AGENDA ITEM 5

BOROUGH OF POOLE

CABINET

2ND DECEMBER 2008

SCRUTINY OF THE USE OF SURVEILLANCE AND THE BOROUGH OF POOLE SCHOOL ADMISSIONS POLICY: REPORT OF THE CHAIRMAN OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE OVERVIEW AND SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

1.PURPOSE OF REPORT

1.1To consider the recommendations arising from the Scrutiny of the use of Surveillance and the Borough of Poole School Admissions by the Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee at its Meeting on 28th October 2008.

2.DECISIONS REQUIRED

2.1That Cabinet be requested to adopt the recommendations of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee as follows:-

(a)Having regard to the issues of proportionality and necessity, and considering whether or not the Council would actually pursue a case of fraud through the law, Surveillance should not take place in respect of School Admissions.

(b)In the light of this, a Report will be produced for consideration as to how the Council can strengthen checks in other ways. The effectiveness of these checks should be reviewed in public after two years.

(c)A Report be presented to Cabinet to add further safeguards to the Council’s RIPA procedures in respect of:-

(a)options for how best to involve elected Members

(b)adequacy of interview and training

(c)introduction of privacy and equality impact assessments

(d)adequacy of checks in place for the review of RIPA decisions by the Council’s Management Team.

(d)The Council should campaign for greater clarity form the Government in respect of both RIPA and School Admissions.

3.BACKGROUND

3.1I Chaired the Meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 28th October 2008 (Minutes available on the Borough of Poole website) which had been convened to carry out a general Scrutiny of the use of RIPA Surveillance powers in connection with the Borough’s School Admissions Policy.

The Committee took evidence from:-

Tim Martin-Head of Legal and Democratic Services

Vicky Wales-Head of Children and Young Peoples Integrated Services

Councillor Brian Leverett, Leader of the Council and Chairman of Cabinet

Councillor Tony Woodcock, Portfolio Holder – Supporting Children and Young People

3.2The Speakers were:-

Chris Beale, Director, Poole Council for Voluntary Service

The Reverend Paul Holmes and Ann Khambatta. All spoke against the use of Surveillance.

Committee Members were given the opportunity to question witnesses and other Members in attendance were also invited to ask questions. Members of the public were then invited to ask questions.

Following debate, the Committee unanimously agreed to support the above recommendations.

3.3For ease of reference all Reports submitted to the Meeting may be found on the Borough of Poole website and are enclosed for Cabinet Members only.

3.4I would urge Cabinet to accept the recommendations of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

Councillor Mrs Carol Evans

Chairman

Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee

CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY COMMITTEE

28 OCTOBER 2008

TO NOTE THE FRAMEWORK TO REVIEW POTENTIALLYFRAUDULENT APPLICATIONS FOR SCHOOL PLACES

1. Background.

1.1 School admission arrangements must be in line with the School Admissions Code of Practice and must not be unlawful.

1.2 The Poole Admissions Forum considers the proposed admission arrangements of all the admission authorities within Poole each year.

1.3 Every admission authority is required to publish its admission arrangements each year. These arrangements include the admissions policy which must set out how applications will be prioritised if a school is oversubscribed.

1.4 The Schools’ Adjudicator now requires all local authorities to submit all admission arrangements for scrutiny to ensure that they comply with the law and the Admissions Code of Practice.

1.5 All Poole’s Community and Voluntary Controlled schools operate catchment areas as part of their admission arrangements. The oversubscription criteria for these schools, set out in the published admissions policy, specifies that if a school receives more applications than it has places available then it will consider in-catchment pupils

before out of catchment applicants.

1.6 The two categories are subdivided so that each has priority levels within them. If a school is oversubscribed applicants will be considered in the following order up to the school’s Published Admission Number:

  1. In-catchment:

a)Those with siblings already attending the school

b)Those with medical reasons

c)Those with church affiliation (Voluntary Controlled schools only)

d)Distance from the school

  1. Out of catchment:

a)Those with siblings already attending the school

b)Those with medical reasons

c)Those with church affiliation (Voluntary Controlled schools only)

d)Distance from the school

1.7 If, when considering the applicants for an oversubscribed school, any of the individual categories are themselves oversubscribed (i.e. not all the applicants can be offered a place), then distance from the school is used to allocate places. The nearer an applicant lives to the school the higher the priority. Distance is measured using a Geographical Information System which is linked directly to the school admissions software. The distance is measured from the home address to the nearest school gate that is available for the use of pupils. The route measured is the shortest, safest practicable walking route using the centre lines of public roads and footpaths.

1.8 Therefore for popular oversubscribed schools it is important for parents that they are as high up the criteria as possible. Living in a school’s catchment area, whilst not guaranteeing an offer of a school place, certainly gives parents a high priority and living near the school increases the chances of being offered a place.

