Freedom of Information Policy and Publication Scheme

Freedom of Information Policy

TRUST PRAYER

We thank you God of Love, for the gift of children.

Bless the work of our Trust, that in all we do

young people may grow in wisdom and stature,

and so come to know you,

to love you and

to serve you as Jesus did.

We make our prayer in his name who is God

with you and the Holy Spirit now and forever.

Amen

The Liverpool Diocesan Schools Trust (the Trust) is subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) as a public authority and as such must comply with any requests for information in accordance with the principles laid out in the Act.

1. What is a request under FOI?

Any request for any information from the Trust is technically a request under the FOI, whether or not the individual making the request mentions the FOI. However, the ICO has stated that routine requests for information (such as a parent requesting a copy of a policy) can be dealt with outside of the provisions of the Act.

In all non-routine cases, if the request is simple and the information is to be released, then the individual who received the request can release the information, but must ensure that this is done within the timescale set out A copy of the request and response should then be sent to the school’s Headteacher.

All other requests should be referred in the first instance to the school’s Headteacher who may allocate another individual to deal with the This must be done promptly and in any event within 3 working days of receiving the request.

When considering a request under FOI, you must bear in mind that release under FOI is treated as release to the general public, and so once it has been released to an individual, anyone can then access it, and you cannot restrict access when releasing by marking the information “confidential” or “restricted”.

2. Time limit for compliance

The Trust must respond as soon as possible, and in any event, within 20 working days of the date of receipt of the For the Trust, a “working day” is one in which students are in attendance, subject to an absolute maximum of 60 calendar days to respond.

3. Procedure for dealing with a request (APPENDIX 1: ICO FREEDOM OF INFORMATION FLOW CHART)

When a request is received that cannot be dealt with by simply providing the information, it should be referred in the first instance to the school’s Headteacher, who may reallocate to an individual with responsibility for the type of information

The first stage in responding is to determine whether or not the Trust “holds” the information The Trust will hold the information if it exists in computer or paper format. Some requests will require the Trust to take information from different sources and manipulate it in some way. Where this would take minimal effort, the Trust is considered to “hold” that information, but if the required manipulation would take a significant amount of time, the requestor should be contacted to explain that the information is not held in the manner requested, and offered the opportunity to refine their request. For example, if a request required the Trust to add up totals in a spreadsheet and release the total figures, this would be information “held” by the Trust. If the Trust would have to go through a number of spreadsheets and identify individual figures and provide a total, this is likely not to be information “held” by the Trust, depending on the time involved in extracting the information.

The second stage is to decide whether the information can be released, or whether one of the exemptions set out in the Act applies to the information.

Absolute: where there is no requirement to confirm or deny that the information is held, disclose the information or consider the public interest.

Qualified: where, even if an exemption applies, there is a duty to consider the public interest in disclosing information.

Common [1]exemptions that might apply include:

ABSOLUTE EXEMPTIONS:

Section 21 – information that is already publicly available

Section 40 (1) – the request is for the applicant’s personal data

Section 40 (2)– compliance with the request would involve releasing third party personal data

Section 41 – information that has been sent to the school (but not the school’s own information) which is confidential

If an absolute exemption applies the decision-maker does not need to consider the public interest in releasing the information.

QUALIFIED EXEMPTIONS:

Section 22 – information that the school intends to publish at a future date

Section 31 – information which may prejudice the effective detection and prevention of crime – such as the location of CCTV cameras

Section 36 – information which would prejudice the effective conduct of the school/Trust (the ICO has provided a template document to capture the Qualified Person’s Opinion – see APPENDIX 2)

Section 38 – information that could prejudice the physical health, mental health or safety of an individual (this may apply particularly to safeguarding information).

Section 43 – information that would prejudice the commercial interests of the school and / or a third party.

If a qualified exemption applies you have to carry out a public interest weighting exercise, balancing the public interest in the information being released as against the public interest in withholding the information.

4. Responding to a request

When responding to a request where the Trust has withheld some or all of the information, the Trust must explain why the information has been withheld, quoting the appropriate section number and explaining how the information requested fits within that exemption. If the public interest test has been applied, this also needs to be

The letter should end by explaining to the requestor how they can complain – either by reference to an internal review by a governor, the Board of Directors, the Data Protection Officer or by writing to the

5. Contact

Any questions about this policy should be directed in the first instance to the Headteacher of the school. You can also seek advice from the Trust’s Data Protection Officer:

Data Protection Officer: Alison Tennant

Email: alison.tennant@ldst.org.uk

Freedom of Information

Publication Scheme

TRUST PRAYER

We thank you God of Love, for the gift of children.

