Information Commission's office has described Northumbria Police delay (10 month to date) of Martin McGartland SAR as "preposterous"

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 12/12/16 which is in accordance with the
legislation.

Yours sincerely

Peter Storey
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.

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

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

Thank you for your e mail dated 14 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:

The Information Commission's office has described Northumbria Police's
delay in answering my Subject Access Request  as "preposterous",
 preposterous, meaning:  "contrary to reason or common sense; utterly
absurd or ridiculous." - "a preposterous suggestion" , absurd, ridiculous,
foolish, stupid, ludicrous, farcical, laughable, comical, risible,
hare-brained, asinine, inane, nonsensical, pointless, senseless, insane,
unreasonable, irrational, illogical....."

My SAR was made over 10 months ago and it has still not been answered.
That is insane (preposterous).

I would like to know;

1.      How many Subject Access Requests (SARs) have not been answered
within the 40 day limit?
2.      How  many SARs have been delayed by more than 3 months?
3.      How many SARs have been delayed by more than 6 months?
4.      How many SARs have been delayed by more than 9 months?
5.      How many SARs have been delayed by more than 12 months?
Regards parts 2 , 3 , 4 and 5 - I would like the information relating to
all SARs to be broken down into date order from;
14/11/2011 - 14/11/2012      
14/11/2012 - 14/11/2013
14/11/2013 - 14/11/2014
14/11/2014 - 14/11/2015
14/11/2015 - 14/11/2016

Please explain reasons for all delays which relate to parts 2, 3 , 4 and 5
of my request.

6.   In the previous 5 years have Northumbria Police paid any compensation
for any breaches by them of the DPA or because of delays in answering
SARs?
7.  I would like to know what amounts of compensation have been paid by
Northumbria police in previous 5 years and relating to parts  2 , 3  , 4,
5 and 6  of  the request.  

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

Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted within
Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested
is held in part by Northumbria Police, however cannot be disclosed as the
information you have requested is not held in a format that can be
retrieved within the time limits of the Act.
To provide information which meets the criteria of your request,
particularly at questions 2 to 5, would entail a member of staff manually
reviewing all of the scanned requests we have received/recorded and
calculating the number of days between date of receipt of the request and
date of the response to determine into which category they fall.
Initial indications are this would involve over 1,600 scanned requests for
information during the time period requested.  Even at a conservative
estimate of 5 minutes per record, which we have considered as reasonable,
we have estimated that to extract this information would take over 133
hours, therefore Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act would apply.
 This section does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request
for information if the authority estimated that the cost of complying with
the request would exceed the appropriate limit of 18 hours, equating to
£450.00
You should consider this to be a refusal notice under Section 17 of the
Act for that part of your request.

We can advise in response to question 1 that the right of Subject Access
was written into the Data Protection Act 1984 as well as The Data
Protection Act 1998. We do not hold records of subject access requests
dating back to 1984 (or back to 1998). Accordingly we are not able to
search to determine if any exceeded the 40 day time limit.
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 as follows
"1.     On the date my request is received how many Subject Access
Requests (SARs) are currently outstanding over the 40 day limit?
2.     On the date my request is received how many SARs have been delayed
by more than 3 months?
3.     On the date my request is received how many SARs have been delayed
by more than 6 months?
4.     On the date my request is received how many SARs have been delayed
by more than 9 months?
5.     On the date my request is received how many SARs have been delayed
by more than 12 months?
6.     For the period 14/11/11 to 14/11/16 have Northumbria Police paid
any compensation for any breaches by them of the DPA or because of delays
in answering SARs?
7.  I would like to know what amounts of compensation have been paid by
Northumbria Police relating to part 6  of  the request."
 
If that would be useful you may wish to define and resubmit your request
accordingly
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.

[1]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

[2]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

References

Visible links
1. http://www.northumbria.police.uk/freedom...
2. http://www.northumbria.police.uk/freedom...

Dear Martin, your request for an Internal Review of FOI 1261/16 has been
received.

We shall get back to you as soon as this is concluded.

Regards

Peter Storey
Information Management Unit

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

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

Thank you for your correspondence dated 12 December 2016 in which you
requested a review of the response to your 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 by a Public Authority (including the Police)
subject to certain limitations and exemptions

You asked:

The Information Commission's office has described Northumbria Police's
delay in answering my Subject Access Request as "preposterous",
preposterous, meaning: "contrary to reason or common sense; utterly absurd
or ridiculous." - "a preposterous suggestion" , absurd, ridiculous,
foolish, stupid, ludicrous, farcical, laughable, comical, risible,
hare-brained, asinine, inane, nonsensical, pointless, senseless, insane,
unreasonable, irrational, illogical....."

My SAR was made over 10 months ago and it has still not been answered. That
is insane (preposterous).

