1. What is the annual budget allocated to work with adopted adults?
Devon County Council (DCC) does not have a specific budget for this work.
2. How many staff work on this task of responding to requests under The Adoption Information and Intermediary Services (Pre-Commencement Adoptions) Regulations 2005 (ISR) 12.3? Is it a specific responsibility for a staff member within their job description? What level are they at? If not, how is this responsibility met?
DCC do not provide intermediary services. We have social workers that respond to requests for information from other agencies.
3. Do you have written guidance on responding to requests from intermediary agencies under ISR12.3 on your staff intranet or anywhere else? If so, please provide us with a copy of it.
No, we do not have a specific process.
4. How many requests did you get for information under ISR 12.3 in the last financial year (or if this information is not available, for the last period that you do have available)?
Devon County Council believes compliance with this request would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which is £450 or 18 hours of officer time. This is because we do not hold a centralised record of this data. To obtain it would require a manual check of approximately 900 requests for information to determine if they are in scope.
5. In days from requests to response, how long does it take you to provide the requested information? Please provide the data for the last financial year.
DCC do not hold this information.
6. Have the pre-2005 adoption files in your care been digitised?
DCC do not have any within Adopt South West – however of our 4 partner agencies (Plymouth, Devon, Torbay and Somerset) only Devon have digitised records, and they hold all records pre October 2018.
7. Does your agency hold a register of vetoes/no contact wishes? If so, how many vetoes do you have registered and how many ‘no contact requests’?
Yes. From October 2018, when the register went live, there have been none. This register is currently incomplete, as DCC are in the process of merging registers from each of the local authority’s previous adoption teams.