Referrals of those who Abuse / Neglect Children
Dear Scottish Borders Council,
1. In relation to the years from 2003 to 2010 Please could you provide your accounts in respect of
A. children's Services
B. Legal Services.
2. Since 2003, Regarding abuse/neglect of children by staff(employed and agency) of children's services, please could you provide a year by year breakdown of how many applications/referrals you have made to:
a. GSCC
b. The Criminal Court/Crown Prosecution
c. Independent Safeguarding Authority (or Equivalent).
3. Since 2003, Regarding abuse and neglect of children by clients of children and Family services, please could you provide a year by year breakdown of how many applications/referrals you have made to.
a. The Family Court
b. The Criminal Court/Crown Prosecution
c. The Independent Safeguarding Authority (or Equivalent).
Yours faithfully,
LS Palmer
Dear Mr Palmer
I acknowledge receipt of your request for information under the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002 relating to the above and shall respond
within the relevant 20 working day period.
Yours sincerely
Doreen Broom
Data Compliance Officer
Scottish Borders Council
Tel: 01835 826516
e-mail: [email address]
Dear Mr Palmer
Can you clarify for me if in Question 1 (A) abnd (B) you are referring to financial accounts. Once your clarification has been received the clock will start running again.
Yours sincerely
Doreen Broom
Data Compliance Officer
Scottish Borders Council
Resources Department - BTS
Tel: 01835 826516
e-mail: [Scottish Borders Council request email]
Dear Freedom of Information,
My aim is to distinguish how much is spent on helping families in need in contrast with removing children from families.
Do you have a family in need budget/team and a child protection budget/team?
As I do not know how you discharge your duty to assist families in need (presumably through parenting courses,counselling, addiction rehab) I cannot say exactly what expenditure would meet this request. Are you able to help me in this regard?
As far as removing children from families I would expect to hear about foster care costs, care home costs, legal fees, assessments of families, kinship assessments, supervised contact visits, adoption costs etc.
I am interested in 3 specific years. 2003/2004 2008/2009 and 2009/2010. If you are able to give me information for all years from 2003 or all 3 years that would be great, otherwise please provide information for 2009/2010 and I will go from there.
Yours sincerely,
LS Palmer
Dear Mr Palmer
Further to your request for information under the Freedom of Information
(Scotland) Act 2002 relating to the above I am now able to respond.
1a. I have pleasure in providing information on Children's Services for
the years requested:
Financial Year Family in Need Child Protection
2003/04 £5,723,588 £157,435
2004/05 £6,192,097 £158,021
2005/06 £6,261,038 £154,381
2006/07 £7,230,984 £139,814
2007/08 £7,973,996 £190,920
2008/09 £9,290,847 £207,444
2009/10 £18,020,563 £425,871
It should be noted, that the net expenditure incurred in 2009/10 reflects
the merging of the Children & Families Service (Social Work), and
Additional Needs, which was previously delivered by the Education and
Lifelong Learning Service - this change happened part way through the
year.
1B. As far as Legal Services is concerned the Council there is no clear
split between Legal Charges for Children's Services and other Legal
issues. However, Scottish Borders Council's published accounts can be
found on the SBC website by following the link below
[1]http://www.scotborders.gov.uk/council/de...
2a,b, c. The Council has made no applications to either GSCC, The
Criminal Court/Crown Prosecution or The Independent Safeguarding
Authority. As we do not hold this information it is therefore exempt
under Section 17 of FOISA.
3a & b. The information requested relating to the Family Court and
Criminal Court/Cornw Prosecution is held by the Scottish Children's
Reporter and can be accessed via their website by following the link
below:
[2]http://www.scra.gov.uk/publications/onli...
3c. I can advise that there is no Scottish equivalent to the Independent
Safeguarding Authority and we can therefore not provide this information.
I hope you are happy with the information provided but have to advise that
you have a right to request a review within 40 working days of receipt of
this email. You should either e-mail [3][Scottish Borders Council request email] or write
to the Data Compliance Officer, Scottish Borders Council, Council HQ,
Newtown St.Boswells TD6 0SA.
If after the Council's FOI Advice Group have considered your review and
you are still not happy with the decision you then have a right to appeal
to the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle,
Doubledykes Road, St.Andrews, fife KY16 9DS.
Yours sincerely
Doreen Broom
Data Compliance Officer
Scottish Borders Council
Tel: 01835 826516
e-mail: [email address]
References
Visible links
1. http://www.scotborders.gov.uk/council/de...
2. http://www.scra.gov.uk/publications/onli...
3. mailto:[Scottish Borders Council request email]
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