School Fines

The request was partially successful.

Dear Cheshire East Council,
Id like to know how many TPNs have been issued each month for the last 3 years and how many have been withdrawn each month for the last 3 years. Also how many prosecutions were brought where the allegation was a breach of s444 of the Education Act 1986 in the last 6 years. What % resulted in an acquital, what % did the parents plead guilty, what % did they plead not guilty. What % of the summonses quoted attendance dates of longer than 3 months? How many TPNs were issued where the child was not of compulsory school age and how many of these were paid?

Yours faithfully,

Jon Platt

FOI East, Cheshire East Council

Dear Mr Platt

Thank you for your email.

It will be treated as a request for information within the meaning of the Freedom of Information Act: this means that we will send you a full response within 20 working days, either supplying you with the information which you want, or explaining to you why we cannot supply it. The due date is 18th July 2016. If we need any further clarification or there is any problem we will be in touch.

In the meantime if you wish to discuss this further please contact the department. It would be helpful if you could quote the log number 812666.

Yours sincerely

Val Nelhams
Compliance & Customer Relations,
Cheshire East Council

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Dear FOI East,
Any news on my request?

Yours sincerely,

Jon Platt

FOI East, Cheshire East Council

Hello John,

Thank you for your message.

I have today chased the officer dealing with your response, and will get back to you as soon as I have more information for you.

Kind regards.

Val Nelhams
Compliance & Customer Relations,
Cheshire East Council

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Dear Val

Thank you

Yours sincerely,

Jon Platt

FOI East, Cheshire East Council

1 Attachment

Dear Jon,

 

Further to your request made under the Freedom of Information Act, please
find below and attached the response provided by our Children's Services
team:

 

I would like to know how many FPN’s have been issued for the last three
years?

-          For the answer to this question please see the attached
spreadsheet

 

How many have been withdrawn each month for the last three years? 

-          For this answer to this question please see the attached
spreadsheet

Also how many prosecutions were brought where the allegation was a breach
of the s444 of the Education Act 1996 in the last 6 years?

-          We can only provide the last four academic years. The figure
for the last four years is 224

 

What % did they plead not guilty. What % of the summons quoted attendance
dates of longer than three months?

-          We do not hold this information

 

How many FPN’s were issued where the child was not of compulsory school
age and how many of these were paid?

-          There have been no FPN’s issued where the child was not of
compulsory school age.

 

 

 

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review under the Freedom
of Information Act you should write to the Compliance Unit, Cheshire East
Council, Westfields Floor 1, C/O Municipal Buildings, Earle Street ,
Crewe, Cheshire CW1 2BJ

                                                            

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints
procedure provided by the Council. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Val Nelhams

Compliance & Customer Relations,

Cheshire East Council

 

 

 

 

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Dear FOI East,

Tahnks for that, can I ask you to look at the spreadsheet and clarify. The tab for 2015 / 16 appears to have the period Nov 2014 - May 2015? Would I be correct to assume that this is a typo and the tab for 2015 - 16 is actually the data for November 2015 - May 2016? Below is the data I am referring to that appears incorrect? Can I ask please, can you please give me the June 2016 data too?

Number of FPN's by the month they were issued in for Academic 2015-2016
Month Total
Nov-14 100
Dec-14 81
Jan-15 90
Feb-15 93
Mar-15 37
Apr-15 73
May-15 17

Yours sincerely,

Jon Platt

FOI East, Cheshire East Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Platt
Please see the response from the service, apologies for the confusion.

Sorry. Yes it was a typo which I have addressed. I have also added the figures for June 2016 also.

Many thanks

Gill Clowes

Compliance and Customer Relations
1st Floor | Westfields | C/O Municipal Buildings | Earle Street | Crewe | CW1 2BJ
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Dear Gill,

Am I right in saying that ZERO TPNs were issued in June by Cheshire? Would I be right in saying that this LA has completely stopped issuing these 'fines' or is this just a temporary thing do you know?

Yours sincerely,

Jon Platt

FOI East, Cheshire East Council

Dear Mr Platt

The figure for June is correct, do you wish me to log a new request regarding policy for TPNs? please advise accordingly.
Yours sincerely
Gill Clowes

Compliance and Customer Relations
1st Floor | Westfields | C/O Municipal Buildings | Earle Street | Crewe | CW1 2BJ
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Dear Gill
Yes please that would be great. Much appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Jon Platt

FOI East, Cheshire East Council

Dear Jon

Further to your email, I have logged your additional request regarding TPN Policy as a new FOI request. Your request is as follows:

"Am I right in saying that ZERO TPNs were issued in June by Cheshire? Would I be right in saying that this LA has completely stopped issuing these 'fines' or is this just a temporary thing do you know?"

We will send you a full response within 20 working days, either supplying you with the information which you want, or explaining to you why we cannot supply it. The due date is 16th August 2016, but we will endeavour to provide an answer as soon as possible. If we need any further clarification or there is any problem we will be in touch.

