Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request- Project 17
Dear Sir/Madam,
Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”) request
We write to request the following information under the FOIA in relation to assessments of, and the provision of support to, families with No Recourse to Public Funds (“NRPF”) seeking access to support under section 17 of the Children Act 1989. If you require any further clarification as to our request, kindly inform us promptly and we would be happy to assist.
Contact details:
1. Does your local authority have a separate team dealing with requests for support under section 17 Children Act 1989, for example an ‘NRPF team’?
2. If yes, please provide contact details for this team (telephone and email)
3. If no, please confirm where referrals for such support should be directed to and the contact details (telephone and email)
4. Please also provide contact details for the relevant legal team supporting children’s services or dedicated NRPF team
Policies:
5. Do you have any guidance or policy documents or other such written material in respect of undertaking assessments and providing support pursuant to section 17 of the Children Act 1989 to families with no recourse to public funds (including documents specific to this issue, or of more general application but covering this issue)?
6. If yes, please provide us with a copy.
Subsistence:
7. Do you pay a set rate of financial subsistence to families with no recourse to public funds?
If you answered yes in response to Q7 please consider questions 8-14, but ignore questions 15-16. If you answered no, please ignore questions 8-14 and proceed to question 15.
8. If yes, what is paid?
9. How has that figure been reached? E.g. is it by reference to Child Benefit rates, asylum support (section 4 or section 95 rates)?
10. When was this level set?
11. Who took this decision?
12. Please provide copies of any reports, minutes, decision documents detailing the setting of this rate.
13. If you do not pay a set rate of financial subsistence to families with no recourse to public funds, do you have any guidelines relating to rates of financial support?
14. If yes, please provide a copy.
15. If you do not pay a set rate of financial subsistence to families with no recourse to public funds, in the months April to September 2020, how many families with NRPF were receiving regular financial subsistence support under section 17 (CA 1989) from your local authority?
16. Please specify how much financial support each family received per week (or fortnight if subsistence is paid fortnightly rather than weekly) as regular subsistence in each of the months April, May, June, July, August and September 2020. Please provide a breakdown for each of these months and when doing so please provide the following information:
a. Specify the composition of the household (i.e. whether it is a two or single-parent household and how many children there are)
b. identify whether the household has any children under 1-year-old and, if so, how many
c. identify whether the household has any children between 1 and 3 years old and, if so, how many;
d. identify whether the household has any children between 4 and 17 years old and, if so, how many
e. identify whether any of the members of the household were pregnant
f. identify whether the household ever received any discretionary payments for individual items from the Council and, if so, how much;
g. identify whether the household ever received additional funds for travel costs, and if so, how much.
Please note that we are not requesting personal data and we are not requesting identifying information. We are expecting to receive something along these lines. Please note, we are not prescribing the format of your response, though you are welcome to follow our suggestion ( a table format). We are trying to provide clarification that we hope will assist you in responding.
We anticipate that this information will be easily accessible to you as we understand that the majority (if not all) of the families will receive automated payments to their subsistence cards.
If you require any further clarification as to our request, kindly inform us promptly and we would be happy to assist.
If you hold any of the information requested but consider it is exempt from disclosure, please state specifically what exemption you rely upon (including the relevant statutory provision) and the reason you consider it to be applicable.
We look forward to receiving your response within 20 working days as per the FOIA.
Yours faithfully,
Blessing
Dear Blessing
Thank you for your request for information received on 23/11/2020. We are
currently processing your request in accordance with the relevant
legislation.
Your request is for information about Project 17 arrangements.
* This is a summary only and full details have been sent to the team
providing the response.
* If you feel the information is inaccurate or requires amendment,
please notify us as soon as possible using the contact details
provided below.
Please note:
The Council has been facing unprecedented challenges this year. Firstly,
in response to the flooding in February and now in responding to the
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. During this time, resources may have to
be diverted away from usual compliance or information rights work. The
council acknowledges that it can’t extend statutory timescales of requests
and everyone is doing their best to meet these. However, priority may have
to be given to other areas, eg the safeguarding of vulnerable people,
during this extraordinary period.
The Information Commissioner’s Office has blogged about their approach to
requests during this time: [1]blog
The Information Commissioner’s Office has released a statement about Data
Protection and the Coronavirus here: [2]statement
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Team
Shropshire Council
Shirehall
Abbey Foregate
SHREWSBURY
SY2 6ND
Tel: 01743 252179 / 252774 / 252747
Email: [Shropshire Council request email]
Web: [3]www.shropshire.gov.uk/access-to-information
[4]For information about Coronavirus click here/image below
[5][IMG]
References
Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/about-the-ico/news-an...
2. https://gbr01.safelinks.protection.outlo...
3. http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/access-to-i...
4. https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
5. https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus
Dear FOI Team,
I am writing in regards to our FOIA request submitted on 23 November 2020 asking for information on the assessments of, and the provision of support to, families with No Recourse to Public Funds.
I have recently taken over from Blessing and am following up on her requests.
We recognised the unprecedented challenges all are facing during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and that there may be delays in processing requests for information during the pandemic. However, it has now been quite some time since we submitted the request. Could you please update us on the progress of processing and when we might expect a reply.
Hope you are all safe and sound.
All the best,
Kristine Harris
Dear Ms Harris
Thank you for your email, we have sent a reminder to the team responding.
Yours sincerely
Information Governance Team
Shropshire Council
Shirehall
Abbey Foregate
SHREWSBURY
SY2 6ND
Telephone: 01743 252179
Email: [Shropshire Council request email]
Further to your request for information, please find our response
attached, with apologies for the delay.
Karen Bradshaw
Executive Director of Children’s Services
Shropshire Council
E mail:[email address]
PA Penny McLagan: [1][email address]
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