Referrals from Look Ahead under the MARAC procedure.

Caroline Airley made this Freedom of Information request to Kent Police This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

The request was partially successful.

Dear Kent Police,

This request concerns referrals under the MARAC procedure from Look Ahead who operate women's refuges in a number of Kent towns such as Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge. Information requested is as follows:

1) How many MARAC referrals have been made to Kent Police in the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 (to date)?

2) How many of these came from Tonbridge refuge specifically?

3) What are the criteria for a women's refuge making a referral to Police under MARAC?

4) Does the refuge need to obtain the explicit consent of a woman for whom such a referral is made? This would represent a breach of GDPR in the event personal information is transferred in the absence of consent.

5) Is Kent Police aware of the fact that in Tonbridge refuge, women are threatened with MARAC being used on them? That this is being used as a method of control by the manager, Yvette Hazelden? This is one of their tactics when women stand up for themselves and do not accept bullying, intimidation, and abuse from staff there.

Yours faithfully,

Caroline Airley

Freedom of Information Kent, Kent Police

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Airley,

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST 19/12/1780

 

Thank you for your request received by Kent Police on 17 December 2019. I
note you seek access, in summary, to information relating to:

 

MARAC

 

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) provides that a public
authority respond to an FOI request within 20 working days. Please be
aware that as well as experiencing very high request volumes, Kent Police
is currently in the process of transitioning to a new crime recording
database. This means that whilst we will endeavour to complete your
request as soon as possible it is likely that a response may well be
delayed, particularly where crime data is sought.

 

Your interest in Kent Police is appreciated and pending a specific
response to your request, I enclose a sheet, which summarises your rights.
Should you have any further inquiries concerning this matter, please write
or contact us via the following telephone number 01622 652610 quoting the
reference number above.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Alan Muggridge

Public Disclosure Officer

Information Security and Governance

Kent Police

This email and any other accompanying document(s) contain information from
Kent Police and/or Essex Police, which is confidential or privileged. The
information is intended to be for the exclusive use of the individual(s)
or bodies to whom it is addressed. The content, including any subsequent
replies, could be disclosable if relating to a criminal investigation or
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Conditions please go to https://www.kent.police.uk/hyg/terms-con...
or https://www.essex.police.uk/hyg/terms-co...

Freedom of Information Kent, Kent Police

Dear Ms Airley,

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REF 19/12/1780

 

Thank you for your request received by Kent Police on 17 December 2019,
concerning MARAC referrals.

 

Unfortunately your request engages the cost exemption at Section 12 FOIA.
Section 12 provides an exemption from a public authority’s obligation to
comply with a request for information where the cost of compliance is
estimated to exceed the appropriate limit. The Freedom of Information and
Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 state that
the appropriate cost limit is 18 hours in the case of the Police Service.

 

The reason for this is question 2:

2) How many of these [MARAC referrals] came from Tonbridge refuge
specifically?

 

Whilst Kent Police holds records of all MARAC referrals made to them, it
is not possible to determine by automated means the origins of the
referral. To try and determine the origins of a referral would require the
extensive manual review of each referral made to Kent Police, amounting to
thousands in a single year and is estimated to exceed the 18 working hour
limit.

 

When Section 12 is engaged, our duty under Section 16 requires that we
assist you in refining your request so as to bring it within the cost
limit. In this instance we would suggest the following refinement:

We would recommend the removal of question 2.
We will be able to provide a response within cost to the remaining
questions.

 

If you would like to proceed with the refined request please advise us and
we will log and process the new request as soon as possible. You will be
contacted with a new reference number if this is the case.

