Alternative shift pattern

The request was refused by Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).

Dear Metropolitan Police Service (MPS),

Please could you tell me how many people from Hendon CCC
currently work an alternative shift
pattern for childcare needs.

Yours faithfully,

Mary Evans

Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)

Dear Ms Evans

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2014010002953
I write in connection with your request for information  which was
received by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 28/01/2014.  I note
you seek access to the following information:

* Please could you tell me how many people from Hendon CCC currently
work an alternative shift pattern for childcare needs.

"Your request will now be considered in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (the Act).  You will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act,
subject to the information not being exempt or containing a reference
to a third party.  In some circumstances the MPS may be unable to
achieve this deadline.  If this is likely you will be informed and
given a revised time-scale at the earliest opportunity."

Some requests may also require either full or partial transference to
another public authority in order to answer your query in the fullest
possible way. Again, you will be informed if this is the case.

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Your attention is drawn to the attached sheet, which details your
right of complaint.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please
contact me at the above address or my colleagues at [email address]
quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

S Bhaskaran
Customer Services Administration Team
COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Are you unhappy with how your request has been handled or do you think
the decision is incorrect?

You have the right to require the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to
review their decision.

Prior to lodging a formal complaint you are welcome to discuss the
response with the case officer who dealt with your request.  

Complaint

If you are dissatisfied with the handling procedures or the decision
of the MPS made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act)
regarding access to information you can lodge a complaint with the MPS
to have the decision reviewed.

Complaints should be made in writing, within forty (40) working days
from the date of the refusal notice, and addressed to:

FOI Complaint
Public Access Office
PO Box 57192
London
SW6 1SF
[email address]

In all possible circumstances the MPS will aim to respond to your
complaint within 20 working days.
The Information Commissioner

After lodging a complaint with the MPS if you are still dissatisfied
with the decision you may make application to the Information
Commissioner for a decision on whether the request for information has
been dealt with in accordance with the requirements of the Act.

For information on how to make application to the Information
Commissioner please visit their website at
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.  Alternatively, phone or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone:  01625 545 700

Total Policing is the Met's commitment to be on the streets and in your
communities to catch offenders, prevent crime and support victims. We are
here for London, working with you to make our capital safer.

 

Consider our environment - please do not print this email unless
absolutely necessary.

NOTICE - This email and any attachments may be confidential, subject to
copyright and/or legal privilege and are intended solely for the use of
the intended recipient. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender and delete it from your system.  To avoid incurring
legal liabilities, you must not distribute or copy the information in this
email without the permission of the sender. MPS communication systems are
monitored to the extent permitted by law.  Consequently, any email and/or
attachments may be read by monitoring staff. Only specified personnel are
authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of the MPS by
email. The MPS accepts no responsibility for unauthorised agreements
reached with other employees or agents.  The security of this email and
any attachments cannot be guaranteed. Email messages are routinely scanned
but malicious software infection and corruption of content can still occur
during transmission over the Internet. Any views or opinions expressed in
this communication are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
represent those of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).

 

Find us at:

Facebook: Facebook.com/metpoliceuk

Twitter: @metpoliceuk

Dear Metropolitan Police Service (MPS),

By law, the authority should normally have responded promptly and by 25 February 2014

Yours faithfully,

Mary Evans

Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)

Dear Ms Evans

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2014020002565

I write in connection with your request for a review of the original MPS
decision relating to 2014010002953 which was received by the Metropolitan
Police Service (MPS) on 26/02/2014.  

Your request for a review will now be considered in accordance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act).  You will receive a response to
your request for a review of the original MPS case within a timescale of
20 working days.  In some circumstances the MPS may be unable to achieve
this deadline.  If this is likely you will be informed and given a revised
time-scale at the earliest opportunity.

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Your attention is drawn to the attached sheet, which details your right of
complaint.

Yours sincerely

S Bhaskaran
Customer Services Administration Team
COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Are you unhappy with how your request has been handled or do you think the
decision is incorrect?

You have the right to require the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to
review their decision.

Prior to lodging a formal complaint you are welcome to discuss the
response with the case officer who dealt with your request.  

