Dear Ms Critchlow

We write further to your recent FOI enquiry and apologise for the delay in
responding.

Please be advised that some of the data requested is not held in an
extractable format electronically and to collate accurate responses would
require a manual exercise, with officers being required to review
individual case records.  We do not sufficient officer resources to be
able to do this within the timescales set out in the FOIA.  We have
therefore responded to those questions we are able to within the 18.5 hrs
and have relied upon the S12 exemption in relation to the remainder of
your enquiry.

1. How many refusal to assess appeals have been registered this year?

2. How many of these were upheld?

3. How many refusal to issue have been registered this year?

4. How many of these were upheld?

5. How many contents and placement appeals have been registered this year?

6. How many of the parental preference for placement were named?

Exempt under S12 FOIA.

7. How many children have EHCP's in your LA? - 4043

8. How many of these are in mainstream settings? - 2480

9. How many of these are in specialist? – 1391

10. How many of these have EOTAS? Exempt under S12

11. How many Children with special educational needs have no placements
currently? As above

Under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, public
authorities are not required to comply with a request for information if
it is estimated that to do so would exceed the appropriate limit,
currently set at 18.5 hours. Having reviewed the scope of your request, we
must advise that your request is considered to require in excess of that
timescale. 

You have the right under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
to ask for an internal review of this decision.  Please direct any request
for an internal review to [1][Wirral Borough Council request email]  and your
request will be allocated to another officer for review. If you are
dissatisfied with the outcome of an internal review you also have the
right to complain to the information Commissioner, who can be contacted at
[2]https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/

Yours sincerely

Lynette Paterson

Principal Information Management Officer

Resources – Digital and Improvement

Wirral Council

PO Box 290
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH27 9FQ

Email: [3][Wirral Borough Council request email]

Visit our website: [4]www.wirral.gov.uk

This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended
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References

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1. mailto:[Wirral Borough Council request email]
2. https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/
3. mailto:[Wirral Borough Council request email]
4. http://www.wirral.gov.uk/

Dear Ms Critchlow

Your email of 18 January 2023 has been treated as a request for an
internal review of the original response provided attached. I can confirm
that I have reviewed your request and made additional enquiries with our
Childrens, Families and Education Services. We can provide the following
amended response:

You have asked us to review the following questions 1-6,10,11 of your
original enquiry as follows:

2022

1. How many refusal to assess appeals have been registered this year?

2. How many of these were upheld?

3. How many refusal to issue have been registered this year?

4. How many of these were upheld?

5. How many contents and placement appeals have been registered this year?

6. How many of the parental preference for placement were named?

10. How many of these have EOTAS?

11. How many Children with special educational needs have no placements
currently?

Wirral Council confirmed on 18 January 2023 that to respond to your full
enquiry would take in excess of the statutory limit allowed of 18.5hrs,
due to the level of manual review and collation a response to questions
1-6,10,11 would require.

My enquiries have now been completed and confirmed that there is no way to
provide the requested data.   In addition to the S12 exemption arising
from the lack of a report that can electronically extract the data, we
have also encountered a specific issue with the accuracy of the data for
2022. It would appear that there were technical issues that resulted in
data not saving correctly.  We therefore cannot provide data from or
interrogate these records, knowing the figures will be incorrect and
inaccurate for the calendar year 2022.

This email therefore concludes your internal review of this
request. Having reviewed the matter thoroughly, I am satisfied that we
have provided you with a response to questions 7,8,9 of your original
query but maintain that we are unable to provide an accurate response to
your remaining questions, within the timescale prescribed within the
legislation.  The Council has therefore complied with its obligations
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.  should you feel that this is
not the case, you are entitled to make a complaint to the Information
Commissioner’s Office and further details in this regard can be found at
[1]www.ico.org.uk.

Yours sincerely

Tracy O'Hare

Information Management Officer

Wirral Council

PO Box 290

Brighton Street

Wallasey

CH27 9FQ

Email:[2][Wirral Borough Council request email]

Visit our website: [3]www.wirral.gov.uk

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to use it for your own purposes, including any non commercial research you
are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other reuse, for
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