Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)

Thank you for your email received today in which you make a request for
information that Northumbria Police may hold in accordance with the Freedom
Of Information Act 2000

We are in the process of dealing with your request and a response should be
provided to you by 13/12/16 which is in accordance with the legislation.

Yours sincerely

Jan Mcewan
Disclosure Section

NORTHUMBRIA POLICE PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE

The information contained in this message and any attachment(s) is confidential and intended only for the attention of the named organisation or individual to whom it is addressed. The message may contain information that is covered by legal, professional or other privilege. No mistake in transmission is intended to waive or compromise any such privilege. This message has been sent over public networks and the sender cannot be held responsible for its integrity.

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For more information about Northumbria Police please visit our website - http://www.northumbria.police.uk

Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')

Thank you for your e mail dated 15 November 2016 in which you made a
request for access to certain information which may be held by Northumbria
Police.

As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of
access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority
(including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

You asked:
In a newspaper report published today concerning fall in complaints against
Northumbria Police Deputy Chief Constable Winton Keenen, said: “Over the
last few years, we’ve made great progress, as is reflected by these
improved complaints statistics. Through the implementation of the triage
team, set up by Police and Crime Commissioner Vera Baird, we have
revolutionised the way complaints are handled – dealing with them faster
and understanding them better. In fact, our pro-active, customer-relations
approach is now being adopted by other forces elsewhere in the country.
“Northumbria Police has one of the highest levels of public satisfaction in
the country and we are determined to keep it that way. Yes, we are
encouraged by our improved position, but we know there is still work to do,
and will continue in our commitment to seek actively new ways of improving
the process and ultimately improving standards.....

I have attached FYI the newspaper report

I would like to know;

1. What evidence, information does DCC Keenen base his statement that
Northumbria Police has one of the highest levels of public satisfaction in
the country. I would also like all information held by Northumbria Police
concerning public satisfaction for period of 2014/15 and 2015/16.

2. I would also like all information relating to Northumbria Police's
pro-active, customer-relations approach and how it works from beginning and
when complaint is first made and up until complaint has been finalised. I
would like you to release same details and information concerning triage
team.

The report states: "Statistics published by the Independent Police
Complaints Commission (IPCC) show that 314 cases were logged in 2015/16,
compared to a tally of 417 the previous year."

3. I would like to know statistics concerning the number of complaints
which were not recorded by Northumbria Police during;
A: 2014/15
B: 2015/16
I would like this information to be broken down in to date order.

4. I would like to know statistics concerning all discontinuance of
investigations and disapplication applications that were made by
Northumbria Police to the IPCC during;
A: 2014/15
B: 2015/16
I would like this information to be broken down in to date order and to be
made clear which are discontinuance of investigations and which are
disapplication applications .

We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I
provide a response for your attention.

Your request asks for either 'all information' or 'all information relating
to' at points 1 and 2 of your request. This means that we must then
consider all locations where the requested information may be found. This
would include all officers, staff and departmental mailboxes being checked,
as well as other forms of correspondence such as internal mail, reports,
minutes, faxes, etc back to April 2014 to establish what information is
held in force regarding those points of your request. We have estimated
that this would far exceed the permitted 18 hour time constraints of the
Act.

As part of your request would exceed the prescribed limit, as defined by
the Act, there is no requirement for Northumbria Police to provide a
response to the remaining parts of your request. However, in order to
provide you with some assistance, under Section 16 of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, an initial assessment of the information that may be
provided within the time constraints would be questions 3 and 4 with the
proviso that you clarify what is meant by 'the number of complaints which
were not recorded by Northumbria Police '.

If what we have suggested above would be useful you may wish to refine and
resubmit your request accordingly.

Additionally I have provided a link below to the HMIC website which you may
find useful regarding points 1, 3 and 4

http://www.justiceinspectorates.gov.uk/h...

Due to the different methods of recording information across 43 forces, a
specific response from one constabulary should not be seen as an indication
of what information could be supplied (within cost) by another. Systems
used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures
used locally in capturing the data. For this reason responses between
forces may differ, and should not be used for comparative purposes.

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

You may be interested to know that Northumbria Police 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 in response to requests made under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Whilst it is not possible to publish all responses we will endeavour to
publish those where we feel that the information disclosed is in the wider
public interest.

The Disclosure Log will be updated once responses have been sent to the
requester.

I have provided the relevant link below.

http://www.northumbria.police.uk/freedom...

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, attached below

http://www.northumbria.police.uk/freedom...

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

Michael Cleugh
Data Protection and Disclosure Advisor
Direct Dial: 0191 2956941

[NOT PROTECTIVELY MARKED]NORTHUMBRIA POLICE PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE

The information contained in this message and any attachment(s) is confidential and intended only for the attention of the named organisation or individual to whom it is addressed.  The message may contain information that is covered by legal, professional or other privilege.  No mistake in transmission is intended to waive or compromise any such privilege.  This message has been sent over public networks and the sender cannot be held responsible for its integrity.

If you are not the intended recipient be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or action taken in reliance of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited, and is contrary to the provisions of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act, 1988 and of the Data Protection Act, 1998.

Any views expressed are those of the sender and, unless specifically stated, do not necessarily represent the view of Northumbria Police.

We cannot accept any liability for any loss or damage sustained as a result of software viruses.  It is your responsibility to carry out such virus checking as is necessary.

If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by e-mail at once and delete the message immediately.

For more information about Northumbria Police please visit our website - http://www.northumbria.police.uk