Dear A Williams,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) - INFORMATION REQUEST

The City of London (CoL) acknowledges receipt of your request for
information of 8 September 2010. 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. 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 link to a map on the CoL's website, which
shows the area covered:

[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/maps/boundary_map.htm.
The CoL's port health authority functions extend beyond the City boundary.
For further information please see:
[2]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/porthealth.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
[3]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear A Williams,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) - INFORMATION REQUEST

Following your request of 8 September 2010, and our acknowledgement of 9
September, the City of London (CoL) responds as follows.

Unfortunately, we are unable to comply with your request on time (the
compliance deadline being today). This is because, perhaps unusually for a
local authority, the provision of services you described is run for us by
external service providers and we are having to seek from them the
information you require. Please accept our apologies for the delay. It
comes at a time when we are experiencing a higher than ever number of
requests under the FOIA but, nevertheless, it does not meet our own
standards.

We aim to comply on or before close of Monday, 11 October.

In accordance with the Act we include complaints information, as follows.

If you wish to make a complaint about the way the CoL has managed your
enquiry, please make your complaint in writing to email address:
[email address]. For a link to the CoL's FOI complaints
procedure, please visit the following page:
[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Feedback, at the end of which is located the
FOI complaints procedure. If, having used the CoL's FOI 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) 545700. Website: [2]http://www.ico.gov.uk/.

The FOIA applies to the CoL 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,

Department of Community & Children's Services
City of London
020-7332 1638
[3]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

_____________________________________________
From: COL - EB - Information Officer
Sent: 09 September 2010 16:47
To: 'A Williams'
Subject: FOI RFI: Williams, wef 9 Sept 2010 - Acknowledgement

Dear A Williams,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) - INFORMATION REQUEST

The City of London (CoL) acknowledges receipt of your request for
information of 8 September 2010. 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. 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 link to a map on the CoL's website, which
shows the area covered:

[4]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/maps/boundary_map.htm.
The CoL's port health authority functions extend beyond the City boundary.
For further information please see:
[5]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/porthealth.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
[6]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear A Williams,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST

Following receipt of your request for information on 8 September 2010, our
acknowledgement of the 9 September, and our holding reply of 6 October,
the City of London (CoL) responds as follows:

The City (the "Square Mile") has a residential population of around 8,000
people. There are less than 10 children in the City of London currently
receiving Foster Care and because we are a very small Local Authority we
outsource the provision of Foster Care Services to external agencies.

The total weekly allowances that the City of London pays to outsourced
agencies are as follows, please note that the figures below are inclusive
of the allowances that you mention in your request:

0 - 4 yrs 5 - 10 yrs 11 - 12 yrs 13 - 18 yrs
N/A N/A N/A 810.39
N/A N/A N/A 799.00
N/A N/A N/A 806.26
685.71 701.17 730.08 779.00
675.22 802.62 802.62 802.62

The attached information is a general guideline of fees paid:

<<Doc 1.pdf>> <<Doc 2.pdf>>
We hope that this assists. Once again, please accept our sincere apologies
for the overdue response.

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:
[email address].

For a link to the CoL's FOI complaints procedure, please visit the
following page: [1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Feedback, at the end of which
is located the FOI complaints procedure. If, having used the CoL's FOI
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) 545700. Website: [2]http://www.ico.gov.uk/.

Please note that the Act applies to the City of London only as a local
authority, police authority and port health authority. Subject to any
other statutory provisions requiring the City of London to disclose
information, release of information outside the scope of the Act is
subject to the discretion of the City of London.

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

Department of Community & Children's Services
Tel: 020 7332 1638
City of London
[3]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear A Williams,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST

Further to our last message dated 11^th October 2010, on checking the
status of our response on 'Whatdotheyknow.com' I notice that the table of
figures included in our original response is out of format. I have
attached a re-formatted table for your information along with the
guideline documents.

<<Doc 2.pdf>> <<Doc 1.pdf>> <<Re-formatted table.doc>>
We hope that 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:
[email address].

For a link to the CoL's FOI complaints procedure, please visit the
following page: [1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Feedback, at the end of which
is located the FOI complaints procedure. If, having used the CoL's FOI
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) 545700. Website: [2]http://www.ico.gov.uk/.

Please note that the Act applies to the City of London only as a local
authority, police authority and port health authority. Subject to any
other statutory provisions requiring the City of London to disclose
information, release of information outside the scope of the Act is
subject to the discretion of the City of London.

