Marown primary roll & OoC enrolments

Summary

The Department of Education, Sport and Culture provided the total pupil enrollment numbers by year group for Marown Primary School but refused to disclose the number of 'out of catchment' pupils.

Key Facts

• Total enrollment data for Marown Primary School was released for all year groups from Reception to Year 6.
• The request for 'out of catchment' pupil numbers was refused under practical refusal reasons.
• The Department stated it is not statutorily required to hold or analyze address data relative to catchment areas.
• Compiling the requested out-of-catchment data would require creating or deriving information not currently held in the requested format.
• The response was issued on 6 October 2017 following a request received on 5 October 2017.

Data Disclosed

• 20
• 32
• 28
• 22
• 26
• 31
• 2017-10-05
• 2017-10-06
• IM105803I
• section 11(3) (a)
• section 8(3)

Exemptions Cited

• Section 11(3)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (Practical refusal reasons)
• Section 8(3) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (Compilation and analysis of data)

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

6 October 2017

Dear

Re: Freedom of Information Request – Reference Number IM105803I

Your Request:-

Could you please tell me:

1. The total number of pupils currently enrolled in Marown Primary school by year group.
2. The total number of 'out of catchment' pupils currently enrolled in Marown Primary School by year group.

Department Response

I can confirm that the Department is able to provide you with some of the requested information as follows:-.

Total number of pupils currently enrolled in Marown Primary school by year group.

Year group Total pupils Reception 20 1 32 2 28 3 22 4 32 5 26 6 31

In respect of the second part of your request, whilst our aim is to provide information whenever possible, the Freedom of Information Act 2015 makes provision for public authorities to refuse to release information on grounds where the information requested is absolutely exempt information or where a qualified exemption or practical refusal reason may apply.

In this instance, the Department is refusing the second part of your request on the grounds that practical refusal reasons apply under section 11(3) (a) of the Act, namely that the Department of Education and Children does not hold all of the information that you have requested, as:- Department of Education and Children

Rheynn Ynsee as Paitchyn

Chief Executive Officer Ronald Barr

 the Department is not statutorily required to hold all of the information requested or to analyse any of the information that is held (e.g. pupil addresses and postcodes relative to the nearest or another catchment school)

 to be able to respond to the question asked would require the Department to do something it is not required to do, per section 8(3) of the Act, i.e.:- o compilation and analysis of data that is held would require the Department to:-  create or derive information from information that it holds  undertake research into, or analysis of, information that it holds  undertake substantial compilation or collation of information that it holds.

Additional practical reasons also apply to the request made, such as: whilst schools are required to hold names and addresses on a register of pupils there are circumstances where analysis of address /postcode information relative to the catchment area school could be misleading. For example if a child of primary school age now lives within the Marown Primary School catchment but was originally admitted as an out of catchment admission this would make analysis and reporting difficult.

A post-code only analysis from the Department or schools’ records would therefore not give a true representation of the numbers requested and could only be achieved through significant analysis of data held by the schools. A practical refusal reason therefore applies under section 11(3) of the Act.

The information provided within this response letter will also be published on the Government website in due course should you wish to revisit the information.

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 Review/Complaint form and submitting it electronically or by delivery/post to:

Mr Andrew Shipley, Legal and Administration Manager, Hamilton House, Peel Road, Douglas, Isle of Man, IM1 5EZ.

An electronic version of our Review/Complaint form can be found by going to https://www.gov.im/about-the-government/freedom-of-information/

Your Review/Complaint 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 conducted.

Appeal Process

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; 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 rights to review is on the Information Commissioner’s website at https://www.inforights.im/contact-us/

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

Yours sincerely