Dear Ms Kerrigan,
Please find below the response sent on the 27th September 2021 from the
system we use to log and process requests.
Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this has caused.

Our Ref: 9718    

Dear Ms Kerrigan,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT REQUEST

I refer to your Freedom of Information request in relation to young
people with educational health care (EHCP) plans or statements, placed in
independent or non-maintained provision.
Right of Access

Section 1(1) of the Act provides any person making a request for
information to a public authority is entitled.

(a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds
information of the description specified in the request (which Section
1(6) of the Act designates as the "duty to confirm or deny"), and

(b) if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him.

The right is to obtain access to the information itself and not to the
document or record which contains it.

The Act creates a general right of access to information held by public
authorities subject to various exemptions.

Northumberland County Council confirms that it holds the information you
have requested, please see the following information in response.

Please can you provide me with the name of the current educational
placement (school) of any young people, 16 years of age and under, with
educational health care (EHCP) plans or statements, placed in independent
or non-maintained provision? 

List of Education Establishments :  Independent and non
maintained  
Northern Counties School 
Nunnykirk School 
Percy Hedley School  
Talbot House School  
Appletree School 
Buzz Learning 
GUST Independent School 
High Peak School 
Howard House 
Kirby Moor School 
North East Autism Society - Thornhill Park School 
North East Centre for Autism - Aycliffe School 
Parkside House School 
Peartree Project 
Priory Fieldfare 
Spark of Genius - Caledonian School  
Spark of Genius - Harbour Point School 

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like you to supply me
with the information requested for the previous academic year – 2020/2021.

I would ask you to provide the information in an excel document, broken
down under the following headings:
Category of Need (SEMH, ASD, etc.)
Name of School
Type of placement - (Day or residential placement)
Cost of placement per year 

The Freedom of Information Act sets out various exemptions to the right of
access. Section 40(2) of the Act makes provision for public authorities to
refuse requests for information where the information constitutes personal
data and disclosing it would breach the principles of fair and lawful
processing set out in the General Data Protection Regulations and Data
Protection Act 2018. 
 
The wording of the exemption set out in the Act states: 
 
“40 - personal information 
(1) Any information to which a request for information relates is exempt
information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the
data subject. 
 
(2) Any information to which a request for information relates is also
exempt information if— 
(a) it constitutes personal data which does not fall within subsection
(1), and 
(b) the first, second or third condition below is satisfied. 
 
(3A) The first condition is that the disclosure of the information to a
member of the public otherwise than under this Act— 
(a) would contravene any of the data protection principles, or 
(b) would do so if the exemptions in section 24(1) of the DPA 2018 (manual
unstructured data held by public authorities) were disregarded. 
 
(3B) The second condition is that the disclosure of the information to a
member of the public otherwise than under this Act would contravene
Article 21 of the GDPR (general processing: right to object to
processing)”  

In the present case the County Council takes the view that the information
is exempt under section 43 on the basis that it is commercially sensitive.
In this case the Authority relies on section 43(2). 
 
Freedom of Information Act 2000 Section 43(2): Information is exempt
information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to,
prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public
authority holding it). 
 
Public Interest Test Considerations 
 
Section 43 is a qualified exemption which means that the information
falling within the exemption still has to be released unless the public
interest in disclosure is outweighed by the public interest in maintaining
the exemption. 
 
The reasons why the public interest favours withholding the information
are: by releasing pricing information there is the potential to prejudice
the commercial interests of the businesses concerned as well as that of
NCC.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been
handled, you can request an internal review by writing within 2 months
from the date of this response to the Information Governance Office:

Information Governance Office, Northumberland County Council, County
Hall, Morpeth, NE61 2EF
Email: [1][Northumberland County Council request email]
Information Commissioner

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have a
right by Section 50 of the Act to apply to the Information Commissioner
for a decision as to whether your request has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act at:

The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113
Email: [2][email address]

There is no charge for making an appeal.

Yours faithfully

FOI Coordinator - Children's Services
Information Governance Office
Northumberland County Council
County Hall
Morpeth
Northumberland
NE61 2EF

Tel: 0345 600 6400
Email: [3][Northumberland County Council request email]
Web: [4]http://www.northumberland.gov.uk 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Lily Kerrigan <[FOI #787431 email]>
Sent: 04 November 2021 14:13
To: FOI Mailbox <[Northumberland County Council request email]>
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - School
Placements 2020-2021
 
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organisation. Do not
click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and know
the content is safe.

Dear Northumberland County Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information
reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Northumberland County
Council's handling of my FOI request 'School Placements 2020-2021'.

This information was originally requested on 1 September 2021 and I
haven't had a response as yet.  Please can this information be sent as
soon as possible.

Yours faithfully,

Lily Kerrigan

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Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #787431 email]

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