Dear Ms Bickley

Freedom of Information Request

Thank you for your email of 24 October 2009 in which you asked for a more detailed breakdown of the information that we provided in our response to you dated 23 October (our reference FOI 61461). Specifically you asked:

“is it possible to break down those disciplinary cases into the following headings:

1) Fraud and deception related offences,

2) Violent offences including assault,

3) Drug related offences,

4) Sexual offences,

5) Racial, religious or homophobic offences,

6) Theft,

7) Other.”

Your request has been passed to me because I have responsibility for answering requests which relate to staff conduct and discipline matters within the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) and has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

The following table gives the breakdown that you have requested in respect of the data supplied previously. The information contained within the table below was extracted from the central discipline databases which are subject to the normal inaccuracies associated with any large scale reporting system and there may be additional cases which have not yet been reported to NOMS headquarters. The information covers the period 1 October 2006 through 30 September 2009 and only includes cases involving officers employed within the West Midlands, East Midlands and London geographical areas.

Table: Prison Officers¹ disciplined² for receipt of criminal convictions/police cautions

(Centrally held information for West Midlands, East Midlands and London areas only)

¹ This includes staff in the Officer, Senior Officer and Principle Officer grades.

² Penalties include oral, written and final written warnings, removal from the field of promotion, downgrading or a combination of the aforementioned awards. Cases resulting in dismissal from the Service have been excluded from this information.

As part of our obligations under the FOIA, the Ministry of Justice has an independent review process. If you are dissatisfied with this decision, you may write to request an internal review. The internal review will be carried out by someone who did not make the original decision, and they will re-assess how the Department handled the original request.

If you wish to request an internal review, please write or send an email to the Data Access and Compliance Unit within two months of the date of this letter, at the following address:

Data Access and Compliance Unit

Information Directorate

Ministry of Justice

6^th Floor, Zone B

Postal Point 6.25

102 Petty France

London

SW1H 9AJ

e-mail: [email address]

If you remain dissatisfied after an internal review decision, you have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner's Office under Section 50 of the FOIA. You can contact the Information Commissioner's Office at the following address:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Internet: https://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us.aspx

Yours sincerely

Tracy Phelan

NOMS HR Directorate

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