1. I would like the amounts generated by Devon County Council regarding school pupil attendance fines for the following years 2021, 2022, 2023 & 2024.
2021 January – December – £1,740
2022 January – December – £59,400
2023 January – December – £162,780
2024 January – December – £196,060
2. From 1st January 2024 to 31st December 2024 can I request a monthly breakdown of the cost generated in fines.
January 2024 – £16,740
February 2024 – £25,440
March 2024 – £14,460
April 2024 – £9,840
May 2024 – £14,040
June 2024 – £16,680
July 2024 – £35,940
August 2024 – £19,800
September 2024 – £6,180
October 2024 – £7,140
November 2024 – £24,620
December 2024 – £5,180
3. How many fines were issued?
January 2024 – 265
February 2024 – 405
March 2024 – 236
April 2024 – 151
May 2024 – 228
June 2024 – 261
July 2024 – 584
August 2024 – 311
September 2024 – 111
October 2024 – 110
November 2024 – 307
December 2024 – 63
4. I would also like the information that details how the money generated from the fines are distributed.
Money generated from penalty notices are used to pay for the issuing and enforcing penalty notices issued under S444A(1), for prosecuting offences committed under S444(1), and other functions of the Local Authority to support the regular attendance at school of registered pupils.
5. Also a breakdown of how this money was spent.
This money was spent on staff salary and support, travel expenses for attending court, court fees, stationary and IT hardware (including IT licences).
6. Please could I also request the information of how many fines were issued to parent / carers in these timeframes whose child is on the SEND register or suspected SEND. Including non-SEND child.
Compliance with this request would exceed the appropriate cost limit under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time. A manual check of each record to retrieve the requested information would take at least 2 minutes, and there are over 3000 penalty notices for 2024 alone, this would be 6000 minutes, or 100 hours and therefore over the appropriate cost limit.
Under the Act, there is a duty to provide advice and assistance as to how a request can be refined to fit within the appropriate limit. Unfortunately, due to the way the data is held, this is not possible for this request.