Elective Home Education. School Attendance Orders and Education Supervision Orders.
Dear Staffordshire County Council,
1. Would you please advise me of the numbers of S437(1) Education Act 1996 notices that have been sent to the parents of home educated children in the period October 2019 to October 2022.
2. Would you advise me of the numbers of School Attendance Orders (SAO) that have been served on the parents of home educated children in the period October 2019 to October 2022.
3. Would you advise me of the numbers of prosecutions that have been made where parents of electively home educated children have failed to comply with a School Attendance Order within the period October 2019 to October 2022.
4. Where the local authority has prosecuted the parents of electively home educated children for failing to comply with an SAO, would you provide the numbers where:
a) the local authority have withdrawn the prosecution before it reached court.
b) parents were found guilty of the offence.
c) parents were found not guilty of the offence.
5. Would you advise me whether the local authority has considered applying for Education Supervision Orders (ESO) for an electively home educated child between October 2019 to October 2022. How many ESOs has the LA considered applying for in this period, for electively home educated children?
6. If the LA has applied for ESOs in relation to a home educated child, how many have been issued within the period October 2019 to October 2022.
Yours faithfully,
Jane Pointon
Dear Jane Pointon
Thank you for your request for information received by Staffordshire
County Council on 20/10/2022.
Your request is being dealt with and a response will be sent to you within
twenty working days.
If you have any queries about this request do not hesitate to contact us.
Please remember to quote the case reference number above in any future
communications.
Yours sincerely
Access to Information Team
Corporate Services
1 Staffordshire Place
Tipping Street Stafford ST16 2DH
Email: [1][Staffordshire County Council request email]
[2]www.staffordshire.gov.uk
References
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1. mailto:[Staffordshire County Council request email]
2. http://www.staffordshire.gov.uk/
Dear Staffordshire County Council,
I would like to clarify question number 6 of my request and also ask how many Education Supervision Orders has the local authority applied for in the period October 2019 to October 2022, in relation to an home educated child.
Yours faithfully,
Jane Pointon
Dear Jane Pointon
Thank you for your request for information held by Staffordshire County Council.
We do not hold the requested data prior to September 2021. We were not previously recording the data in a way which we could extract it without having to undertake extensive work in reviewing individual families. The numbers from September 2021 are detailed in the responses
We are therefore unable to process part of your request within ‘the appropriate limit’ as this information is not recorded centrally. We estimate that it will take us in excess of 18 hours to locate, identify, extract and collate the information from the individual case records.
Section 12 of the Act makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for Staffordshire County Council is set at £450/18 hours. Therefore, your request will not be processed further.
Unfortunately because of the way records are arranged for our business purposes we are unable to suggest a way of limiting your request in a way that would bring a request within the appropriate limit and provide meaningful data prior to September 2021.
1. Would you please advise me of the numbers of S437(1) Education Act 1996 notices that have been sent to the parents of home educated children in the period October 2019 to October 2022.
We do not record the number of parents, but only the number of children we also record our data in academic years so from 1/9/21 to 31/8/22 = 125
2. Would you advise me of the numbers of School Attendance Orders (SAO) that have been served on the parents of home educated children in the period October 2019 to October 2022.
We do not record the number of parents, but only the number of children we also record our data in academic years so from 1/9/21 to 31/8/22 = 7
3. Would you advise me of the numbers of prosecutions that have been made where parents of electively home educated children have failed to comply with a School Attendance Order within the period October 2019 to October 2022.
The number of EHE parents who were prosecuted for failure to comply with a SAO during the year from 30th September 2021 to 1st October 2022 = 2
4. Where the local authority has prosecuted the parents of electively home educated children for failing to comply with an SAO, would you provide the numbers where:
a) the local authority have withdrawn the prosecution before it reached court. - 0
b) parents were found guilty of the offence. - 2
c) parents were found not guilty of the offence. - 0
5. Would you advise me whether the local authority has considered applying for Education Supervision Orders (ESO) for an electively home educated child between October 2019 to October 2022. How many ESOs has the LA considered applying for in this period, for electively home educated children?
We have not considered ESO in respect of any of the children who are EHE and so have no applied for any.
6. If the LA has applied for ESOs in relation to a home educated child, how many have been issued within the period October 2019 to October 2022. How many Education Supervision Orders has the local authority applied for in the period October 2019 to October 2022, in relation to an home educated child.
Please see response to question 5.
If you have any comments relating to how your request has been handled by our authority you should contact us in the first instance. Send your comment or complaint to:
Access to Information Team Manager, Access to Information Team, Staffordshire County Council, 1 Staffordshire Place, Stafford ST16 2DH or email [Staffordshire County Council request email]
If you then have any further comments relating to how your request has been handled by our authority, please contact the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, or Make a complaint | ICO
Regards
David Portch
David Portch │Information Asset Officer
Access to Information Team – Corporate Services
1 Staffordshire Place
Tipping Street Stafford ST16 2DH
Email: [email address]
www.staffordshire.gov.uk
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