Dear Mr Low,

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION (SCOTLAND) ACT 2002

REQUEST DETAILS

I refer to your correspondence dated 20 March 2009, in which you requested the following information under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002:

1. Total expenditure on common purpose courses paid for by SPSA for the years 1997 to 2008 to date.

SPSA. Common purpose means the training organisation of that name: http://www.commonpurpose.org/home.aspx

RESPONSES

1. The Scottish Police Services Authority (SPSA) was established as a non

departmental public body (NDPB) on 1 April 2007 by the Police, Public Order and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 2006. The SPSA is not an operational police organisation but provides expert policing and support services to Scotland's eight police forces and criminal justice community. As the organisation was not in existence prior to 1 April 2007, any information relating to Common Purpose Courses before the formal establishment date is not held. This therefore represents a notice in terms of section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 that information relating to Common Purpose Courses is not held, relating to the period prior to 1 April 2007.

The total SPSA expenditure on Common Purpose Course from 1 April 2007 to present is detailed in the table below:

2. Along with this response is the associated invoice. It should be noted that the names of the two course attendees and the HR Business Partner from the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency have been redacted as they refer to living individuals who can be identified from the data. Those named in the invoice have not provided consent for their names to be disclosed and release of this information would breach the first data principle that personal data must be processed fairly. Additionally, release is not considered necessary to achieve the legitimate interests of this request and has been exempted from disclosure under Section 38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

I trust you will find this information to be in order, however if you are not satisfied with the way in which your request has been dealt with, you are entitled, in the first instance, to request a review of the decision made by SPSA. Should you wish to request such a review, please write to the Corporate Service Compliance Manager within 40 days of receiving this letter. If, after having been informed of the review panel's decision, you are still not satisfied, you are then entitled to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner for a decision. Contact details are Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS, telephone 01334 464 610.

Yours faithfully,

SPSA Compliance Department

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