2^nd April 2009

Dear Mr Charlesworth,

Freedom of Information Appeal - Reference A0006/2009

I considered your complaint and request for an Internal Review made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) on 1^st April 2009 in order to review the procedural process made by the Force's Freedom of Information (FOI) team.

Procedural Process

Your initial request was received by West Yorkshire Police on 9^th March 2009 with a response being sent to you on 1^st April 2009. As such this response met the timescales outlined in the legislation.

You felt that the initial response you received did not adequately answer your question, which you felt could have been replied to in a single sentence. Having reviewed the available information, I feel that the staff researching your request may have been trying to find the `absolute' response to your request which they correctly informed you they could not find as the minutes from the meetings relating to the introduction of Protective Vests had been destroyed in line with Force Policy. However, I have found what may be sufficient information from within some of the documents that they gathered to provide you with the single sentence response you were seeking. Therefore, our response is as follows:

West Yorkshire Police introduced protective vests during 1996 as standard issue to officers, the reason being to reduce the likelihood of injury.

I trust that you find that this response meets your requirement.

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