Legal advice ....

Martin McGartland made this Freedom of Information request to Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was refused by Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner.

Martin McGartland

Martin McGartland

12 June 2014

Dear Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner,

Under FOIA 2000 please supply me with all recorded information you hold, that which has been generated as a result of the following request;
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/n...

Please supply the information to cover the dates between when the above request was made and up uutil todays date (12 June 2014).

Al well as the above please supply following information;

1. Was any type of legal advice, external or internal, sought or received concerning the above request.

2. If yes to 1 above please supply full details.

3. Regards 1 and 2 above. Please supply full details of cost/s of any legal advice.

Yours faithfully,

Martin McGartland

Enquiries, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner

Dear Mr McGartland,

Subject: Freedom of Information Acknowledgement – Reference 641314

I refer to the request, which you have made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for records held by this office.

Your request dated 12 June 2014 was received by this department on 13 June 2014.

A final decision on your request would normally be sent to you within 20 working days of receipt of your request. This means that you can expect to receive your decision by 11 July 2014.

There are some limited situations under the Freedom of Information Act, which could mean that the period for a final decision may be longer than the normal 20 working days. If this occurs in your request, we will promptly advise you in writing.

Should our final decision not reach you on time, please feel free to call the contact officer named to discuss any problems that may have arisen.

If you have not heard from us once the allotted time has expired, you are automatically entitled to appeal to this department for a review of the matter. This review is a full and new examination of the matter, and is carried out by a more senior member of staff of this office.

In the event that you need to make such an appeal, you can do so by writing to Kevin Payne of this department at the details given below. You should state that you are appealing because an initial decision was not sent to you within the time permitted. In that event, you would normally have 40 days (after the original decision should have been sent to you) in which time to make the appeal.

Yours sincerely.

Kevin

Kevin Payne
Business Administration Apprentice
Office of Mrs Vera Baird QC
Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria

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Enquiries, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner

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Dear Mr McGartland,

 

Subject: Freedom of Information Request - Reference 641314

 

I refer to the request, which you have made under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 for records held by this office.

Your request was received by this department on 13th June 2014.

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 and
Crime Commissioner), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

You asked:
"Under FOIA 2000 please supply me with all recorded information you hold,
that which has been generated as a result of the following request;
[4]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/n...

Please supply the information to cover the dates between when the above
request was made and up until todays date (12 June 2014).

Al well as the above please supply following information;

1.  Was any type of legal advice, external or internal, sought or received
concerning the above request.

2. If yes to 1 above please supply full details.

3.  Regards 1 and 2 above. Please supply full details of cost/s of any
legal advice."

In response:

Section 14(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) states that
a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request if it is
considered vexatious.  There is no definition of ‘vexatious’ within the
Act but it is to be given its ordinary meaning.  The aim of this provision
is to reduce the burden of compliance with requests that are unreasonable
or aimed to cause annoyance, harassment or disruption and to prevent abuse
of the right to know.

Between the 9th January 2014 and the 13th June 2014, you submitted 9
requests to this office for information about a variety of subjects.  The
Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria is a small
public authority and your requests attribute to 36% of the total number of
requests received into this office.

I have considered the guidance provided by the Information Commissioner (a
link to which is below) and have further considered the guidance in the
Upper-Tier Tribunal decision (Information Commissioner vs Devon County
Council & Dransfield (2012) UKUT 440 (AAC), (28 January 2014)) (again a
link is provided below) and I am of the view that your requests are
similar in nature to those dealt with by this case.  In particular, I have
taken account of the number of requests, the variety of subjects, the
context in which requests have been submitted and the background to your
requests.

It is my view that this request is vexatious and I am refusing your
request under section 14 (1) Freedom of Information Act 2000.

[5]http://ico.org.uk/news/blog/2013/~/media...

[6]http://www.osscsc.gov.uk/judgmentfiles/j...

You may be interested to know that Northumbria Police and Crime
Commissioner routinely publish information via the Disclosure Log. The aim
of the Disclosure Log is to promote openness and transparency by
voluntarily placing information into the public arena.

The Disclosure Log contains copies of some of the information that has
been disclosed by Northumbria Police & Crime Commissioner in response to
requests made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The Disclosure Log will be updated quarterly.

I have provided the relevant link below.

[7]http://www.northumbria-pcc.gov.uk/transp...

The information we have supplied to you is likely to contain intellectual
property rights of Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner. 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 I have 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.

 

Kevin

 

Kevin Payne

Business Administration Apprentice

Office of Mrs Vera Baird QC

Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria

 

 

References

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4. https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/n...
5. http://ico.org.uk/news/blog/2013/~/media...
6. http://www.osscsc.gov.uk/judgmentfiles/j...
7. http://www.northumbria-pcc.gov.uk/transp...

Martin McGartland

Martin McGartland

20 July 2014

Dear Enquiries,
‘vexatious’ ? It is very clear that Vera 'Turn a blind-eye' Baird is colluding with Northumbria police information department. It is clear to me that Vera Baird has got something to hide. She is aware that there are very good reasons, grounds for asking for the above recorded information. Vera Baird can bluff, huff and puff all she likes, however, she needs to be accountable to the public in her role as a public servant. It can now be seen that she is using and abusing the FOIA to conceal and cover-up non-exempt recorded information by falsely claiming that my request is ‘vexatious’.

Yours sincerely,

Martin McGartland