BNP

Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)

Thank you for your email received yesterday in which you make a request
for information that Northumbria Police may hold.

Please be advised that for time/costing purposes this request will be
aggregated with your previous requests, our references Freedom Of
Information Act 2000 (FOIA) Request 1661/09 BNP/Personnel Data, and
Freedom Of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) Request 1714/09 BNP refers, as all
relate to the same subject area.

We are in the process of dealing with your request and expect to revert to
you shortly. A response should be provided by 31 December 2009.

Yours sincerely

Helen Robbins

Information Compliance Unit

NORTHUMBRIA POLICE PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE

The information contained in this message and any attachment(s) is
confidential and intended only for the attention of the named organisation
or individual to whom it is addressed. The message may contain
information that is covered by legal, professional or other privilege. No
mistake in transmission is intended to waive or compromise any such
privilege. This message has been sent over public networks and the sender
cannot be held responsible for its integrity.

If you are not the intended recipient be aware that any disclosure,
copying, distribution or action taken in reliance of the information
contained herein is strictly prohibited, and is contrary to the provisions
of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act, 1988 and of the Data Protection
Act, 1998.

Any views expressed are those of the sender and, unless specifically
stated, do not necessarily represent the view of Northumbria Police.

We cannot accept any liability for any loss or damage sustained as a
result of software viruses. It is your responsibility to carry out such
virus checking as is necessary.

If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by
e-mail at once and delete the message immediately.

For more information about Northumbria Police please visit our website -
[1]http://www.northumbria.police.uk

References

Visible links
1. http://www.northumbria.police.uk/

Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')

Thank you for your email dated 1 December 2009 in which you made a request
for access to certain information which may be held by Northumbria Police.

As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of
access to information held by a Public Authority (including the Police),
subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

You asked:

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?

In response:

We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I
provide a response for your attention.

No information held. Police Regulations only state that it is unlawful to
be a member of a political party, which includes the BNP, therefore only
membership is regulated.

However it should be noted that a member of the service may not commit
other discipline offences, such as discreditable conduct, dependant on the
circumstances, by taking part in any of the activities specified in your
request. As with any allegation of disciplinary offences, these would be
treat on a case-by-case basis and circumstances fully investigated it was
brought to the attention of Northumbria Police as being potentially
inappropriate.

All employees have to adhere to standards of professional behaviour and we
have supplied a link to the Northumbria Police Inappropriate Association
Policy which was introduced following the legislation and to which all
staff are expected to adhere to.

[1]http://www.northumbria.police.uk/about_u...

Staff take up employment with the police service fully aware that there
may be certain restrictions places on their private lives, these are
designed to bring about greater public confidence and are based on best
practice drawn from ACAS and represents a culture of continuous learning
and development.

Please note that further requests on this subject area may be declared
vexatious under Section 14 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and we
provide an explanation to this exemption.

Section 14 (2) Vexatious Requests - Where a public authority has
previously complied with a request for information which was made by any
person, it is not obliged to comply with a subsequent identical or
substantially similar request from that person unless a reasonable
interval has elapsed between compliance with the previous request and the
making of the current request.

However, the ***reasonable interval*** is not defined but it is suggested
that 60 working days may be a useful benchmark.

The information we have supplied to you is likely to contain intellectual
property rights of Northumbria Police. Your use of the information must
be strictly in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988
(as amended) or such other applicable legislation. In particular, you
must not re-use this information for any commercial purpose.

How to complain

If you are unhappy with our decision or do not consider that we have
handled your request properly and we are unable to resolve this issue
informally, you are entitled to make a formal complaint to us under our
complaints procedure which is attached.

If you are still unhappy after we have investigated your complaint and
reported to you the outcome, you may complain directly to the Information
Commissioner***s Office and request that they investigate to ascertain
whether we have dealt with your request in accordance with the Act.

Yours sincerely

Michael Cleugh
Data Protection and Disclosure Advisor
Direct Dial: 01661 869389

NORTHUMBRIA POLICE PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE

The information contained in this message and any attachment(s) is
confidential and intended only for the attention of the named organisation
or individual to whom it is addressed. The message may contain
information that is covered by legal, professional or other privilege. No
mistake in transmission is intended to waive or compromise any such
privilege. This message has been sent over public networks and the sender
cannot be held responsible for its integrity.

If you are not the intended recipient be aware that any disclosure,
copying, distribution or action taken in reliance of the information
contained herein is strictly prohibited, and is contrary to the provisions
of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act, 1988 and of the Data Protection
Act, 1998.

Any views expressed are those of the sender and, unless specifically
stated, do not necessarily represent the view of Northumbria Police.

We cannot accept any liability for any loss or damage sustained as a
result of software viruses. It is your responsibility to carry out such
virus checking as is necessary.

If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by
e-mail at once and delete the message immediately.

For more information about Northumbria Police please visit our website -
[2]http://www.northumbria.police.uk

References

Visible links
1. http://www.northumbria.police.uk/about_u...
2. http://www.northumbria.police.uk/