 

Should you have any further inquiries concerning this matter, please do
not hesitate to contact us. If you are dissatisfied with the way your
request has been handled please refer to the ‘your rights summary’ for
details of the next step you are able to take.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Alan Muggridge

Public Disclosure Officer

Information Security and Governance

Kent Police

 

This email and any other accompanying document(s) contain information from
Kent Police and/or Essex Police, which is confidential or privileged. The
information is intended to be for the exclusive use of the individual(s)
or bodies to whom it is addressed. The content, including any subsequent
replies, could be disclosable if relating to a criminal investigation or
civil proceedings. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that
any disclosure, copying, distribution or other use of the contents of this
information is prohibited. If you have received this email in error,
please notify us immediately by contacting the sender or telephoning Kent
Police on 01622 690690 or Essex Police on 01245 491491, as appropriate.
For further information regarding Kent Police’s or Essex Police’s use of
personal data please go to https://www.kent.police.uk/hyg/privacy/ or
https://www.essex.police.uk/hyg/privacy/. Additionally for our Terms and
Conditions please go to https://www.kent.police.uk/hyg/terms-con...
or https://www.essex.police.uk/hyg/terms-co...

Dear Freedom of Information Kent,

Thank you for your reply of 20 December 2019.

Is it possible to refine the search by identifying the body which sent the request for the MARAC procedure? In other words, can you identify requests sent by Look Ahead which operates three refuges in Kent? These are in Sevenoaks, Tunbridge Wells and Tonbridge. That would narrow down the search field.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Airley

Freedom of Information Kent, Kent Police

Dear Ms Airley,

Unfortunately your suggestion will still not be possible within the 18 working hour limit.
Referral data is not held in a manner which makes it possible to identify automatically the origin of the referral. In some instances, the address from a which a referral originates may only read 'refuge', and to determine the precise origin of a referral will require a more extensive manual review of each referral received by Kent Police. Kent Police receives more than two thousand such referrals in a twelve month period, and a manual review of this kind to identify the precise origin or address of a referral, for any time period, will vastly exceed the 18 working hour limit.

With this in mind, please advise how you wish to proceed with the request?

Yours sincerely,

Alan Muggridge
Public Disclosure Officer
Information Security and Governance
Kent Police

show quoted sections

Dear Freedom of Information Kent,

Thank you for your response dated 24 December 2019.

As you suggested previously, the only way forward is to remove item (2) of the original request. I shall be grateful if you will proceed on this basis.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Airley

Freedom of Information Kent, Kent Police

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Airley,

Thank you for the refinement agreement below, we shall proceed with the request under FOI reference 19/12/1810.
Should you have any questions in the meantime please let us know.

Yours sincerely,

Alan Muggridge
Public Disclosure Officer
Information Security and Governance
Kent Police

show quoted sections

Caroline Airley (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

Kent Police claim they cannot provide details of referrals received from Tonbridge women's refuge. Given they will hold a database of all referrals, I find it difficult to see why they cannot identify those from Tonbridge. It would be possible to select these from the database surely?

The reason for the request is that women in Tonbridge refuge are threatened with being investigated under the MARAC procedure. This is just part of the intimidation, bullying and abuse that staff subject them to there. Kent County Council are aware of the situation but choose to deny it.

Freedom of Information Kent, Kent Police

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Airley,

 

With reference to the Freedom of Information request that we received from
you on 30^th December 2019 please find attached the response letter.

Should you have any queries relating to this then please do not hesitate
to contact us.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Public Disclosure Officer

Information Security and Governance

Kent Police

 

This email and any other accompanying document(s) contain information from
Kent Police and/or Essex Police, which is confidential or privileged. The
information is intended to be for the exclusive use of the individual(s)
or bodies to whom it is addressed. The content, including any subsequent
replies, could be disclosable if relating to a criminal investigation or
civil proceedings. If you are not the intended recipient, be aware that
any disclosure, copying, distribution or other use of the contents of this
information is prohibited. If you have received this email in error,
please notify us immediately by contacting the sender or telephoning Kent
Police on 01622 690690 or Essex Police on 01245 491491, as appropriate.
For further information regarding Kent Police’s or Essex Police’s use of
personal data please go to https://www.kent.police.uk/hyg/privacy/ or
https://www.essex.police.uk/hyg/privacy/. Additionally for our Terms and
Conditions please go to https://www.kent.police.uk/hyg/terms-con...
or https://www.essex.police.uk/hyg/terms-co...

Miss Millward left an annotation ()

Interesting this link relating to Look Ahead Refuge Abuse is also linked to this other link about the same abuse by the same member of staff (project manager Yvette Hazelden) at the same refuge by author Freesia Mason https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/m...