Meetings between DESC and MHEA

Summary

A request was made for details regarding a meeting between the Department of Education, Sport and Culture (DESC) and the Manx Home Education Association (MHEA), including attendees, documents, minutes, and future dates. The authority disclosed the names of DESC representatives, links to some discussed documents, and a future meeting date, but withheld MHEA attendee names, specific draft documents, and minutes due to data protection and policy formulation exemptions.

Key Facts

• DESC representatives at the meeting were Minister Graham Cregeen MHK and Legal Manager Andrew Shipley.
• Names of MHEA representatives were withheld as personal data under the Data Protection Act 2002.
• No official minutes were taken due to the informal nature of the meeting.
• A provisional follow-up meeting was scheduled for 19 February 2018.
• Several documents were exempt from disclosure due to ongoing policy formulation regarding the Education Bill.

Data Disclosed

• 8th January 2018
• 19th February 2018
• 26th February
• 17 January 2018
• 2013
• 2011
• 2012
• 2008
• 3 December 2017
• 15 December 2017
• 27th November
• FoIDESC001
• IM1 5EZ

Exemptions Cited

• Section 25 (absolutely exempt personal information)
• Data Protection Act 2002
• Section 34 (formulation of policy)
• Section 35 (conduct of public business)
• Section 11 (practical refusal reason)

Original Request

DESC/MHEA meeting details: 8th January 19th February 26th February

Data Tables (1)

Data Tables (reformatted)

Full Response Text

17 January 2018

Dear

Re: Freedom of Information Request – Reference Number FoIDESC001

Your Request:-

This FoI refers to the meeting between the Department of Education, Sport & Culture (DESC) and the Manx Home Education Association (MHEA) held on 8th January 2018.

Please provide the following information:-

1. A list of attendees

2. Copies of all documents discussed including any draft guidance on home education or equivalent

3. A copy of the minutes

4. The dates of any future meetings between the DESC and the MHEA.

Department Response:-

The Department is able to provide you with some of the information, as listed below. Please note that other information is not provided for the reasons stated in each case.

1. Attendees

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance we are unable to provide some of the information you have requested, specifically the names of MHEA representatives and others present, as this amounts to personal data under the Data Protection Act 2002.

The Department is satisfied that disclosure of the information would contravene one of the data protection principles, namely that we can only disclose the information where it would be fair, lawful and meets one of the conditions in schedule 2 and in this case, none of those conditions have been met. Department of Education Sport and Culture

Rheynn Ynsee, Spoyrt as Cultoor Chief Executive Officer Ronald Barr

Department of Education, Sport and Culture Hamilton House Peel Road Douglas IM1 5EZ

Website: www.gov.im/dec

The names of those MHEA representatives and others present in their own capacity at the meeting are therefore withheld from FoI disclosure for these reasons and also because this is absolutely exempt information under section 25 (absolutely exempt personal information) of the Freedom of Information Act 2015 (the Act).

However I can advise that the DESC representatives present at the meeting were Mr Graham Cregeen MHK, Minister for the Department of Education, Sport and Culture and Mr Andrew Shipley, the Department’s Legal and Administration Manager.

1. Documents discussed including any draft guidance on home education or equivalent

The following documents were produced/discussed at the meeting. As some of these are reasonably accessible to you by other means (available on the internet) these are produced as web-links where this is the case:-

a. A 2013 UK Department for Children, Schools and Families document titled ‘Elective Home Education - guidelines for local authorities’ https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment data/file/ 288135/guidelines for las on elective home educationsecondrevisev2 0.pdf

b. A copy of the Department’s 2011 ‘Attendance of Pupils: Legislation, Policy and Procedures’ document https://www.gov.im/media/191788/attendancepolicy20062011update 1 .pdf

c. A 2012 Lancashire County document titled ‘Elective Home Education procedures’ - attached

d. Clause 5 amendment of the Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2008 – attached

e. Letter from Daphne Caine MHK dated 3 December 2017 to the Minister for Education, Sports and Culture and the Minister’s reply dated 15 December 2017 – attached

Three other documents provided to the Department at the meeting are exempt from FoI
disclosure as:-

f. One was a personal letter to the Minister regarding home education matters

g. Another document was a proposed process submitted by the MHEA about dealing with attendance problems and home educating to avoid prosecution

h. The other was a document provided by MHEA entitled ‘Items agreed at the meeting held on 27th November’. Although this was provided at the meeting, the Department has not agreed to a number of points stated which will be subject to further discussion with the MHEA group

In all 3 cases these documents and the information in them is not disclosed as part of your request as they are subject to exemptions under sections 34 (formulation of policy) and 35 (conduct of public business) of the Act as the Department’s work in relation to the Education Bill and its contents are still subject to due process.

The letter referred to in ‘f’ above is also exempt from disclosure under the provisions of section 25 of the Act (absolutely exempt personal information) as it contains the personal data and private views of the individuals concerned.

1. A copy of the minutes

A practical refusal reason applies under section 11 of the Act regarding this part of your request, as the Department does not hold or cannot find the information requested. No minutes of this meeting were taken by, or subsequently provided to, the Department’s Representatives due to the informal nature of the meeting.

Any personal handwritten notes taken by Minister Cregeen or Mr Shipley are subject to exemption from disclosure under sections 34 (formulation of policy) and 35 (conduct of public business) of the Act.

1. The dates of any future meetings between the DESC and the MHEA.

A provisional date of 19 February 2018 has been set for a further meeting between the Department and MHEA.

Public interest - 2(f), 2(g), 2(h) and 3 above

In considering whether the formulation of policy and conduct of public business exemptions referred to at 2(f), 2(g), 2(h) and 3 above should be disclosed, the following factors have been considered:

Factors in favour of disclosure:

 Awareness of focus of and discussions at the meeting regarding any potential changes in home education/related provision by the Department  Awareness of public opinion about current home education provisions  Awareness of MHEA proposals  The Department recently commenced its engagement with the public around the outline principles of the Education Bill

Factors in favour of maintaining the exemption and withholding the information are:

 An individual’s right to privacy in the exchange of private correspondence with the Department  Protection of the principles of free and frank exchange of views (provided for under section 35(b)(ii) of the Act  The opportunity for the Department to review submissions made on a considered basis as part of informing the formulation of policy, drafting instructions for the Education Bill and the general conduct of its business  Imminent plans by the Department to publish a summary response report and consultation responses on the principles of the new Education Bill after the recent public consultation exercise. (It is proposed that this will be publicly available before the end of January 2018)  That there will be future opportunities by members of the public to further engage on this matter, in a consultation on the specific contents of the Education Bill and also as the Bill progresses through the respective legislative branches.

Having balanced the above factors the Department considers that the public interest in maintaining the above qualified exemptions not to disclose the specified information under sections 34 and 35 outweighs disclosure.

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

Encl.