Dear Mr Knight,

FOI request: FOI-2855

Thank you for your request dated 01/11/2024

Your request will be answered by 29/11/2024

If you have any queries about this request, please contact me, quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely,

David White
Head of Information, Safety and Community Services
Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central
Royal Borough of Greenwich

 3rd Floor, The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London, SE18 6HQ
http://www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk/

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Dear Mr Knight

Freedom of Information request:  FOI-2855

Thank you for your request dated 1 November 2024

Our response is as follows:

 1. Between 1st January 2019 and 1st October 2024 how much was spent by
the council on SEND (special educational needs and disabilities)
provision?

Section 12 see below

 2. Between 1st January 2019 and 1st October 2024 how much was spent by
the council on legal teams for cases dealing with SEND appeals? -
£1,177.286.23
 3. Between 1st January 2019 and 1st October 2024 how many SEND appeals
were received by the council? - 489
 4. Of these appeal cases decided by tribunal, how many were in favour of
the council? - 28

Section 12

Section 12(1) does not oblige a local 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.

The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and
Fees) Regulations 2004 (“the Fees Regulations) sets the appropriate limit
at £450 for the public authority in question. Under these Regulations, a
public authority can charge a maximum of £25 per hour for work undertaken
to comply with a request. This equates to 18 hours work.

A public authority is only required to provide a reasonable estimate or
breakdown of costs and in putting together its estimate it can take the
following processes into consideration:-

 a. Determining whether it holds the information
 b. Locating the information, or a document which may contain the
information;
 c. Retrieving the information, or a document which may contain the
information, and
 d. Extracting the information from a document containing it.

We have estimated the length of time it will take to do the following
tasks in accordance with section 12.

Retrieving and extracting the information.

To retrieve and extract the information one officer will have to read
through each electronic file this would take approximately 15 minutes (5
minutes to locate file and 10 minutes to retrieve and extract the
information. (15 minutes x 3000 records /60) = 750 hours

Total hours to complete the request equates to 750 hours

We estimate that it will take us in excess of 18 hours to determine the
appropriate material and locate, retrieve and extract the information in
reference to your request. The council is not obliged to comply with this
request because it exceeds the appropriate limit.

Section 16 of the Act imposes an obligation on public authorities to
provide advice and assistance to a person making a request, so far as it
is reasonable to do so.

The council is not a position to provide you with advice and assistance
due to the volume of records held by the council.

If you have any queries about this correspondence, please contact me,
quoting the reference number above.

If you are not satisfied with our response to your request, you can ask
for an Internal Review.  Internal review requests must be submitted within
two months of the date of receipt of the response to your original
request.  If you wish to do this, please contact us in writing, setting
out why you are dissatisfied.

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the Internal Review, you may
apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. 
Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the
Internal Review procedure provided by the Council. You can contact the ICO
by emailing [1][email address], or by post at Customer Contact,
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely,

David White

Head of Information, Safety and Community Services

Directorate of Communities, Environment and Central

Royal Borough of Greenwich

*   3^rd Floor, The Woolwich Centre, 35 Wellington Street, London, SE18
6HQ

8 [2]www.royalgreenwich.gov.uk

ü Please consider the environment before printing this email

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