Martin McGartland - As a matter of course Northumbria Police refer all requests for internal reviews of responses made under FOIA to ACPO Central Referal Unit. Why?

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

Thank you for your e mail dated 5 May 2014 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 by a Public Authority (including the Police),
subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

You asked:

Under Freedom of information act 2000 can you place sully me with recorded
information concerning above and also the following;

1. Is the above 'Northumbria Police refer all requests for internal
reviews of responses made under FOIA to ACPO Central Referal Unit.' an
arrangement between only Northumbria police and ACPO Central Referal Unit
or is it a National (UK all force) arrangement ?

2. Regards above (including 1 above), please supply me with copy and or
recorded information, policy, agreement and or understanding between NP and
ACPO concerning referal of all requests for internal reviews of responses
made under FOIA b being sent, emailed to ACPO Central Referal Unit.

3. Regards above (including 1 and 2) have ACPO (including its Central
Referal Unit) ever requested (verbal or in writing) that FOI's or Internal
reviews made by me (Martin McGartland) be forwarded and or sent (emailed)
to them? If so, please supply all recorde3d information concerning same,
contact between NP and ACPO.

In response:

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

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

The Disclosure Section has received a large number of requests from you,
many of these concern operations involving the specific case of the
shooting of Martin McGartland, more recently the requests have covered
subjects including complaints, discipline policies, procedures, statistics
and incidents involving similar circumstances as well as other matters.
Many of these have correctly been classed as vexatious. It is relevant to
take into account the volume and frequency of submissions when considering
whether requests can fairly be regarded as obsessive in nature. Most of
the responses supplied by this department have subsequently been followed
up by further requests for information, requests for clarification and
requests for internal reviews.

Section 14 (1)- Freedom of Information Act 2000

Section 14(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) states that
a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request if it is
considered vexatious. There is no definition of ‘vexatious’ within the Act
but it is to be given its ordinary meaning. The aim of this provision is
to reduce the burden of compliance with requests that are unreasonable or
aimed to cause annoyance, harassment or disruption and to prevent abuse of
the right to know.

An authority is not obliged to deal with requests that are manifestly
unreasonable or obsessive. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
guidance on vexatious requests states “there is a risk that some
individuals and some organisations may seek to abuse these rights with
requests which are manifestly unreasonable. Such cases may well arise in
connection with a grievance or complaint which an individual is pursuing
against an authority. While giving maximum support to individuals
genuinely seeking to exercise the right to know, the ICO’s general approach
will be sympathetic towards authorities where a request, which may be the
latest in a series of requests, would impose a significant burden and can
otherwise be characterised as obsessive or manifestly unreasonable". It is
clear that a Freedom of Information request is not the appropriate arena
within which to air a grievance or progress a campaign against Northumbria
Police.

Further to this, ICO guidance states “A request may not be vexatious in
isolation, but when considered in context (for example if it is the latest
in a long series of overlapping requests or other correspondence) it may
form part of a wider pattern of behaviour that makes it vexatious”.
Clearly your requests when taken in context with the many other requests
received on these subjects form part of an ongoing campaign that can be
fairly called vexatious in nature.

Whilst not at first apparent, when considered in context, it is clear that
your subsequent requests stem from the initial ongoing issue you have with
Northumbria Police. Your requests show a pattern of behaviour and each
request you have made has perpetuated the behaviour of your campaign group.

I have considered the guidance provided by the Information Commissioner (a
link to which is below) and have further considered the guidance in the
First-Tier Tribunal decision (Independent Police Complaints Commission v
The Information Commissioner (EA/2011/0222)) (again a link is provided
below) and I am of the view that your requests are similar in nature to
those dealt with by this case. In particular, I have taken account of the
number of requests, the variety of subjects, the context in which requests
have been submitted and the background to your requests.

It is my view that this request is vexatious and I am refusing your request
under section 14 (1) Freedom of Information Act 2000.

http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/...

http://www.informationtribunal.gov.uk/DB...