Bless the work of our Trust, that in all we do

young people may grow in wisdom and stature,

and so come to know you,

to love you and

to serve you as Jesus did.

We make our prayer in his name who is God

with you and the Holy Spirit now and forever.

Amen

INTRODUCTION

This publication scheme commits Liverpool Diocesan Schools Trust (LDST) to make information available to the public as part of its normal business activities. The information covered is included in the classes of information mentioned below, where this information is held by LDST.

The scheme commits LDST:

To proactively publish or otherwise make available as a matter of routine, information, including environmental information, which is held by us and falls within the classifications

To specify the information which is held by us and falls within the classifications

To proactively publish or otherwise make available as a matter of routine, information in line with the statements contained within this scheme.

To produce and publish the methods by which the specific information is made routinely available so that it can be easily identified and accessed by members of the

To review and update on a regular basis the information we make available under this scheme.

To produce a schedule of any fees charged for access to information which is made proactively

To make this publication scheme available to the

To publish any dataset held by us that has been requested, and any updated versions we hold, unless we are satisfied that it is not appropriate to do so; to publish the dataset, where reasonably practicable, in an electronic form that is capable of re-use; and, if any information in the dataset is a relevant copyright work and the public authority is the only owner, to make the information available for re-use under the terms of the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015, if they apply, and otherwise under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act section 19.

The term ‘dataset’ is defined in section 11(5) of the Freedom of Information Act. The term ‘relevant copyright work’ is defined in section 19(8) of that Act.

Classes of information

Who we are and what we do

Organisational information, locations and contacts, constitutional and legal governance.

What we spend and how we spend it

Financial information relating to projected and actual income and expenditure, tendering, procurement and contracts.

What our priorities are and how we are doing

Strategy and performance information, plans, assessments, inspections and reviews.

How we make decisions

Policy proposals and decisions. Decision making processes, internal criteria and procedures, consultations.

Our policies and procedures

Current written protocols for delivering our functions and responsibilities.

Lists and registers

Information held in registers required by law and other lists and registers relating to the functions of the authority.

The services we offer

Advice and guidance, booklets and leaflets, transactions and media releases. A description of the services offered.

The classes of information will not generally include:

Information the disclosure of which is prevented by law, or exempt under the Freedom of Information Act, or is otherwise properly considered to be protected from

Information in draft

Information that is no longer readily available as it is contained in files that have been placed in archive storage, or is difficult to access for similar reasons.

The method by which information published under this scheme will be made available

LDST will indicate clearly to the public what information is covered by this scheme and how it can be obtained.

Where it is within the capability of a public authority, information will be provided on a website. Where it is impracticable to make information available on a website or when an individual does not wish to access the information by the website, a public authority will indicate how information can be obtained by other means and provide it by those means.

In exceptional circumstances some information may be available only by viewing in person. Where this manner is specified, contact details will be provided. An appointment to view the information will be arranged within a reasonable timescale.

Information will be provided in the language in which it is held or in such other language that is legally required. Where an authority is legally required to translate any information, it will do so.

Obligations under disability and discrimination legislation and any other legislation to provide information in other forms and formats will be adhered to when providing information in accordance with this scheme.

Charges which may be made for information published under this scheme

The purpose of this scheme is to make the maximum amount of information readily available at minimum inconvenience and cost to the public. Charges made by the authority for routinely published material will be justified and transparent and kept to a minimum.

Material which is published and accessed on a website will be provided free of charge.

Charges may be made for information subject to a charging regime specified by Parliament.

Charges may be made for actual disbursements incurred such as:

photocopying
postage and packaging
the costs directly incurred as a result of viewing information

Charges may also be made for information provided under this scheme where they are legally authorised, they are in all the circumstances, including the general principles of the right of access to information held by public authorities, justified and are in accordance with a published schedule or schedules of fees which is readily available to the public.

Charges may also be made for making datasets (or parts of datasets) that are relevant copyright works available for re-use. These charges will be in accordance with the terms of the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015, where they apply, or with regulations made under section 11B of the Freedom of Information Act, or with other statutory powers of the public authority.

If a charge is to be made, confirmation of the payment due will be given before the information is provided. Payment may be requested prior to provision of the information.

Written requests

Information held by a public authority that is not published under this scheme can be requested in writing, when its provision will be considered in accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.

Review Schedule

Policy Author	Data Protection Officer
Policy Approver	Board of Directors
Current Policy Version	1.2
Policy Effective From	19 October 2021
Policy Review Date	By 18 October 2023

Revision Schedule

Version	Revisions	By whom
1.0	Original document produced	DPO
1.1	Document review	DPO
1.2	Updated DPO contact information and added Appendix A “Information available from our Trust and schools under the Publication Scheme”.	DPO

APPENDIX A: Information available from our Trust and schools under the Publication Scheme.

