6^th January 2010

Dear Mr Walker,

Freedom of Information Appeal - Reference A0019/2009

You made a request for an Internal Review under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) on 1^st December 2009. Your request indicated that you felt that the Force had not responded to your request within the 20 working day deadline, and that the Force had not informed you of their intent to extend the deadline should they have been considering a qualified extension.

Procedural Process

Your initial request was received by West Yorkshire Police on 3^rd November 2009. You state that you sent your request to the Force on 6^th October 2009, but we have no record of receiving any request from you on that date, hence the Freedom of Information (FOI) team quite correctly worked to the date of 3^rd November 2009. However, you should have received a response from the Force by the 1^st December 2009 and on checking the Force's records it appears that you did not. However, they did send you a letter (dated 30^th November 2009) asking if you still wanted the information you'd requested and asking that you respond to the letter within the next 20 working days. The only message the team received from you was your request for an Internal Review dated 1^st December 2009.

Decision Process

Whilst the letter you received from the FOI Team does not constitute a request by the Force to extend the 20 working day deadline under Section 10(3) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, it was an attempt by the Force to tell you that they were quite willing to continue searching for the information you'd requested should you still require it. There have been a number of instances where the Force has found that even when responding within the 20 working day period, requesters have mentioned that they no longer need the information they sought. Therefore, we now have a policy whereby we make contact with the requester, particularly as the Force is receiving such a high number of requests, not only to ask if they still want the information, but also to assure them that we are doing our best to provide the answers. Whilst you did not respond to this letter with your view on whether you still wanted this information, I would have expected that the FOI Team to follow up your request for an internal review with a further e-mail asking if you still wanted this information. However, the FOI Team do have responses the various questions that you've asked and they are as follows:

1. Prior to 1st January 2005 had any members of your Police Force, been disciplined in connection with membership of:-

a) the British National Party;

b) Combat 18; or

c) the National Front

Please provide details of how many and the outcomes of such disciplinary procedures if any.

Answer: Prior to 2005 (back to 1992 when our cases were recorded on our computer system) no members of West Yorkshire Police were disciplined in connection with membership of the BNP, Combat 18 or the National Front.

2. After 1st January 2005 have any members of your Police Force been disciplined in connection with membership of:-

a) the British National Party;

b) Combat 18; or

c) the National Front

Please provide details of how many and the outcomes of such disciplinary procedures if any.

Answer: After 2005, we have had no cases relating to alleged links with the BNP.

3. After 1st January 2005 did you review the Human Rights implications of the restriction? Please supply minutes and other documentation relating to such a review.

Answer: West Yorkshire Police did not undertake any review following the 2005 amendment as it did not change anything from what was already in place under previous regulations.

4. The restriction relates to membership. Do you consider that there is any restriction on a member of your Police Force:-

a) donating to the British National Party

b) subscribing to a British National Party publication

c) purchasing goods from the British National Party

d) signing a petition in favour of the British National Party

e) signing a nomination form for a British National Party candidate

Answer: The 2003 regulations as amended in 2007 state that:

`A member of the Police Force shall at all times abstain from any activity which s 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. A member shall in particular no take part in politics. Therefore, this directive may place a restriction on a member who does any of the following dependent upon the circumstances:

I conclude that there has been some misunderstanding on behalf of both parties in answering this request. The FOI Team did try to keep you informed with regard to the progress of your request but it would appear that you failed to respond to their request. However, they should have followed this up once you'd submitted your request fro an Internal Review with a further letter in order to clarify whether you still wanted this information.

If you are not satisfied with this response and wish to take this appeal further you will need to contact the Information Commissioner's Office, quoting this Appeal Reference, the reason for your appeal and the fact that you've already been through the first stage of the Appeals process. The address of the Information Commissioner's Office is as follows:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545 745

Fax: 01625 524 510

Yours sincerely,

Steven Harding

Head of Information Management