Force Executive Board Papers January 2013

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Cambridgeshire Constabulary should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Cambridgeshire Constabulary,

Could you please release the agenda, reports, presentations made, and attendance list, relating to any Force Executive Board meetings held during January 2013.

I stress that I am seeking all papers, not just the agenda and minutes.

I am specifically interested in the role of the Police and Crime Commissioner; I would like to know if he was invited, if he attended, and if he did attend which items he was present for and what role he played. I suspect recorded information may be held in relation to this, for example correspondence with the Commissioner's office providing notification of the meeting and any response.

Regards,

--

Richard Taylor
Cambridge
http://www.rtaylor.co.uk

Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

The meeting date for the January meeting has not been made public; however typically the meetings have been held in the first week of the month.

The force have a web page on which appear to intend to release the agenda and minutes, but they have not been keeping it up to date:

https://www.cambs-police.co.uk/about/foi...

My request for the December 2012 papers has been refused, and at the time of writing an internal review is awaited:

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fo...

Following the demise of the Police Authority the need for transparency of this key committee has increased as important papers no longer find their way into the public domain via Police Authority papers.

Cambridgeshire Constabulary

Dear Richard

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 0060/2013
We acknowledge receipt of your Freedom of Information (FOI) request which
was received by Cambridgeshire Constabulary on 23/01/2013

Your request will now be considered in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.  You will receive a response within the statutory
timescale of twenty working days as defined by the Act. In some
circumstances, we may be unable to achieve this deadline. If this is the
case, you will be informed and given a revised time-scale at the earliest
opportunity.

If we require any further clarification regarding this request, you will
be notified.

We would advise you that the nature of certain requests may involve
payment of a fee.  If this is the case, you will be notified.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please
telephone on 01480 456 111 asking for the Information Access Office or
email [Cambridgeshire Constabulary request email]

Regards

Julie Purse
Information Access Office
Cambridgeshire Constabulary

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Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

David Price, the FOI Officer at Cambridgeshire Police, just phoned me to discus this, and my other FOI requests for Force Executive Board papers.

It appears my requests are prompting internal discussion about how to pro-actively release as much of this material as possible on a regular basis. This is excellent.

Interestingly I was told that the force had been in touch with the Police and Crime Commissioner to ask him what he planned in relation to the publication of the material himself. I was told the police had understood the commissioner had a transparency agenda and assumed "everything we sent across would be published" however they've now been told "the commissioner will not release most papers".

We discussed the general problem with these requests - that a while the material is to-hand within the force a lot of work is needed to apply redactions to make it ready for release.

Mr Price assured me the FOI team at the police were on the side of those wanting greater transparancy; he noted only one member of the team was an ex-police officer and said there was "no blue hat thinking" among FOI the FOI officers - he explained what that meant - police officers love collecting information but it's almost impossible to get any out of them!

Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

A paper "Capital Programme 2013-14 to 2016-17" has appeared on the Police and Crime Commissioner's website:

http://www.cambridgeshire-pcc.gov.uk/wp-...

It appears it may be a paper to the January Force Executive Board. It also reveals the Commissioner appears to intend to work largely through the secret, private, Force Executive Board.

Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

The Cambridge News has published an article based on a Force Executive Board paper they "obtained":

http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Pol...

The Police have published the agenda for the January 2013 meeting which reveals the February 2013 meeting is planned for Tuesday 5th February 2013.

Winston Smith left an annotation ()

Richard

A simple answer to the Cambridge News question. The information is available online from the constabulary website. In other words, there is an active publication of these minutes and the papers so you just need to know where to look.

Cambridgeshire Constabulary

1 Attachment

Dear Richard

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NOs: 0669/2012, 0060/2013 and
0091/2013

I write in connection with your requests for information which have been
received and acknowledged by Cambridgeshire Constabulary. I also refer you
to the response to your appeal in respect of 0669/2012 by the Chair of the
Appeal Panel dated 14th February 2013.

I regret to inform you that Cambridgeshire Constabulary have not been able
to complete its response to your requests by the date originally stated.

The FOI Act obliges us to respond to requests promptly and in any case no
later than 20 working days after receiving your request. We must consider
firstly whether we can comply with Section 1 (1)(a) of the Act, which is
our duty to confirm or deny whether the information requested is held and
secondly we must comply with section 1(1)(b), which is the provision of
such information. However, when a qualified exemption applies either to
the confirmation or denial or the information provision and a public
interest test is engaged, the Act allows the time for response to be
longer than 20 working days, if the balance of such public interest is
undermined.

