Looked after children 2017

The request was successful.

Dear Portsmouth City Council,

Would you kindly be able to tell me:

1. How many children became 'looked after' in your local authority in the calendar year of 2017?

2. Of the children in Q1, how many were in a group of siblings of two or more (I would like the number of children, not the number of groups)?

3. How many of the children that became 'looked after' in your local authority in 2017 were initially placed in Kinship Care/Connected Persons care?

4. How many looked after children in your local authority are currently placed following care proceedings:
a) with long term LA foster carers
b) in kinship care foster placements

5.a. How many applications to be a kinship carer did you receive in 2017 in respect of children subject to Care Proceedings?
5.b. How many of those (5.a.) applications were successful?

6. How many children in your local authority were made the subject of Special Guardianship Order following Care Proceedings in 2017?

7. How many of your local authority's current foster carers are prepared and approved to be long term foster carers of sibling groups of:
a) 2
b) 3 or more

Yours faithfully,

Christina Savage

FOI, Portsmouth City Council

1 Attachment

 
 

Information Governance
Community & Communications  Services
Civic Offices, Guildhall Square, Portsmouth, PO1 2AL
Telephone:    023 9268 8482
                                               

                                                                       
 
Reference: FOI2018/278
 
Dear Ms Savage
 
 
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
 
Thank you for your request for information received on 28th February 2018.
 
Your request is being considered and, subject to the points made below,
you will receive the information requested as promptly as possible within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
 
If we need to obtain more information from you in order to understand what
information you require, we will contact you. If this is the case, the 20
days time limit will not commence until your request has been clarified.
 
The Act defines a number of exemptions that may prevent release of certain
information.  The City Council will consider whether any of these
exemptions apply and, where required by the Act, whether it is in the
public interest to release the information.  If we have to make a public
interest test, the 20 day time limit might be extended. We will inform you
if the time scale has to be extended and if any information is withheld
and of your rights of appeal.
 
The City Council would like to make you aware that disclosure of
information obtained through FOIA is a disclosure into the public domain.
 
The City Council’s standard approach is to provide the information in the
form in which we hold it.  If you require alternative formats, e.g. audio,
large print, etc. or a different language, please let me know and we will
provide it if reasonably practicable to do so. If your request is a
question and we do not hold the answer in recorded form we will try and
provide an answer where we are able unless it requires the creation of new
information.
 
There may be a fee payable for this information request and we will send
you a Fees Notice if this is the case. Any fee must be paid before the
request is provided.  The time between the issue of the Fees Notice and
receipt of payment is excluded from the calculation of the 20 working day
time limit.
 
Any personal information you provide in relation to this request will only
be used for the purposes of processing your request for information.
 
If you have any queries or concerns then please contact the Corporate
Information Governance Officer at Portsmouth City Council, Civic Offices,
Guildhall Square, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 2AL, telephone 023 9268 8482,
e-mail [1][email address].
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
 
                                                                                               
           
Wendy Burton
FOI Officer
 
 
 

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Christina Savage

I would like to re-submit my request, covering a slightly different period of time namely the financial year and not the calendar year:

1. How many children became 'looked after' in your local authority in the financial year of 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017?

2. Of the children in Q1, how many were in a group of siblings of two or more (I would like the number of children, not the number of groups)?

3. How many of the children that became 'looked after' in your local authority in the financial year of 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017 were initially placed in Kinship Care/Connected Persons care?

4. How many looked after children in your local authority are currently placed following care proceedings:
a) with long term LA foster carers
b) in kinship care foster placements

5.a. How many applications to be a kinship carer did you receive in the financial year of 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017 in respect of children subject to Care Proceedings?

5.b. How many of those (5.a.) applications were successful (positive viability assessment)?

6. How many children in your local authority were made the subject of Special Guardianship Order following Care Proceedings in the financial year of 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017?

7. How many of your local authority's current foster carers are prepared and approved to be long term foster carers of sibling groups of:
a) 2
b) 3 or more

Yours Sincerely
Christina Savage

FOI, Portsmouth City Council

Dear Ms Savage

Can you please confirm whether you are retracting your original request (FOI2018/287) and wish for your below request to replace it, or is this new request in addition to the original?

Please confirm how you wish to proceed.

Kind regards

Freedom of Information

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Christina Savage

Yes, I am retracting my original request (FOI2018/287) and wish for the new one to replace it.

Yours sincerely,

Christina Savage

FOI, Portsmouth City Council

1 Attachment

 
 

Information Governance
Community & Communications  Services
Civic Offices, Guildhall Square, Portsmouth, PO1 2AL
Telephone:    023 9268 8482
                                               

                                                                       
 
Reference: FOI2018/317
 
Dear Ms Savage
 
 
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - INFORMATION REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
 
Thank you for your request for information received on 5th March 2018.
 