You should note that following this correspondence, we are not obliged to,
nor do we intend to, take any further steps in relation to this matter or
any further requests that you submit that are deemed to fall into the remit
of vexatious.

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.

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 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/foi/dis...

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.

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 which is attached.

(See attached file: FOI Complaint Rights.doc)

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

Hayley Morrison

Disclosure Manager
Direct Dial: 0191 2956940

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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.

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

We acknowledge receipt of your request for an internal review of the
response you received in relation to the above mentioned Freedom Of
Information request.

We aim to provide a response to you within 20 working days of your request
for same.

Yours sincerely

Jan Mcewan

Disclosure Section

From: Martin McGartland <[FOI #209706 email]> on
19/05/2014 15:43

To: [Northumbria Police request email]
cc:
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Martin
McGartland - As a matter of course Northumbria Police refer all
requests for internal reviews of responses made under FOIA to ACPO
Central Referal Unit. Why?

Dear Northumbria Police,

I refer to my other requests to you of today for internal review/s. I am
requesting an internal review of this requests on those same grounds.

Yours faithfully,

Martin McGartland

show quoted sections

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

Thank you for your correspondence dated 19th May 2014 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
Under Freedom of information act 2000 can you place sully me with recorded
information concerning above and also the following;

1. Is the above 'Northumbria Police refer all requests for internal
reviews of responses made under FOIA to ACPO Central Referal Unit.' an
arrangement between only Northumbria police and ACPO Central Referal Unit
or is it a National (UK all force) arrangement ?

2. Regards above (including 1 above), please supply me with copy and or
recorded information, policy, agreement and or understanding between NP and
ACPO concerning referal of all requests for internal reviews of responses
made under FOIA b being sent, emailed to ACPO Central Referal Unit.

3. Regards above (including 1 and 2) have ACPO (including its Central
Referal Unit) ever requested (verbal or in writing) that FOI's or Internal
reviews made by me (Martin McGartland) be forwarded and or sent (emailed)
to them? If so, please supply all recorde3d information concerning same,
contact between NP and ACPO.

In response:

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

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

The Disclosure Section has received a large number of requests from you,
many of these concern operations involving the specific case of the
shooting of Martin McGartland, more recently the requests have covered
subjects including complaints, discipline policies, procedures, statistics
and incidents involving similar circumstances as well as other matters.
Many of these have correctly been classed as vexatious. It is relevant to
take into account the volume and frequency of submissions when considering
whether requests can fairly be regarded as obsessive in nature. Most of
the responses supplied by this department have subsequently been followed
up by further requests for information, requests for clarification and
requests for internal reviews.

Section 14 (1)- Freedom of Information Act 2000

Section 14(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) states that
a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request if it is
considered vexatious. There is no definition of ‘vexatious’ within the Act
but it is to be given its ordinary meaning. The aim of this provision is
to reduce the burden of compliance with requests that are unreasonable or
aimed to cause annoyance, harassment or disruption and to prevent abuse of
the right to know.

An authority is not obliged to deal with requests that are manifestly
unreasonable or obsessive. The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
guidance on vexatious requests states “there is a risk that some
individuals and some organisations may seek to abuse these rights with
requests which are manifestly unreasonable. Such cases may well arise in
connection with a grievance or complaint which an individual is pursuing
against an authority. While giving maximum support to individuals
genuinely seeking to exercise the right to know, the ICO’s general approach
will be sympathetic towards authorities where a request, which may be the
latest in a series of requests, would impose a significant burden and can
otherwise be characterised as obsessive or manifestly unreasonable". It is
clear that a Freedom of Information request is not the appropriate arena
within which to air a grievance or progress a campaign against Northumbria
Police.

Further to this, ICO guidance states “A request may not be vexatious in
isolation, but when considered in context (for example if it is the latest
in a long series of overlapping requests or other correspondence) it may
form part of a wider pattern of behaviour that makes it vexatious”.
Clearly your requests when taken in context with the many other requests
received on these subjects form part of an ongoing campaign that can be
fairly called vexatious in nature.