In this case we have not yet reached a decision on where the balance of
the public interest lies in respect of either of the above obligations. We
estimate that it will take an additional 20 working days to take a
decision on where this balance lies. Therefore, we plan to let you have a
response by 15th March 2013 . If it appears that it will take longer than
this to reach a conclusion you will be kept informed.

These requests relate to the publication of the Agendas, Minutes and
Papers in respect of the FEB meetings held in December 2012, January and
February 2013.

The specific exemptions which are likely apply in relation to your
requests are:

s21 Information which is already in the public domain. Where minutes and
agendas are already in the public domain, they will be classed as exempt
by virtue of this absolute exemption.
s22 Where information has been scheduled for future disclosure, this will
be considered for exemption under this section of the Act. If this
exemption applies you will be notified when the documents are published.
s30 Information which exists as part of an ongoing or closed investigation
will be subject to this qualified exemption
s31 Information which may affect Law Enforcement capability through
release will be subject tothis qualified exemption.
s38 Any information which may endanger the physical or mental health of
any individual may be subject to this qualified, harm-based exemption.
s40 This exemption may apply to information which may breach any Principle
of the Data Protection Act should it be disclosed. In some instances this
exemption may require a public interest test.
s41 Any information which has been provided in confidence will be
considered for protection through this absolute exemption.
s42 Legal Professional Privilege. This qualified exemption may apply to
legal information in relation to ongoing proceedings.
s43 Information the disclosure of which constitutes a trade secret or
would adversely affect our financial interests may be exempted under this
section of the Act.

All the above are class-based exemptions except s31 and 38 which are
prejudice based.

I would advise the applicant that the Agenda and Minutes of all these
meetings is the subject of our Publication Scheme and will be published in
accordance with that schedule. Thus the Agenda and Minutes will be
published within one month of ratification by the Board, under normal
circumstances these are ratified at the next meeting of the Board.

Whilst the timescale of 15th March has been given, it is not considered to
be realistic due to the very large volume of redaction work which will
need to be completed in order to fullfil your request fully. A realistic
expectation would be in the order of 12 to 15 weeks. If you are able to
pare your request down into a smaller task, this would reduce this
timescale. Alternatively I would be content to provide a comprehensive
list of the documents for you to select those which are of immediate
interest to you.

The documents requested by 0669/2012 will be dealt with first and then in
chronological order unless you express a preference as to the order
received.

Once you confirm the documents required, we shall calculate the
disbursement costs which will apply and invoice accordingly. In view of
the nature of this request and the volume of documents required, please
also provide a postal address for correspondence.

If required, I am happy to discuss your requirements by telephone on 01487
772036 during office hours.

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

(See attached file: Complaint Rights May-11.pdf)

May I apologise for any inconvenience caused. Should you wish to discuss
this matter please write or contact the Information Access Office on
telephone number 01480 456 111 Ext 2036 quoting the reference number
above.

Yours sincerely

David

David Price
Information Access Office
Cambridgeshire Constabulary

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To visit Cambridgeshire Constabulary's website please follow this link:

http://www.cambs-police.co.uk/index.asp

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Internet e-mail is not to be treated as a secure means of communication.
Cambridgeshire Constabulary monitors all internet e-mail activity and
content.
This communication is confidential and intended for the addressee(s) only.
Please notify the sender if you have received this in error.
Unauthorised use or disclosure of the contents may be unlawful.
Opinions expressed in this document may not be official policy.
Thank you for your cooperation. (c) Cambridgeshire Constabulary

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Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

The agenda and minutes for this meeting have now been published; linked from:

http://www.cambs-police.co.uk/about/foi/...

I note the Cambridge News front page story on the 6th of March 2013 appears to be based on, and quotes, from the minutes of the January 2013 Force Executive Board meeting.

The quote states: "The PCC also reported that discussion had taken place with Cambridge City Council with regard to improving security to assist in preventing cycle theft and negotiations are soon to begin with Rail Track regarding security."

The article is at:
http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/News/Bik...

Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

The minutes also reveal the Police and Crime Commissioner attended the meeting to talk about his role; but then left the meeting after his item.