| SPOTLIGHT |
The London Borough of Waltham Forest has taken legal steps to secure information on schoolchildren considered at risk of radicalisation, after redacted details issued by a school in response to an FOI request were manipulated by a third party to reveal the blocked-out names.
The information related to the BRIT Project, which is funded by the local authority and is designed to safeguard young people from potentially harmful information or views.
A spokesperson for Waltham Forest said: “Back in July, a local school responded to a Freedom of Information request, which asked for emailed correspondence between the school and the council in relation to the BRIT Project. Because one of the emails contained one child’s full name and the first names of other children, this information was clearly blocked out in the response issued by the school.
“However, we now understand that the information sent out has since been manipulated by a third party to reveal the blocked-out names. Someone has then used their own methods to obtain all of the children’s full names, rather than alert the school or the council that there was a problem with the information released.
“On behalf of the school, the council has taken legal steps to secure all copies of the information. The school has informed the families affected of the action that the council is taking on its behalf, and that the council has launched a full investigation.”
