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
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Dear Blessing,
We acknowledge with thanks your request for information held by Bolton
Council received at this office on 23 November 2020.
This request will be considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
and may take up to 20 working days to be processed (although we will
endeavour to provide the information as quickly as possible).
Please be advised that if an exemption applies to the information that you
have requested, the statutory period may be exceeded in accordance with
the provisions of the act.
Please retain the reference number RFI 006989 for any future enquiries
regarding this matter.
Many thanks
The Information Governance Team
1^st Floor, Town Hall, Bolton, BL1 1RU
>>Corporate Logo<<
This e-mail and any attached files are confidential and may also be
legally privileged. They are intended solely for the intended addressee.
If you are not the addressee please e-mail it back to the sender and then
immediately, permanently delete it. Do not read, print, re-transmit, store
or act in reliance on it. This e-mail may be monitored by Bolton Council
in accordance with current regulations.
This footnote also confirms that this e-mail message has been swept for
the presence of computer viruses currently known to Bolton Council.
However, the recipient is responsible for virus-checking before opening
this message and any attachment.
Unless expressly stated to the contrary, any views expressed in this
message are those of the individual sender and may not necessarily reflect
the views of Bolton Council.
Dear Blessing
Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
The council has considered your request which was received on 23^rd
November 2020 and our response is shown below.
You requested:
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’?
No
2. If yes, please provide contact details for this team (telephone
and email)
n/a
3. If no, please confirm where referrals for such support should be
directed to and the contact details (telephone and email)
Multi-Agency Screening and Safeguarding Service (MASSS), Castle Hill
Centre, Castleton St, Bolton, BL2 2JW
[1]R&[email address]
4. Please also provide contact details for the relevant legal team
supporting children’s services or dedicated NRPF team
Legal Services, Room 120, First Floor, Town Hall, Bolton BL1 1RU
[2][email address]
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)?
Please see response to Question 6 below
6. If yes, please provide us with a copy.
Bolton Council have a policy/procedure for Families with No Recourse to
Public Funds which is accessible by the following link;
[3]https://boltonchildcare.proceduresonline...
Accordingly, we feel this information is reasonably accessible by other
means, therefore making the application of section 21(1) appropriate in
this case. Section 21(1) provides an exemption where the information is
reasonably sought by other means. In accordance with the Act, this
constitutes a refusal notice for the above elements of your request.
Subsistence:
7. Do you pay a set rate of financial subsistence to families with no
recourse to public funds?
No
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?
Not applicable
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)?
Not applicable
10. When was this level set?
Not applicable
11. Who took this decision?
Not applicable
12. Please provide copies of any reports, minutes, decision documents
detailing the setting of this rate.
Not applicable
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?
Not applicable
14. If yes, please provide a copy.
Not applicable
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?
Please see response to Question 16 below
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.
Under section 1(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, any person
making a request for information to a public authority is entitled to be
informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information
of the description specified in the request, and if that is the case, to
have that information communicated to him.
Bolton Council does not record the information in Questions 15 and 16 as
we cannot identify any families who had NRPF. It would not be possible to
provide the information requested without further analysis and creation of
new information. The Freedom of Information Act does not require us to
create documents, nor to manipulate data to create new information;
therefore the requested information is not held.
Documents that we provide in response to your request are protected by
copyright. You are free to use them for your own use, including for
non-commercial research purposes. They may also be used for news
reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example by publishing
the document or issuing copies to the public will require the permission
of the copyright owner.
As per the Information Commissioners Office’s Freedom of Information Code
of Practice, should you disagree with our decision, you may appeal within
40 working days of this email to:
The Borough Solicitor, Bolton Council, Town Hall, Bolton, BL1 1RU
Email: [4][email address]
Should you further disagree with the decision following the appeal you may
wish to contact the Information Commissioner:
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF
[5]www.ico.org.uk
Tel: 0303 123 1113
Yours sincerely
The Information Governance Team
Town Hall, Bolton, BL1 1RU
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