refers to the actual activity/service/goods that a direct payment was/is used for and not just the broader category that it falls within. Of course, the broader category can be included as well. Where direct payments are used for personal assistants (PA), these can be excluded from the dataset.
The primary purpose of this request is to receive a full breakdown of how individual users spend their direct payments. The amount of each payment would be very useful but not essential. The total direct payment amount each person receives is useful though and this can be displayed weekly or monthly or whichever is easiest for you.
So, to re-iterate, please provide all data in relation to how direct payments are specifically being used by users aged 24 - 54 and all other age groups can be excluded. The more comprehensive and detailed this list is, the more useful it will be for this FOI request. For example, data showing DPs being used for a gym membership (including how much it costs) would be far more valuable than data showing DPs being used for "leisure activities" which would be too broad; nonspecific and unhelpful.
If you require dates to extract this data could you extract it from either of the following financial years (preferably both):
• 2018-2019
• 2022-2023
I appreciate that this data can be quite laborious at times, especially if extracting the data from a manual trawl of individual care and support plans. It may or may not be easier to consider past audits and current monitoring systems to extract the same data and always remember to keep it within the age parameters of 24 - 54 which should exclude the majority of users.
To compliment the core request, could you kindly send me your direct payments policy including your practice guidance for practitioners. Could you also send me your Care and Support Planning Policy along with your practice guidance for practitioners. Please send any other policies you feel are relevant or related to the policies and practice guidance documents requested above.
Yours sincerely,
[name removed]
Dear [name removed]
Thank you for your further email.
I have passed this to our Social Services department and asked them to address all additional points raised.
Kind regards
Information Governance Officer
Legal Services
Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg
tel / ffôn: 01446 700111
mob / sym:
e-mail / e-bost: [email address] or [email address]
Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.
Ystyriwch yr amgylchedd. Peidiwch ag argraffu'r neges hon oni bai fod gwir angen.
Visit our Website at http://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/
Ewch i'n gwefan yn http://www.bromorgannwg.gov.uk/
Find us on Facebook / Cewch ddod o hyd i ni ar Facebook
Follow us on Twitter / Dilynwch ni ar Twitter
Correspondence is welcomed in Welsh or English / Croesewir Gohebiaeth yn y Gymraeg neu yn Saesneg.
Dear [name removed]
Thank you for your request for information which you refined on the 30th of May 2023 and the 7th of June 2023. Please accept my apologies for the delay in our response.
Please see the attached spreadsheet which provides the information that you have requested.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original letter and should be addressed to: The Monitoring Officer, Civic Offices, Holton Road, Barry, CF63 4RU.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.
The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office - Wales
Second Floor, Churchill House
Churchill Way,
Cardiff
CF10 2HH
029 20678400 / Fax:029 20678399
[email address]
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Officer
Legal Services
Vale of Glamorgan Council / Cyngor Bro Morgannwg
tel / ffôn: 01446 700111
mob / sym:
e-mail / e-bost: [email address] or [email address]
Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really need to.
Ystyriwch yr amgylchedd. Peidiwch ag argraffu'r neges hon oni bai fod gwir angen.
Visit our Website at http://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/
Ewch i'n gwefan yn http://www.bromorgannwg.gov.uk/
Find us on Facebook / Cewch ddod o hyd i ni ar Facebook
Follow us on Twitter / Dilynwch ni ar Twitter
Correspondence is welcomed in Welsh or English / Croesewir Gohebiaeth yn y Gymraeg neu yn Saesneg.
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