Childminders who were registered with the Care Inspectorate: FOI release

Information requested

FOI/202000091753 - You asked for the number of childminders who were registered with the Care Inspectorate in February 2020 as opposed to how many are registered with the Care Inspectorate this month September 2020.

FOI/202000090323 - Up to date information in regards to Registered Childminders in Scotland.

Response

While our aim is to provide information whenever possible, under section 14(2) of FOISA a public authority is not required to comply with a request for information if it is identical or  substantially similar to a request which it has already complied with, unless a reasonable amount of time has elapsed between the two requests. This request is substantially similar to your previous request which we complied with on 14 October, I have included a copy of the response to your previous request in an annex to this response. The Scottish Information Commissioner's guidance on repeated requests at: http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/Law/FOISA-EIRsGuidance/Section14/Section14Overview.aspx says that in considering whether a reasonable period of time has elapsed between the previous request and the new request, there are two questions which will help the authority:

i. has the information changed?
ii. have the circumstances changed?

In this case, the information we hold is the same as at the time of your previous request. We have also considered the circumstances and have concluded that there has been no significant change. For these reasons, we consider that your request is repeated and we are not obliged to comply with it.

As set out in our response of 14 October (FOI/202000090323), information about all registered childcare services in Scotland, which includes childminders, is published monthly and made publicly available on the Care Inspectorate website here: https://www.careinspectorate.com/index.php/publications-statistics/93-public/datastore.

The latest data published provides information as at 30 September 2020, and includes information regarding cancelled services (including the date that a service was cancelled).

It is important to note that the information captured in the Care Inspectorate datastore does not specify the reasons for services closing.

About FOI
The Scottish Government is committed to publishing all information released in response to Freedom of Information requests. View all FOI responses at http://www.gov.scot/foi-responses.