Looked after children under catagory of emotional harm

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Dear Angela,

Thank you for contacting Barking and Dagenham Direct.

We have logged your request under the Freedom of Information Act; you
should expect to receive a response within 20 working days; your
reference is LBBD/39943

In the meantime, if you have any questions or require further
information please do not hesitate to contact us on 0208 215 3000 or
[email address].

Yours sincerely,

Karen Partridge | Customer Services Officer, Barking and Dagenham Direct

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham | Roycraft House, 15 Linton Road,
2nd Floor | Barking | IG11 8HE.

Phone: 020 8215 3000 | Fax: 020 8227 5184

Email: [email address] | www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk

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Dear Ms Wileman

Thank you for your e-mail received 01 October 2009 requesting
information about Children in Local Authority Care.

Michael Fenn in the Children's Sevices Department will arrange for the
information to be provided to you no later than 29 October 2009.

Whilst it is the Council's policy to provide information wherever
possible, I need to advise you that there are a number of exemptions
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. These may prevent me from
releasing all or some of the information you have asked for. You will,
however be informed if this is the case and why.

Yours sincerely

Julie Clist
Business Support Officer
Corporate Complaints & FOI Team
London Borough of Barking & Dagenham
Room 104 Town Hall
1 Town Square
Barking
IG11 7HE
020 8227 2875

E-mail confidentiality notice. This message is intended for the addressees only. It may be private, confidential and may be covered by legal professional privilege or other confidentiality requirements. If you are not one of the intended recipients, please notify the sender immediately on +44 0 20-8215-3000 and delete the message from all locations in your computer network. Do not copy this email or use it for any purpose or disclose its contents to any person:to do so maybe unlawful.

Dear Angela Wileman

Request for information

Your below request for information has now been considered;

Under the freedom of information act I would like to know numerical
statistics in order by year during the period of 1998 to 2008 (or as far
back as you can go) for the following;

1. How many children were taken into local authority care on interim
care orders and emergency protection orders under the category of
emotional harm during the above period? I do not wish you to include any
children for any other categories of harm/abuse.

2. Out of these children who were taken into care for emotional harm
how many of them were specifically for domestic violence between their
parents? Again I do not wish you to include children who had violence
directed at them as that would fall into a different category being
physical abuse.

3. Out of these children who were put into care for domestic violence
how many were returned to family or extended family?

4. Out of these how many children were put on full care orders?

5. Of the children put on full care orders how many were adopted
during these periods?

Unfortunately I am unable to provide the information because in order for
us to pull out this data we would have to look at all the case files
individually which would exceed the maximum charge for dealing with FOI
requests is £450 per request. The limit of £450 equates to 18 hours work
@ £25/hr

I am sorry that I cannot assist you but if I can be of any further help
please contact me.

If you are not satisfied with the way that I have dealt with your request
you can make a complaint by writing to the Corporate Complaints Team,
Corporate Strategy Department, Room 196, Civic Centre, Dagenham RM10 7BN.
Alternatively you can make your complaint on-line at
[1]www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk or you can e-mail your complaint to
[2][email address].

If you are still not satisfied, after following our Corporate Complaints
procedure, you can take your complaint to the Information Commissioner.
Full details of how to do this will be made available on request.

Yours sincerely

Michael Fenn | Senior Information Officer

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham | Room B16 Civic Centre | Dagenham
| RM10 7BY

Phone: 020 8227 2619 | Fax: 020 8227 2324

Email: Michael.Fenn[3]@lbbd.gov.uk | [4]www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk

Working together for a better borough that is safe, clean, fair and
respectful,

prosperous and healthy, and where our young people are inspired and
successful.

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E-mail confidentiality notice. This message is intended for the addressees
only. It may be private, confidential and may be covered by legal
professional privilege or other confidentiality requirements.  All
communications sent to or from this organisation may be subject to
recording or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.  If you
are not one of the intended recipients, please notify the sender
immediately on +44 0 20-8215-3000 and delete the message from all
locations in your computer network. Do not copy this email or use it for
any purpose or disclose its contents to any person: to do so maybe
unlawful.

References

Visible links
1. http://www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/
2. mailto:[email address]
3. mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/
http://www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/

Dear Ms Wileman

I acknowledge receipt of your request for an Internal Review of your FOI
request - Looked after children under catagory of emotional harm. Your
e-mail was received on 21 October 2009 .

I have sent a copy to Janet Ryan tel 020 8227 3636 who will respond to
you direct by 13 November 2009.