2. The application process.

2.1 Application forms are obtainable from all local schools. Parents can also apply on-line via the borough’s website.

2.2 Parents can obtain a hard copy of a booklet entitled “A Guide to Admissions to Poole Schools in September 2008” from any Poole school. A copy is also available for viewing and downloading on the borough’s website.

2.3 Application forms for school places require a declaration signed by the applicants which includes:

  • Confirmation that the information is correct,
  • An understanding that the provision of incorrect information could lead to the withdrawal of the offer of a school place, and
  • A tick box where applicants can indicate that they do not wish the local authority to provide Council Tax details of the home address specified on the form.

3. Consideration of applications.

3.1 Once the closing date for applications has passed all the applications are considered together.

3.2 The law states that if a school is not oversubscribed then everyone who applied must be admitted.

3.3 If a school is oversubscribed then all the applicants are ranked in accordance with the oversubscription criteria set out in 1.6 above.

3.4 Offers of places are sent out in accordance with the timescales set out in the Co-ordinated Admissions Scheme.

4. Published Admission Numbers and infant class sizes.

4.1 Each school has a Published Admission Number (PAN). This is the maximum number of pupils the school can accommodate in the year group.

4.2 PANs are assessed taking into account the school’s accommodation. Generally the area of teaching space is fed into a formula supplied by the Department for Children Schools and Families which provides the PAN figure.

4.3 First, Primary and Combined school class sizes in Years R, 1 and 2 are limited by Infant Class Size legislation. No class can contain more than 30 pupils to a single, qualified teacher. Admission authorities are not allowed to admit pupils over 30 in a class. If they do admit even one additional pupil they are required to take what is know as “qualifying measures”. This means providing an additional teacher and accommodation.

4.4 The admission year for all First, Primary and Combined schools is Reception.

5. Withdrawing an offer of a place.

5.1 The School Admissions Code of Practice issued in February 2007 states in paragraph 1.43 that “Once an offer of a school place has been made it can only be withdrawn in very limited circumstances. These may include when a parent has failed to respond to an offer within a reasonable time or the admission authority offered the place on the basis of a fraudulent or intentionally misleading application from a parent (for example a false claim to residence in a catchment area) which effectively denied a place to a child with a stronger claim.”

5.2 The Code also states in paragraph 1.44 that “a school place must not be withdrawn once a child has started at the school, except where a place was fraudulently obtained.” (The wording of the exact quotes in these two paragraphs comes from the School Admissions Code of Practice and is that of Department for Children, Schools & Families not the local authority).

5.3 In the new Draft Admissions Code of Practice the information included in paragraph 5.1 and 5.2 above has been retained. The Draft Admissions Code of Practice has been published for consultation in June 2008.

5.4 The local authority will only consider a case of the possible use of fraudulent information on receipt of a formal complaint from a third party where the complainant is prepared to give the authority his/her name and address. This information is kept confidential. Complaints can be received both before and after the published closing date and can come either directly to Children and Young People’s Integrated Services (C&YPIS) or via any of the local schools.

5.5 Once a complaint has been received it is passed to a senior officer in C&YPIS. The local authority has a duty to investigate any allegation to ensure that the school place has been offered in line with the published admission arrangements. Failure to investigate a complaint could leave the authority open to a claim of maladministration to the Local Government Ombudsman or in the case of an infant class size restriction (Years R, 1 and 2) may mean having to offer an additional place taking the class over statutory limit of 30. This could mean a school having to employ another teacher and providing additional accommodation.

5.6 The Parents’ Guide clearly sets out the reasons why parents/carers might be asked to verify the address at which the child is ordinarily resident. The term “ordinarily resident” is used by all Poole’s admission authorities and has the meaning of where a child “usually” lives. This is particularly important if the child is from separated parents and spends time with each. The authority can only consider one application for a child and therefore it is necessary to establish where the child lives for the majority of the time so that only the application from the parent where the child spends the majority of his/her time i.e. usually lives, will be considered.

5.7 On the extremely rare occasions when formal complaints are received parents who are the subject of a complaint are asked to provide information which can substantiate that they live (not own) the address which is on the application form. This could include the provision of a Council Tax Bill, utility bills, driving licences, vehicle registration or insurance documents. However these documents do not prove that a person or family actually resides in a particular property, only that they either own the property or have their mail delivered to that address.

5.8 If the authority is convinced that the home address on the application form is genuine then no further action is taken and the offer of the school place stands. If the applicant fails to respond to the request for further information or cannot provide satisfactory evidence to prove residency then the offer of a school place is withdrawn. The place is then offered to the next person who qualifies under the oversubscription criteria.

