Ingleby Barwick Ring Of Steel - ANPR Cameras
Dear Stockton on Tees Council,
When introducing ANPR it is important to consider the Data Protection Act 2018 and Article 8 of the Human Rights Act. These must be balanced along with the needs for and aims of the system.
It is well documented that Stockton Council are implementing a series of 9 24/7 cameras including 6 ANPR cameras and 3 PTZ cameras covering all access roads to Ingleby Barwick in what can be described as a "Ring of Steel" similar to the unlawful "Ring of Steel" implemented in Royston in the early 2000s.
1. Please can you advise:
a. The identified "need" for the system, and how this "need" was identified?
b. The identified "aim" of the system, and how these aims were identified?
c. Was there a public consultation exercise carried out? If not, Why not?
d. What steps have been taken to ensure the system is proportionate in relation to the need and aim, but also in relation to Article 8 of the Human Rights Act?
e. Were alternatives to the ANPR ring of steel look at to meet the needs and aims of this system? If so, please give details. If not, why not?
5. Please provide copies of all correspondence relating to the ANPR system in Ingleby Barwick, including (but not limited to) between SBC and Councillors, Town Councillors, ICO, Media, Members of the Public. (with personal information redacted where appropriate)
If the scope of this request is too large to fit into the cost limitations, please provide advise as to how to bring it within scope.
Yours faithfully,
Jim McNeill
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Dear Jim O'Neill
Freedom of Information Act 2000 / Environmental Information Regulations
2004 – Ref: 1972/2122
Thank you for your correspondence received on 29 September 2021.
Your request is being considered under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (whichever is most
appropriate). You will receive the information requested within the
statutory timescale of 20 working days.
However, please note the Acts define a number of exemptions that may
prevent release of the requested information. There will therefore be an
assessment of your request to determine if any exemptions apply to the
information requested. If the information cannot be released, or only
released in part you will be informed of the reasons why, together with
any rights of appeal.
If the information requested refers to a third party, they may be
consulted before deciding whether it can be released.
Yours sincerely,
Information Governance Team
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
Telephone: 01642 527521 I Email: [2][email address] I
Web: [3]www.stockton.gov.uk
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This document was classified as: OFFICIAL
Dear Jim McNeill
Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Ref: 1972/2122
Thank you for your correspondence received on 29 September 2021. In
response to your request I can now provide the following information.
Re ANPR cameras at Ingleby Barwick:
1. Please can you advise:
a. The identified "need" for the system, and how this "need" was
identified?
b. The identified "aim" of the system, and how these aims were identified?
c. Was there a public consultation exercise carried out? If not, Why not?
d. What steps have been taken to ensure the system is proportionate in
relation to the need and aim, also in relation to Article 8 of the Human
Rights Act?
e. Were alternatives to the ANPR ring of steel look at to meet the needs
and aims of this system? If so, please give details. If not, why not?
We are unable to provide the information at this time as the system is
still in development with the cameras not yet ‘live’. The Data Protection
Impact Assessment (DPIA) will include the information above and will be
available when it is finalised.
5. Please provide copies of all correspondence relating to the ANPR system
in Ingleby Barwick, including (but not limited to) between SBC and
Councillors, Town Councillors, ICO, Media, Members of the Public. (with
personal information redacted where appropriate)
To provide this information we would need to run a keyword search for each
email account council wide, with no timeframe in place. Therefore the
Council consider this part of your request to be ‘manifestly unreasonable’
and are unable to provide the information.
If you have any queries or concerns please contact me in the first
instance.
However, if you are unhappy with the way your request for information has
been handled, you can submit a complaint
to [1][email address]
If, after your complaint has been determined, you remain dissatisfied with
the handling of your request or complaint, you have a right to appeal to
the Information Commissioner at:
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Telephone: 0303 123 1113 Website:
[2]www.ico.org.uk.
The ICO does not make a charge for an appeal.
