The National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) has reported 26 local authorities to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for failing to respond to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from the charity.

NDCS had sent FOI requests to 150 English councils asking for detail about spending on education, speech and language therapy and social care for deaf children in this year’s budget. The charity is now calling on the ICO to issue enforcement notices compelling the councils to respond to the request.

Jo Campion, deputy director of policy and campaigns at NDCS, said: “The lack of response by these councils shows a total disregard for deaf children and the importance of these services for their futures. This is not to mention a total disregard for the law, as councils are legally obliged to share information on budgets.”

She added: “This silence from councils makes us fear the worst – that even more deaf children’s services will be falling under the axe this year, with parents being kept in the dark until it is too late.”

NDCS requested the information as part of its Stolen Futures campaign, calling on the government to intervene where cuts are being made to support services for deaf children. The charity’s research has indicated that in the last two years one-third of councils have cut their budgets for deaf children’s services.

An e-petition calling for a debate in Parliament achieved more than 50,000 signatures over the course of the year that it was open, half the amount required to be eligible for debate. But this was enough to trigger a response from the government online which stressed the importance of transparency in local authority decisions about funding.

The charity is now calling on its supporters to email their MPs and ask them to support the campaign, it has secured a sponsor for the petition and is compiling a list of backbench MPs who support its call for a debate in Parliament on cuts to deaf children’s services.

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 public authorities are required to publish information about their activities and members of the public are entitled to request information – which the authority then has 20 working days to respond to.  

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