I would like to know;

1. How many Subject Access Requests (SARs) have not been answered
within the 40 day limit?
2. How many SARs have been delayed by more than 3 months?
3. How many SARs have been delayed by more than 6 months?
4. How many SARs have been delayed by more than 9 months?
5. How many SARs have been delayed by more than 12 months?
Regards parts 2 , 3 , 4 and 5 - I would like the information relating to
all SARs to be broken down into date order from;
14/11/2011 - 14/11/2012
14/11/2012 - 14/11/2013
14/11/2013 - 14/11/2014
14/11/2014 - 14/11/2015
14/11/2015 - 14/11/2016

Please explain reasons for all delays which relate to parts 2, 3 , 4 and 5
of my request.

6. In the previous 5 years have Northumbria Police paid any compensation
for any breaches by them of the DPA or because of delays in answering SARs?
7. I would like to know what amounts of compensation have been paid by
Northumbria police in previous 5 years and relating to parts 2 , 3 , 4, 5
and 6 of the request.

In response we advised:

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

Following receipt of your request, searches were conducted within
Northumbria Police. I can confirm that the information you have requested
is held in part by Northumbria Police, however cannot be disclosed as the
information you have requested is not held in a format that can be
retrieved within the time limits of the Act.
To provide information which meets the criteria of your request,
particularly at questions 2 to 5, would entail a member of staff manually
reviewing all of the scanned requests we have received/recorded and
calculating the number of days between date of receipt of the request and
date of the response to determine into which category they fall.
Initial indications are this would involve over 1,600 scanned requests for
information during the time period requested. Even at a conservative
estimate of 5 minutes per record, which we have considered as reasonable,
we have estimated that to extract this information would take over 133
hours, therefore Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act would apply.
This section does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request
for information if the authority estimated that the cost of complying with
the request would exceed the appropriate limit of 18 hours, equating to
£450.00

You should consider this to be a refusal notice under Section 17 of the Act
for that part of your request.

We can advise in response to question 1 that the right of Subject Access
was written into the Data Protection Act 1984 as well as The Data
Protection Act 1998. We do not hold records of subject access requests
dating back to 1984 (or back to 1998). Accordingly we are not able to
search to determine if any exceeded the 40 day time limit.

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 as follows

"1. On the date my request is received how many Subject Access Requests
(SARs) are currently outstanding over the 40 day limit?
2. On the date my request is received how many SARs have been delayed
by more than 3 months?
3. On the date my request is received how many SARs have been delayed
by more than 6 months?
4. On the date my request is received how many SARs have been delayed
by more than 9 months?
5. On the date my request is received how many SARs have been delayed
by more than 12 months?
6. For the period 14/11/11 to 14/11/16 have Northumbria Police paid any
compensation for any breaches by them of the DPA or because of delays in
answering SARs?
7. I would like to know what amounts of compensation have been paid by
Northumbria Police relating to part 6 of the request."

If that would be useful you may wish to define and resubmit your request
accordingly

Your request for Internal review stated:

Would you please carry out a review of this request. The force must have
some type of system in place which logs, records subject access requests
which have been delayed by up to one year or more. Would the information
manager, other staff (yourself included) not have details of such cases.
Are there no records relating to DPA requesters complaining about delay in
answering their request. There could also have been complaints to ICO as
well as contact between them and NP regarding delayed requests ETC ?

The amont of time NP have claimed it would take to answer parts of this
request must surely have been plucked out of thin air.

In response :

The Information Management Unit records and scans all subject access
requests received.

While the requests are on-going, they are recorded as such and can be
tracked. When viewing all ongoing requests, a traffic light system is
viewable which indicates the requests that are approaching or over the 40
day limit. It is therefore possible to view a live "snap-shot" of the
status of open requests. however this is a live system only and cannot be
used to view historical situations. This further explains the reasoning
behind the proposed revised request that was suggested to you.

However once responses are sent, these are closed. There is no management
tool to review closed requests as a whole in order to extract the type of
information you have requested. Therefore to attempt to extract the data
requested would involve a manual review of all the requests dealt with in
the time period requested taking note of the arrival date and the despatch
date for each request to calculate the time to respond.

Regarding complaints to the ICO I can advise that there are requests that
do take over 40 days and some of those requestors may have complained to
the Information Commissioner's Office. However the number of complaints
received would be no indication of how many requests during the period
were delayed.

Regarding the time to extract the information, it has been verified through
sampling that it would take approximately 5 minutes per record to extract
data from each request received in order to satisfy your request.

In conclusion, it is the decision of this review that the original response
was fully appropriate and the proposed revised request complied with the
requirements to aid and assist.

If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of this review then it remains
open to you to refer this matter to the Information Commissioner at the
following address:

The Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely
Hayley Morrison
Information Management Unit ManagerNORTHUMBRIA 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