Dear Mr Mustill.

Re: Request for Information Under The Freedom of Information Act 2000

I refer to your recent correspondence dated 21^st October 2009 in which you requested the following information:-

“Dear Sir or Madam,

FOI Request.

I read with interest your response to a letter from Mark Walker (Reference No: 1705/09 ).

I noted with interest a statement made in the second to last paragraph:

`The grounds for any decision would be that being a member of the BNP is incompatible with the role of a police officer/police staff and would be regarded as gross misconduct requiring formal action.'

What you're saying is that having an affiliation or being a member of a legitimate political party would be incompatible with working for the Staffordshire Police Force?

Can you please confirm this is Staffordshire Police Policy and forward a copy of this specific policy with all supporting documentation?

Are you singling out for discrimination one political party as unsuitable for membership or is the policy of membership the same for all political parties?

Why would being a member of a political party be considered " gross misconduct "? The BNP, however unsavoury they might be, are a perfectly legitimate party and I would imagine that it would form part of anyone's European Human Rights to belong to the political party of their choice without suffering discrimination at work for it?

Do you discriminate on faith issues as well?

Are there are religious organisations that being a member of would constitute " gross misconduct "?

If a member of the Police Force/Staff was a Free Mason, would that constitute " gross misconduct "?

If a member of the Police Force/Staff was a Scientologist, would that constitute " gross misconduct "?

I'm very concerned that Staffordshire Police Force may be actively promoting and implementing a policy of discrimination based of political party membership.

Are you required to disclose political party membership and religious beliefs when working for Staffordshire Police?

If this is the case, I would be grateful for a full breakdown ( by number ) of all political party membership and religious beliefs of all Staffordshire Police Force/Staff currently working for you.

Yours faithfully,

Frank Mustill”

On behalf of Staffordshire Police I would advise you as follows:-

The conduct of members of a police force is governed by the Police Regulations which is a Statutory Instrument (similar to a law or an Act of Parliament) a copy of which is included with this letter.

In your request you quote the response given to FoI request no 1705/09, this request was specifically about the BNP and the response was given in that context. However restrictions on the private lives of members of a police force are governed by regulation 6 (on page 10) and schedule 1 (page 159) of the enclosed Police Regulations.

Regulation 6 states (in part):- “(1) The restrictions on private life contained in Schedule 1 shall apply to all members of a police force.” And Schedule 1 states (in part):- “(1) A member of a police force shall at all times abstain from any activity which is likely to interfere with the impartial discharge of his duties or which is likely to give rise to the impression amongst members of the public that it may so interfere.

(2) A member of a police force shall in particular -

(a) not take any active part in politics;

(b) not belong to any organisation specified or described in a determination of the Secretary of State.”

Note that in Schedule 1 (above) it is only forbidden for members to take an active part in politics. However, in an appendix to these regulations a number of organisations were specified as “proscribed organisations”; that is, it is forbidden for members of any police force to be members (active or not) of these organisations. These organisations are:- The British National Party, Combat 18 and the National Front.

I thank you for your interest in Staffordshire Police and hope that you are satisfied with this answer so far. However, should you be dissatisfied with the outcome of your information request, you do have the right of complaint under section 17(7) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. If you wish to appeal this decision, please inform me in writing at the below address. If you do appeal, your application and the decision will be reviewed by a Senior Decision Maker who was not involved in the original decision. Should this not resolve the matter to your satisfaction, you would then have the right to appeal to the Information Commissioner, who regulates compliance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Yours faithfully,

Steven W. Clark

Freedom of Information Officer

Information Management Team

Staffordshire Police Headquarters

Cannock Road

Stafford

ST17 0QG

E-mail: steven.clark@staffordshire.pnn.police.uk