Whilst not at first apparent, when considered in context, it is clear that
your subsequent requests stem from the initial ongoing issue you have with
Northumbria Police. Your requests show a pattern of behaviour and each
request you have made has perpetuated the behaviour of your campaign group.

I have considered the guidance provided by the Information Commissioner (a
link to which is below) and have further considered the guidance in the
First-Tier Tribunal decision (Independent Police Complaints Commission v
The Information Commissioner (EA/2011/0222)) (again a link is provided
below) and I am of the view that your requests are similar in nature to
those dealt with by this case. In particular, I have taken account of the
number of requests, the variety of subjects, the context in which requests
have been submitted and the background to your requests.

It is my view that this request is vexatious and I am refusing your request
under section 14 (1) Freedom of Information Act 2000.

http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/...

http://www.informationtribunal.gov.uk/DB...

You should note that following this correspondence, we are not obliged to,
nor do we intend to, take any further steps in relation to this matter or
any further requests that you submit that are deemed to fall into the remit
of vexatious.

Your request for Internal review stated

I refer to my other requests to you of today for internal review/s. I am
requesting an internal review of this requests on those same grounds.

In response:

I have taken this opportunity to revisit the vexatious notice issued to you
in November 2009. I have attached a copy of that notice below.

"Section 14 - Freedom of Information Act 2000

Section 14 of the Freedom of Information Act does not oblige a public
authority to comply with a request for information if the request is
deemed as Vexatious.

Where a public authority has previously complied with a request for
information which was made by any person, it is not obliged to comply
with a subsequent identical or substantially similar request from that
person.

I advise that any requests under the Act that are received from you
after 4.00pm on Friday 13th November 2009 which are related to those
previously received from you will not be considered under the
legislation. I confirm that any further requests made under the Act,
received after the date given, for information relating to the incident
in which you were shot on the 17th June 1999 and any subsequent
information relating to investigation arising from the incident,
associated legal proceedings, media related matters and any complaints
made by yourself related to the incident and subsequent investigation
will be categorised as Vexatious and will not be administered in any
capacity.

You should note that following this correspondence, we are not obliged
to, nor do we intend to, take any further steps in relation to this
matter or any further requests that you may submit that are deemed to
fall into the remit of vexatious."

Whilst the original notice supplied to you may remain relevant to requests
submitted, it was not relied upon in this case and a new response was
supplied to you based on the information available at the time of this
request.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 is clear in that it is the request
which must be vexatious rather than the requester:-

14(1) Section 1(1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with
a request for information if the request is vexatious.
14(2) Where a public authority has previously complied with a
request for information which was made by any person, it is not
obliged to comply with a subsequent identical or substantially
similar request from the person unless a reasonable interval has
elapsed between compliance with the previous request and the making
of the current request.

There is no definition within the Act of ‘vexatious’ however, the Court in
a recent Upper Tribunal decision (Information Commissioner v Devon County
Council and Dransfield [2012] UKUT 440) attempted to give some definition
to the term.

In the introduction to the judgement, it is established that the purpose of
section 14 “must be to protect the resources (in the broadest sense of that
word) of the public authority from being squandered on disproportionate use
of FOIA To that extent section 14 of FOIA operates as a sort of
legislative “get out of jail free card” for public authorities. Its effect
is to relieve the public authority of dealing with the request in issued,
except to the limited extent of issuing a refusal notice as required by
section 17. In short, it allows the public authority to say in terms
“enough is enough – the nature of this request is vexatious so that section
1 does not apply”.”

As to the meaning of the term vexatious, the Upper Tribunal (UT) devoted
some 22 paragraphs of the 85 paragraph judgement to that term and whilst
there will never be a definitive answer to whether a request is vexatious
(so much being case dependent) it does give robust guidance, in my view, on
how the term should be approached.

