Homeless - private sector discharges
Dear Lewisham Borough Council,
This request is related to discharge of the main homeless duty through private sector offers under S193(7AA-AC) Housing Act 1996.
1) Please confirm how many people are currently owed the main homeless duty (under S192(2) Housing Act 1996)?
Please provide the following for the last 12 months:
2a) The number of main homeless duties that were accepted (under S192(2) Housing Act 1996) in the last 12 months?
2b) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 2a are single parent households with dependent children.
2c) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 2a are two parent households with dependent children.
3a) The number of private sector offers made under S193(7AA-AC) Housing Act 1996 in the last 12 months?
3b) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 3a are single parent households with dependent children.
3c) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 3a are two parent households with dependent children.
4) The number of homeless duties discharged due to offers made under S193(7AA-AC) Housing Act 1996 in the last 12 months?
4b) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 4a are single parent households with dependent children.
4c) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 4a are two parent households with dependent children.
Yours faithfully,
Jo Staines
Dear Jo,
Re: Freedom of Information Act 2000
Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Reference No: 8301057
Thank you for your recent request.
Your request is being considered and you will receive a response within the statutory timescale of 20 working days, subject to the application of any exemptions. Where consideration is being given to exemptions the 20 working day timescale may be extended to a period considered reasonable depending on the nature and circumstances of your request. In such cases you will be notified and, where possible, a revised time-scale will be indicated. In all cases we shall attempt to deal with your request at the earliest opportunity.
There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of the information requested where the request exceeds the statutory limit or where disbursements exceed £10. In such cases you will be informed in writing and your request will be suspended until we receive payment from you or your request is modified and/or reduced.
Your request may require either full or partial transfer to another public authority. You will be informed if your request is transferred.
If we are unable to provide you with the information requested we will notify you of this together with the reason(s) why and details of how you may appeal (if appropriate).
Please note that the directorate team may contact you for further information where we believe that the request is not significantly clear for us to respond fully.
Kind regards
Corporate Complaints, Casework and Information Governance Team
Dear Jo Staines
Re: Freedom of Information Act 2000
Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Reference No: 8301057
Thank you for your request for information held by London Borough of Lewisham. I have included below a copy of your request, followed by the Council’s response.
1) Please confirm how many people are currently owed the main homeless duty (under S192(2) Housing Act 1996)?
Please provide the following for the last 12 months:
2,227
2a) The number of main homeless duties that were accepted (under S192(2) Housing Act 1996) in the last 12 months?
676
2b) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 2a are single parent households with dependent children.
We apply Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, ‘Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit’, to your request (details below).
We are unable to provide this information as we do not capture information in this way. In order to provide it, we would need to check each case record individually.
Assuming that it would take approximately 2 minutes to check each case, it would take over 22.5 hours of staff time to collate this information
2c) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 2a are two parent households with dependent children.
We apply Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, ‘Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit’, to your request (details below).
We are unable to provide this information as we do not capture information in this way. In order to provide it, we would need to check each case record individually.
Assuming that it would take approximately 2 minutes to check each case, it would take over 22.5 hours of staff time to collate this information
3a) The number of private sector offers made under S193(7AA-AC) Housing Act 1996 in the last 12 months?
134
3b) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 3a are single parent households with dependent children.
101
3c) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 3a are two parent households with dependent children.
33
4) The number of homeless duties discharged due to offers made under S193(7AA-AC) Housing Act 1996 in the last 12 months?
134
4b) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 4a are single parent households with dependent children.
101
4c) Please confirm how many of the households in answer to question 4a are two parent households with dependent children.
33
Section 12 states:
(1) Section 1(1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.
(2) Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the appropriate limit.
(3) In subsections (1) and (2) “the appropriate limit” means such amount as may be prescribed, and different amounts may be prescribed in relation to different cases.
(4) The Secretary of State may by regulations provide that, in such circumstances as may be prescribed, where two or more requests for information are made to a public authority—
(a) by one person, or
(b) by different persons who appear to the public authority to be acting in concert or in pursuance of a campaign,
the estimated cost of complying with any of the requests is to be taken to be the estimated total cost of complying with all of them.
(5) The Secretary of State may by regulations make provision for the purposes of this section as to the costs to be estimated and as to the manner in which they are to be estimated.
We hope you will find this information helpful.
You are free to use the information provided for your own purposes, including any non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, requires the permission of the copyright holder. You may apply for permission to re-use this information by submitting a request to [email address]
You have a right of appeal against this response which you can exercise by writing to: Information Governance – 1st floor Town Hall Chambers, Catford, London. SE6 4RU. Or at: [email address]
This must be requested within 40 working days of the date of this response.
If you remain dissatisfied after receiving this decision, you then also have a further right of appeal, which you can make in writing, stating your reasons to the regulating body, the Information Commissioner's Office. Contact details are outlined below:
https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
Telephone: 0303 123 1113.
Address: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely
Corporate Complaints & Casework Team
London Borough of Lewisham
Address: 1st Floor Laurence House, 1 Catford Road, London, SE6 4RU
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