BNP

Mr M. Walker

[FOI #24101 email]

2^nd December 2009

Dear Mr Walker,

Freedom of Information Request - Reference No: 20090618

Thank you for your request for information in relation to:

Please provide the following information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

There are restrictions placed on those working in the Police Force
regarding membership of the British National Party. Does your force
have any restrictions 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?

Your request will now be considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act, subject
to the information not being exempt or containing a reference to a third
party. In some circumstances South Yorkshire Police may be unable to
achieve this deadline. If this is likely you will be informed and given a
revised time-scale at the earliest opportunity

There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of
the information you request. If this is the case you will be informed and
the 20 working day timescale will be suspended until we receive payment
from you. If you choose not to make a payment then your request will
remain unanswered.

Some requests may also require either full or partial transference to
another public authority in order to answer your query in the fullest
possible way. Again, you will be informed if this is the case.

Please Note *** Responses are published on South Yorkshire Police
disclosure log, which can be found at the following link:
http://www.southyorks.police.uk/foi/disc...

If you have any enquiries please contact the Information Compliance Unit
on the numbers below.

Yours faithfully,

Philip Crick
Information Compliance Clerk
South Yorkshire Police
Information Compliance Unit
Professional Standards Department
Unit 20 Sheffield 35A Business Park
Churchill Way
Sheffield
S35
South Yorkshire Police provides you the right to request a re-examination
of your case under its review procedure (copy enclosed). If you decide to
request such a review and having followed the Constabulary***s full
process you are still dissatisfied, then you have the right to direct your
comments to Information Commissioner who will give it consideration.

Mark Walker To FOI requests at South
<[FOI #24101 email]> Yorkshire Police
<[South Yorkshire Police request email]>
01/12/2009 15:51 cc
Subject Freedom of Information
request - BNP

Dear Sirs

Please provide the following information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

There are restrictions placed on those working in the Police Force
regarding membership of the British National Party. Does your force
have any restrictions 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?

Yours Sincerely

Mark Walker
Solidarity Trades Union
www.solidaritytradeunion.org

show quoted sections

2^nd December 2009

Mr M. Walker

[FOI #24101 email]

Dear Mr Walker,

Freedom of Information Request - Reference No: 20090618

Thank you for your request in relation to.

REQUEST

“ There are restrictions placed on those working in the Police Force
regarding membership of the British National Party. Does your force
have any restrictions 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?”

RESPONSE

Your request for information has now been considered and I am not able to
supply the information you have requested.

Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires South Yorkshire
Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information
is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:

a. states that fact,
b. specifies the exemption in question and
c. states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption
applies.

By virtue of Section 2(3) of the Freedom of Information Act, 2000 the
exemption applicable to the information is “absolute” in that it falls
under section 21. This states ‘Information which is reasonably
accessible to the applicant otherwise than under section 1 is exempt
information’.

In relation to your request, the only information held by South Yorkshire
Police is contained within the Policy on ‘Membership of Unacceptable
Organisations’, which is published on the Force website and freely
available at: -

[1]http://www.southyorkshire.police.uk/foi/...

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been
handled, you can request a review by following the advice contained in the
separate notice attached to this correspondence:

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint,
you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at:
The Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
Telephone: 08456 306060 or 01625 545745
Website: www.ico.gov.uk
There is no charge for making an appeal.

Yours sincerely

Philip Crick
Information Compliance Clerk
South Yorkshire Police
Information Compliance Unit
Professional Standards Department
Unit 20 Sheffield 35A Business Park
Churchill Way
Sheffield
S35 2PY

Email - [South Yorkshire Police request email]

Please note that police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely
required to provide information and statistics to government bodies and
the recording criteria is set nationally. However, the systems used for
recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used
locally in capturing the data. It should be noted that for these reasons
this forces response to your questions should not be used for the
comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.

South Yorkshire Police provides you the right to request a re-examination
of your case under its review procedure (copy enclosed). If you decide to
request such a review and having followed the Constabulary’s full
process you are still dissatisfied, then you have the right to direct your
comments to the Information Commissioner who will give it consideration.

The South Yorkshire Police in complying with their statutory duty under
sections 1 and 11 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to release the
enclosed information will not breach the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988. However, the rights of the copyright owner of the enclosed
information will continue to be protected by law. Applications for the
copyright owner’s written permission to reproduce any part of the
attached information should be addressed to The Force Solicitor, South
Yorkshire Police, Police Headquarters, Snig Hill, Sheffield, S3 8LY.

