DCSF challenged over withholding FOI responses

[Ali P]

The following letter has been sent to the DCSF and copied to the Information Commissioner on behalf of 31 signatories. It refers to the DCSF refusal to respond to FOI requests made by Maire Stafford as outlined here.

Subject : Freedom of Information Requests by Home Educators

Dear Mr. Graham

We would like to draw your attention to a decision by Andrew Partridge, Information Rights Manager of the DCSF to withhold the answers to a batch of FOI requests made by Maire Stafford.

We believe that Mr Partridge has not taken into account the wider context in which these requests were made, and that the decision should be reversed.

We enclose a copy of our letter to Mr Partridge.

Mr Partridge's letter to Ms Stafford can be viewed at http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/reques...2/Document.pdf.

Yours sincerely

J G
on behalf of the 31 signatories of the enclosed letter


To: Andrew Partridge, Information Rights Manager, DCFS
CC: Christopher Graham, Information Commissioner

Dear Mr Partridge

We are writing about the series of Freedom of Information requests made by home educators, including Maire Stafford, about the Badman Review and associated material.

The legislation proposed by the Badman Review would have a profound effect on our family lives and the wellbeing of our children. The Impact Assessment published last week shows that the Government continues to rely on statistics produced by Mr Badman to justify the legislation.

Mr Badman and his team have now shown on several occasions that their competence in data-gathering and statistical calculation is not reliable.
(See, for instance, the transcript of the Select Committee enquiry session on 12 October 2009, beginning at Question 13 from Graham Stuart MP.) We therefore have every reason to wish the underlying data to be brought to light for independent verification, insofar as that is compatible with the privacy of the families described within it.

We therefore disagree that these requests are "vexatious". On the contrary, they are exactly in the spirit in which the Freedom of Information Act was conceived, whereby ordinary people may understand the Government's workings and contribute to correcting mistakes.

We note your observation that "the requests, when answered, have led to further requests and complaints". This is inevitable when so much of the source information has not been published. Many of these requests could have been avoided if Mr Badman had been required to document properly the sources of his conclusions in the first place.

We note your observation that "of some 107 FOI requests received by the Department between 11 June and 27 October 2009 about elective home education, 74 (69%) were from a small group of nine FOI requesters".

However, there are hundreds if not thousands more of us who have an interest in the results. (You will recall that the recent Consultation on the legislation attracted over five thousand submissions.) Most of us are parents and many of us are also in paid employment. We are very grateful to Maire Stafford and the other people who have found the time and tenacity to implement these requests. We do not think that the burden upon your department would have been any less if a hundred of us had put in a hundred separate FOI requests.

In the light of this context, we strongly recommend that you reconsider your objections to releasing the information requested by Maire Stafford.

Yours sincerely

(31 signatories)

[Ali P]

Dear Ms G

Thank you for your email below. The Department is grateful for you for taking the trouble to bring your concern and that of those listed at the foot of your email to our attention.

I can assure you that the Department would only seek to place reliance on section 14 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 after very careful consideration and evaluation.

A requester who receives a refusal notice citing section 14 of that Act may seek an internal review of the Department's decision. Any internal review would take account of issues such as those that you raise.

If this requester is unhappy with the decision the Department has reached, she should contact us. ICO guidance on the appeal process thereafter can be found at http://www.ico.gov.uk/complaints/fre...formation.aspx

Yours sincerely

Andrew Partridge
Information Rights Manager, DCSF

[Loubeeloo]

I can assure you that the Department would only seek to place reliance on section 14 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 after very careful consideration and evaluation.

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