New Education Bill Consultation responses, analysis and weighting

Summary

The requester sought a full Excel summary of New Education Bill consultation responses, including freehand comments, decision-making explanations, and response weighting. The Department of Education, Sport and Culture responded that some information was sent but not all was held.

Key Facts

• The request was made on 2019-07-31 regarding the New Education Bill consultation.
• The authority is the Department of Education, Sport and Culture.
• The outcome was 'Some information sent but not all held'.
• The response was issued on 2019-08-06.
• The requester cited Council of Ministers Public engagement and consultation principles from October 2017.

Data Disclosed

• 2019-07-31
• 2019-08-06
• 480
• 12
• 2
• October 2017
• 12 weeks

Original Request

Dear Sir / Madam, The 'New Education Bill' consultation responses have been partially published (as at 9 July 2019), in that although 'Yes/No' responses can be seen, no freehand comments are included. The 'principles' on consultation (extract below) states that 'feedback and summaries of responses' should be published, and that the DESC should 'Explain how the responses have been used in making decisions' and that the DESC should 'Be clear about the weighting given to responses'. The report on the summary of the responses falls short of the requirements above, merely providing quantitative analysis on the 'Yes/No' responses and does not include a summary of the comments, or explanation of the weighting. https://consult.gov.im/education-and-children/the-new-education-bill/results/reportondrafteducationbillconsultationjune2019.pdf Given that the information is collated in a digital system and held in a database, it is unreasonable for the DESC to expect the public to inspect each and every one of the 480 responses to see comments, when the information is available and can be downloaded in full by the DESC. https://consult.gov.im/education-and-children/the-new-education-bill/consultation/published_select_respondent I would be grateful if you could provide me with; i) a summary (in Excel) of all the consultation responses, including 'Yes/No' unanswered responses, as well as the freehand comments for each question, by response reference; ii) An explanation on how the responses have been used to decide on the merit of each question (in Excel with above); iii) The weighting given by the department to each response, based on whether they are individuals or organisations, and how these have affected the outcome of each question (in Excel with above). I think that this information should be available as it is a requirement of the consultation principles. If this information is not available, please provide me with any communication (emails, memo, letters, notices or otherwise) explaining why the principles were not followed in full. Thank you Extract of Council of Ministers Public engagement and consultation principles ' October 2017 8. We tell people the impact of their contribution * Publish feedback and summaries of responses on the consultations webpage * Use 'we asked, you said, we did' format for consultation summaries * Explain how the responses have been used in making decisions and forming policies to encourage active participation * Be clear about the weighting given to responses ' for example, responses from organisations can sometimes represent the views of large groups of people. * Publish consultation responses within 12 weeks of the consultation closing. If it will take longer than this, state your expected timescale for publication to ensure transparency. https://www.gov.im/media/1359188/consultation-principles-and-guidance-2017.pdf

Data Tables (1)

Full Response Text

Corporate Services Division Department of Education, Sport and Culture Hamilton House Peel Road, Douglas IM1 5EZ Telephone: (01624) 685808 Website: www.gov.im/dec Email: dec@foi.gov.im Our ref: 879265 6 August 2019

Dear ###,

We write further to your request which was received on 9 July 2019 and which states:

"Dear Sir / Madam, The 'New Education Bill' consultation responses have been partially published (as at 9 July 2019), in that although 'Yes/No' responses can be seen, no freehand comments are included. The 'principles' on consultation (extract below) states that 'feedback and summaries of responses' should be published, and that the DESC should 'Explain how the responses have been used in making decisions' and that the DESC should 'Be clear about the weighting given to responses'. The report on the summary of the responses falls short of the requirements above, merely providing quantitative analysis on the 'Yes/No' responses and does not include a summary of the comments, or explanation of the weighting. https://consult.gov.im/education-and-children/the-new-education- bill/results/reportondrafteducationbillconsultationjune2019.pdf Given that the information is collated in a digital system and held in a database, it is unreasonable for the DESC to expect the public to inspect each and every one of the 480 responses to see comments, when the information is available and can be downloaded in full by the DESC. https://consult.gov.im/education-and-children/the-new-education- bill/consultation/published_select_respondent I would be grateful if you could provide me with; i) a summary (in Excel) of all the consultation responses, including 'Yes/No' unanswered responses, as well as the freehand comments for each question, by response reference;

