Dear Sir or Madam,

I am seeking to gather information on the use of search warrants in
relation to TV Licensing enforcement, and would request that you
make available, for each of the last 10 years, broken down by year,
the number of search warrants obtained by the BBC or its agents to
look for television reception equipment.

If you require any clarification of this request, or any further
information about it, please let me know as soon as possible.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Yours faithfully,

Richard

Dear Mr Bowden,

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, about search warrants issued by TV Licensing,
which was received on 3 July 2008. We shall deal with your request as
promptly as possible and, at the latest, within 20 working days. If you
have any queries about your request please contact us at the address
below.

The reference number for your request is RFI20080725.

Kind regards.

The Information Policy and Compliance Team
BBC Freedom of Information
Room 2252, BBC White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS, UK

Website: www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: [BBC request email]
Tel: 020 8008 2883
Fax: 020 8008 2398

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Dear Mr Bowden

Please find attached the response to your request for information,
reference RFI20080725

<<RFI20080725 - final response.pdf>>

Yours sincerely
Rachel Hallett

BBC Information Policy and Compliance
Room 2252, White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS, UK

Website: www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: mailto:[BBC request email]
Tel: 020 8008 2883
Fax: 020 8008 2398

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Dear Rachel,

Ref: RFI20080725

Thank you for this response. I am disappointed that the BBC has
chosen not to supply the information requested, and would request
an internal review of the decision.

It is a fundamental principle of British law that it is not enough
for justice to be done - it must also be seen to be done. Search
warrants are official Court documents and, save for exceptional
circumstances, information relating to their use should not be
treated as secret.

Furthermore, even if it were accepted that this information should
remain secret (which I dispute), I can see no reason why the
claimed prejudice would not reduce significantly over time.
Information relating to ten, five, or even three, years ago, would
provide substantially less risk of prejudicing "the prevention or
detection of crime, the apprehension or prosecution of offenders,
the collection of the licence fee and the BBC’s ability to
discharge its public functions in respect of such matters", but I
can see no evidence in your response that such a test was even
considered.

Without any implication that I accept that the tests used in
relation to the public interest in disclosure to be in any way
complete or definitive, I would also comment on the particular
responses to them:

Your first argument here does not hold. The public can, at most, be
assured that each specific search warrant obtained was deemed
acceptable by the individual magistrate or sheriff. The bigger
question of whether the wider policy of obtaintaining search
warrants is appropriate and proportional cannot be discerned from
looking at individual requests, but only from the pattern of
requests as a whole. Providing information on the number of
warrants obtained is one small piece of that.

Your remaining three arguments appear mostly irrelevant as the
focus of my request is solely on the number of search warrants
obtained, not on any subsequent prosecution, or the wider questions
of value for money.

I trust that these points will be considered during the internal
review, and look forward to hearing the outcome of that in due
time.

Can you please acknowledge receipt of this email and provide an
estimated timeframe for the review?

Yours,

Richard

Dear Mr Bowden,
We have received your request for an internal review relating to your
request for information about TV licensing search warrants. Your request
for an internal review was received on 30th July. We shall deal with the
review as promptly as possible and, at the latest, within 30 working
days. If you have any queries please contact us at the address below.
The reference number for your internal review is IR2008029.

Yours sincerely

BBC Information Policy and Compliance team
Room 2252, 2nd Floor, White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS, UK

Website: www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: mailto:[BBC request email]
Tel: 020 8008 2883
Fax: 020 8008 2398

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Dear Mr Bowden,

Please see attached the outcome of your request for an Internal Review.

<<IR2008029 - final decision.pdf>>
I would like to remind you that if you are not satisfied with the
internal review, you can appeal to the Information Commissioner. The
contact details are: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, telephone 01625 545 700 or see
http://www.ico.gov.uk/

Yours sincerely
Louise Wright

BBC Information Policy and Compliance
Room 2252, 2nd Floor, White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS, UK

Website: www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: mailto:[BBC request email]
Tel: 020 8008 2883
Fax: 020 8008 2398

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