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

Department of Community & Children's Services
Tel: 020 7332 1638
City of London
[3]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear A Williams,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) - INFORMATION REQUEST

The City of London (CoL) acknowledges receipt of your request for
information of 1 November 2010.

Please note that, although you have submitted your request using the same
email address as your request of 8 September, this constitutes a new
request.

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. 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 link to a map on the CoL's website, which
shows the area covered:

[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Corporation/maps/boundary_map.htm.
The CoL's port health authority functions extend beyond the City boundary.
For further information please see:
[2]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/porthealth.

Yours sincerely,

Information Officer
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
[3]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear A Williams,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST

Following receipt of your request for information on 1 November 2010, and
our acknowledgement of the 2 November, the City of London (CoL) responds
as follows:

The City (the "Square Mile") has a residential population of around 8,000
people. There are less than 10 children in the City of London currently
receiving Foster Care and because we are a very small Local Authority we
outsource the provision of Foster Care Services to external agencies.

1. Amount paid towards Child's Maintenance
One of our providers pays child's weekly maintenance allowance based on
primary & secondary school age: £135/£155. One other provider pays
£277.44.

    
2. Amount paid towards foster Parent(s) Fees
One of our providers has two different weekly amounts for both the foster
parent fees £273/£253. One other provider pays thee foster parent
£113.68 per week.

    
3. Amount charged by other Councils for fostering your County's children
We have no fostered children placed in other councils.

Your Council is paying the same amount to one Council for 5-10 year olds
as for 13-18 year olds. Why? This is the way that the State Child
Maintenance Allowance system works, but usually Fostering Allowances
increase with a child's age.

Please see the amended table below to show City of London children placed
in foster care- note that an error was made in the figures in the last
table sent in our response of 13^th October 2010.

Foster Agency Fee Foster carer's weekly fee (excl. CMA) Child's
weekly maintenance allowance
0 - 4 yrs 5 - 10 yrs 11 - 12 yrs 13 - 18 yrs General
Primary school aged
child Secondary
School
aged child General Primary school aged child Secondary school
aged child
N/A 760.39 810.39 N/A 273.00 253.00 135.00
155.00
N/A N/A N/A 799.00

N/A N/A N/A 806.26 95.95

N/A N/A N/A 779.00

N/A N/A N/A 802.62 277.44

We hope that 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:
[email address].

For a link to the CoL's FOI complaints procedure, please visit the
following page: [1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Feedback, at the end of which
is located the FOI complaints procedure. If, having used the CoL's FOI
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) 545700. Website: [2]http://www.ico.gov.uk/.

Please note that the Act applies to the City of London only as a local
authority, police authority and port health authority. Subject to any
other statutory provisions requiring the City of London to disclose
information, release of information outside the scope of the Act is
subject to the discretion of the City of London.

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

Department of Community & Children's Services
Tel: 020 7332 1638
City of London
[3]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

show quoted sections

Dear A Williams,

The City of London acknowledges receipt of your follow up questions dated
25th November, relating to the Freedom of Information Request. Your
enquiry will be investigated and a response will be issued next week.

With kind regards

Department of Community & Children's Services
Tel: 020 7332 1638
City of London
[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

____________________________________________________________

A Williams

25 November 2010
Dear FOI, DCS,

First, - what does the verbiage below mean? I've 'copied it' as it
appeared on my library computer screen.

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Dear A Williams,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST

Following receipt of your request for clarification of the response sent
to you on 25th November, the City of London (CoL) responds as follows:

We apologise for the lack of clarity in the table that was previously
sent, unfortunately the format was lost when sending to the
whatdotheyknow.com site. The attached pdf contains the relevant
information, including what we are charged by the agents (agency fees)
and amounts paid to foster parents.

We hope that 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:
[email address].

For a link to the CoL's FOI complaints procedure, please visit the
following page: www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Feedback, at the end of which is
located the FOI complaints procedure. If, having used the CoL's FOI
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) 545700. Website: http://www.ico.gov.uk/.

Please note that the Act applies to the City of London only as a local
authority, police authority and port health authority. Subject to any
other statutory provisions requiring the City of London to disclose
information, release of information outside the scope of the Act is
subject to the discretion of the City of London.

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

Department of Community & Children's Services
Tel: 020 7332 1638
City of London
www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

show quoted sections