Complaint

If you are dissatisfied with the handling procedures or the decision of
the MPS made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) regarding
access to information you can lodge a complaint with the MPS to have the
decision reviewed.

Complaints should be made in writing, within forty (40) working days from
the date of the refusal notice, and addressed to:

FOI Complaint
Public Access Office
PO Box 57192
London
SW6 1SF
[email address]

In all possible circumstances the MPS will aim to respond to your
complaint within 20 working days.
The Information Commissioner

After lodging a complaint with the MPS if you are still dissatisfied with
the decision you may make application to the Information Commissioner for
a decision on whether the request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act.

For information on how to make application to the Information Commissioner
please visit their website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
 Alternatively, phone or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone:  01625 545 700

Total Policing is the Met's commitment to be on the streets and in your
communities to catch offenders, prevent crime and support victims. We are
here for London, working with you to make our capital safer.

 

Consider our environment - please do not print this email unless
absolutely necessary.

NOTICE - This email and any attachments may be confidential, subject to
copyright and/or legal privilege and are intended solely for the use of
the intended recipient. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender and delete it from your system.  To avoid incurring
legal liabilities, you must not distribute or copy the information in this
email without the permission of the sender. MPS communication systems are
monitored to the extent permitted by law.  Consequently, any email and/or
attachments may be read by monitoring staff. Only specified personnel are
authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of the MPS by
email. The MPS accepts no responsibility for unauthorised agreements
reached with other employees or agents.  The security of this email and
any attachments cannot be guaranteed. Email messages are routinely scanned
but malicious software infection and corruption of content can still occur
during transmission over the Internet. Any views or opinions expressed in
this communication are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
represent those of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).

 

Find us at:

Facebook: Facebook.com/metpoliceuk
Twitter: @metpoliceuk

Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)

Dear Ms Evans

Freedom of Information Internal Review Reference No: 2014020002565

I write in connection with your correspondence dated 26/02/2014 which has
been logged as an internal review in relation to your request for
information (ref: 2014010002953).  The request was as follows:

Please could you tell me how many people from Hendon CCC currently work an
alternative shift pattern for childcare needs.

DECISION

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has determined that procedural
errors were made in relation to your request.  Specifically, in relation
to section 10 (time compliance) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

REASON FOR DECISION        

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 states:

‘(1) Any person making a request for information to a public authority is
entitled—
(a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds
information of the description specified in the request, and
(b) if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him.’

Section 10(1) of the Act states:

‘Subject to subsections (2) and (3), a public authority must comply with
section 1(1) promptly and in any event not later than the twentieth
working day following the date of receipt.’

Section 10(3) exempts a public authority from the need to provide the
information requested ‘until such time as is reasonable in the
circumstances’ if, and to the extent that, section 1(1) would not apply
due to the application of one or more of the qualified exemptions listed
in part II of the Act.  Qualified exemptions are subject to a public
interest test.

However, it would still be necessary to provide a section 17(1) refusal
notice within 20 working days stating that the information may be exempt
and specifying the relevant exemption(s).

Your initial request for information was received by the MPS on
18/01/2014.

In the circumstances of your case, neither the information requested nor a
refusal notice was provided to you within 20 working days.  Therefore, the
MPS have not complied with the requirements of section 10 of the Act.

I understand that a response to your request was sent to you today (i.e.
03/03/2014).

Should you be dissatisfied with the MPS response to your request, you
would still be entitled to request an internal review in relation to the
decision.

I would like to take this opportunity to apologise on behalf of the MPS
for any inconvenience caused by the time taken to respond to your Freedom
of Information Act request. The issues you have raised have been recorded
and they will enable us to provide a more efficient and effective service
in the future.

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

If you are dissatisfied with this response please read the attached paper
entitled Complaint Rights which explains how to contact the Information
Commissioner with your complaint.

Should you have any further inquiries concerning this matter, please
contact me on 0207 161 3705 or at the address at the top of this letter,
quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

Brian Wilson
FOIA Complaints Officer

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Are you unhappy with how your request has been handled or do you think the
decision is incorrect?

You have the right to require the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to
review their decision.

Prior to lodging a formal complaint you are welcome to discuss the
response with the case officer who dealt with your request.  

