Children admitted to hospital for malnutrition

Summary

The requester asked for statistics on children admitted to hospital for malnutrition and those placed on child protection registers due to poverty between 2018 and 2021. The Department of Health and Social Care responded that it does not hold this information, citing practical refusal reasons under the Freedom of Information Act.

Key Facts

• Hospital admissions for malnutrition are not recorded electronically or manually by the Department.
• There is no longer a 'Child Protection Register'; children are instead subject to a 'Child Protection Plan'.
• The Department does not record or gather data on whether poverty is a specific challenge for families in the child protection system.
• Poverty alone is not a reason to place a child under protection arrangements; evidence of significant harm is required.
• Families facing poverty-related circumstances compromising a child's health may be identified as 'in need' under Section 23 of the Child & Young Persons Act 2001.

Data Disclosed

• 1st January 2018
• 17th January 2021
• 18th January 2021
• 4th February 2021
• 1633822
• Section 11(3)a
• Section 23
• Child & Young Persons Act 2001
• Freedom of Information Act 2015

Exemptions Cited

• Section 11(3)a of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (practical refusal: information not held or cannot be found after reasonable steps)

Original Request

Question 1: How many children have been admitted to hospital for malnutrition from the 1st January 2018 to the 17th January 2021? Question 2: How many children have been put on the child protection register due to poverty related circumstances from 1st January 2018 to the 17th January 2021?

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Interim Chief Executive: Kathryn Magson Freedom of Information Team Crookall House Demesne Road Douglas Isle of Man IM1 3QA

Tel: (01624) 642621 Email: dhsc@foi.gov.im Website: www.gov.im/dhsc

Our ref: 1633822 4th February 2021

Dear ###

We write further to your request which was received on the 18th January 2021 and states:

“Question 1: How many children have been admitted to hospital for malnutrition from the 1st January 2018 to the 17th January 2021? Question 2: How many children have been put on the child protection register due to poverty related circumstances from 1st January 2018 to the 17th January 2021?” Our response: Question 1: How many children have been admitted to hospital for malnutrition from the 1st January 2018 to the 17th January 2021? While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Department of Health and Social Care (“the Department”) is unable to provide the information you have requested. This is in line with section 11(3)a of the Act, as a practical refusal reason applies; namely we do not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find the information that you have requested. Hospital admissions for malnutrition are not recorded either electronically on the Medway patient administration system or manually, so the Department unfortunately does not hold this information.

Question 2: How many children have been put on the child protection register due to poverty related circumstances from 1st January 2018 to the 17th January 2021? While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance Department of Health and Social Care (“the Department”) is unable to provide the information you have requested. This is in line with section 11(3)a of the Act, as a practical refusal reason applies; namely we do not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find the information that you have requested. The Department does not hold the information requested. To support the requestor’s understanding of how child protection arrangements work the following information may be helpful. When a child is identified through enquiries made to be suffering, or at risk of suffering, significant harm a meeting of professionals is held with parents to discuss the concerns and if it is felt that appropriate threshold for harm is met then a Child Protection Plan is devised. These children are said to be subject to a Child Protection Plan – there is no longer a ‘Child Protection Register’. In Child Protection arrangements the significant harm that children are (or are likely) to experience are described in four categories – Neglect; Sexual Abuse; Physical Abuse or Emotional Abuse (or could be a combination of more than one of these). We do not record discreetly and gather data on whether ‘poverty’ is a challenge that families within the child protection system are facing. Abuse and neglect can, and does, occur across families of all income brackets. Poverty would not be a reason in itself to put Child Protection arrangements in place – there has to be evidence of significant harm (or a likelihood of harm) attributable to the lack of care and protection provided or acts perpetrated against the child by parents.
Where Children & Families identify poverty related circumstances at assessment that compromise the child meeting a reasonable standard of health and development then these would identify the child as being ‘in need’ (as defined by Section 23 of the Child & Young Persons Act 2001) and services would be offered to promote the welfare of the child. We do not hold statistics on how many families have been supported in this way.
Please quote the reference number 1633822 in any future communications.

Your right to request a review

If you are unhappy with this response to your freedom of information request, you may ask us to carry out an internal review of the response, by completing a complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post.

An electronic version of our complaint form can be found by going to our website at https://services.gov.im/freedom-of-information/Review . If you would like a paper version of our complaint form to be sent to you by post, please contact me and I will be happy to arrange for this. Your review request should explain why you are dissatisfied with this response, and should be made as soon as practicable. We will respond as soon as the review has been concluded.

If you are not satisfied with the result of the review, you then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner for a decision on; 1. Whether we have responded to your request for information in accordance with Part 2 of the Freedom of Information Act 2015; or 2. Whether we are justified in refusing to give you the information requested.
In response to an application for review, the Information Commissioner may, at any time, attempt to resolve a matter by negotiation, conciliation, mediation or another form of alternative dispute resolution and will have regard to any outcome of this in making any subsequent decision. More detailed information on your right to a review can be found on the Information Commissioner’s website at www.inforights.im. Should you have any queries concerning this letter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Further information about freedom of information requests can be found at www.gov.im/foi.

I will now close your request as of this date.

Yours sincerely