Fostering at Northumberland

Joseph Durbidge made this Freedom of Information request to Northumberland County Council Automatic anti-spam measures are in place for this older request. Please let us know if a further response is expected or if you are having trouble responding.

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Dear Northumberland County Council,

1) What was the date in which your fostering fee/skills element was last changed?

2) What was the expenditure on Local authority foster care for 2023/2024 ? NOT including kinship care?

3) What was the expenditure on Independent fostering agencies for 2023/24?

b) The proportion of foster care placements in the financial years 2023/2024 that were purchased from independent fostering agencies (IFAs)

c) The proportion of foster care placements as of 06/06/2024 that are being purchased from IFAs

I'm just updating these figures from the forecasts you provided previously and adding in the first question as I asked for clarification a bit late on that.

I just want to make sure the proportion of private placements to total expenditure is correct as the previous figures you provided suggests that local authority placements actually cost more than independent agencies which is never the case with any council, usually they are around twice as much (for each percentage point). Can you ensure the local authority expenditure on foster care does not include kinship care or explain why the costs for LA care are more at Northumberland.

Thanks a lot for the help

Yours faithfully,

Joseph Durbidge

FOI and EIR
Our reference: 1623849

══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════

Dear Mr Durbidge,

Freedom of Information Act 2000

Thank you for your request for information that was received on 6 June
2024.

We are dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 and we aim to send a response by 4 July 2024.

In some cases, a fee may be payable. If we decide a fee is payable, we
will send you a fee notice and we will require you to pay the fee before
proceeding with your request.

Please note that further to the [1]Information Commissioner's guidance
regarding spreadsheets, Northumberland County Council has taken the
decision not to share spreadsheets as part of FOI or EIR responses going
forward.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 may restrict the release of some or
all of the information you have requested. We will carry out an assessment
and if any exemptions apply to some or all of the information then we
might not provide that information to you. We will inform you if this is
the case and advise you of your rights to request an internal review and
to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office.

We will also advise you if we cannot provide you with the information
requested for any other reason together with the reason(s) why and details
of how you may appeal (if appropriate).

Kind regards,

Catherine Yildiz
Information Governance Team
Northumberland County Council
W: [2]www.northumberland.gov.uk

NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

Northumberland County Council
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References

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Response all information to be supplied.pdf

239K Download View as HTML

FOI and EIR
Our reference: 1623849

Dear Mr Durbidge

Thank you for your request for information received on 6 June 2024.

Please find attached our response to your request.

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information Officer
Family Placement & Fostering
Northumberland County Council
W: [1]www.northumberland.gov.uk

NOTE: Please do not edit the subject line when replying to this email.

Northumberland County Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error
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disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
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Northumberland County Council.
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have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Northumberland
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References

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Dear Northumberland County Council,

Hi there, thanks a lot for the response. The current pdf link hasn't got the answers inserted it currently says [insert questions and responses]

Yours sincerely,

Joseph Durbidge

Apologies, we are having problems with the system today.

Please see responses below and hope this is acceptable:

Q.1 What was the date in which your fostering fee/skills element was last
changed?
We introduced new fostering fee banding in 2018 following a recruitments
campaign targeted at carers for teenage young people.
We launched our first Mockingbird hub and introduced a new fostering band
to support this initiative in 2022.
Q.2 What was the expenditure on Local authority foster care for 2023/2024
? NOT including kinship care?
Foster Care Allowances 23/24 expenditure - £4,500,667

Q.3 What was the expenditure on Independent fostering agencies for
2023/24?
IFA's 23/24 expenditure - £1,640,948

a. The proportion of foster care placements in the financial years
2023/2024 that were purchased from independent fostering agencies (IFAs)
We have assumed that the question is asking, out of the total number of
children in foster care, what percentage of those are in independent
agencies for financial year 2023/2024 -25.7%

b. The proportion of foster care placements as of 06/06/2024 that are
being purchased from IFAs -
We have assumed that the question is asking, out of the total number of
children in foster care, what percentage of those are in independent
agencies as at 6 June 2024 - 25.6%
Can you ensure the local authority expenditure on foster care does not
include kinship care or explain why the costs for LA care are more at
Northumberland.
The information submitted does not include Kinship Carers.
Presuming the question is why we pay more to our own cohort of foster
carers compared to IFA's and the answer is around 75% of our children and
young people are cared for by foster carers approved by NCC.

