Records relating to policy on the use of force, restraint, or physical intervention in schools in England

Request

This request concerns the existence, status, and handling of public records relating to policy on the use of force, restraint, or physical intervention involving pupils in schools in England.
Scope

The temporal scope of this request is 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2016.
I am not seeking disclosure of the substantive content of records. I seek information as to whether relevant public records exist, and, if so, their status under the Public Records Act.
1. Record series and file descriptions

Please confirm whether The National Archives holds, or has catalogued information concerning, any public records that relate to:

• the use of force or reasonable force in schools; restraint or physical intervention involving pupils;
• the recording or reporting of incidents involving force;
• and guidance or policy issued to schools on these matters.

Where such records exist, please provide:

2. Status of the 2011 Charlie Taylor review

Please confirm whether The National Archives holds, or has been notified of, any public records relating to the report titled Review of the Recording and Reporting of the Use of Force in Schools, authored by Charlie Taylor and dated July 2011, which was commissioned by the Department for Education.

In particular, please confirm whether records relating to this report have been transferred to The National Archives and:

• are scheduled for transfer at a future date
• are retained by the Department for Education pursuant to an approved retention arrangement
• were approved for destruction under the Public Records Act.

Where approval for destruction was granted, please confirm:

• the date of approval
• whether The National Archives holds information concerning the appraisal or disposal decision.

3. Ministerial policy records (2010–2012)

Please confirm whether The National Archives holds information relating to the appraisal, retention, or transfer of ministerial policy records concerning the use of force in schools during the period 2010 to 2012, when ministerial responsibility for school standards sat with Nick Gibb as Minister of State.

This includes, but is not limited to, information concerning:

• ministerial submissions, briefings, or advice relating to the use of force or restraint in schools;
• records relating to decisions on the commencement or non-commencement of section 246 of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009;
• whether such records were selected for permanent preservation, retained by the Department for Education, or approved for destruction.

Outcome

Some information provided.

Response

We are unable to provide you with some of the information you have requested because question one of your request is covered by an exemption at Section 12 of the FOI Act. This exempts a public authority from the duty to comply with a request for information if the cost of complying with the request is estimated to exceed the appropriate limit. For more information about this exemption, please see the explanatory annex at the end of this response.

Question two of your request is covered by an exemption at Section 21 which does not oblige a public authority to provide information if it is already reasonably accessible by other means. We do not hold information regarding to question three

1. Record series and file descriptions

We have determined that we will not be able to answer this part of your request because to do so would exceed the cost limit provision under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act. Section 12(1) of the Act makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for The National Archives (as a central government department) is set at £600.

This equates to 24 hours staff time for determining whether the department holds the information and then locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

We estimate that it will take us in excess of this to identify, locate, retrieve and extract the relevant information in response to your request. This is because we have not been able to identify records that would be of relevance from information on our catalogue. In order to identify information and provide a list of records that would be of relevance to the criteria you have specified, we would be required to undertake an extensive manual review of the archival collection itself. This is not possible within the cost limit and, therefore, we will not be processing your request any further.

Under section 16 of the FOI Act, a public authority is obliged to offer advice and assistance concerning how a request refused under this exemption might be further refined, in order for it to be resolvable within the cost limit, or to otherwise formally state that it is not possible to provide such advice due to the nature of the request if that request cannot reasonably be further refined.

In this instance, whilst we are unable to offer guidance on how to further refine your request, you may wish to consider browsing our catalogue for records in the Department for Education’s NV and RH series:

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/r/C338

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/browse/r/r/C359

Please note that our catalogue contains information about the archival records that we hold, for the criteria you have specified in parts a-d of your request.

1. Status of the 2011 Charlie Taylor review

We have identified records that match the criteria you have specified within the UK government web archive. This web-archive is run by TNA and is used to capture, preserve and make accessible UK central government information published on the web. While, this information is exempt under Section 21 of the FOIA, we have provided the some of our search results for you below.

For example, a search of 'Charlie Taylor', 'Use of force in schools', and 'July 2011' finds 26,152 results.

See the following link for this example search result.

A similar but slightly more specific search provides these results. This seems to include content in the web archive that was captured between 2009 and 2025.

The following search may also be useful.

We additionally found a 'review of the Recording and Reporting of the Use of Force in Schools' via the web archive. Please see the search result in the UK Government Web Archive.

Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) does not oblige a public authority to provide information if it is already reasonably accessible by other means.

In this case the exemption applies because closed records are searchable via the UK Government Web Archive and, as such, are already available to the public.

3. Ministerial policy records (2010–2012)

As no records meeting the criteria you have specified have been identified, no information is held.

Annexe

Exemptions applied

Section 12: Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit

Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed an appropriate limit, which for central government departments like The National Archives, is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending just over three working days determining whether the department holds the information, as well as locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

We estimate that it will take us in excess of this time to identify the appropriate information, and locate, retrieve and extract it as the scope of your request is so wide-ranging. Therefore, your request will not be processed further.

You may wish to consider refining your request, however please note that we are unable to guarantee that any refined requests would fall within the cost limit.

Further guidance on the application of this exemption can be found on the ICO website.

Section 21: Information readily available to the applicant by other means

Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) does not oblige a public authority to provide information if it is already reasonably accessible by other means.
In this case the exemption applies because closed records are searchable via our online catalogue, and, as such, are already available to the public.
Further guidance on the application of this exemption can be found on the ICO website.