Freedom of information response
Missing education
We are working on a story for ITV regional news programmes about school attendance. Under the Freedom of Information Act, we would like to request the following information:
1. Over the past three academic years, how many fines / penalty notices have been issued either by the local authority or a school in your area, to parents or guardians in relation to their child or children's school attendance?
2. Over the past three academic years, how much money has been collected through fines / penalty notices issued in relation to school attendance?
3. Over the past three academic years, how many Parenting Orders, Education Supervision Orders and School Attendance Orders have been issued to parents or guardians in relation to their child or children's school attendance?
4. Over the past three academic years, how many prosecutions have been pursued in your area due to school absences?
- Over the past three academic years, how many fines / penalty notices have been issued either by the local authority or a school in your area, to parents or guardians in relation to their child or children's school attendance?
- Over the past three academic years, how much money has been collected through fines / penalty notices issued in relation to school attendance?
2020/21
Number of Penalty Notices issued 326
Total amount of Penalty Notices paid £ 9120.00
Fines £11076
Please note; the ‘Fines’ are a result of the prosecution of 82 cases whereby Penalty Notices remained unpaid after 28 days. The amount of fine is decided and imposed by the court and the money is paid directly to the court and not to the local authority.
2021/22
Number of Penalty Notices issued 1168
Total amount of Penalty Notices paid £60240.00
Fines £26493.00
Please note; the ‘Fines’ are a result of the prosecution of 159 cases whereby Penalty Notices remained unpaid after 28 days. The amount of fine is decided and imposed by the court and the money is paid directly to the court and not to the local authority.
2022/23 to date
Number of Penalty Notices issued 1485
Total amount of Penalty Notices paid £ 69540.00
Fines £5708.00
Please note; the ‘Fines’ are a result of the prosecution of 70 cases whereby Penalty Notices remained unpaid after 28 days. The amount of fine is decided and imposed by the court and the money is paid directly to the court and not to the local authority.
- Over the past three academic years, how many Parenting Orders, Education Supervision Orders and School Attendance Orders have been issued to parents or guardians in relation to their child or children's school attendance?
2020/21
Parenting Orders Fewer than 5
Education Supervision Orders 0
School Attendance Orders 13
2021/22
Parenting Orders 0
Education Supervision Orders 0
School Attendance Orders 10
2022/23 to date
Parenting Orders 0
Education Supervision Orders 0
School Attendance Orders 7
4. Over the past three academic years, how many prosecutions have been pursued in your area due to school absences?
2020/21 33
2021/22 38
2022/23 112
These were prosecutions in respect of irregular attendance at school NOT relating to unpaid Penalty Notices. Please note that the way prosecutions were processed and recorded over the past three years has been subject to change therefore these figures are only those cases known to the School Attendance Support Team.
We are unable to provide an exact number for question above as:
- There is a low number involved.
- The release of this information could identify individuals which would constitute their personal data under the Data Protection Act
- There is no prior expectation on the part of these individuals that their personal information would be published in the wider public domain under the FOI Act
- Personal data of any other person is exempt under section 40 (2) of the Data Protection Act.
However in the interests of transparency we are able to provide this information to you categorised as fewer than 5 to give you an indication of the figures
You are free to use any information supplied to you for your own use, including non-commercial research purposes. However, any other type of re-use, for example, by publishing the information or issuing copies to the public will require the permission of the copyright owner.
Where the copyright is owned by Thurrock Council, you must apply to the Council to re-use the information. Please email information.matters@thurrock.gov.uk if you wish to re-use the information you have been supplied. For information where the copyright is owned by another person or organisation, you must apply to the copyright owner to obtain their permission.
If you are dissatisfied with the way in which the council have managed your FOI request you can pursue an Internal Review by contacting us using the above email address. An internal review must be submitted within 40 working days of your original reply. Your request will be considered by a senior member of the Information Management Team who will update you with the outcome of the review.
If you remain unhappy following the outcome of your Internal Review you may wish to refer your case to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and details of this organisation can be found at www.ico.org.uk . Please be advised that the ICO will not consider your case until they have confirmation that you have already been through the Internal Review stage with the council.