Mark Walker To FOI requests at South
<[FOI #24101 email]> Yorkshire Police
<[South Yorkshire Police request email]>
01/12/2009 15:51 cc
Subject Freedom of Information
request - BNP

Dear Sirs

Please provide the following information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

There are restrictions placed on those working in the Police Force
regarding membership of the British National Party. Does your force
have any restrictions 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?

Yours Sincerely

Mark Walker
Solidarity Trades Union
www.solidaritytradeunion.org

show quoted sections

3^rd December 2009

Mr M. Walker

[FOI #24101 email]

Dear Mr Walker,

Freedom of Information Request - Reference No: 20090618
Thank you for your recent correspondence in relation to the above Freedom
of Information request. I am writing to acknowledge receipt of your
e-mail requesting that South Yorkshire Police review its response to your
request for information which we received in our unit on 2^nd December
2009.

The review will be conducted in accordance with South Yorkshire Police’s
review procedure. The date of the Review has yet to be arranged but you
will be advised of this as soon as possible

The Appeals Panel will contact you in due course with the result of their
findings.

Yours sincerely

Philip Crick
Information Compliance Clerk
South Yorkshire Police
Information Compliance Unit
Professional Standards Department
Unit 20 Sheffield 35A Business Park
Churchill Way
Sheffield
S35 2PY

Email - [1][South Yorkshire Police request email]

Mark Walker To [email address]
<[FOI #24101 email]> cc
Subject Re: Freedom of Information
02/12/2009 22:54 request - BNP

Dear Philip Crick

Freedom of Information Request - Reference No: 20090618

Thank you for your response of 2 December, 2009. I would like to
request a re-examination of my case under your review procedure.
You refer me to a policy document which you state provides the
information which I have requested and claim exemption on that
basis. What I take to be the relevant section (as you do not refer
to it specifically) states:-

"For the purposes of this policy, unacceptable organisations
include: the British National Party, Combat 18 and the National
Front. Active membership could involve activities such as: the
participation in leaflet drops, meetings, fund raising and speaking
on behalf of or writing articles for the said organisation. These
activities remain unacceptable, regardless of whether or not an
individual is a formal member of the stated organisations. These
activities are not exhaustive."

Only part a of my question appears to be addressed by this policy.
This relates to part a. Other parts of my question don't seem to be
addressed. These are:-

"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?"

The exemption claimed does not apply to these other parts as the
information is not available. I think that it is both reasonable
and legitimate to ask you to answer the other parts which are not
addressed. The statement in the last part of the section of policy
quoted above implies that you consider that other activities might
be covered. I have put to you specific examples of activities and
asked you if the restrictions apply. If you have a policy
restricting freedom of association and expression our Union would
like to understand the exact nature of it before proceeding
further.

Yours sincerely

Mark Walker
Solidarity Trade Union
www.solidaritytradeunion.org

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Walker,

Further to our recent correspondence concerning your request for an
internal review of a decision to exempt information under the
above-mentioned reference number.

I write to inform you that the date of review has been set for 9:00am on
Thursday 10th December 2009.

The review panel will consist of the Head of Professional Standards, Chief
Superintendent Varey, The Force Solicitor, Dr Theresa Searl and the Force
Records Manager, Nicola Hardy.

You will be informed of the panel's decision as soon as possible.

Philip Crick
Information Compliance Clerk
South Yorkshire Police
Information Compliance Unit
Professional Standards Department
Unit 20 Sheffield 35A Business Park
Churchill Way
Sheffield
S35 2PY

Email - [South Yorkshire Police request email]

Citizen Focus: Improving Satisfaction and Confidence is a Priority for the
Force

CITIZEN FOCUS: Our commitment is to understand what the public want – so
that we deliver what they need.

show quoted sections

Mr Walker

Correspondence regarding your FOI appeal

(See attached file: APPEAL M WALKER 20090618.doc)

Jane Soulsby
Secretary
Professional Standards Department
711874
(0114 292 1874)

Citizen Focus: Improving Satisfaction and Confidence is a Priority for the
Force

(See attached file: SKMBT_C45109121508550.pdf)

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