ii) An explanation on how the responses have been used to decide on the merit of each question (in Excel with above); iii) The weighting given by the department to each response, based on whether they are individuals or organisations, and how these have affected the outcome of each question (in Excel with above). I think that this information should be available as it is a requirement of the consultation principles. If this information is not available, please provide me with any communication (emails, memo, letters, notices or otherwise) explaining why the principles were not followed in full. Thank you Extract of Council of Ministers Public engagement and consultation principles ' October 2017 8. We tell people the impact of their contribution * Publish feedback and summaries of responses on the consultations webpage * Use 'we asked, you said, we did' format for consultation summaries * Explain how the responses have been used in making decisions and forming policies to encourage active participation * Be clear about the weighting given to responses ' for example, responses from organisations can sometimes represent the views of large groups of people. * Publish consultation responses within 12 weeks of the consultation closing. If it will take longer than this, state your expected timescale for publication to ensure transparency. https://www.gov.im/media/1359188/consultation-principles-and-guidance-2017.pdf" In order to identify and locate the information that you asked for we needed to clarify if there were any specific questions from the consultation you wanted us to focus upon as part of your request. You advised: Although I am especially interested in some questions more than others, I think that it is important for all the questions to be included. Further clarification was also sought to identify what information was required for the following part of your request: ii) An explanation on how the responses have been used to decide on the merit of each question (in Excel with above);

You advised: ii) An explanation on how the responses (including the written freehand comments) have been used in determining the final outcome for each question (to be included in an Excel document as with above, or to be the original source document where the textual responses to each question were evaluated and weighted to arrive at the final outcome). Our response to your request is as follows: A summary of all the consultation responses (in Excel) I have enclosed copies of the information that is held, where the respondent has given permission for their response to be published either anonymously or including their name. Also by way of advice and assistance the same information is already available on the consultation hub at the following web link: https://bit.ly/2T0E1u4 How the responses have been used in determining the final outcome for each question While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, in this instance the Department does not hold or cannot, after taking reasonable steps to do so, find the information in the format that you have requested. However the Department has analysed the answers provided to the questions by identifying key themes. For example question 10 in the consultation relates to the curriculum and Manx Gaelic was a theme which emerged from the answers given. This allows the Department to understand respondents’ views collectively. By way of advice and assistance I have enclosed copies of the themes which have been recorded from the education bill consultation exercise. Following the analysis of the answers provided to the questions a report was created. This report details the numbers of responses to each question and gives an overview of some of the key themes and an outcome for each question. While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, under section 20 of the Act, we are not required to provide information in response to a request if it is already reasonably accessible to you, whether free of charge or on payment of a fee. The report on the draft education bill consultation which has been compiled by the Department is already available on the internet and can be found via the following web link: https://bit.ly/2ypVC4S The weighting given by the department to each response Each response provided for the new education bill consultation is classed as one, regardless of whether the response was provided by an individual or on behalf of an organisation representing the views of a large group of people. Please quote the reference number 879265 in any future communications.

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Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information Coordinator

Themes from the Education Bill consultation (Numbers refer to the number of tagged responses for a particular theme – low numbers of responses (less than 5) have not been included) Question 7 - Do you agree that these principles are sufficient to underpin the education system of the Isle of Man now and in the future?
Professional voice - 18 Principles vague - 49 Wording should be changed - 7

Question 8 - Are there any other principles that you feel are missing and why? If so please answer in the text box below. Christian values - 11 Health & well-being - 7 Mental & well-being - 13 Parents should have the right - 7 Professional voice - 5 Religion - 5 Staff & student wellbeing - 9 Vague - 5

Question 9 – Do you agree with this proposal? Abolish faith schools - 13 Church - 19 Church struggling financially - 6 Department support for Faith Schools - 27 Faith - 45 Faith schools should not be funded by the Department - 14 Parents are all taxpayers - 13 Religious Education - 5

Question 10 - Do you agree with these areas being compulsory?
Compulsory (various) - 16 Compulsory RE - 12 Continuing tradition of Christianity - 33 Culture and heritage - 15 Curriculum development - 7 Diversity of Religious Studies - Positive - 8 Education - 5 Health and Wellbeing - 7 Manx Culture - 29 Manx history - 17 Manx Language - 49 Manx language should be extra-curricular - 11 Manx language to be part of curriculum - 9 Opt out - 11 Parents should have the right - 8 Physical and mental wellbeing - 10 Physical Education - 32 Professional Voice - 7 Religion - 53 Sex education - 18

