Chief Officer expenses

Dear Sir

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act), British Transport
Police have 20 working days to respond to a request for information unless
we are considering whether the information requested is covered by one of
the 'qualified exemptions' (exemptions which must be tested against the
public interest before deciding whether they apply to the information in
question).

Where we are considering the public interest test against the application
of relevant qualified exemptions, Section 17(2)(b) provides that we can
extend the 20 day deadline.

Section 17(2) provides:

2) Where-
a) in relation to any request for information, a public authority is, as
respects any information, relying on a claim-
i) that any provision of Part II which relates to the duty to confirm or
deny and is not specified in section 2(3) is relevant to the request, or
ii) that the information is exempt information only by virtue of a
provision not specified in section 2(3), and
b) at the time when the notice under subsection (1) is given to the
applicant, the public authority (or, in a case falling within section
66(3) or (4), the responsible authority) has not yet reached a decision as
to the application of subsection (1)(b) or (2)(b) of section 2, the notice
under subsection (1) must indicate that no decision as to the application
of that provision has yet been reached and must contain an estimate of the
date by which the authority expects that such a decision will have been
reached.

I am sorry to inform you that we have not been able to complete our
response to your request by the date originally stated, as we are
currently reviewing documents to establish whether 'qualified exemptions'
apply to the information you have requested in the second part of your
request. As a result we will not be able to respond within 20 working
days.  The new date by which we will reply will be 16^th March 2009.

In respect of the first part of your request `I would like to ask which of
the highest ranks in  your force has claimed the highest amount of money
under the four headings listed in your publication scheme in the last
financial year and how much was claimed.' BTP can supply the following
information; The Assistant Chief Constable Scotland claimed £37,601 in
the 2008/09 financial year.

Brian Coleman BA MSc

Information Standards Manager, Professional Standards Dept.

British Transport Police, FHQ, 25 Camden Road, London, NW1 9LN

office 020 7830 6751

mobile 0788 050
3079                                 

fax 020 7023 6953

email [email address]

www.btp.police.uk

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