New Secondary School for Harpenden

The request was successful.

Dear Department for Education,

I understand from the press that the DfE have received an application for a new Secondary School in Harpenden.

Please could I have a complete copy of this application (including supporting evidence and any correspondence accompanying or prior to the application)?

Thank-you very much in advance for your consideration.

Yours faithfully,

John Hansen

Department for Education

Dear Mr Hansen

Thank you for your recent enquiry. A reply will be sent to you as soon as possible. For information; the departmental standard for correspondence received is that responses should be sent within 20 working days as you are requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Your correspondence has been allocated reference number 2014/0070134.

Thank you

Department for Education
Ministerial and Public Communications Division
Tel: 0370 000 2288

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Dear Department for Education,

Just a reminder to ask when can I expect a reply to this request?

Thank-you in advance for your help on this matter.

Yours faithfully,

John Hansen

Department for Education

Dear Mr Hansen,
Thank you for your request for information dated 24^th October 2014. The
details of your request are:

“I understand from the press that the DfE have received an application for
a new Secondary School in Harpenden.

Please could I have a complete copy of this application (including
supporting evidence and any correspondence accompanying or prior to the
application)?”

I have dealt with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(“the Act”).

I can confirm that the department does hold information relating to an
application to establish a new free school in Harpenden.

Although the department does hold the information you have requested, this
information is being withheld from release under the exemption in Section
36(2) of the Act which covers information relating to the effective
conduct of public affairs. Section 36(2) of the Act exempts from
disclosure information which, in the reasonable opinion of a qualified
person (a minister in the case of government departments):

*  would otherwise prejudice, or would be likely otherwise to prejudice,
the effective conduct of public affairs – Section 36(2)(c).

The minister has decided that, in his reasonable opinion, disclosure of
the information you requested should be withheld under section 36(2)(c).

Section 36 is a qualified exemption and therefore the public interest test
has been applied. There is a general public interest in disclosure because
of the desirability of more open and transparent government and of
promoting public accountability. However, in relation to the release of
information relating to an application to establish a new free school in
Harpenden, the following factors have also been considered:

* That the release of a free school proposal whilst it is being assessed
as part of the application process, and the resultant public attention
that proposal could receive, could jeopardise the objectivity of
officials assessing the application and prejudice the outcome of the
assessment;
* That the release of a free school proposal which might subsequently be
unsuccessful could result in the proposers receiving negative public
attention which could both deter them from responding to the
department’s feedback with a view to reapplying and deter other
applicants from submitting proposals in future, thus jeopardising the
free schools programme.

The department has concluded that in this instance the factors comprising
the public interest consideration in withholding the information are
greater than the general public interest considerations for disclosure
described above. If you have any queries about this letter, please contact
me. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future
communications.

Some of the information is also covered by Section 43(2) of the Act
because disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial
interests of any person. Section 43 of the Act is a qualified exemption
which means that a public interest test needs to be carried out, and in
doing so the following factors have been taken into consideration:

o There is a public interest in the transparency of the accountability
of public funds to ensure that public money is being used effectively,
and that departments are getting value for money when purchasing goods
and services.
o However, there is also a public interest in ensuring that the
department is able to maintain a strong bargaining position during
negotiations. Disclosure of certain information in the application
form would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of the
department, by adversely affecting its bargaining position and
resulting in less effective use of public money.
o It is clearly in the public interest to ensure the department receives
sufficient information before entering into financial arrangements.
Disclosure of certain information would make it less likely that
organisations or individuals would provide such information to the
department in the future.

The arguments for and against release have been considered and it is our
view that the balance of public interest falls in favour of the
maintenance of this exemption in relation to certain information
requested.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you should
make a complaint to the department by writing to me within two calendar
months of the date of this letter. Your complaint will be considered by an
independent review panel, who were not involved in the original
consideration of your request.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint to the
department, you may then contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Your correspondence has been allocated reference number 2014/0070134. If
you need to respond to us, please visit:
[1]www.education.gov.uk/contactus, and quote your reference number.