Question 11 - Is it right for the Department to seek to recover the cost of damages caused deliberately by pupils?
Acts as a deterrent - 12 Does not allow individual circumstances to be considered - 37 Encourages consideration of consequences - 115 Leads to tense home life - 8 Must be proven - 8 No, financial burden to parents - 23 No, school at fault - 8 Parent to take responsibility - 77 Pupils to take responsibility - 70 Responsible for actions - 26 Restorative action rather than fines - 18 Saves school budget 13 Should be dealt with by the courts or insurance - 12 Tax payers should not foot the bill - 9 Work with the student - 14 Yes, as budget to spent on resources not repairs - 5

Question 12 - Do you agree that section 37 addresses the issue of children behaving inappropriately while under the authority of a member of the school’s staff?
Adequate provision for staff - 10 Complex issue - 5 Further rights or protections to teachers when targeted outside school or who have witnessed poor/risky behaviour - 37 Parents should be included - 9 Too vague – 35

Question 13 - Do you agree that the measures suggested will allow schools to address the issue of inappropriate use of social media in schools? Ban access to social media in school - 12 Ban all phones - 17 Difficult to implement - 45 Educate pupils about use of social media - 28 Education and Police to work together - 7 Head teacher will be too involved - 8 How policed? - 33 Inadequate IT security - 5 Increase internet safety training/ trainers - 11 Monitoring required - 5 Need to stop bullying (from behind a screen) - 6 Parents' must be responsible - 24 Police to deal with - 11 Schools to individually tackle problem - 11 Social Media companies need to do more - 5 Social media evolving quickly so rules need to evolve quickly - 20 Social media should not be allowed in school hours or on school premises - 9 Students will use 4G anyway - 6 Teachers require protection in Law - 5 Vague - 29 Will not deter use – 5

Question 14 - There are a number of exceptions as to why a pupil should go to a school in a different catchment area.
Bullying - 15 Bunscoill Ghaelgagh - 8 Consider Parents work location - 34 Faith School referenced - 12 Parental Choice - 45 Peer Group consideration - 11 Preschool consideration - 7 Reference made to equality act - 10 School Performance - 13 To help with childcare - 25 To utilise department assets – 17

Question 15 - Do you agree that actions required in respect of remedying any identified deficiencies should be the responsibility of the Head teacher and will improve the education provision within a school? Department Responsibility - 17 Dismissal referenced - 11 Head teacher could be the problem - 10 In conjunction with an independent overseer -13 In conjunction with Department - 34 Lack of Funding - 6 Monitored by independent body - 30 Ofsted - 8 Uphold consistency of standards - 9 Who inspects the Department - 11 With governors – 6 A separate tally was also taken which indicated that 39 felt it should be the Headteacher and the Department who should be jointly responsible. 41 felt that someone independent should put in place the actions required to remedy the deficiencies.

Question 16 - Do these cover those specific areas which the Department should regulate? Children could be at risk with self-regulating schools - 17 Department should have no involvement - 13 Duty of Care - 9 Educational Provision - 15 Independently Reviewed – 12

Question 17 - Regulations will be made to adapt ‘compulsory school age’ in specified circumstances. One instance will be for summer born children. Is it appropriate to have this flexibility about when children start or finish compulsory schooling? Allow parental choice / control - 38 Catchment area issues - 5 Children should progress at their own pace - 39 Children will find it difficult to fit in - 15 Consider other countries approach - 15 Consistency across all schools - 9 Could cause complications for the Department - 25 Disadvantage of summer born children - 17 Flexibility for Child's needs - 71 Further clarity required - 7 Need for compulsory finishing age - 5 Registration deadline - 7 Stagger the intake - 5 Summer Born Children – 57

Question 18 - Are there any circumstances that you may wish to see covered by the regulations? Education for 16-18 year olds - 21 Flexibility - 29 Need for assessments prior to children starting school - 6 Premature children - 8 Special educational needs - 26

Question 19 – Do you think that this approach will be a constructive alternative to a fine, helping parents to develop strategies? Alternative learning opportunities - 6 Course attendance issues - 27 Develop understanding of reasons for poor attendance - 49 Extra support required - 67 Fines should be enforced - 48 Guidance for children - 35 Holidays during term time - 65 Low income families - 12 Need for evidence/statistics - 10 Opportunity to chan

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