Complaint

If you are dissatisfied with the handling procedures or the decision of
the MPS made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) regarding
access to information you can lodge a complaint with the MPS to have the
decision reviewed.

Complaints should be made in writing, within forty (40) working days from
the date of the refusal notice, and addressed to:

FOI Complaint
Public Access Office
PO Box 57192
London
SW6 1SF
[email address]

In all possible circumstances the MPS will aim to respond to your
complaint within 20 working days.
The Information Commissioner

After lodging a complaint with the MPS if you are still dissatisfied with
the decision you may make application to the Information Commissioner for
a decision on whether the request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act.

For information on how to make application to the Information Commissioner
please visit their website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
 Alternatively, phone or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone:  01625 545 700

Total Policing is the Met's commitment to be on the streets and in your
communities to catch offenders, prevent crime and support victims. We are
here for London, working with you to make our capital safer.

 

Consider our environment - please do not print this email unless
absolutely necessary.

NOTICE - This email and any attachments may be confidential, subject to
copyright and/or legal privilege and are intended solely for the use of
the intended recipient. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender and delete it from your system.  To avoid incurring
legal liabilities, you must not distribute or copy the information in this
email without the permission of the sender. MPS communication systems are
monitored to the extent permitted by law.  Consequently, any email and/or
attachments may be read by monitoring staff. Only specified personnel are
authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of the MPS by
email. The MPS accepts no responsibility for unauthorised agreements
reached with other employees or agents.  The security of this email and
any attachments cannot be guaranteed. Email messages are routinely scanned
but malicious software infection and corruption of content can still occur
during transmission over the Internet. Any views or opinions expressed in
this communication are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
represent those of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).

 

Find us at:

Facebook: Facebook.com/metpoliceuk
Twitter: @metpoliceuk

Dear Metropolitan Police Service (MPS),

,I understand that a response to your request was sent to you today (i.e.
03/03/2014)'

Remarks state i have been sent a reply on 03/03/2014. I have not had a reply to this request to this date, where is this ?

Yours faithfully,

Mary Evans

Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)

Dear Ms Evans
Please see below for the response to your FoIA request.  This was
originally sent on 03/03/2014 at 14:15.
Regards,
Brian Wilson
FoIA Complaints Officer

show quoted sections

Dear Metropolitan Police Service (MPS),

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)'s handling of my FOI request 'Alternative shift pattern'.

I requested to know how many people are on part time rosters for childcare at Hendon, Bow and Lambeth CCC which was previously refused, I then requested to know how many people just at Hendon were on part time rosters for child care needs, and this was refused as well, for the same reason

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/a...

Yours faithfully,

Mary Evans

Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)

Case reference: 2014030000580

 From: Sheela Bhaskaran/mps
 Date: 10/03/2014 13:23:35
 To: request-195065-417bf671@whatdotheyknow.c
 Subject: Complaint Acknowledgement

show quoted sections

Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)

Dear Ms. Evans

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2014030000580

I write in connection with your correspondence dated 6th March 2014
requesting the MPS to review its decision in relation to your request for
information (reference 2014010002953). Please find below a response to
your complaint.

The review is aware that your procedural complaint has already been dealt
with under reference 2014020002565.

Original Request

How many people from Hendon CCC currently work an alternative shift
pattern for childcare needs.

Request for Review

I requested to know how many people are on part time rosters for childcare
at Hendon, Bow and Lambeth CCC which was previously refused, I then
requested to know how many people just at Hendon were on part time rosters
for child care needs, and this was refused as well, for the same reason.

DECISION

The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has completed its review and has
decided to uphold the original decision to engage section 12(1) Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FoIA) where the cost of compliance with your request
exceeds the appropriate threshold.  Further details of the FoIA can be
found by way of this link:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000...

Appropriate threshold

Section 12(1) of the FoIA provides that subsection (1) does not oblige a
public authority to comply with a request for information if the authority
estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the
appropriate limit. In this respect the review has returned to your
original request in which you have requested information concerning MPS
staff working alternative shift pattern for the purpose of childcare needs
within Hendon Central Communications Command (CCC).  