In the meantime if you wish to discuss this further please contact the department. It would be helpful if you could quote the log number 812865.

Yours sincerely

Val Nelhams
Compliance & Customer Relations,
Cheshire East Council

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Dear FOI East,

Much appreciated Val

Yours sincerely,

Jon Platt

Dear Val

Any news on this? Has this Local Authority stopped issuing penalty notices for school absences??

Yours sincerely,

Jon Platt

FOI East, Cheshire East Council

Mr Platt -

The request is currently being considered by the service and Cheshire East Council will respond as possible by 16th August 2016 at the latest.

Kind regards.

Mrs H M Sweeney,
Senior Compliance & Customer Relations Officer,
Compliance & Customer Relations Team,
1st Floor Westfields,
c/o Municipal Buildings,
Earle Street,
Crewe,
CW1 2BJ.

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FOI East, Cheshire East Council

2 Attachments

Mr Platt -
 
Cheshire East Council is currently considering several similar requests
from you and has already responded to one - FOI 812666. I have attached
the response for your information.
On the back of that response we logged a new request FOI 812865 which
relates to Cheshire East Council's current policy towards Fixed Penalty
Fines for unauthorised absences from school.
 
In addition to 812865, we have logged two further FOI requests for you :
812746 and 812928. These are both live.
However, the two requests overlap with each other, the third active
request we are currently considering  and the original response we have
already provided to you.
 
Please see my comments in bold font below:
 
FOI 812746

 1. I'd like to know how many TPNs in total have been issued each month
for the last 3 years and how many have been withdrawn each month for
the last 3 years. This has been answered on FOI 812666.
 2. Also how many prosecutions were brought where the allegation was a
breach of s444 of the Education Act 1986 in the last 6 years. Include
all prosecutions, i.e. those where the summons was issued after a
failure to pay a TPN AND prosecutions brought where no TPN had been
issued.

This has been answered on FOI 812666.

 3. Can you provide % of prosecutions that resulted in an acquital, what %
did the parents plead guilty to, and what % did they plead not guilty.
This has been answered on FOI 812666.
 4. Can you tell me how many prosecutions have been started and later
withdrawn. This has been answered on FOI 812666.
 5. What % of the total summonses quoted attendance dates of longer than 3
months? This has been answered on FOI 812666.
 6. How many TPNs were issued where the child was not of compulsory school
age and how many of these were paid? This has been answered on FOI
812666.
 7. Can I also have a copy of the County code of conduct on attendance.
This is currently being considered under FOI 812865 and will be
answered accordingly.

 
 
FOI 812928
1. How many fixed penalty notices (sometimes called truancy penalty
notices) have been issued each month for the last 3 years in respect of
all absences from school and how many have been withdrawn each month for
the last 3 years. This has been answered on FOI 812666.
2. Also how many prosecutions were brought where the allegation was a
breach of s444 of the Education Act 1986 in the last 6 years. This has
been answered on FOI 812666.
3. What % resulted in an acquittal. This has been answered on FOI 812666.
4. What % did the parents plead guilty and what % did they plead not
guilty. This has been answered on FOI 812666.
5. Has this local authority changed or does it plan to change it's policy
in respect of issuing these fixed penalties since the decision of the High
Court on 13th May in IW Council v Platt. This is currently being
considered under FOI 812865 and will be answered accordingly.
 
Therefore I am closing FOI Request 812746 and FOI Request 812928 as we
have either already provided the information in the response to FOI
812666; or are currently considering the request in FOI 812865.
 
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review under the Freedom
of Information Act you should write to the Compliance Unit, Cheshire East
Council, Westfields Floor 1, C/O Municipal Buildings, Earle Street ,
Crewe, Cheshire CW1 2BJ
       
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints
procedure provided by the Council. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
 
Kind regards.
 
Mrs H M Sweeney,
Senior Compliance & Customer Relations Officer,
Compliance & Customer Relations Team,
Cheshire East Council.
 
 
 

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FOI East, Cheshire East Council

Dear Mr Platt

 

Thank you for your recent FOI request,  please find the response from the
Children’s services team.

 

Would I be right in saying that this LA has completely stopped issuing
these 'fines' or is this just a temporary thing do you know?"

 

The response to your question is,  this is just a temporary measure.

 

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review under the Freedom
of Information Act you should write to the Compliance Unit, Cheshire East
Council, Westfields Floor 1, C/O Municipal Buildings, Earle Street ,
Crewe, Cheshire CW1 2BJ

                                                            

I hope this response will be of assistance to you but,  if you are not
content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the
Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a
decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by
the Council. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Gill Clowes

 

Compliance and Customer Relations

Cheshire East Council

1^st Floor | Westfields | C/O Municipal Buildings | Earle Street | Crewe |
CW1 2BJ

 

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