Yours sincerely,

Lyle Wilton
Free Schools Group
[email address]
[2]www.gov.uk/dfe

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Dear Department for Education,

In the light of yesterdays announcement please can you reconsider this request.

Thank-you for your consideration

Yours faithfully,

John Hansen

Department for Education

Dear Mr Hansen

 

Thank you for your recent enquiry. A reply will be sent to you as soon as
possible. For information; the departmental standard for correspondence
received is that responses should be sent within 20 working days as you
are requesting information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Your
correspondence has been allocated reference number 2015-0012639

 

Thank you

 

 

Department for Education

Ministerial and Public Communications Division

Tel: 0370 000 2288

 

 

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Department for Education

Dear Mr Hansen,

Thank you for your email of 10 March concerning the free school application for Harpenden Secondary Free School. I have treated this as a new request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”).

As previously, I can confirm that the department holds a copy of the application for Harpenden Secondary Free School. I can also confirm that the department now intends to publish the application. However, the application is not being released at this time as an exemption under section 22 of the Act applies. Section 22 provides for information to be exempt from disclosure where the information is held by the department with a view to its publication by the department or any other person at some future date. The department intends to publish copies of successful free school applications once all personal information has been removed from each application. Harpenden Secondary Free School is one of the applications which will be released in a future tranche of publications, which the department intends to publish by the end of the year.

Section 22 of the Act is a qualified exemption, which means that a “public interest” test was carried out before the exemption was applied. In carrying out the public interest test, the following factors were considered.

· There is a public interest in the transparency of the accountability of the department to ensure that public money is being used effectively.

· However, it is part of the effective conduct of public affairs that the publication of information is a conveniently planned and managed activity, within the reasonable control of the public authority. The publication of several hundred free school applications – each of 100 pages or more – with all personal information redacted is a process that needs to be completed carefully and systematically to ensure personal information is not inadvertently put in the public domain and to achieve good value for money for the taxpayer.

· The department has already determined that it will publish the Harpenden Secondary Free School application on its website.

· It is, therefore, not reasonable for the department to be expected to release information it holds piecemeal and in advance of its planned publication. Setting a precedent of releasing individual free school applications on request in advance of planned publication could lead to the disruption of the process to redact and release the applications in a systematic way.

The arguments for and against release were considered and it is the department’s view that the balance of public interest falls in favour of the exemption applying in relation to the information that you requested. This is because it is not reasonable for the department to release information piecemeal, ahead of the planned publication date.
If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you should make a complaint in writing within two calendar months of the date of this letter. Your complaint will be considered by an independent review panel not involved in the original consideration of your request. If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint you may then contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Your correspondence has been allocated reference number 2015-0012639. If you need to respond to us, please visit: www.education.gov.uk/contactus<http://www.education.gov.uk/contactus>, and quote your reference number.
Yours sincerely,

Lyle Wilton
Free Schools Group
[email address]
www.gov.uk/dfe<http://www.gov.uk/dfe>

Your correspondence has been allocated reference number 2015-0012639 . If you need to respond to us, please visit: https://www.education.gov.uk/contactus and quote your reference number.

As part of our commitment to improving the service we provide to our customers, we are interested in hearing your views and would welcome your comments via our website at: https://www.education.gov.uk/pcusurvey

Yours sincerely

 Lyle Wilton 

  

Web: www.education.gov.uk<http://www.education.gov.uk/>
Twitter: www.twitter.com/educationgovuk<http://www.twitter.com/educationgovuk>
Facebook: www.facebook.com/educationgovuk<http://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk>

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Julia Collins left an annotation ()

At the time the request for information was made, section 22 was not engaged. Section 22 applies only when the information is held with a view to publication at the time the request for it was received. If a decision to publish is not made until after the request has been made, the exemption cannot apply. ICO Decision Notice FS50081543.

