Direct Communications Unit

2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF

Switchboard 020 7035 4848 Fax: 020 7035 4745 Textphone: 020 7035 4742

E-mail: [Home Office request email] Website: www.homeoffice.gov.uk

[FOI #21471 email]

Mr Ganesh Sittampalam

Reference: T18448/9 & CR 13434

Dear Mr Sittampalam,

Thank you for your e-mails dated 21^st October and 20^th November 2009, in which you requested copies of “any contracts or other agreements or documents” detailing the purpose of Home Office grants to ACPO from the last three years. Alternatively, you requested as much as we could gather in 24 hours, if the full request were to breach the cost limit.

I regret that we have been unable to send you a full response to your request within 20 working days, as required by the Freedom of Information Act. This was due to an oversight on behalf of an official during a period when our correspondence manager position was vacant, which limited our ability to monitor these requests as effectively as we would normally wish. I would like to apologise for this delay and for any inconvenience that this may cause.

Section 1(3) of the Freedom of Information Act provides that a public authority need not comply with a request for information unless any further information reasonably required to identify and locate the information is supplied. I am unclear about the exact scope of the information in which you are interested. To ensure that we provide you with the right information, please could you provide further clarification.

In particular, your request for information in its current form is too broad; as we have already indicated in answer to a previous request for information submitted by yourself, all the documentation regarding Home Office grants to ACPO over the last three years would be too onerous to produce. The form your current request is in - to release as much as we can within the cost limit - is not a valid request as we have no means of distinguishing which parts of the information you specifically wish to have sight of. Although I appreciate that you have asked for us to work our way down the list cited at the internet link you provide, Freedom of Information requests must be phrased in a way that requests specific information, not to provide as much information as we can until the cost limit is reached.

If you could resubmit your request, perhaps by naming some specific grants of which you would like to have sight of the pertinent documents, then we will be better able to assist you in your request for information. I would recommend against dividing your previous request into several smaller ones - these are likely to be collectively rejected on the same grounds as before (i.e. it would be too onerous, and dividing the request into several smaller parts does not change the fundamental nature of it). I would be happy to help you with any clarifications you may have in order to avoid your next request also being rejected.

When you provide this information we will aim to send you a full response to your request within twenty working days of its receipt. I look forward to hearing from you shortly. However please note that if I do not receive appropriate clarification of your request within three months from the date of this letter, I will consider this request to be closed.

Once again, I apologise for the delay in dealing with this request. If you have any queries about the handling of your information request in the meantime then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Mr B Collins

Police Reform Unit