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John Anderson made this Freedom of Information request to National Policing Improvement Agency
National Policing Improvement Agency did not have the information requested.
From: John Anderson
24 February 2010
Dear National Policing Improvement Agency,
Under the FOI act, I wish to know how many times the U.S.A State or
Federal authorities for example the USA Homeland security or
Immigration have request an additional PNC check regarding any UK
citizens when travelling to the USA on holiday, ie, when a UK
citizen has been stopped at any USA border of entry.
Could this be form 1st of January 2005 till 1st November 2009 or if
the costs prohibit for as many years as costs allow.
Yours faithfully,
John Anderson
From: NPIA FOI Team
National Policing Improvement Agency
25 February 2010
Dear Mr Anderson
Thank you for your recent request for information, about PNC requests by U.S.A authorities, dated 24th February 2010.
Your request was received on 24th February 2010 and I am dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
We have logged your request which is receiving our attention. Your request reference number is 47099.
Please quote this reference number in any further correspondence or call relating to this enquiry.
Further information about the NPIA is routinely published on our website at www.npia.police.uk or through our publication scheme. If you require any
further assistance in connection with this request please contact us at our address below.
Regards
NPIA FOI TEAM
National Policing Improvement Agency
Email: [NPIA request email]
Website: www.npia.police.uk
show quoted sections
From: NPIA FOI Team
National Policing Improvement Agency
16 March 2010
Dear Mr Anderson
Please find attached the NPIA's response to your request.
Regards
NPIA FOI TEAM
National Policing Improvement Agency
Email: [NPIA request email]
Website: www.npia.police.uk
Your right to complain
We take our responsibilities under the Freedom of Information Act seriously but, if you feel your request has not been properly handled or you are otherwise dissatisfied with the outcome of your request, you have the right to complain. We will investigate the matter and endeavour to reply within 3 – 6 weeks. You should write to:
David Horne
Director of Resources
National Policing Improvement Agency
10-18 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0NN
E-mail: [email address]
If you are still dissatisfied following our internal review, you have the right, under section 50 of the Act, to complain directly to the Information Commissioner. Before considering your complaint, the Information Commissioner would normally expect you to have exhausted the complaints procedures provided by the NPIA. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
FOI Compliance Team (complaints)
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Further information about the NPIA is routinely published on our website at www.npia.police.uk or through our publication scheme. If you require any further assistance in connection with this request please contact us at our address above.
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Phil Nidan left an annotation (15 January 2012)
As the former PNC FOI Officer (now retired), who helped draft the response I make the following observations:
1. The question is indeed clear but it does not follow that a the information requested exists in a recorded form. It does not.
2. NPIA is responsible for maintaining the PNC systems for UK police forces but does NOT own the records and is NOT responsible for their content, this being the Chief Constables of individual police forces.
3. NPIA does not perform checks upon these records on behalf of agencies which do not have access. If a USA agency requested information from the PNC it would not be made to or performed by NPIA.
4. USA agencies do not have a direct access to PNC nor are they provided with database downloads.
5. All PNC transactions are recorded and retained for a period of time. As stated in the original response every PNC access has a mandatory reason field to hold a brief explanation of why the access was performed. Should someone with legitimate access perform an access on behalf of someone else they would need to make an entry in the reason field, but it would not be possible to say what text they may use.
6. This reason field is free format and no software exists to search for text strings within it. This is because NPIA does not have a business need to do this and PNC customers have not requested such a facility.
7. To fulfill this request special software would need to be written, tested and run, the cost of which would greatly exceed the cost specified in the FOI legislation. Furthermore, valuable resources would be diverted from the schedule of work agreed with PNC customers.
8. Even if such software was produced it would be impossible to know what text to search on. See point 5.
9. Even if points 7 and 8 were not issues, searching for text would require a sequential read of all accesses performed - a large undertaking and very resource intensive.
Hopefully it is clear that NPIA is not 'hiding' behind the cost, or indeed anything else and to suggest otherwise is rather foolish.
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James Newman left an annotation (13 January 2012)
Seems like the only way to understand their response is that they do give pnc details to the US and may also give them the entire database too. This would explain the cost excuse for not being able to give you an answer.
Shame the police are chossing to hide behind cost with simple questions yet don't think twice about cost when placing under cover police officers to follow and monitor political protestors or other wasteful tasks.
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