The Department of Education engaged section 36 (2) on the 24th November 2014 not section 22.

The public interest test - If information falls within the exemption in section 22 (which is unlikely based on the above), it is still necessary to consider whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption is greater than the public interest in providing the information.

However, in the circumstances of this request it would surely be found by the ICO that the public interest in maintaining the
exemption does not outweigh the public interest in providing the information. ICO Decision Notice FS50123357

Dear Lyle Wilton,

I have been advised the following;

"At the time the request for information was made, section 22 was not engaged. Section 22 applies only when the information is held with a view to publication at the time the request for it was received. If a decision to publish is not made until after the request has been made, the exemption cannot apply. ICO Decision Notice FS50081543.

The Department of Education engaged section 36 (2) on the 24th November 2014 not section 22.

The public interest test - If information falls within the exemption in section 22 (which is unlikely based on the above), it is still necessary to consider whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption is greater than the public interest in providing the information.

However, in the circumstances of this request it would surely be found by the ICO that the public interest in maintaining the
exemption does not outweigh the public interest in providing the information. ICO Decision Notice FS50123357"

Please can you reconsider your response.

Many thanks

Yours faithfully,

John Hansen

Department for Education

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Hansen,

 

Thank you for your email of 28 March requesting an internal review into
the decision to withhold the application for Harpenden Secondary Free
School under section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the
Act”). You requested:

 

I have been advised the following;

"At the time the request for information was made, section 22 was not
engaged. Section 22 applies only when the information is held with a view
to publication at the time the request for it was received. If a decision
to publish is not made until after the request has been made, the
exemption cannot apply. ICO Decision Notice FS50081543.

The Department of Education engaged section 36 (2) on the 24th November
2014 not section 22.

The public interest test - If information falls within the exemption in
section 22 (which is unlikely based on the above), it is still necessary
to consider whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption is
greater than the public interest in providing the information.

However, in the circumstances of this request it would surely be found by
the ICO that the public interest in maintaining the exemption does not
outweigh the public interest in providing the information. ICO Decision
Notice FS50123357"

Please can you reconsider your response.

 

The department has now completed its internal review process and has
carried out a thorough review of the case, chaired by a senior officer
who was not involved with the original request. The internal review panel
examined how the department handled your original request and decided to
uphold the decision not to disclose the information for the same reasons
set out in my email of 24 March 2015.

 

As emphasised in my email of 24 March, your request of 10 March 2015 was
treated as a new request under the Act. The panel concluded that this was
the only possible course of action, given the amount of time that had
elapsed since your previous request.

 

The panel also considered what the outcome would have been had your
request of 10 March been treated as a request for a review into the
decision to withhold the information you requested on 24 October 2014.
The panel concluded that the department would still have been justified
in withholding the information under section 36 as, at the time, the
application was being assessed and to release it would have prejudiced,
or would have been likely to prejudice, the effective conduct of public
affairs.

 

I would like to reiterate that the department is committed to publishing
successful free school applications, and the application for Harpenden
Secondary Free is one of a large number of successful applications
currently being prepared for publication. The information you have
requested will therefore be available to you, and all members of the
public, in the near future. The panel considered whether it would be
reasonable to prepare and publish individual applications in response to
individual requests, and decided that it would not be: a considerable
amount of work is required to prepare such documents for publication and
it is important that the department is able to do this in a systematic
and orderly fashion. Piecemeal publication would be disorderly, expensive
and time-consuming, and could serve to undermine the department’s broader
efforts to increase transparency in the free school application process.

If you have any queries about this letter, please do not hesitate to
contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number (as shown
above) in any future communications.

If you are unhappy with this decision, you have the right to appeal
directly to the Information Commissioner. The Information Commissioner
can be contacted at:

 

            The Case Reception Unit

            Customer Service Team

Information Commissioner’s Office

            Wycliffe House

            Water Lane

            Wilmslow

            Cheshire

            SK9 5AF

 

Further information about the Information Commissioner’s complaints
procedure can be found on the Information Commissioner’s Office website:
[1]http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/freedom...

