Equality Act 2017 - Complaints to DESC/Schools

Summary

The request sought statistics on Equality Act 2017 complaints against the Department of Education, Sport and Culture and its schools. The Department disclosed that Primary Schools had no such complaints, Secondary Schools could not provide data without creating new records, and the Department itself received specific complaints between 2022 and 2024.

Key Facts

• Primary Schools reported zero complaints regarding protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2017.
• Secondary Schools refused to provide data as they do not maintain a central complaints database and compiling it would require new research.
• The Department received no equality-related complaints between 2019 and 2022.
• In 2022, one complaint regarding equality of provision was upheld.
• In 2023, four complaints were received involving dyslexia, disabled student allowance, barriers to education, and staff comments.

Data Disclosed

• 2019-2022: Nil complaints
• 2022: One complaint upheld
• 2023: Four complaints received
• 2024: One complaint received
• Case ID: 4401117
• Date received: 2025-01-27
• Outcome date: 2025-02-19

Exemptions Cited

• Information would require research or analysis of existing records, which the Department is not required to do under the Act.

Original Request

I seek information regarding complaints made by pupils or individuals acting on a pupil's behalf, to both the DESC and any of their Schools/Governing Bodies which involves failings or perceived failure of duty/responsibility of the Department or respective school in relation to protected characteristics as defined under the Equality Act 2017 and that have been brought since the Act became law. This may include but is not limited to, failures to make reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils, discrimination etc. The specific information I request is: The number of recorded complaints made each year to the Department, its Schools or a School's Governing Body (schools to be identified) together with the number of such as were dismissed, upheld or partially upheld; and The general nature of each complaint e.g. alleged discrimination, failure to make reasonable adjustments etc, and where the complaint has been upheld/partially upheld the resulting action taken. For the avoidance of doubt this request does not relate to issues raised for example in conversation at parents' evenings rather complaints for which there is a written documentary audit trail.

Data Tables (1)

Data Tables (reformatted)

Full Response Text

Policy, Strategy and Governance Division Department of Education, Sport and Culture Thie Slieau Whallian Foxdale Road St Johns IM4 3AS

Telephone: (01624) 685808 Website: www.gov.im/dec Email: dec@foi.gov.im

Our ref: 4401117 19 February 2025

Dear ###,

We write further to your request, received 27 January 2025, which states:

"I seek information regarding complaints made by pupils or individuals acting on a pupil's behalf, to both the DESC and any of their Schools/Governing Bodies which involves failings or perceived failure of duty/responsibility of the Department or respective school in relation to protected characteristics as defined under the Equality Act 2017 and that have been brought since the Act became law. This may include but is not limited to, failures to make reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils, discrimination etc. The specific information I request is:

The number of recorded complaints made each year to the Department, its Schools or a School's Governing Body (schools to be identified) together with the number of such as were dismissed, upheld or partially upheld; and

The general nature of each complaint e.g. alleged discrimination, failure to make reasonable adjustments etc, and where the complaint has been upheld/partially upheld the resulting action taken.

For the avoidance of doubt this request does not relate to issues raised for example in conversation at parents' evenings rather complaints for which there is a written documentary audit trail."

Our response to your request is as follows:

Primary Schools

The total number of complaints received by the Primary Schools in respect of the above request was nil.

Secondary Schools

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance complying with your request for information would require the Secondary Schools to undertake research into, or analysis of information that it holds. Which the Department is not required to do under the Act.

By way of advice and assistance the reason for this is the Secondary schools do not maintain a database of complaints and information would be held on individual pupil files. To provide the requested information would be a significant undertaking for the Secondary Schools requiring them to undertake research into the information that it may hold.

Department of Education, Sport and Culture

Please find below information relating to complaints received by the Department, under the Department’s Complaints policy and procedure that are/ in part related to equality:

2019-2022
Nil.

2022 One complaint was received involving Equality of provision. This complaint was upheld by the Department and School.

2023 Four complaints were received, details of which are as follows:

One complaint involved dyslexia. This complaint was partially upheld.
One complaint involved disabled student allowance. This complaint was upheld/resolved by the Department.
One complaint involved Disability - barrier to education. This complaint was upheld/resolved by the Department. One complaint was a staff comment related to equality. This complaint was not upheld by the Department.

2024 One complaint was received that involved Disability- barrier to learning. This complaint was not upheld by the Department.

Please quote the reference number 4401117 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.