CLASS 1 - WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE DO	Available from	Charge
Multi-Academy Trust Funding Agreement & Deed of Variation	Trust website	Free
School supplement funding agreement	School website	Free
Memorandum and Articles of Association of Trust	Trust website	Free
Details of the Directors of the Trust and their experience.	Trust website	Free
The name of the Chair of the Board of Directors and contact details.	Trust website	Free
Names of key personnel in our Trust, including the Chief Executive	Trust website	Free
The name of the Chair of the Local Governing Body of each school and their contact details.	School websites	Free
A list of Governors on each school’s Local Governing Body	School websites	Free
Names of key personnel in each school	School websites	Free
Values and Vision	Trust website and school websites	Free
School session times, term dates and holidays	School websites	Free
Locations, contact information, addresses, telephone numbers and email addresses	Trust & school websites	Free
School Prospectus (note - some schools do not produce a prospectus as such but will provide the same information on the website)	School websites	Free
Performance Results – including Ofsted and SIAMS	School websites	Free
The remit and terms of reference of the Board and its committees (Scheme of Delegation)	Trust website	Free
A list of governors that have served on Local Governing Bodies and Directors that have served on the Board in the last academic year and their declared interests	Trust website & school websites	Free
The attendance records of Directors at Board meetings in the last academic year	Trust website and in the Annual Report & Financial Statements	Free
The attendance records of Governors at Local Governing Body meetings in the last academic year	School websites	Free
CLASS 2 – WHAT WE SPEND AND HOW WE SPEND IT	Available from	Charge
Trust Annual Report and Financial Statements – containing details of various funding and income streams, expenditure types and audit reports	Trust website	Free
Executive Pay	Trust website	Free
Gender Pay Gap Report	Trust website	Free
The amount of pupil premium our Trust receives for each school and how it is spent	School websites	Free
The amount of Year 7 Literacy and Numeracy Catch-up our Trust receives for each secondary school	School websites	Free
The amount of Primary PE/Sport funding our Trust receives for each primary school	School websites	Free
Our Trusts’ employees pay policy	Upon request	Charge
CLASS 3 – WHAT OUR PRIORITIES ARE AND HOW WE ARE DOING	Available from	Charge
School profile Government supplied performance data. OFSTED report – summary and full report.	Links from school websites	Free
Performance management policy and procedures	Upon request	Charge
Any major proposals on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children	Upon request	Charge
Child protection – policies and procedures on safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children	Trust and school websites	Free
CLASS 4 – HOW WE MAKE DECISIONS	Available from	Charge
Admissions policy - arrangements and procedures and right of appeal	School websites	Free
Details of the number of applications, number of places offered and appeals for places at each school	Upon request	Charge
Trust Board of Directors meeting agendas, papers and minutes – information that is properly considered to be private will be excluded	Upon request	Free
School Local Governing Body meeting agendas, papers and minutes – information that is properly considered to be private will be excluded	Upon request	Free

CLASS 5 – OUR POLICIES AND PROCEDURES – CURRENT INFORMATION ONLY	Available from	Charge
Please see our Trust website and each school’s website for a full list of all current policies (some policies are uploaded to the website – if you cannot find a policy please contact the school office or our Trust’s central administrative team [see contact information]).	Trust and school websites (or via the school office/central team)	Free
CLASS 6 – LISTS AND REGISTERS - CURRENT INFORMATION ONLY	Available from	Charge
Curriculum circulars and statutory instruments	Upon request	Charge
Any information our Trust is legally required to hold in publicly available registers.	For inspection upon request	Free
CLASS 7 – THE SERVICES WE OFFER	Available from	Charge
Extra-curricular activities.	School websites	Free
Out of academy clubs.	School websites	Free
School publications and newsletters.	School websites	Free
School leaflets, booklets and magazines.	School websites	Free
Services for which the academy is entitled to recover a fee, together with those fees e.g. hiring of academy facilities.	School websites	Free

SCHOOLS IN OUR TRUST:

https://www.ldst.org.uk/academies-in-liverpool-diocesan-schools-trust/

Review Schedule

Policy Author	Data Protection Officer
Policy Approver	Board of Directors
Current Policy Version	1.2
Policy Effective From	19 October 2021
Policy Review Date	By 18 October 2023

Revision Schedule

Version	Revisions	By whom
1.0	Original document produced	DPO
1.1	Document review	DPO
1.2	Updated DPO contact information	DPO

APPENDIX 1: ICO FREEDOM OF INFORMATION FLOW CHART

APPENDIX 2 Record of the qualified person’s opinion

Freedom of Information Act 2000 Section 36

When dealing with a complaint regarding section 36 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the ICO will expect to see evidence of the qualified person’s opinion and how it was reached. We require this evidence in order to decide whether the opinion was a reasonable one. The following form sets out the minimum information that we expect public authorities to provide to us about the qualified person’s opinion, in the event of a complaint.