Kind regards
Freedom of Information Officer

From: [FOI #1137168 email]
Sent: Thu Jun 20 2024 10:22:46 BST
To: [email address]
Subject: Re: Information request (ref: 1623849)
(Attachments:) Email from [FOI #1137168 email] -
Re: Information request .txt, Email (original message) from
[FOI #1137168 email] received on 20/06/2024.eml

Northumberland County Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error
has misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email.
Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states these to be the views of
Northumberland County Council.
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Northumberland
County Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising
from the use of this email or attachments.

Dear Northumberland County Council,

Hey there, thanks a lot for the response. Just a small question, with question 1 you've given me the date that the bandings were changed, which is 2018. I appreciate that is kind of how I worded the question but the current band 2 for foster carers is - £183.47 per week

I believe that was last raised further ago than 2018, are you able to let me know when that fee was last raised even if the bandings themselves have changed?

Many thanks for your time

Yours sincerely,

Joseph Durbidge

Dear Requester

I'll forward your query to the relevant team and get back to you as soon
as the team respond.

Many thanks

From: [FOI #1137168 email]
Sent: Mon Jun 24 2024 13:39:28 BST
To: [email address]
Subject: Re: Information request (ref: 1623849)
(Attachments:) Email from [FOI #1137168 email] -
Re: Information request .txt, Email (original message) from
[FOI #1137168 email] received on 24/06/2024.eml

Northumberland County Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error
has misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email.
Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states these to be the views of
Northumberland County Council.
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Northumberland
County Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising
from the use of this email or attachments.

Dear Northumberland County Council,

Thanks for that

Yours sincerely,

Joseph Durbidge

Good morning
Sorry for the delay, I'll contact colleagues now to try and get a
response.

Many thanks.

From: Northumberland County Council<[email address]>
Sent: 24/06/2024 14:15
To: [FOI #1137168 email]
Subject: Re: Information request (ref: 1623849)
Dear Requester

I'll forward your query to the relevant team and get back to you as soon
as the team respond.

Many thanks

Dear Northumberland County Council,

No worries, thanks for that

Yours sincerely,

Joseph Durbidge

Good morning

Apologies for the delay, but given changes in structure and personnel,
unfortunately we do not hold the historical information that you have
requested.

Many thanks

From: [FOI #1137168 email]
Sent: Wed Jul 17 2024 13:04:57 BST
To: [email address]
Subject: Re: Information request (ref: 1623849)
(Attachments:) Email from [FOI #1137168 email] -
Re: Information request .txt, Email (original message) from
[FOI #1137168 email] received on 17/07/2024.eml

Northumberland County Council
This email contains proprietary confidential information some or all of
which may be legally privileged and/or subject to the provisions of
privacy legislation. It is intended solely for the addressee.
If you are not the intended recipient, an addressing or transmission error
has misdirected this e-mail; you must not use, disclose, copy, print or
disseminate the information contained within this e-mail. Please notify
the author immediately by replying to this email.
Any views expressed in this email are those of the individual sender,
except where the sender specifically states these to be the views of
Northumberland County Council.
This email has been scanned for all viruses and all reasonable precautions
have been taken to ensure that no viruses are present. Northumberland
County Council cannot accept responsibility for any loss or damage arising
from the use of this email or attachments.

Dear Northumberland County Council,

Ok sorry to hear that, thanks for responding

Yours sincerely,

Joseph Durbidge

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