5.9 When contacted, Revenue & Benefits Services can advise whether or not a full Council Tax is paid on a property or if a reduction for single occupancy is being given. If a full Council Tax is being paid there is no requirement to specify who is living in the property. So the local authority cannot use Council Tax information as a definitive answer as to residency.

5.10 Additionally parents can ask for household and other bills to be delivered to any address. The only legal requirement is for a driving licence to give the place where the driver lives and insurance should specify the place where the vehicle is kept.

5.11 The local authority can also check information held on its School Management Information System. Parents are required to advise school of the home address of the pupil and contact details of parents/carers. Each school’s Management Information System uploads this information to the local authority’s linked system. This can be used to check the home address of applicants or siblings.

5.12 If the senior officer is not convinced that the information supplied is either genuine or relevant to the case then further action is considered. Officers who deal with school admissions meet to discuss individual cases and consider whether, as a last resort, an application be made to one of the Council’s Authorising Officers for Directed Surveillance under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (RIPA) 2000. Only three requests for surveillance in relation to school admissions have been made since the RIPA 2000 legislation has come into effect.

5.13 If the officers believe that the application is fraudulent or intentionally misleading then the Strategy Manager in C&YPIS requests the approval of the Head of the service unit to the completion of a RIPA application form for Directed Surveillance. The matter is also discussed with the Director of Children’s Services.

5.14 If approval is given a RIPA application form is completed. Once completed it is submitted to the Head of Legal & Democratic Services for authorisation.

5.15 After the further investigations have been completed if necessary the applicants are invited to discuss their application with Admissions Officers in C&YPIS. Details of the surveillance are given to the applicants who are invited to comment on any issues raised. After that meeting admission officers discuss the application for a school place and if not satisfied with the information will withdraw the offer of a school place.

5.16 If a parent is refused the offer of a school place (or has the offer withdrawn) they are entitled to submit an admission appeal to an Independent Admission Appeal Panel where all the reasons relating to the individual case can be considered.

6. Number of applications for schools places.

6.1 The local authority, which co-ordinates all school admissions, deals with all application for places in Poole schools. The School Admissions Team in C&YPIS deals with approximately 3,600 applications for admissions in September each year.

6.2 The figure is divided between school phases as follows:

Reception / 1300
Transfer to Middle school / 900
Transfer to Secondary school / 1400

6.3 Very few of these applications are considered to be possible cases of using fraudulent information. In recent years formal complaints received have resulted in the following number of cases:

Number of applications requiring further investigation / Number of applications either not offered a place or the offer withdrawn
2004/5 / 3 / 1
2005/6 / 4 / 4
2006/7 / 4 / 3
2007/8 / 5 / 4
2008/9 / 8 / 6

6.4 As previously mentioned of the 24 cases outlined above RIPA has only been used on three occasions where there was continued doubt over the accuracy of the information supplied. Of these two resulted in the offers of school places being withdrawn. In cases where it was decided not to withdraw the offer of a place the decision was based on all the evidence available at the time.

6.5 Prior to the introduction of RIPA legislation the local authority would seek further information with all relevant data being logged. However there was no set process identifying how such procedures should operate.

7. Information collected.

7.1 Once the issue has been resolved all records of the directed surveillance are destroyed. Paragraph 2.16 of the Covert Surveillance Code of Practice suggests that the product of surveillance should only be retained if it is to be used in future proceedings and as this is not the case for school admissions they are destroyed.

8. Protecting genuine applicants from fraudulent claims for school places.

8.1 The local authority has a duty to all applicants to ensure that all places are offered to those who genuinely meet the oversubscription criteria in the published admissions policy. Failure to investigate complaints of fraud (i.e. a deception deliberately practiced with a view to gaining an unlawful or unfair advantage) could result in a “free for all” for school places. If reports of fraudulent addresses are not reviewed it could result in genuine applicants being deprived of a school place at their catchment school.

8.2 If parents are successful in gaining a place at a school which is not their catchment area school they are advised, when accepting the place, that:

  • they are aware that if in subsequent years a sibling wishes to join the school there can be no guarantee that a place will be available, and
  • there is no guarantee that the child will be allocated a place at the catchment middle or secondary school when the time comes to move schools. This means that it is likely that established friendships may have to be broken when pupils are offered places at different schools.

9. Procedures adopted by other local authorities.

9.1 Enquiries have been made of other local authorities concerning the investigation of possible fraudulent applications for school places.

9.2 The outcome of the enquiry has shown different approaches by individual local authorities. The responses received include:

  • Parents being required to provide proof of residency with their application form (every application irrespective of school preferences);
  • Education Welfare Officers calling at houses to check children’s addresses
  • No action (maladministration?);
  • Requests for further proof of residency;
  • Another local authority has confirmed that it has used RIPA for admission purposes

9.3 However there is no formal guidance issued on how local authorities should deal with applications which are considered either fraudulent or intentionally misleading.