11 Information Not Held/Destroyed

Dear Ms Atkins,

Thank you for your email requesting for information, which was received on 28February 2011. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your email. Your request was:

“for a list of all the sponsors that are sponsoring academies and their names and contact details”.

I have dealt with your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 andI have attached a list of sponsors that have sponsored open Academies. The Department also holds a list of sponsors that are sponsoring projects in development; however this information is being withheld because the following exemption applies to this information:

“Section22 of the Act: Information is intended for future publication”.

The Department isintending to publish this information on our website later this month,and the names of Academies in development as well as sponsor information will be published. I have included the link to the website below:

However in the list that I have provided I have not been able to include the sponsors’ contact details as this information is not held in the Department. As this may seem surprising, I would like to explain the background. The Government’s relationship with open academies is managed through the Young Person’s Learning Agency (YPLA); the Secretary of State has delegated to the YPLA his functions in relation to open academies. In practical terms, this means that after academies have opened the Department transfers to the YPLA the Academy and all the files and documents that were built up during the project to establish the Academy. While of course we do have some contact detail information in relation to sponsors of open academies, some of it may be out of date as contact information changes over time.

This explains why we do not hold the sponsors’ contact details as you requested. I can give you the contact details for the YPLA to take your request further. The YPLA has a dedicated Academies Enquiries email address:

If you have any queries about my email, please contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number which is: 2011/0018228in any future communications.

If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you should make a complaint to the Department by writing to me within two calendar months of the date of this letter. Your complaint will be considered by an independent review panel, who were not involved in the original consideration of your request.

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint to the Department, you may then contact the Information Commissioner’s Office

Yours sincerely

Paul

PaulOmasoro

Central Support Team,