Your Ref:
Our Ref:
Force Disclosure Unit
Police Headquarters
173 Pitt Street
GLASGOW
G2 4JS
Tel: 0141 435 1217
Fax: 0141 435 1218
Dear
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NUMBER
I refer to your request for information dated 13 February 2009, which was received by
Strathclyde Police on that date.
Your request for information has now been considered and on 12 March 2009, a decision was
made to provide some of the information requested by you. Some of the information
requested by you is, however, considered to be exempt in terms of the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (the Act). Section 16 of the Act requires Strathclyde Police
to provide you with a notice which: (a) states that it holds the information, (b) states that it is
claiming an exemption, (c) specifies the exemption in question and (d) states, if that would
not be otherwise apparent, why the exemption applies. Where information is considered to be
exempt, this letter serves as a Refusal Notice and an explanation of the appropriate exemption
is provided.
Please detail total expenditure by Strathclyde police on common purpose courses for each
of the following years: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007,
and 2008 to date.
In relation to years 1997 – 2003 inclusive, Strathclyde Police does not hold the information
you request and in terms of Section 17 of the Act, this letter represents a formal notice that
information is not held. By way of explanation, the invoices pertaining to charges made up to
2003, inclusive, were destroyed in line with the Strathclyde Police Record Retention Policy (4
years plus current year to be held). A copy of the Record Retention Schedule can be found
via the following link
http://www.strathclyde.police.uk/index.asp?locID=535&docID=-1 The total expenditure by Strathclyde Police on Common Purpose courses from 2004 to date is
detailed in the table below.
YEAR
TOTAL COST (£)
2004
4,641.25
2005
4,641.25
2006
4,935.00
2007
8,489.00
2008 22,839.38
2009
00.00
Please also supply a copy of the invoice for each common purpose course paid for by the
Strathclyde police force by [common purpose] I mean the training organisation of that
name: http://www.commonpurpose.org/home.aspx
The invoices you have requested are attached. Please note that 3 of the invoices contain a
typographical error (AZ 0448, AZ 0449 and AZ 0450), in that the Invoice date / tax point is
given as 8 December 2009. These should read 8 December 2008 and I have confirmed that
payments were made in December 2008. You will also notice that some names have been
redacted from some of the documents. In relation to invoices numbered AZ 0449 and AZ
0387 (second redaction) the following exemption applies:
Section 35(1)(a) & (b) Law enforcement
The officers concerned are currently, or will be in the very near future, involved in sensitive,
covert roles within the force. Release of their names may compromise the investigations in
which they are involved, their safety, the safety of their colleagues and of the public. Release
of their names and the consequences of this may also prevent officers from wishing to carry
out these roles in the future, and would, or would be likely to prejudice substantially the
prevention or detection of crime and the apprehension or prosecution of offenders.
This is a non-absolute exemption and requires the application of the public interest test.
Section 39(1) Health, safety and the environment
Release of the names of officers who are in these roles would, or would be likely to, endanger
the physical or mental health or the safety of an individual. Identification of the officers
concerned could not only compromise any investigations that they are involved in, but also
their own safety and would discourage others from wishing to carry out such duties in the
future, for fear that their safety would be put at risk. If the officers are put at risk, the safety
of their colleagues would also be compromised and the effectiveness of the investigations
hindered. If this were to occur, then the safety of the public would also be put at risk.
This is a non-absolute exemption and requires the application of the public interest test.
Public Interest Test
As you can see, the above exemptions are non-absolute and require the application of the
public interest test. It could be argued that accountability for public funds would favour
disclosure. That said, the applicability of the above exemptions, the nature of the criminal
investigations that the officers are involved in, their personal interests, their safety and the
safety of others and the need for the efficient and effective conduct of the force favour
retention of this information.
In relation to invoice numbered BQ 0077, AZ 0326 and AZ 0387 (first redaction) the
following exemption applies:
Section 38(1)(b) Personal information
The information requested is exempt as it contains personal data relating to living individuals,
specifically, the names of individuals who have since ceased employment with Strathclyde
Police. The release of this information to a third party would breach the requirement to
process personal data fairly, as laid down by the first data protection principle in Schedule 1
of the Data Protection Act 1998. In this case the data was gathered for the purpose of
policing and to process it for another purpose would be unlawful.
This is an absolute exemption and does not require the application of the public interest test.
I hope this information is helpful, however, if you are not satisfied with the way in which
your request has been dealt with, you are entitled in the first instance to request a review of
the decision made by the Force. Should you wish to request such a review, please write to
Mrs Sheena Brennan, Disclosure Manager at the above address within 40 working days of
receiving this letter. Once informed of the Review Panel’s decision, if you are still not
satisfied, then you are entitled to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a
decision. Contact details are; Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn
Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS, telephone 01334 464610. I would
like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in Strathclyde Police.
Should you require any further assistance concerning this matter please contact me directly on
0141 435 1217 quoting the reference number given.
Yours sincerely
Christine Boyd
Sergeant
