Cars Provided by Force

For the past three financial years and for this financial year to date:

A.) Which officers and staff have a car provided by the force for personal as well as professional use. Examples might be Chief Constable, Assistant Chief Constables, Head of Finance etc. Please provide a list of officers with the car (make, model) they currently have access to.

B.) What was the purchase price for each of these cars. Please list when they were purchased. If the cars are rented please provide full details of the lease arrangement including costs.

C.) Which officers and staff have a driver provided by the force for personal as well as professional use. Are those drivers officers and if so what is their rank? What is the total pay package for each driver whether officer or not?

D.) Have there been any costs for repairs of these cars?

E.) Can you provide an estimate for the petrol used and mileage for these cars?

F.) Does the force pay for the insurance on these cars? What is the cost of this?

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

For Questions A. B, D, E & F please see the attached Word doc: provided by our fleet manager. In addition for

Question A: Chief Constable
Deputy Chief Constable
2 x Assistant Chief Constables
Assistant Chief Officer (Staff)

Question C: The Cheshire Constabulary employs one occasional part time driver. The cost are limited to the payments of wage and expenses.

Having considered this part of your request I am not obliged to supply further information.

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.

The information you have requested is exempt information in accordance with

Section 40 (2) Personal data.

Section 40(2) any information to which a request for information relates is also exempt information if

(a) it constitutes personal data which does not fall within subsection (1), and

(b) either the first or the second condition below is satisfied

(3) The first condition is:-

(a) in a case where the information falls within any of paragraphs (a) to (d) of the definition of "data" in section 1(1) of the Data Protection Act 1998, that the disclosure of the information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act would contravene:-

(i) any of the data protection principles

In this case the data amounts to monies paid to one individual. Disclosure would breach principles 1 & 2 of the Data Protection Act 1998 and would be unlawful. Section 40 (2) is therefore an absolute exemption.

Senior Officers Vehicles 2011

It should be noted that the vehicles listed although provided for senior officers are also equipped as police vehicles (i.e. blue lights and sirens etc.) These vehicle are also used for operational policing when required.