Your request is being considered and, subject to the points made below,
you will receive the information requested as promptly as possible within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.
 
If we need to obtain more information from you in order to understand what
information you require, we will contact you. If this is the case, the 20
days time limit will not commence until your request has been clarified.
 
The Act defines a number of exemptions that may prevent release of certain
information.  The City Council will consider whether any of these
exemptions apply and, where required by the Act, whether it is in the
public interest to release the information.  If we have to make a public
interest test, the 20 day time limit might be extended. We will inform you
if the time scale has to be extended and if any information is withheld
and of your rights of appeal.
 
The City Council would like to make you aware that disclosure of
information obtained through FOIA is a disclosure into the public domain.
 
The City Council’s standard approach is to provide the information in the
form in which we hold it.  If you require alternative formats, e.g. audio,
large print, etc. or a different language, please let me know and we will
provide it if reasonably practicable to do so. If your request is a
question and we do not hold the answer in recorded form we will try and
provide an answer where we are able unless it requires the creation of new
information.
 
There may be a fee payable for this information request and we will send
you a Fees Notice if this is the case. Any fee must be paid before the
request is provided.  The time between the issue of the Fees Notice and
receipt of payment is excluded from the calculation of the 20 working day
time limit.
 
Any personal information you provide in relation to this request will only
be used for the purposes of processing your request for information.
 
If you have any queries or concerns then please contact the Corporate
Information Governance Officer at Portsmouth City Council, Civic Offices,
Guildhall Square, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 2AL, telephone 023 9268 8482,
e-mail [1][email address].
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
 
                                                                                               
           
 
Wendy Burton
FOI Officer
 
 

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FOI, Portsmouth City Council

1 Attachment

 
Information Governance, Community & Communications Service
Civic Offices, Guildhall Square, Portsmouth, PO1 2AL
Telephone:    023 9268 8482
 
 
Our Ref: FOI2018/317
 
Dear Ms Savage
                                   
INFORMATION REQUEST – FOI2018/317 - Looked After Children
 
Thank you for your request for information received on 5th March 2018,
which was considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. 
 
In accordance with the Act, Portsmouth City Council confirms it holds the
information.
 
 
YOUR REQUEST AND OUR RESPONSE:
 
1. How many children became 'looked after' in your local authority in the
financial year of 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017?
164 children
2. Of the children in Q1, how many were in a group of siblings of two or
more (I would like the number of children, not the number of groups)?
 
61 children

3. How many of the children that became 'looked after' in your local
authority in the financial year of 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017 were
initially placed in Kinship Care/Connected Persons care?
 
20 children

4. How many looked after children in your local authority are currently
placed following care proceedings: 
a) with long term LA foster carers = 5 children
b) in kinship care foster placements = 22 children

5.a. How many applications to be a kinship carer did you receive in the
financial year of 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017 in respect of children
subject to Care Proceedings? 
 
We are able to confirm that Portsmouth City Council does hold the
information requested, however we have estimated that the cost to locate,
retrieve and extract it will exceed the appropriate limit given in Section
12 of the Freedom of Information Act (£450.00 or 18 hours of officer
time). This is due to the fact that identifying this information would
require an interrogation of manual case files. Consequently the Council is
not obliged to comply with your request and, in accordance with Section 17
of the Act, this letter acts as a refusal notice.
We apologise that this element of your request will not be met but we
invite you to contact us should you wish to discuss how it may be refined
to a more manageable level.
5.b. How many of those (5.a.) applications were successful (positive
viability assessment)?
Please see our response to Q5.a. - unfortunately, responding to this
question would require a manual case file trawl that would take us over
the 18 hour timescale to conduct, as explained above.

6. How many children in your local authority were made the subject of
Special Guardianship Order following Care Proceedings in the financial
year of 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017?
11 children

7. How many of your local authority's current foster carers are prepared
and approved to be long term foster carers of sibling groups of: 
a) 2
b) 3 or more
 

 a. 60
 a. 40

 
Under the Re- Use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015 (SI
2015/1415) the supplied information may not be re-used without obtaining
the permission of Portsmouth City Council.
 
You have the right to appeal against this decision or to complain about
our treatment of your request.  If you wish to do so, please set out in
writing your grounds of complaint and send to the Corporate Information
Governance Officer at Portsmouth City Council, Civic Offices, Guildhall
Square, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 2AL, telephone 023 9268 8482, e-mail
[1][email address]. Should you be dissatisfied with the outcome of
the complaints decision you may wish to follow the Portsmouth City
Council’s Compliments and Complaints procedure which can be found on the
Portsmouth City Council website or by contacting the Civic Offices.
 
Once these processes have been exhausted you have a further right of
appeal to the Information Commissioner at:
 
Further information is also available from the Information Commissioner
at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
[2]https://ico.org.uk
 
Yours sincerely
 
 
Natasha Downer
Corporate Information Governance Officer
 
 

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