Protecting Human Rights in Care Proceedings.
Dear Powys Council,
1. Since 1 April 2009 how many applications for a Care Order have been made by the Local Authority?
2. At the date of replying, how many children are in the care of the Local Authority under:
a. A S31 Order
b. A S20 Order
3. How many of the applications for a Care Order made since 1 April 2009 have resulted in:
a. A Supervision Order
b. A Care Order - Permanent Foster Care/Care Home
c. An Adoption Order.
d. A Special Guardianship Order - placed with family
e. No Order
4. In relation to 3b, 3c and 3d how many of the parents had:
a. Been convicted of a criminal offence against their children
b. Had the benefit of a residential family assessment
5. In relation to 3c how many applications for freeing orders were made?
6. In relation to question 1. how many of the parents had made an official complaint against children's services prior to the commencement of care proceedings?
Yours faithfully,
LS Palmer
January 20, 2011
Person Dealing: Andrea Hughson
Direct Dial: 01597 829418
Dear Ms. Palmer,
FREEDOM of INFORMATION ACT 2000
Reference No: F-2011-00042
Thank you for your request for information, received at this office on
January 19, 2011, in which you requested details of the number of
applications for Care Orders and the number of children in the care of the
Local Authority.
Your request will now be considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act, subject
to the information not being exempt or containing a reference to a third
party. In some circumstances Powys County Council may be unable to achieve
this deadline. If this is likely you will be informed and given a revised
time-scale at the earliest opportunity.
There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of
the information you request. If this is the case you will be informed and
the 20 working day timescale will be suspended until we receive payment
from you. If you choose not to make a payment then your request will
remain unanswered.
Some requests may also require either full or partial transference to
another public authority in order to answer your query in the fullest
possible way. Again, you will be informed if this is the case.
The due date for responding to this request for information is February
16, 2011.
Should you need to discuss this further please contact the officer dealing
with your request as identified at the beginning of this letter or
Information Management on 01597 825013 / 829418.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in
Powys County Council.
Yours sincerely,
Andrea Hughson
Rheolwr Cofnodion a Chydymffurfiaeth
Records & Compliance Manager
_________________________________________
Powys County Council
Information Management
Unit 29, Ddole Road Enterprise Park
Llandrindod Wells
Powys
LD1 6DF
01597 829418
February 28, 2011
Person Dealing:Â Â Â Â Andrea Hughson
Direct Dial:Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 01597
827512
Dear Ms. Palmer,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000
Reference No: F-2011-00042
Thank you for your request for information dated January 18, 2011
concerning the number of applications for Care Orders made by Powys County
Council and the number of children in the care of the Local Authority.
I am writing to advise you following consideration of your request, we
have established that in order to provide you with the information that
you seek; it would require an extensive examination of the records held by
Powys County Council. Due to the processes relating to the recording of
the information and the systems involved in those recordings, this would
involve a significant amount of work which will exceed the amount of time
within which we are obliged to take in order to respond to requests for
information.
Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 makes provision for
public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of
dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, as detailed in the
Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate limit) Regulations 2004.
The limit for public authorities is set at £450 which amounts to a
maximum of 18 hours of search and retrieval time charged at £25.00 per
person per hour.
The Regulations set out what may be taken into account when public
authorities are estimating whether the appropriate limit has been
exceeded. The costs are limited to those that an authority reasonably
expects to incur in:
o determining whether it holds the information requested
o locating the information or documents containing the information
o retrieving such information or documents
o extracting the information from the document containing it (including
editing or reformatting information)
We are therefore not obliged to provide a response to your request, as the
time required for officers to locate, retrieve and extract the data from
information held would exceed the appropriate limit. Â In accordance
with Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts
as a Refusal Notice for your request.
However, should you wish to refine your request to bring it to a more
manageable level, we will of course give it further consideration.
I regret the delay you have experienced with this request. I acknowledge
that Powys County Council has failed in its obligation under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000, to provide you with a response to your request
within the statutory timescale of 20 working days. Please accept my
apologies for this and for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Should you wish to discuss this further, please contact the officer
dealing with your request as identified above or Information Management on
01597 827512 /827513 or alternatively by email to
[1][Powys Council request email]
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in
Powys County Council.
Yours sincerely,
Andrea Hughson
Rheolwr Cofnodion a Chydymffurfiaeth
Records & Compliance Manager
If you are dissatisfied with the service you have received in relation to
your request and wish to make a complaint, please contact Information
Management. Our complaints procedure is available on request or on our
website.
If you are still not satisfied following this, you can make an appeal to
the Information Commissioner, who is the statutory regulator. The
Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone 01625 545 700
[2]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
_________________________________________
Powys County Council
Information Management
Unit 29, Ddole Road Enterprise Park
Llandrindod Wells
Powys
LD1 6DF
01597 827512
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