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Lyle Wilton

Free Schools Group

 

 

 

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Dear Department for Education,

Following the publication of the Redacted Applications for the Wave 8 Free School on the DfE website please can you now release the supporting evidence and any correspondence on the Harpenden Free Secondary School Application with Hertfordshire County Council and the applicant accompanying , prior or since concerning the site selection process and purchase of the site?

Many thanks for your consideration.

Yours faithfully,

John Hansen

Department for Education

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Hansen,

Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 26 July.
You requested:

o Following the publication of the Redacted Applications for the Wave 8
Free School on the DfE website please can you now release the
supporting evidence and any correspondence on the Harpenden Free
Secondary School Application with Hertfordshire County Council and the
applicant accompanying, prior or since concerning the site selection
process and purchase of the site?

 

I am dealing with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

In order to identify and locate the information that you have asked for I
require some further information from you to enable to me to fully respond
to your request. In particular, it would be useful to know what you meant
by “the applicant accompanying, prior or since concerning the site
selection process and purchase of the site”. As it is currently phrased I
am unable ascertain what type of information you are looking for. Do you
mean the site information the trust submitted with their free school
application form, or do you mean paperwork showing how the department
selected the site for Harpenden free school?

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please
remember to quote the reference number below in any future communications.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you should
make a complaint to the department by writing to me within two calendar
months of the date of this letter. Your complaint will be considered by an
independent review panel, who were not involved in the original
consideration of your request.  

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint to the
department, you may then contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.

Your correspondence has been allocated reference number 2015-0035464. If
you need to respond to us, please visit:
[1]https://www.education.gov.uk/contactus and quote your reference number.

Yours sincerely,

Saim Khan 

Web: [2]https://www.education.gov.uk
Twitter: [3]https://www.twitter.com/educationgovuk
Facebook: [4]https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk

[5]DfElogo

 

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Dear Saim Khan,

Very many thanks for your response.

I am interested in both ;

a) the site information the trust submitted with their free school application form

and

b) information showing how the DfE selected the site for Harpenden Free Secondary school from the information provided by the Trust and Herts CC

Yours faithfully,

John Hansen

Department for Education

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Hansen, 

Thank you for your request for information about the Harpenden Secondary Free School, which was received on 11 August 2015. You requested the following information:

1. the site information the trust submitted with their free school application form; and

2. information showing how the DfE selected the site for Harpenden Free Secondary school from the information provided by the Trust and Hertfordshire County Council.
I have dealt with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”).
On point 1, the Department holds information within the scope of your request. The premises details provided in the application for Harpenden Secondary Free School are attached. No further information was received via email as referenced in the site description.
On point 2, Hertfordshire County Council is leading on site identification and acquisition for the Harpenden Secondary Free School. The Department does not hold any other information in relation to the council’s assessment. It may be helpful for you to know that the council have published information in relation to their analysis at http://www.hertsdirect.org/services/edle....
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by copyright. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including for private study and non-commercial research, and for any other purpose authorised by an exception in current copyright law. Documents (except photographs) can be also used in the UK without requiring permission for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright holder.

Most documents produced by a government department or agency will be protected by Crown Copyright. Most Crown copyright information can be re-used under the Open Government Licence (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/o...). For information about the OGL and about re-using Crown Copyright information please see The National Archives website -http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/infor....
Copyright in other documents may rest with a third party. For information about obtaining permission from a third party see the Intellectual Property Office’s website at www.ipo.gov.uk<http://www.ipo.gov.uk/>.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you should make a complaint to the Department by writing to me within two calendar months of the date of this letter. Your complaint will be considered by an independent review panel, who were not involved in the original consideration of your request.
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint to the Department, you may then contact the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Yours sincerely,

Anita Hathaway 

Web: https://www.education.gov.uk<https://www.education.gov.uk/>
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/educationgovuk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/educationgovuk

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