Unexplained Fractures in Babies

The request was refused by Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council.

Dear Wigan Borough Council,

Please could you provide all statistical data you hold broken down year by year, in relation to Care Proceedings which commenced due to unexplained fractures in babies, going back from 2011 to whatever date is reasonable.

I am particularly interested in

1. The age of the child at the time of injury.
2. Name of the Hospital
3. Whether the Fractures had an organic explanation. (If so what was the cause eg. Brittle bones, Vitamin D deficiency etc)
4. Whether the Fractures were recorded as non accidental.
5. Whether a criminal trial ensued.
6. Whether the child was adopted.
7. Whether the child died from the injuries.
8. How many siblings of the injured child were removed from the parents.

I appreciate that it may not be possible to provide all the above listed information however I would be grateful to receive whatever information you have available and signposting towards other organisations who may hold the relevant data.

Yours faithfully,

B McKenzie

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

Please quote ID 2883 on all correspondence/emails/faxes

Dear Sir / Madam

I am emailing to confirm the receipt of your recent FOI request to Wigan Council.

We will respond as soon as possible and in any case no later than 4th November 2011, which is 20 working days after the receipt of your request.

If you have any comments or questions in the meantime, please direct them to [Wigan Borough Council request email], or at Wigan Council, Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 1YN.

Your contact is Rita Wood.

Regards

Davina Rumsey - Legal Clerk
Resources Directorate,
Legal and Risk,
Wigan Council, Town Hall,
Library Street, Wigan, WN1 1YN
01942 828146 ( Internal ext 3146)
[email address]

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Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your request for information received on 30th June 2011. This request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your request is outlined below.

Please could you provide all statistical data you hold broken down
year by year, in relation to Care Proceedings which commenced due
to unexplained fractures in babies, going back from 2011 to
whatever date is reasonable.

I am particularly interested in

1. The age of the child at the time of injury.
2. Name of the Hospital
3. Whether the Fractures had an organic explanation. (If so what
was the cause eg. Brittle bones, Vitamin D deficiency etc)
4. Whether the Fractures were recorded as non accidental.
5. Whether a criminal trial ensued.
6. Whether the child was adopted.
7. Whether the child died from the injuries.
8. How many siblings of the injured child were removed from the
parents.

Please find below the response to your request.

I am refusing to respond to your request under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, on the basis that I believe that to answer your request would breach the appropriate limit as set out in the FOI fees regulations. I will explain why this is the case.

This level of information is not recorded. During the year 1/4/10 - 31/3/11, 163 case files were opened. In order to provide this information it would be necessary to manually examine each file and to search for the details. I estimate that it would take at least 10 minutes per file (e.g. 163 x 10 mins = over 27 hours). Added to this time would need to be spent collating and producing the information in an acceptable format. This would well exceed the 18 hour finding time.

Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act allows requests to be refused if the process of finding, collating and providing requested information would exceed the appropriate limit set out in regulations passed by Parliament. The appropriate limit for local government is £450, to be calculated at a rate of £25 an hour - a total of 18 hours. We cannot say how much it would actually cost to process the request - the £450 limit and the assumption of an hourly rate of £25 comes from the legislation.

I believe that the time taken to gather the relevant data would be in excess of the 18 hours as stated above.
We are obliged to provide you with advice and assistance in order to bring your request into the 18 hours limit. I have to admit that I do not know what advice to provide, given that even if the time scale of your request was reduced, it would still involve a high amount of work. However, you may wish to re-define and submit a further request.

If you are unhappy with any aspect of this response, an independent senior officer will review this decision. Please let me know if you would like to arrange this.

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner, who is the regulator for Freedom of Information. His website is www.informationcommisioner.gov.uk and his helpline number is 0303 1231113.

His staff may ask you to exhaust our internal complaints procedure if you choose to complain to his office now.

Yours faithfully,

Rita Wood
Legal Practice Officer
Wigan Council
Resources Directorate - Legal and Risk
Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 1YN
01942 828072 (Internal Ext. 3072)
[email address]
www.wigan.gov.uk

Please note that I only work Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays

This email together with any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom they are addressed. The information may be covered by legal professional privilege. Do not copy, disclose or distribute the information. If you are not the addressee, please contact the sender and immediately delete this email and any attachments

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