Raoul Moat Investigation

Description of information requested: I am seeking information about the cost of the Raoul Moat inquiry.

1. How much did Cheshire Police spend in the operation to catch Raoul Moat up to and including the day of his death on Saturday 10 July?
2. Please provide a detailed breakdown of the costs that were incurred, i.e spending on armed units.

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

Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the Cheshire Constabulary, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you with a notice which a) states that fact, b) specifies the exemption in question and c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Section 22(1)(a) Information Intended for Future Publication is a class based qualified exemption which means that the public interest needs to be applied.

Public Interest Considerations

Factors favouring disclosure

Although a publication strategy is currently being compiled there is no firm date as yet for publication therefore disclosure at this time would provide the public with an awareness of how much the overtime bill has cost the public purse to date.

Factors favouring non-disclosure

As stated above this investigation is extremely high profile and is subject to an Independent Police Complaints Commission inquiry into the procedures followed by Northumbria Police throughout their dealings with Raoul Moat and it may be the case that Cheshire Constabulary has a duty to present information to another body or person for scrutiny. Disclosure at this time could undermine the IPCC inquiry. There is no doubt this investigation has been at considerable expense to public funds. As a decision has been made to publish this information in future the spending of additional funds in order to answer this request would not be in the public interest.

Balancing Test

As this investigation is still fairly recent the information held at this time may not include all the overtime submitted for this operation, it may also not be accurate and could change dramatically when eventually published.

There needs to be a real and valid reason which identifies a tangible benefit to the public from disclosure of information. In this case a decision has been made to disclose the information when fully collated and accurate. The additional cost to the force to deal with the request at this time would not be in the public interest.

For the reasons outlined above the balancing test for disclosure at this time is not made out.