Department of Education, Sport and Culture
15 FOI requests | Full disclosure rate: 1566.7%
The Freedom of Information requests to the Department of Education, Sport and Culture reveal an authority deeply entangled in the controversy of the St Thomas' Primary School co-location proposal. A significant portion of the casework (over 14 related cases) focuses on this issue, where the Department frequently employed a 'practical refusal' or 'already public' defense to withhold decision-making correspondence (e.g., 354839, 354847), while simultaneously disclosing granular data on pupil catchments (354959) and the fact that the school paid no rent (467435). This pattern suggests a strategy of transparency on operational metrics but obstruction on political and strategic deliberations. The data also exposes a complex relationship between the state and religious groups; while the Department confirmed regular visits by the Child Evangelism Fellowship (354861), it actively blocked access for the abortion reform group HEAR (354831), highlighting a selective gatekeeping of external influences in schools.
Key Cases
Case 354861 — Reveals the systematic presence of the Child Evangelism Fellowship in Isle of Man schools, providing a detailed breakdown of visit frequencies, which raises questions about the separation of church and state in public education.
Case 354831 — Discloses a specific incident where the abortion reform group HEAR attempted to access pupils at St Mary's School and was declined, offering a rare glimpse into the Department's vetting of controversial external groups.
Case 361143 — Highlights a significant administrative error and subsequent correction regarding public objections to the St Thomas' co-location (initially 403 signatures, corrected to 413), demonstrating the volatility of the consultation process.
Case 467435 — Confirms that St Thomas' School paid zero rent to the Department for the building, parking, and playgrounds over three years, a crucial financial fact in the debate over the school's viability and the co-location proposal.
Case 354883 — Discloses that eight unqualified teachers were employed in training roles across four secondary schools, raising concerns about the quality of education and staffing standards during the 2016/17 academic year.
Related FOI Stories
The St Thomas' Co-location Saga — #354839, #354847, #354849, #358135, #354867
Home Education and Legal Enforcement — #354833, #354857, #354875, #358137, #354911
School Performance Data and Statistical Gaps — #354791, #354801, #354809, #354815, #354925
Religious Influence and External Visits — #354851, #354831, #354861, #354877, #512133
Staffing, Employment, and Discipline — #354805, #354813, #354883, #354945, #354947
| Date | Title | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| 2025-07-10 | KWC Statistical Data held by DESC | Not upheld |
| A request was made for statistical data on King William's College and The Buchan School from 2017/18 to 2024/25, but the appeal was not upheld; the response provided detailed Annual Return data for King William's College for the 2019/20 academic year only. | ||
| 2024-12-10 | Kensington arts | Not upheld |
| The requester asked for details on inclusivity for disabled children at Kensington Arts and copies of any equality impact assessments. The Department of Education, Sport and Culture confirmed that no such assessments exist for the service, and the internal review upheld the refusal to provide them. | ||
| 2024-06-18 | Statistics | Not upheld |
| The requester asked for statistics on the number of Department of Education, Sport and Culture staff who work from home, but the authority confirmed it does not hold this specific data. The subsequent internal review upheld the refusal, noting the diversity of working practices across the department and providing a link to general homeworking guidelines instead. | ||
| 2024-05-14 | Tribal Validation of Schools Spring Term 2024 | Not upheld |
| A request was made for all documents, costs, and participation data regarding the Tribal validation of five schools in Spring 2024, but the Department of Education, Sport and Culture refused to disclose the information. | ||
| 2023-10-09 | UCM monitoring staffing & quality | Not upheld |
| 2023-05-05 | Review Document - Services | Not upheld |
| 2023-05-02 | Disability and accessibility in education | Not upheld |
| 2023-03-28 | Provide a copy of RSE Teaching materials from Sep 22 | Not upheld |
| 2023-01-31 | Salary deductions following strike action | Not upheld |
| 2022-09-23 | Teaching Salaries | Not upheld |
| 2021-05-04 | Replacement CRHS and Southern Swimming Pool | Not upheld |
| The request sought plans, cost estimates, and meeting minutes regarding the inclusion of a replacement swimming pool in the new CRHS development. The response disclosed business case extracts and minutes detailing a £6.24 million cost estimate for a 25m pool, discussions on joint funding with King William's College, and the decision to add the pool as a 'bolt-on' to the Treasury paper. | ||
| 2020-07-21 | DESC Pay Offers to Teachers and Allied Pay Issues. | Not upheld |
| The requester sought details on declined pay offers to teachers and historical pay awards for education sector staff, but the authority responded with a general recruitment brochure outlining current benefits rather than the specific historical negotiation data requested. | ||
| 2020-06-17 | Non Co-operation by Unions during Covid-19 Emergency Period | Not upheld |
| The requester sought evidence of union non-cooperation and remote learning guidance during the COVID-19 emergency, but the Information Commissioner's Office determined the complaint was not upheld. The response included 181 pages of documents detailing pedagogical strategies for remote learning, such as chunking lessons and using digital platforms, rather than specific evidence of union disputes. | ||
| 2020-06-10 | Primary School pupil levels Y2, Y6 and GLD | Not upheld |
| The requester sought National Curriculum attainment levels for Years 2 and 6 and Good Level of Development data for Year R across all primary schools. The Department of Education provided partial data from some schools but withheld information from others due to pandemic disruptions, curriculum changes, personal data exemptions, and the cost of data compilation. | ||
| 2019-06-24 | Education Improvement Service reports - Primary School | Not upheld |
| The requester sought the most recent Education Improvement Service reports for Reading, Writing, and Mathematics for ten specific primary schools. The Department of Education, Sport and Culture refused the request, citing that disclosure would inhibit the free and frank provision of advice and prejudice the effective conduct of public business. | ||