Protecting Human Rights in Care Proceedings.
Dear Durham County 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 3b 3c and 3d how many of the parents had made an official complaint against children's services?
Yours faithfully,
LS Palmer
Our Ref: 4909687
19-JAN-11
Dear LS Palmer,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION
I acknowledge your request for information on protecting human rights in
care proceedings received on 18-JAN-2011.
Your request is currently being considered and if the information
requested is held by the County Council it will be sent to you within the
statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, subject to the information not being exempt or
containing a reference to a third party.
If appropriate, the information will be provided in paper copy, normal
font size. If you require alternative formats, e.g. language, audio,
large print, etc. then please let me know.
For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions that may
prevent release of the information you have requested. There will be an
assessment and if any of the exemption categories apply then the exempt
information will not be released. You will be informed if this is the
case, including your rights of appeal.
If the information you request contains reference to a third party then
they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on whether or not to
release the information to you.
There may a fee payable for this information to cover photocopying,
postage and any other production costs. This will be considered and you
will be informed if a fee is payable. In this event the fee must be paid
before the information is processed and released. The 20 working day time
limit for responses is suspended until receipt of the payment.
In line with the Information Commissioner's directive on the disclosure of
information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 your request will
form part of our disclosure log. Therefore, a version of our response
which will protect your anonymity will be posted on Durham County Council
website.
If you have any queries or concerns then please contact:
The Information Management Team
Durham County Council
Assistant Chief Executive's Office
Room 4/140
County Hall
Durham
DH1 5UF
Tel. 0191 372 8371
Email: [Durham County Council request email]
Further information is also available from the Information Commissioner
at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545 745
Fax: 01625 524 510
Email: [email address]
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
Yours sincerely,
Neale Boswell
Information Management
Our Ref: 4909687
10-FEB-11
Dear LS Palmer,
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT - RESPONSE TO REQUEST
Your request for information received on 18-JAN-2011 has now been
considered.
You requested: 1. Since 1 April 2009 how many applications for a Care
Order have been made by the Local Authority?
Our response: 142
2. At the date of replying, how many children are in the care of the Local
Authority under:
a. A S31 Order: 212
b. A S20 Order: 197
3. How many of the applications for a Care Order made since 1 April 2009
have resulted in:
a. A Supervision Order: 1
b. A Care Order - Permanent Foster Care/Care Home: Full - 55
c. An Adoption Order: 34
d. A Special Guardianship Order - placed with family: No electronic
retrieval of this information is available.
e. No Order: 0
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 3b 3c and 3d how many of the parents had made an
official complaint against children's services?
Our response: In relation to questions 4, 5 & 6 the information is not
held in a way that allows a report to show the requested information. This
data is stored electronically and would therefore require extensive
analysis of several hundred case files which would take well in excess of
18 hours and would therefore exceed the appropriate limit of £450 as set
out in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit
and Fees) Regulations 2004.
We can confirm, per s.1 (1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, that
the council does hold the requested information.
We have reviewed the request and are unable to provide the information to
you because it would exceed the fees limit set by the Act. Under s.12 of
the Freedom of Information Act, the council is not obliged to comply with
a request for information where the cost of complying would exceed the
appropriate limit.
We have a duty under s.16 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to
provide you with advice and assistance where possible. Therefore if you
wish to refine your Freedom of Information request it will be
reconsidered.
I hope that this information is of assistance, however, if you are
dissatisfied with the handling of your request please contact:
The Information Management Team
Durham County Council
Assistant Chief Executive's Office
Room 4/140
County Hall
Durham
DH1 5UF
Tel. 0191 372 8371
Email: [1][Durham County Council request email]
After you have exhausted our internal appeals procedure you also have a
right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545 745
Fax: 01625 524 510
Email: [email address]
Most of the documents that we provide in response to Freedom of
Information Act requests will be subject to copyright protection. In most
cases the copyright will be owned by Durham County Council. The copyright
in other documents may be owned by another person or organisation, as
indicated on the documents themselves.
You are free to use any documents supplied for your own use, including for
non-commercial research purposes. The documents may also be used for the
purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for
example, by publishing the documents or issuing copies to the public will
require the permission of the copyright owner.
For documents where the copyright is owned by Durham County Council,
please contact me for details of the conditions on re-use.
For documents where the copyright is owned by another person or
organisation, you would need to apply to the copyright owner to obtain
their permission.
Yours sincerely,
Neale Boswell
Information Management
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