Is school acting illegally?

[Starchart]

Requested education files 'all files pertaining to ds' to get within 15 days. School have asked to confirm I want tribunal stuff as well and want payment of £50 for that if so. They say upon payment and response the'll give them to me within 15 school days from then. Are they taking the pee?

I said I wanted everything didn't I? Surely they can't use this fake clarification thing to stall. I believe I was quite clear. I also believe that the info will be well worth £50.

Isn't it £10 for a data protection request?

www.ico.gov.uk/Global/faqs/data_protection_for_organisations.aspx

A subject access request is a request from an individual, using their right under the Data Protection Act. You must decide taking any exemptions into consideration what information needs to be given. You have 40 calendar days to respond to the request and you may request a fee of up to £10.

Sorry ignore the last link this is the right one www.ico.gov.uk/for_the_public/topic_specific_guides/schools/pupils_info.aspx

For your educational record, it depends on the number of pages provided. For example, 1 to 19 pages will cost £1.20; 29 pages will cost £2, and so on, up to a maximum of 500+ pages which will cost £50.

Probably if you didn't want the tribunal stuff it would be cheaper so they are checking, or just being difficult

There is something different about school files. They only get 15 days. Not sure they are telling the truth about the charges as they seem to be lying about the dates.

I expect they are being difficult, to try to find a way to extend their time. They also said that most of the other notes are 'in transition' between them and new school.

evidently they can

Parents, and pupils who are 16 or over, have had the right to see local education authority (LEA) school records for a number of years. The DPA has now extended this right to younger pupils. There is no minimum age: any pupil who makes a written request to see their school records is entitled to do so, unless the pupil does not have the ability to understand what they are asking for. The right applies to any information produced by a teacher, an education welfare officer or an employee of the LEA. Access must be given within 15 days.

In addition to the general exemptions in the DPA:

Information likely to cause serious harm to the pupil or someone else's physical or mental health is exempt.

Information about a possible risk of child abuse can be withheld from a parent if disclosure would not be in the child's best interests.

Educational records can be inspected free of charge. Photocopying charges are limited to a maximum of £1 for the first 20 pages, plus a further £1 for every subsequent 10 pages, up to a maximum of £50. This maximum applies regardless of how many pages are supplied.

From above website

I'm not complaining about the charge, but the delay. Do they have a right to delay sending the information? I believe I was quite clear I meant everything.

They are suppose to follow the rules of good practise, so if they do supply the information within 15 days of your request, they have breached the date protection act.

You could threaten to make a complaint to the information commisioners officers, but as you know with all complaints they encourage you to try and resolve the problem first yourself and its all time consuming.

So yes if you dont get it within 15 days, they are acting illegally.

Sorry that should do NOT supply the info!

Can I ask for more information before responding to a subject access request?

The Act allows you to confirm two things before you are obliged to respond to a request.

First, you can ask for enough information to judge whether the person making the request is the individual to whom the personal data relates. This is to avoid personal data about one individual being sent to another, accidentally or as a result of deception.

The key point is that you must be reasonable about what you ask for. You should not request lots more information if the identity of the person making the request is obvious to you. This is particularly the case, for example, when you have an ongoing relationship with the individual.

However, you should not assume that, on every occasion, the person making a request is who they say they are. In some cases, it is reasonable to ask the person making the request to verify their identity before sending them information.

The level of checks you should make may well depend on the possible harm and distress which inappropriate disclosure of the information could cause to the individual concerned.

The second thing you are entitled to do before responding to a subject access request is to ask for information that you reasonably need to find the personal data covered by the request. Again, you need not comply with the subject access request until you have received this information. In some cases, personal data may be difficult to retrieve and collate. However, it is not acceptable for you to delay responding to a subject access request unless you reasonably require more information to help you find the data in question.

As with a request that is sent without the required fee, you should not ignore a request simply because you need more information from the person who made it. You should not delay in asking for this, but should ensure the individual knows you need more information and should tell them what details you need. Provided you have done so, the 40-day period for responding to the request does not begin to run until you have received the appropriate fee and any additional information that is necessary.

As you know its 15 days for schools, just copied and pasted.

Thank you Claw.

Ive just requested copies of all ds's programmes, SALT programme, his current IEP, OT programme etc, etc. Apparently school cant do this as SENCO is off sick. All they have to do is photocopy, so i will have to wait until September.

Delaying tactics, seems to me they want to cover their arses, a good sign perhaps as i know they have made mistakes and i can use this as evidence.

Claw , I know from experience that the weed the responses. It can be helpful to request identical from OT and SALT etc. at the same time. They might have a copy of a communication from the school that the school have removed for example.

I just want copies of all these targets that ds has met, but which SENCO didnt provide any evidence of at Tribunal.

I knew that LA SALT for example had concluded her report with she would provide a programme to develop his vocab and links, but as far as i was aware she hadnt done it. I hadnt been given a copy of the programme and it wasnt listed when the school were asked to provide a list of help ds received for Tribunal. Even if she did and i just havent received a copy, there is no way ds could have met targets. For example Vocob he was 2 years behind, links he was on the 0.4 percentile

Same goes for IEP's since February 2011, ds hasnt had one, so they cant provide a copy, so how could he have met the targets!