I can advise you that the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) states in
regards to using the Fees regulations that ‘Section 12 makes it clear that
a public authority does not have to make a precise calculation of the
costs of complying with a request.  Only an estimate is required ... what
amounts to a reasonable estimate can only be considered on a case by case
basis.'  The ICO also states 'where a reasonable estimate has been made
that the appropriate limit would be exceeded, there is no requirement for
a public authority to undertake work up to the limit.’  

The ICO reminds public authorities ‘Regulation 4(3) of the Fees
Regulations states that a public authority can only take into account the
cost it reasonably expects to incur in carrying out the following
permitted activities in complying with the request:

·        Determining whether the information is held;
·        Locating the information, or document containing it;
·        Retrieving the information, or a document containing it; and
·        Extracting the information from a document containing it.’

The review has regard for your comment ‘…and this was refused as well, for
the same reason.’ In this regard the review can see that you have been
provided with the following advice and assistance ‘We have 141 rosters
worked at Hendon, 121 part time roster and 13 full time roster, Each
roster is agreed or rejected on its own merit  but in the first instance
must meet the business need and the flexible working guidelines. Therefore
we would have to manually go through each roster and see if someone has
put the reason it has been requested as we do not record it centrally.’

The review has made further enquiries in regards to the type of
information you are seeking and has carried out a sampling exercise in
order to determine the time it would take to read each alternative roster.
 It remains the case, as with your earlier request to which you refer to
(reference 2013120000464), that there could be up to 30 items of
correspondence for each alternative roster. To provide you with a
reasonable estimation if it took between 15 and 30 minutes to read through
all the correspondence for each of the 141 alternative rosters for Hendon
CCC alone, this would equate to between 35 and 70 hours in order to locate
and extract the information pertinent to your request, namely identifying
those which involve childcare needs.

The review is therefore is satisfied that the cost of complying with your
new narrowed request, which has been made under the Freedom of Information
Act, will exceed the 18 hour appropriate time limit stipulated under the
FoIA. Under the FoIA a public authority is not required to undertake such
work up to the 18 hours limit.

Section 16 Advice and Assistance

Section 16 provides an obligation for a public authority to provide advice
and assistance to a person making a request, so far as it would be
reasonable to do so. I would like to provide you with some advice in how
to narrow your request, however in this case, I am unable to advise you
how to narrow your request for the reasons already stated above, which
would still require a member of police staff manually reading through many
records which may still not contain the information you are seeking.

Conclusion

I hope the explanation provided clarifies why the MPS has upheld the
original decision to engage section 12(1) FoIA - where the cost of
compliance with your requests exceeds the appropriate limit of 18 hours.  

Yours sincerely

Mike Lyng
FoIA Quality and Assurance Advisor

COMPLAINT RIGHTS - Your attention is drawn to the attached sheet which
details your right of complaint.

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

The Information Commissioner

After lodging a complaint with the MPS if you are still dissatisfied with
the decision you may make application to the Information Commissioner for
a decision on whether the request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act.

For information on how to make application to the Information Commissioner
please visit their website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
 Alternatively, phone or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone:  01625 545 700

Total Policing is the Met's commitment to be on the streets and in your
communities to catch offenders, prevent crime and support victims. We are
here for London, working with you to make our capital safer.

 

Consider our environment - please do not print this email unless
absolutely necessary.

NOTICE - This email and any attachments may be confidential, subject to
copyright and/or legal privilege and are intended solely for the use of
the intended recipient. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender and delete it from your system.  To avoid incurring
legal liabilities, you must not distribute or copy the information in this
email without the permission of the sender. MPS communication systems are
monitored to the extent permitted by law.  Consequently, any email and/or
attachments may be read by monitoring staff. Only specified personnel are
authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of the MPS by
email. The MPS accepts no responsibility for unauthorised agreements
reached with other employees or agents.  The security of this email and
any attachments cannot be guaranteed. Email messages are routinely scanned
but malicious software infection and corruption of content can still occur
during transmission over the Internet. Any views or opinions expressed in
this communication are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
represent those of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).

 

Find us at:

Facebook: Facebook.com/metpoliceuk
Twitter: @metpoliceuk