Information Management Unit

What I'd like to know is the structure and effectiveness of whatever department in your own constabulary deals with requests for information under the freedom of information act, environmental information regulations, re-use of public sector information regulations and the data protection act.

1. What staff (numbers, positions or ranks if police officers) currently deal with these request?
2. What relevant experience and professional qualifications do they each have? If unqualified, the length of time in the roles.
3. What pay scales are they in (actual money scale, eg "£37000 to £47000" not "ST1" or the like)?
   And some performance information for the last three years (calendar or financial - whichever suits) please (numbers received per month, quarter or year, and in the same time frames the mean time for completion and the number of those not completed within legal (or recommended where appropriate) time-scales) in the following areas:
4. Freedom of information requests?
5. Environmental information requests?
6. Re-use public sector information requests?
7. Data protection subject access requests for conviction details?
8. Other data protection subject access requests?
9. Reviews on complaint or appeal?

In accordance with section 1(1) (b) of the Act our response is provided below;

Question 1

The department concerned with managing requests under the Data Protection Act 1998 & the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is the Information Management Unit.

Please see the attached chart

Information Management Unit Organisational Chart 2009

Staff dealing directly with the subject of your questions are as follows:

• FOI - FOI Officer - Police Staff - Scale SO 1
• FOI Compliance Officer - Police Staff - Scale 4
• DP - DP Officer - Police Staff - Scale SO 1
• DP Compliance Officer - Police Staff - Scale 4

Question 2

Freedom of Information Officer

• ISEB qualification in either Freedom of Information or Data Protection
• OR NVQ Level 3 in a related subject and willing to work towards and complete ISEB within two years of appointment.
• Typically, 1 year's experience in Freedom of Information and 1 year's experience in Data Protection would be an indicator of the candidate's range of acquired skills in this field.
• Typically 2 years' supervisory experience will be an indicator of a candidate's range of acquired skills.

Freedom of Information Compliance Officer

• NVQ Level 3 or equivalent
• Typically a minimum of two years administration experience with evidence of report writing will be an indicator of a candidate's range of acquired skills.
• Awareness of the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and related legislation.

Data Protection Officer

• ISEB qualification in either Freedom Of Information or Data Protection
• or NVQ level 3 in a related subject and willing to work towards and complete ISEB within two years of appointment
• Typically 1 year's experience in Data Protection and 1 year's experience in Freedom of Information
• Typically 2 years supervisory experience

Data Protection Compliance Officer

• NVQ level 3 or equivalent
• Typically a minimum of two years administration experience, with evidence of report writing and research skills
• Knowledge of the requirements of the Data Protection Acts and Computer Misuse Act.

Question 3

Freedom of Information Officer & Data Protection Officer - Police Staff Scale SO1 = Salary band £25080 to 26706

Freedom of Information & Data Protection Compliance Officer - Police Staff Scale 4 = Salary band £17550 to 19461

Question 4

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct	Nov	Dec	Totals
2005	27	24	25	21	14	17	16	16	15	24	19	13	231
2006	23	13	24	15	33	20	32	23	34	30	45	30	322
2007	38	44	43	34	36	37	39	31	40	43	46	29	460
2008	54	53	42	47	37	56	48	44	60	40	43	35	559
2009	71	64	70	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	205

Freedom of Information Requests: Compliance within 20 Days

• Total compliance for calendar year 2008 = 94.3% (32 out of 559 requests took longer than 20 days)
• Quarter 1 2008 = 93.9% (9 out of 149 requests took longer than 20 days)
• Quarter 2 2008 = 96.4% (5 out of 140 requests took longer than 20 days)
• Quarter 3 2008 = 94.1% (9 out of 152 requests took longer than 20 days)
• Quarter 4 2008 = 92.4% (9 out of 118 requests took longer than 20 days)
• Compliance for January and February 2009 = 96.3% (5 out of 135 requests took longer than 20 days)

Please Note: The only performance data readily available is for 2008 to date. This is included within the spreadsheet.

Question 5

Two

Question 6

There is no information held. The Police Service are not obliged to adhere to the Re-Use of Public Section Information Regulations

Questions 7 and 8

2006 Subject Access Requests

	All	NIS	Local	NIS & Local
January	243	226	15	2
February	190	178	10	2
March	224	217	5	2
April	162	155	6	1
May	202	194	5	3
June	236	224	7	5
July	188	179	7	2
August	206	193	12	1
September	172	167	4	1
October	199	188	8	3
November	200	191	7	2
December	127	120	5	2
Total	2349

2007 Subject Access Requests

	All	NIS	Local	NIS & Local
January	212	200	5	7
February	189	183	5	1
March	267	258	8	1
April	227	213	8	6
May	212	205	3	4
June	239	234	2	3
July	223	216	7	0
August	234	223	6	5
September	178	166	11	1
October	204	195	6	3
November	199	195	2	2
December	126	121	2	3
Total	2510

2008 Subject Access Requests

	All	NIS	Local	NIS & Local
January	236	225	6	5
February	169	159	7	3
March	198	189	6	3
April	188	182	4	2
May	153	145	7	1
June	142	133	5	4
July	117	110	5	2
August	115	105	8	2
September	85	81	3	1
October	121	112	7	2
November	81	74	4	3
December	72	65	7	0
Total	1677

2009 Subject Access Requests

	All	NIS	Local	NIS & Local
January	77	66	8	3
February	100	88	8	4
March	98	88	8	2
April	58	49	7	2
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Total	333

Please Note: DP Compliance is 100% (40 days) for all periods.

Question 9

Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Appeal Register

Date Received	Reviewing Officer	Date Completed	Appeal Decision	Appellant Appealed to ICO	ICO Decision
12th December 2006	ACC XXXX(ACPO), , Supt ,  (Force Solicitor)	16th April 2007	Partial Upheld	Not to Date
14th December 2006	DP Officer	9th January 2007	Information Provided	Not to Date
13th April 2007	XXXX (ACO) & XXXXt (Legal Services)	16th May 2007	Decision Upheld	Yes	ICO to visit HQ 11th July 2008. Decision Notice issued October rejecting applicant's complaint and upholding Constabulary's decision.
8th May 2007	Review officer	9th July 2007	Decision Upheld	Not to Date
26th June 2007	Review officer	24th September 2007	Decision Upheld	Yes	Complaint partialy Upheld. Personal Data released under S7, DPA
17th July 2007	Review officer	15th October 2007	Decision Upheld	Not to Date
19th July 2007	Review officer	16th October 2007	Decision Partially Upheld	Not to Date
17th September 2007	Review officer	17th October 2007	Decision Upheld	Not to Date
10th October 2007	Review officer	10th December 2007	Information Provided	Not Applicable
23rd October 2007	Dept head Supt	14th December 2007	Decision Partially Upheld	Not to Date
22nd February 2008	Review officer	21st April 2008	Decision Upheld	Not to Date
12th May 2008	Review officer	10th July 2008	Decision Upheld	Not to Date
1st September 2008	Review officer	22nd December 2008	Information Provided	Not to Date
3rd September 2008	Review officer	21st October 2008         19th November 2008	Information Provided	Not Applicable
7th November 2008	Review officer
6th January 2009	Review officer	Request for review withdrawn 7th January 2009	Not Applicable	Not to Date
6th March 2009	Review officer	20th March 2009	Partial Upheld	Not to Date