Information Access Team
Information Management Service
Financial & Commercial Group
2 Marsham Street, London, SW1P 4DF
Switchboard 020 7035 4848
E-mail: [email address] Website: www.homeoffice.gov.uk
‘HMP Britain’
[FOI #18561 email]
17th February 2009
Dear ‘HMP Britain’,
Freedom of Information request Internal Review
I am writing further to my e-mail of the 11th January 2010 in regards to your request
for an internal review of our response to your Freedom of Information (FoI) request
for the release of unpublished Taser statistics.
I have now completed the review and have examined all aspects of this request,
including the information that was originally withheld from you. I have considered
whether the correct procedures were followed and assessed the reasons why
information was originally withheld from you under section 21(1) of the FoI Act. I can
confirm that I was not involved in the initial handling of your request.
My findings are set out in the attached report. My main conclusion is that the
original response from the Public Order Unit on the 15th October 2009, whilst helpful
in identifying existing published statistics, did not fully address your request for the
release of the unpublished raw data that is col ected regarding each use of Taser.
As part of this review, I have reconsidered your request for the release of the
unpublished data and I can confirm that the Home Office Scientific Development
Branch (HOSDB) maintains a database that contains the raw data you have
requested. As I have explained in the attached report, I have decided that we are
unable to release this raw data as it would exceed the cost limit of s12(1) of the Act.
Despite this, HOSDB wil be happy to discuss what custom reports you would like us
to run so that additional figures can be released into the public domain. The Home
Office recognises that there is extensive public interest in the police use of Taser
and that figures regarding its use are made available.
This completes the internal review process by the Home Office. If you remain
dissatisfied with the response to your FoI request, you have the right of complaint to
the Information Commissioner at the following address:
The Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
May I take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in the Home Office and for
your patience in this matter. I hope our handling of your request has not caused you
any undue inconvenience and I look forward to hearing from you in due course.
Yours sincerely,
Ian Lister
Information Access Consultant
Information Access Team
