School Fines Blackburn

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Dear Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council,

Id like to know how many TPNs (Truancy Penalty Notices) in total have been issued each month for the last 3 years and how many have been withdrawn each month for the last 3 years.

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.

Can you provide % of prosecutions that resulted in an acquital, what % did the parents plead guilty to, and what % did they plead not guilty.

Can you tell me how many prosecutions have been started and later withdrawn.

What % of the total 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?

Can I also have a copy of the code of conduct on school attendance / truancy penalty notices

Yours faithfully,

Jon Platt

Accesstoinformation, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Dear Jon,

Thank you for your request for information regarding TPNs (Truancy Penalty Notices) (reference number 00941). Your request was received on the 20/07/2016 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and/or Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I will let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.

If you have any queries about this request, please contact Information Governance on 01254 585651. Alternatively, our email address is [Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council request email].

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Kind Regards,

Information Governance Team
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

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Accesstoinformation, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

2 Attachments

Dear Jon,

Thank you for your request for information regarding TPNs (Truancy Penalty Notices) (reference number 00941); please see our response below. If you have any queries regarding your request for information then please don’t hesitate to contact me.

1. How many TPNs (Truancy Penalty Notices) 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

Month Academic Year – 2013/14 Academic Year – 2014/15 Academic Year – 2015/16
September 0 0 5
October 0 6 0
November 1 5 4
December 1 0 5
January 7 5 6
February 4 12 3
March 20 4 2
April 1 13 8
May 4 3 4
June 6 4 11
July 12 11 6
August 4 12 0
TOTAL 60 75 54

We are unable to provide the information as to the number of Truancy penalty notices withdrawn as this is not coded on our management information system and would require a manual trawl of 249 cases taking approximately 30 minutes per file and can therefore not be done within the time constraints of FOI requests. 249 x 30 minutes = 124.5 hours

2. 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. 57

3. Can you provide % of prosecutions that resulted in an acquittal, what % did the parents plead guilty to, and what % did they plead not guilty.
In order to respond to this question it would involve a manual trawl of 300 cases taking approximately 30 minutes per case and therefore we are unable to answer this question within the time constraints of FOI. 300 X 30 minutes = 150 hours

4. Can you provide % of prosecutions that resulted in an acquittal, what % did the parents plead guilty to, and what % did they plead not guilty. 6 (‘truancy’ cases only)

5. What % of the total summonses quoted attendance dates of longer than 3 months? In order to respond to this question it would involve a manual trawl of 300 cases taking approximately 30 minutes per case and therefore we are unable to answer this question within the time constraints of FOI. 300 x 30 minutes = 150 hours

6. How many TPNs were issued where the child was not of compulsory school age and how many of these were paid? 0

7. Can I also have a copy of the code of conduct on school attendance / truancy penalty notices - Please see attached.

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 of our decision, you should write to: Sarah Slater, Information Governance Manager, Information Governance, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, G Floor, Town Hall, Blackburn, Lancashire, BB1 7DY or email [Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council request email].

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.

Please find attached our 'have your say' feedback policy.

Kind Regards,

Information Governance Team
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

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Dear Accesstoinformation,

Can you please clarify that these figures include ALL absence from school related penalty notices? (including those for unauthorised term time holidays AND irregular attendance over a wider period)

Yours sincerely,

Jon Platt

Accesstoinformation, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Dear John,

The request specifically asked for Truancy Penalty Notices and not unapproved leave of absence which would include family holidays taken in school term time. Therefore the figures provided did not include unauthorised term time holidays as this was not requested and is something different to Truancy Penalty Notices. The figures did however include irregular attendance over a wider period.

Kind Regards,

Information Governance Team
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

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Dear Accesstoinformation,

Sorry every local authority has different names and terminology for these penalty notices. There is ONLY ONE offence, a failure to ensure the regular attendance of a child at school, but for some strange reason LAs seem to have different categories of this one offence? I want data on ALL penalty notices issued in respect of absences from school and if you are able to categorise them and explain what each category is that would be wonderful!

Much appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

Jon Platt

Accesstoinformation, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Dear Jon,

Thank you for your request for information regarding 'ALL penalty notices issued in respect of absences from school' (reference number 01040). Your request was received on the 10/08/2016 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and/or Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I will let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.

If you have any queries about this request, please contact Information Governance on 01254 585651. Alternatively, our email address is [Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council request email].

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Kind Regards,

Information Governance Team
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

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Dear Accesstoinformation,

My understanding is that 'clarification' does not 're-start' the 20 days time limit?

Yours sincerely,

Jon Platt

Accesstoinformation, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Dear Mr Platt,

Thank you for your email. You are correct in stating that clarification does not start the 20 working day timeframe again. However it is our view that your email dated the 10th August 2016 was a request for a different set of statistics than your original request, therefore it is a new request for information and not clarification of an existing request. I have however asked the team who are collating a response to treat the request as a priority and therefore provide a response as soon as possible.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Kind Regards,

Information Governance Team
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

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Accesstoinformation, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

2 Attachments

Dear Jon,

Thank you for your request for information regarding 'ALL penalty notices issued in respect of absences from school' (reference number 01040). Please find attached figures in relation to Education Penalty Notices issued over Unapproved Discretionary Leave of Absence (Family Holidays in Term-Time). Previous data provided was for Truancy.

Please note we can confirm that none these were issued over children who were not of compulsory school age.

In relation to the remainder of the data requested in Q2-5 of your original request, unfortunately we are unable to provide this information due to the cost of compliance. It has therefore been refused under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Section 12 does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit in the Act equates to 18 hours of work. Full text; http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000....

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request for information and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to: Information Governance Manager, Information Governance, Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, G Floor, Town Hall, Blackburn, Lancashire, BB1 7DY or email [Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council request email].

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.

Please find attached our 'have your say' feedback policy.

Kind Regards,

Information Governance Team
Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

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