Dear Mr. Sands,

SUBJECT: Freedom of Information Request

Thank you for your email of the 26^th November 2009 in which you asked for the following information from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ):

`I would like to know, for each of the last 5 years, how many prosecutions there have been where the defendant had been issued with a Penalty Notice for Disorder for an alleged offence under Section 5 of the Public Order Act and had asked to have their case heard in court, and what were the results of those prosecutions.'

Your request has been handled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

For information, the first full year of the Penalty notice for disorder scheme was 2005, prior to that it was being rolled out and is therefore not held. In addition the information for 2009 is currently being collected so is also not held.

However, I can confirm that the Department holds some of the information you are seeking, and I am pleased to inform you that the following information is already in the public domain.

The data for 2005 to 2007 have been published in Criminal Statistics. You can find the information at the Department's website free of charge at the following internet address

2007 data: http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/criminalannual.htm

2005 and 2006 http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/criminalannual2006.htm

You may wish to look specifically at volume 3 part 12.

As the information you are seeking is already available in the public domain, it is exempt from disclosure under Section 21 (Information accessible to the applicant by other means) of the FOIA.

The information for 2008 is due for publication at the end of January. As we intend to publish the information you are seeking in the near future the information is exempt from disclosure under the terms of Section 22 (Information intended for future publication) of the FOI Act. Section 22 is a qualified exemption and is therefore subject to the public interest test.

Having considered whether the information should be disclosed now, in favour of disclosure, the information would increase transparency and give clear explanations for the decisions that are made. On the other hand, there is a clear and continuing commitment to put this information into the public domain. We have therefore concluded that the public interest lies with withholding it.

As part of our obligations under the FOIA, the Ministry of Justice has an independent review process. If you are dissatisfied with this decision, you may write to request an internal review. The internal review will be carried out by someone who did not make the original decision, and they will re-assess how the Department handled the original request.

If you wish to request an internal review, please write or send an email to the Data Access and Compliance Unit within two months of the date of this letter, at the following address:

Data Access and Compliance Unit

Information Directorate

Ministry of Justice

6^th Floor, Zone B

Post point 1.41

12 Petty France

London

SW1H 9AJ

E-mail: [email address]

If you remain dissatisfied after an internal review decision, you have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner's Office under Section 50 of the FOIA. You can contact the Information Commissioner's Office at the following address:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Internet: https://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us.aspx

Yours sincerely

Rhian Williams

Data Access and Compliance Unit.