Homelessness temporary accommodation

The request was refused by Lewisham Borough Council.

To Whom It May Concern,

I am writing to you requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act (2000), regarding the topic of homelessness in your area. The information that I require is as follows:

• What was the number of people in temporary accommodation organised by the council in each of the years from 2010-2018?
• How many of those in temporary accommodation were children in each of the years from 2010 to 2018?
• How many of those in temporary accommodation were children in each of the years from 2010-2018?
• What was the average length of time a family spent in temporary accommodation in each of the years from 2010-2018?
• How many people were placed in B&B accommodation in each of the years from 2010-2018?
• How many people were given temporary accommodation outside of the council area in each of the years from 2010-2018?
• How many children were given temporary accommodation outside the council area in each of the years from 2010-2018?
• What is the average cost per night paid by the council for temporary accommodation in each of the years from 2010-2018?

If you can identify any ways that my request could be refined, I would be grateful for any further advice and assistance.

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact me via email and I will be pleased to clarify what I am asking for and discuss the request.

Thank you very much for your help regarding this topic, I look forward to you reply in the near future.

Yours faithfully,

Emily Thomas

Foi, Customer, Lewisham Borough Council

Dear Emily,

Re: Freedom of Information Act 2000
Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Reference No: 4216321

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

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Foi, Customer, Lewisham Borough Council

Dear Emily Thomas

Re: Freedom of Information Act 2000
Environmental Information Regulations 2004
Reference No: 4216321

Thank you for your request for information held by London Borough of Lewisham. Please accept our apologies for the delay in providing you with a response to your request.

I have included below a copy of your request, followed by the Council’s response.

•What was the number of people in temporary accommodation organised by the council in each of the years from 2010-2018?

We apply Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, ‘Information reasonably accessible to the applicant by other means’, to your request.

The information that you have requested, can be accessed via the below link

https://www.gov.uk/government/collection...

•How many of those in temporary accommodation were children in each of the years from 2010 to 2018?

We apply Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, ‘Information reasonably accessible to the applicant by other means’, to your request.

The information that you have requested, can be accessed via the below link

https://www.gov.uk/government/collection...

•How many of those in temporary accommodation were children in each of the years from 2010-2018?

We apply Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, ‘Information reasonably accessible to the applicant by other means’, to your request.

The information that you have requested, can be accessed via the below link

https://www.gov.uk/government/collection...

•What was the average length of time a family spent in temporary accommodation in each of the years from 2010-2018?
Placed in X year and not currently an open placement *

2010: 159 days
2011: 172 Days
2012: 180 Days
2013: 205 Days
2014: 223 Days
2015: 249 Days
2016: 236 Days
2017: 181 Days
2018: 137 Days

•How many people were placed in B&B accommodation in each of the years from 2010-2018?

2010: 686
2011: 534
2012: 543
2013: 791
2014: 1412
2015: 1325
2016: 1293
2017: 1282
2018: 1357

•How many people were given temporary accommodation outside of the council area in each of the years from 2010-2018?

2010: 301
2011: 365
2012: 292
2013: 453
2014: 957
2015: 926
2016: 1012
2017: 989
2018: 918

•How many children were given temporary accommodation outside the council area in each of the years from 2010-2018?

We confirm that this information is not held by London Borough of Lewisham which enables us to provide you with the information requested.

•What is the average cost per night paid by the council for temporary accommodation in each of the years from 2010-2018?

We confirm that this information is not held by London Borough of Lewisham which enables us to provide you with the information requested.

Section 21 states:
(1) Information which is readily available to the applicant otherwise than under section 1 is exempt information.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)-
(a) information may be reasonably accessible to the applicant even though it is accessible only on payment, and
(b) information is to be taken to be reasonably accessible to the applicant if it is information which the public authority or any other person is obliged by or under any enactment to communicate (otherwise than by making the information available for inspection) to members of the public on request, whether free of charge or upon payment.
(3) For the purposes of subsection (1), information which is held by a public authority and does not fall within subsection (2)(b) is not to be regarded as reasonably accessible to the applicant merely because the information is available from the public authority itself on request, unless the information is made available in accordance with the authority’s publication scheme and any payment required is specified in, or determined in accordance with, the scheme.

This acts as an exemption notice. Subsection 1 means that the Council is relieved of the duty to communicate the requested information to an applicant if there is an existing method by which the information can be obtained, outside of the operation of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This is an absolute exemption and therefore does not require the public interests balancing test to be applied.

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 & Information Governance Team
London Borough of Lewisham
Address: 1st Floor Laurence House, 1 Catford Road, London, SE6 4RU

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