Regards,

Philip Allsop| Complaints Co-Ordinator Alibon Eastbrook & Heath ,
Complaints & Tell Us Team
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham | 2nd Floor Roycraft House
Barking IG11 8HE Phone: 020 8724 8221| Fax: 020 8227 5184
Email: [email address] <mailto:[email address]> |
www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk <http://www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/>

Working together for a better borough that is safe, clean, fair and
respectful,
prosperous and healthy, and where our young people are inspired and
successful.

P Protect the environment and save trees; please only print if essential

E-mail confidentiality notice. This message is intended for the addressees only. It may be private, confidential and may be covered by legal professional privilege or other confidentiality requirements. If you are not one of the intended recipients, please notify the sender immediately on +44 0 20-8215-3000 and delete the message from all locations in your computer network. Do not copy this email or use it for any purpose or disclose its contents to any person:to do so maybe unlawful.

Dear Ms Wileman.

Stage Two; Freedom of Information complaint response.

Thank you for your time and patience whilst this matter has been
investigated. I am sorry that this response has taken longer than we had
expected. I hope that the information below will explain our position and
how we have looked at your enquiry for information in a fair and
reasonable way.

My Name Is Mary Farinha and I am the Group Manager for Information and
Policy and the Caldecott Guardian at and for the London Borough of Barking
and Dagenham(LBBD). I manage and oversee the recording information held
for both Children and Adult Services and as such have been asked to
respond to your complaint. Your complaint detailed, our refusal to
provide you with information under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI)
2000 surrounding your request for information and figures on children who
have come into the care system via a domestic violence pathway in LBBD.

I have now carefully considered your request and checked the way in which
data is gathered and collected. I have also taken into account the fact
that you have since reduced the perimeters of data you require to the last
4 years rather than the last 10 as per your initial request.

It is the case that childrens file held here are electronically held from
2006 and in paper archives prior to that date.

If I look at the 4 years ie from 2004 to 2008 which you are now
requesting, a search of some 194 cases per year ie (4x 194 = 776 cases)
will have to take place. Those that are paper files will take on average
an hour per file to be located, read through and the information collected
from the file re the Domestic Violence data that you request. With
regards to the two latter years then I have calculated that 4 files can be
read through electronically per hour, this is providing that staff remain
dedicated to that role and are not interrupted at all.

The FOI Act details that £450 limit of cost is linked to each request and
that the hourly rate is set at £25 per hour.

The electronic files alone would cost in excess of £1200 to manage and
read through and the paper ones in excess of £5000.

As a Local Authority our systems capture and workers record the main areas
of child concern at the point they bought into our care, Ie Sexual abuse,
Physical harm, Neglect and Emotional abuse. Other identifiers are
captured during the case life and are recorded in a variety of ways via
the system pages as the case identifies.

I am therefore of the view that the refusal to provide was reasonable in
the circumstances and I am not able to uphold your complaint.

I trust that I have dealt with your complaint satisfactorily.   If
however you are not satisfied with my explanation, you will, of course, be
able to appeal to the Chief Executive under the Council's Corporate
Complaint Procedure.   Any appeal should be in writing, giving your
reasons and addressed to the Chief Executive's Corporate Complaints & FOIL
Manager Complaints, Room 104, Town Hall, 1 Town Square FREEPOST RM341
Barking IG11 7HE or e-mail [1][email address]  

Regards
Sent on behalf of Mary Farinha by,
Linda A Smith , Members Case Officer and Complaints Team Manager for
Children, Adult and Community Services.
London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
Room B18 - Civic Centre Dagenham RM10 7BN
Phone: 020 8227 2405 Mobile; 07870 278316
Fax: 020 8227 2156
Minicom 0208 227 2462
Email: [2][email address] [3]www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk
Working together for a better borough that is safe, clean, fair and
respectful,
prosperous and healthy, and where our young people are inspired and
successful.
Protect the environment and save trees; please only print if essential

E-mail confidentiality notice. This message is intended for the addressees
only. It may be private, confidential and may be covered by legal
professional privilege or other confidentiality requirements.  All
communications sent to or from this organisation may be subject to
recording or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.  If you
are not one of the intended recipients, please notify the sender
immediately on +44 0 20-8215-3000 and delete the message from all
locations in your computer network. Do not copy this email or use it for
any purpose or disclose its contents to any person: to do so maybe
unlawful.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.barking-dagenham.gov.uk/

Corporate Complaints Team
2^nd Floor, Roycraft House
15 Linton Road
Barking IG11 8HE

Reference: LBBD/39943
Date: 7 December 2009

Angela Wileman

Dear Madam,

You recently logged a stage 2 complaint and I would be very grateful if
you could complete the enclosed questionnaire and return in the self
addressed envelope provided.

No matter what the outcome of your complaint was, the Council does value
feedback from all customers to enable us to improve our complaint
handling. I hope that you will be happy to share your views.

