Freedom of information response
Subject Access Requests
I am conducting some further research on Subject Access Requests in particular Children’s Records. I am aware that some Subject Access Requests can often involve sensitive material which can be lengthy in size such as documents ranging from 2000 – 5000 pages post redaction of third-party material.
Could you tell me the following for children’s records and for SARS in general? Over the last 3 years
What is the average size of Subject Access Request – if you do not hold the precise data to provide a mean average then a rough approximation from memory will be fine. For example, is 5000 pages rare or frequent?
Do you ever hand out a selection of records rather than full records?
How many requests are disclosed (annually) roughly 2000 – 3000 pages long?
How many requests are disclosed (annually) roughly 3000-4000 pages long?
How many requests are disclosed (annually) roughly 4000 – 5000 pages long?
How many requests are disclosed (annually) that are roughly 5000+ pages long?
If you cannot answer these questions with precise details then could you provide a more general answer addressing the typical size of a Subject Access Request for Children’s information whether previously in care or still in care for your local authority?
Any comments you would like to make to answer the questions more accurately?
In the last ten years:
Are there any occasions where you have refused a Subject Access Request using the provisions outlined in DPA 2018/GDPR (whether children’s records or any other) over the last five years and what were these reasons, such as manifestly excessive?/ excessive resources such as cost of labour or time to produce?
Have you ever introduced a charge for SAR records (whether children or another area) because the resources involved in disclosing such material would be disproportionate or excessive such as the time involved to redact records and money spent on labour to prepare the documents for disclosure
Any comments you would like to make to answer the questions more accurately?
1. Rough approximation - the average size of a children’s social care SAR would be around 1000 / 2000 pages.
2. We provide records in line with the request. However, in cases where volumes are extremely high we may agree with the requester to release the data in stages.
3. Please refer to question 7.
4. Please refer to question 7.
5. Please refer to question 7.
6. Please refer to question 7.
7. We are unable to answer questions 3 – 6 because the data is extracted as documents, each document can vary in size so the number of pages is not easily accessible. We categorise SARs as Small, Medium & Large. Large requests being approximately over 1000 pages. Please see the below stats for the last 3 years for large SARs.
- 2021/2022 - 11 large SARs
- 2022/2023 - 12 large SARs
- 2023/2024 - 18 large SARs
Any comments you would like to make to answer the questions more accurately?
8. No.
9. We have previously refused children’s social care SARs using the following exemptions:
- Schedule 2, Part 4, Paragraph 19 of the Data Protection Act. (Legal professional privilege)
- Schedule 3, Part 3, Paragraph 8 of the Data Protection Act. (Social Work Data, this is used to the extent that complying with the request would be likely to prejudice carrying out social work because it would be likely to cause serious harm to the physical or mental health of any individual.)
- No, however when we have had repeat requests for hardcopy data that has been supplied & lost on more than one occasion we have advised of a admin fee for reproduction.
11. No.