Firstly, the UT agrees with the conclusion reached by the First Tier
Tribunal (FTT) in Lee v Information Commissioner GIA/1871/2011 that
vexatious connotes “manifestly unjustified, inappropriate or improper use
of a formal procedure””. The UT goes on to state that “It may be helpful
to consider the question of whether a request is truly vexatious by
considering four broad issues or themes – (1) the burden (on the public
authority and its staff); (2) the motive (of the requester); (3) the value
or the serious purpose (of the request) and (4) any harassment or distress
(of and to staff).”

Dealing with each of these four questions in turn:-

Burden

The context and history of the request is to be considered in terms of the
previous course of dealings between the requester and the public authority.
In particular the number, breadth, pattern and duration of previous
requests.

You have submitted over 40 requests since 1st January 2012. The section 14
provision, as outlined, has the intention to reduce the burden of
compliance with requests that are unreasonable or aimed to cause annoyance,
harassment or disruption and to prevent abuse of the right to know.

In this case, on average, we have received more than one per month over the
last two and a half years. The requests are erratic and broad in scope,
many individual questions being asked within one request.

A long history of requests over several years may make what would otherwise
be a reasonable request wholly unreasonable. In your case, the number of
requests received, followed by automatic requests for internal review
without discretion, leads to increased, unreasonable burden upon the Chief
Constable.

Motive

Although I acknowledge that the Act is largely motive and applicant blind,
the UT acknowledged that the motive of the requester could be a factor in
assessing whether the request is vexatious.

The UT talks about instances where an individual may have had an initial
valid request but has made so many subsequent requests and complaints as to
become disproportionate to the original inquiry. The UT defines this as
“vexatiousness by drift”. By way of example, the UT refers to the case of
Wise v Information Commissioner (GIA/1871/2011). In that case Mr Wise was
unhappy about the way the police handled a particular matter, he then made
a series of successive FOIA requests to different public authorities about
a wide range of different matters which became wholly disproportionate to
his original aim. This was described as vexatiousness by drift. I take
particular account here of the fact that Mr Wise made a number of
approaches to “different” public authorities i.e. suggesting that requests
to other authorities would fall to be considered in reaching a vexatious
determination. In my view, the Chief Constable is entitled to take into
account the history of requests, complaints and conduct experienced by
other agencies is reaching a determination and I have referred to the
publicly available FOI requests made by you to a great many other agencies.

Furthermore, you have specifically stated that you would recommence your
FOI campaign during a conversation with a member of staff in this office
and this must be taken into account in determining whether this request is
vexatious as, to some extent, you yourself have indicated that that is your
intention.

Value or Serious Purpose

Whilst there may be value in some of the requests submitted, the question
is whether the request has value or serious purpose in terms of the
objective public interest in the information sought. It is clear from some
of the requests submitted that you are fishing for information without a
serious purpose and this is not an appropriate use of FOI in my view.

Causing harassment of, or distress to, staff

This can be evidenced by obsessive conduct, intemperate language, wide
ranging and unsubstantiated allegations, offensive conduct amongst other
things.

There is a significant history of wide ranging and unsubstantiated
allegations against a number of Northumbria Police (and ex NP) officers.
The tone of correspondence has been unreasonable and I have not seen any
evidence of wrongdoing other your own assertion. Earlier correspondence
has demonstrated a pattern of aggressive and accusatory behaviour comments
and I believe there is a real likelihood that this pattern will be
repeated.

I have taken into account also, the requests made to Professional Standards
Department and the IPCC which have not been upheld and I have concluded
that your requests are obsessive, intended to harass the organisation and
members thereof and are designed to cause disruption and annoyance and are
not made in good faith. I have considered too, in reviewing this matter
your online campaign against individual officers which could amount to
defamatory libel and the inflammatory language you have used in
correspondence with the organisation.

In conclusion, it is the decision of this review that the exemption was
fully applicable and the response supplied was therefore suitable.

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

Louise Silverton
Senior Solicitor
Legal Department

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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