Communications Service Providers

Please send me the following information for the last 5 calendar years:

1. The number of times you have requested data from Communications Service Providers (CSPs), the times these requests were made and the name of the CSP.
2. The type of data requested. For instance:
3. Details of prices you have paid to CSPs for obtaining this data, or such price lists or price data currently held by the council.
4. Details of how you obtained this data from CSPs, which might include:
5. The total cost of making all these requests

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

We are unable to provide you with the information you have requested. The majority of the information you have requested is held in paper records. To search those records to recover the five years worth of data would take approximately 74 hours which would clearly exceed the appropriate limit for FOI requests.

The appropriate limit is defined in the Data Protection and Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004, which is covered by statutory Instrument Number 3244 of 2004. Furthermore, Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 allows a public authority to refuse to respond to a request for information where the cost of compliance would exceed the appropriate limit as defined by the above mentioned regulations.