William Old

[email address]

18 February 2010

Dear William Old

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION - Internal Review

I refer to your e-mail dated 16 January 2010 in which you requested an internal review be undertaken relating to your request which was received by the constabulary on 13 November 2009 (reference number FOI 542/09). Your reasons for the request for the internal review are outlined below.

I am writing to request an internal review of Cumbria Constabulary's handling of my FOI request 'Unlawful cessation of payment of CRTP to officers'.

You have comprehensively failed to discharge your legal responsibilities under the Act, which is wholly unacceptable for a Home Office police force.

Your original request for information is outlined below

(1) whether or not your force complies with Home Office Circular 18/2008 and Police Regulations and Determinations as described above, by continuing to pay CRTP to a member who, having been awarded CRTP, is in receipt of temporary salary (NB - "acting up", NOT temporarily promoted to a higher rank under Regulation 27(b) and Annex "J").

If you do not so comply:

(2) please advise by what legal authority your force ceases making such payments; and

(3) please advise what action you take when an inspector, on pay point 3 (top rate) and in receipt of CRTP, is required to perform the duties of a chief inspector, whose pay is less than that of such an officer. NB - the exception set out in paragraph 9 of Part 9 of Annex "F" *DOES NOT APPLY* to temporary salary - it applies only to temporary promotion under Regulation 27(b).

First of all, I apologise for any inconvenience that may have been caused to you through the delay in the release of the original information. It was understood that an e mail had been sent to you on 10 December 2009 which included an attachment detailing the response to your request for information. Unfortunately, there was an error in the e mail address field and a `-` was omitted. This resulted in the information not reaching you within the statutory guidelines. Once this error was realised, you were promptly supplied with the original response.

Secondly, I have now carried out an internal review of the information that was released to you. I conclude that the information released to you remains unchanged. I can confirm Cumbria Constabulary does continue to pay CRTP to officers acting into a higher role.

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

I would like to take this opportunity to advise you of your further right of complaint, to the Information Commissioner, if you remain dissatisfied with how your request has been dealt with.

For information on how to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office please visit the website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk . Alternatively, phone or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, Telephone: 01625 545 700

Yours sincerely

Terry Bathgate

Chief Inspector

Freedom of Information
Email [email address]
Tel: 01768 217133

Fax: 01768 217638

My Reference FOI 542/09 IR
Your Reference

Chief Constable
Craig Mackey

Police Headquarters
Carleton Hall
Penrith, Cumbria
CA10 2AU

www.cumbria.police.uk