Completing this form is a convenient way for public authorities to give us the information we need. It is intended as a tool to assist public authorities, but there is no statutory requirement for them to use it; if instead they are able to send us other documents that record the same information about the qualified person’s opinion, we will accept those.

While the purpose of the form is to help in providing information to us when we are investigating a complaint, public authorities may also wish to use it when they are considering applying section 36, as part of the internal process of obtaining and recording the qualified person’s opinion.

Please see the notes at the end for help in completing this form. For further information on section 36 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, please see our guidance document on Prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs (section 36).

This form only records the qualified person’s opinion under section 36(2) of the Freedom of Information Act. If the qualified person’s opinion is that section 36(2) is engaged (ie that disclosure of the information would or would be likely to cause prejudice or inhibition), the public authority must then carry out the public interest test. As a matter of good practice, public authorities should also keep a record of the factors considered in the public interest test and the outcome of that test.

The public authority
1. Name of the authority
The qualified person
2. Name (see Notes below)
3. Job title
4. Subsection of s36(5) under which qualified person is authorised (see Notes below)
Information on which opinion was sought
5. Brief description of the information requested
6. Information was		o shown to qualified person
		o described to qualified person
Submission to the qualified person
7. Date opinion sought		__ / __ / ____ (DD/MM/YYYY)
8. Subsection(s) of s36(2) on which opinion was sought (see Notes below)		o 36(2)(a)(i) o 36(2)(a)(ii) o 36(2)(a)(iii) o 36(2)(b)(i) o 36(2)(b)(ii) o 36(2)(c)
9. Arguments put forward as to why prejudice/ inhibition would/ would be likely to occur
10. Counter arguments put forward
11. Any other factors taken into account
The qualified person’s opinion
12. (see Notes below) The qualified person’s opinion is that, if the information requested were disclosed, the prejudice/ inhibition specified in the following section(s) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 o 36(2)(a)(i) o would occur o would be likely to occur for the following reasons(s): ……………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………….. o 36(2)(a)(ii) o would occur o would be likely to occur for the following reasons(s): ……………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………. o 36(2)(a)(iii) o would occur o would be likely to occur for the following reasons(s): ……………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………. o 36(2)(b)(i) o would occur o would be likely to occur for the following reasons(s): ……………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………. o 36(2)(b)(ii) o would occur o would be likely to occur for the following reasons(s): ……………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………. …………………………………………………………………………………………. o 36(2)(c) o would occur o would be likely to occur for the following reasons(s): ……………………………………………………….. …………………………………………………………………………………………. ………………………………………………………………………………………….
13. Date opinion was given (see Notes below)	__ / __ / ____ (DD/MM/YYYY)
14. Qualified person’s signature (see Notes below)

Notes for completing this form

Where the public authority itself, rather than an individual, has been authorised as the qualified person, the name will be that of the highest decision making body of the authority.

Please refer to section 36(5) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for the list of qualified persons.

This lists the subsections of section 36 which the qualified person was asked to consider.

The full text of section 36(2) is as follows:

(2) Information to which this section applies is exempt information if, in the reasonable opinion of a qualified person, disclosure of the information under this Act—

(a) would, or would be likely to, prejudice—

(i) the maintenance of the convention of the collective responsibility of Ministers of the Crown, or

(ii) the work of the Executive Committee of the Northern Ireland Assembly, or

(iii) the work of the Cabinet of the Welsh Assembly Government.

(b) would, or would be likely to, inhibit—

(i) the free and frank provision of advice, or

(ii) the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation, or

(c) would otherwise prejudice, or would be likely otherwise to prejudice, the effective conduct of public affairs.

This lists the subsections of section 36 which the qualified person decided were engaged. Please tick the relevant subsection(s), and in each case indicate whether the prejudice or inhibition would or would be likely to occur and the reasons for this.

This is the date on which the qualified person’s opinion was given. If the form is completed after that, the date entered here must still be the date on which the opinion was given.

Where the public authority itself, rather than an individual, has been authorised as the qualified person, the form should be signed on behalf of the highest decision making body of the authority. In that case, please also print the name of the person signing on behalf of that body.

[1] The common exemptions listed (for both absolute and qualified exemptions) contain hyperlinks to the Freedom of Information Act, Part II – Exempt Information. Any changes that may be brought into force at a future date will be captured.

Files to Download

2110 Freedom of Information Publication Scheme.pdf 2110 Freedom of Information Policy.pdf