Yours sincerely,
Sarah McLaren
Information Governance Team
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
Telephone: 01642 527521 I Email: [3][email address] I
Web: [4]www.stockton.gov.uk
Sarah McLaren
Information Governance Officer
Stockton‑on‑Tees Borough Council
Telephone: 01642 527455 | Email: [5][email address] | Web: [6]www.stockton.gov.uk
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Dear FOI and Complaints,
Please can you advise how to narrow the scope of my request if the scope is too wide as you suggest as I requested you do in the original email.
I am sure you are likely to know which departments will have dealt with the ICO in relation to the CCTV?
I'm guessing here, as you have not suggested how to narrow the request, but hopefully this is narrow enough?
Please provide copies of all correspondence relating to the ANPR system
in Ingleby Barwick, including (but not limited to) between SBC(Information Governance & Security Service/Enforcement) and each of the following:
Councillors, Town Councillors, ICO, Media, Members of the Public. (with
personal information redacted where appropriate)
Yours sincerely,
Jim McNeill
Dear FOI and Complaints,
Please can you confirm if the narrowed scope is now within your limits, and if not advise how it can be narrowed as per the ICO guidance at:
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/gui...
"You must give the requester reasonable advice and assistance to refine (change or narrow) their request. This will generally involve explaining why the limit would be exceeded and what information, if any, may be available within the limits."
Yours sincerely,
Jim McNeill
This document was classified as: OFFICIAL
Dear Jim McNeill
We acknowledge receipt of your refined request and will contact you again as soon as possible.
Kind regards
Sarah McLaren
Information Governance Officer
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
Telephone: 01642 527521 | Email: [email address] | Web: www.stockton.gov.uk
This document was classified as: OFFICIAL
Dear Jim McNeill
A search of emails including the term ANPR using your refined search terms brought back in excess of 5000 results. We appreciate it is unlikely that all of these returns will be relevant to your request. Our IT system searched over 8000 internal mailboxes and the search terms identified may not be specific enough meaning unrelated data is returned. However the only way to identify which of the emails should be released to you is by downloading and then manually reviewing each one. We estimate that downloading all the emails and then viewing them to determine if they are relevant to your request, and making any necessary redactions, would take over the 18 hours set out in the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We therefore consider this request to be exempt under Section 12 (exceeds appropriate limit) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request or complaint, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at:
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Telephone: 0303 123 1113 Website: www.ico.org.uk
The ICO does not make a charge for an appeal.
Yours sincerely,
Sarah McLaren
Information Governance Team
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
Telephone: 01642 527521 I Email: [email address] I Web: www.stockton.gov.uk
Dear FOI and Complaints,
Are the results individual emails, or just matches for the keyword. Were there 5000+ emails with ANPR mentioned, or Less emails, but ANPR mentioned 5000 times? Was this search just covering the term ANPR in the body of the email, or did it include attachments, calendar entries, tasks etc etc...?
Can you assist with how my original can be narrowed to comply with Section 12 in accordance with the ICO guidance which states:
"You must give the requester reasonable advice and assistance to refine (change or narrow) their request. This will generally involve explaining why the limit would be exceeded [which you have done] and ***what information, if any, may be available within the limits***."
Yours sincerely,
Jim McNeill
This document was classified as: OFFICIAL
Dear Mr McNeill
There were more than 5000 individual emails returned as part of the search for emails including the term "ANPR". Only mailboxes were checked, not online diaries etc.
When you resubmitted your request you suggested you were mainly interested in correspondence to/from/between teams within the council that you felt may have been primarily involved in the implementation of the ANPR scheme but then included the caveat of 'but not limited to'. Therefore we ran the search against all 8000 Stockton Borough Council mailboxes for the last twelve months.
If you wish to refine your request you could be more specific about who you are interested in seeing emails to/from, and a specified timeframe would also be useful.
I can advise that a recent search for emails between relevant council officers and the ICO including the term "ANPR" produced no results. This is because general correspondence with the ICO is conducted on their online portal, the results of which are not recorded.
Kind regards
Sarah McLaren
Information Governance Officer
Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council
Telephone: 01642 527521 | Email: [email address] | Web: www.stockton.gov.uk
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