Yours Sincerely,

The Corporate Complaints Team

LONDON BOROUGH OF BARKING AND DAGENHAM

CORPORATE COMPLAINTS PROCEDURE

STAGE 2

We have contacted you because you have recently used the Council’s
complaints procedure. We would like your views on both how we investigated
your complaint and how we can make our procedure better. Please can you
fill in the questionnaire with either BLUE OR BLACK ink. Thank you.

1 What was the best thing about how the Council handled
your complaint?

(Please tick as many as apply)

An apology ¨

Clear
reply ¨

Fair
reply ¨

Helpful staff
¨

Quick reply
¨

The outcome
¨

Other (please tell us) ¨

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

2 What was the worst thing about how the Council
handled your complaint?

(Please tick as many as apply)

Late
reply ¨

No apology
¨

The outcome
¨

Unclear reply
¨

Unfair reply
¨

Unhelpful staff ¨

Other (please tell us) ¨

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………...

3 What was the outcome to your complaint?

□ don’t know □ agreed □ not agreed □ partly
agreed

4 How satisfied were you with the outcome of your
complaint?

□ very satisfied □ satisfied
□ no opinion

□ dissatisfied □ very dissatisfied

5 Despite what the outcome was, how satisfied were you
with the way the Council handled your complaint?

□ very satisfied □ satisfied
□ no opinion

□ dissatisfied □ very
dissatisfied

6 If you are not satisfied with the outcome of your complaint are
you considering taking your complaint to the next stage (3)?

□ Yes □ No

Corporate Complaints Feedback Questionnaire - LBBD/39943 Page 1 of 3 of 3

7 If you made your complaint in person or by phone did you find
our staff friendly and polite?

Yes □ No □ Please give details
below:

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

8 Where did you find information about how to make a complaint?

(Please tick as many as apply)

Complaint poster ¨

Complaints leaflet
¨

Council newspaper ¨

Councillor
¨

Library ¨

Member of staff
¨

Ombudsman ¨

Telephone Directory ¨

Website
¨

Other (Please specify) ¨

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

9 If you used the website to make your complaint did
you find our on-line complaint

form easy to use?
¨ Yes ¨ No

10 We are keen to ensure that everyone can access the complaints
procedure. Did you use any of the following facilities or would you have
used them had they been available? (Please tick as many that apply)

Used Would use

Audio-cassette information
¨ ¨

Braille information
¨ ¨

Help with making a complaint
¨ ¨

Large print
information
¨ ¨

Minicom
¨ ¨

Translation or
interpreter
¨ ¨

Videophone facility
¨ ¨

11 Do you have any suggestions for improvements to the
complaint procedure?

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Corporate Complaints Feedback Questionnaire - LBBD/39943 Page 2 of 3 of 3

Equal Opportunities

We want to be sure that we treat everyone fairly and that everyone has
equal access to our complaints procedure. We monitor all complaints to
see that this is happening.

You do not have to fill this part of the form in, but it will help us to
improve our services. The information you give us is strictly
confidential and we will only use it for monitoring and statistical
purposes only.

Are you male? ¨ Are you
female? o

White - British ¨ Black or
Black British - African o

White - Irish o Black or
Black British - Caribbean o

White - Other o Black or Black
British - Other o

Asian/ Asian British - Indian o Mixed - White & Black -
African o

Asian/ Asian British - Pakistani o Mixed - White & Black
- Caribbean o

Asian/ Asian - Bangladeshi o Mixed White & Black -
Asian o

Asian/Asian British - Other o Mixed White & Black
- Other o

Not known o
Chinese o

Other o

Are you disabled? No ¨
Yes ¨

If Yes please
specify……………………………………………………………………………………………........

Religion or faith (please specify)
……………………………………………………………….

My age is within range: Under
18 ¨

18 -
24 ¨

25 -
34 ¨

35 -
49
¨ 50
- 65
¨
Over 65
¨

Please put this form in the envelope we have provided (you do not need a
stamp) and send it to:

Complaints/Tell Us

The London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

FREEPOST RM341

2^nd Floor

Roycraft House

15 Linton Road

Barking

IG11 8HE

Thank you for taking the time to help us with this survey.

E-mail confidentiality notice. This message is intended for the addressees
only. It may be private, confidential and may be covered by legal
professional privilege or other confidentiality requirements.  All
communications sent to or from this organisation may be subject to
recording or monitoring in accordance with relevant legislation.  If you
are not one of the intended recipients, please notify the sender
immediately on +44 0 20-8215-3000 and delete the message from all
locations in your computer network. Do not copy this email or use it for
any purpose or disclose its contents to any person: to do so maybe
unlawful.