Not Publishing Expenses etc. Home Office PCC updated Guidance 1 August 2018 Expenses / allowances Publishing ....

Martin McGartland made this Freedom of Information request to Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner did not have the information requested.

Martin McGartland

22 November 2018

Dear Vera Baird,

The Home Office PCC updated Guidance Expenses (1 August 2018) which can be found here; https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

I have also included the FULL text at the foot of this request for your / readers information.

The Guidance includes; "3. Publishing allowances Under paragraph 1(d) of the Schedule to the Elected Local Policing Bodies (Specified Information) Order 2011, PCCs are required to publish the allowances paid to them and to their deputies in respect of expenses incurred by the commissioner or deputy in the exercise of the commissioner’s functions.

PCCs and their deputies should publish a breakdown of their expenses including:

their name, force area, financial year, month, date, claim reference numbers, expense type (e.g. travel, accommodation), short description, details, amount claimed, amount reimbursed, amount not reimbursed, and the reason why a claim was not reimbursed
for travel and subsistence claims: date, place of origin, place of destination, category of journey, class of travel, mileage, length of hotel stay, category of hotel stay"

Under the FOIA I would like to know;

1. Why you as PCC of Northumbria have not been publishing all of the above information as required?

2. If you will now be publishing all of this information (funded by public) on your website. And also that which covers the entire period you have been PCC. If not, please explain (to tax payer) why not?

3. How much, during the past 12 months, have to been paid / claimed / been reimbursed in total, all amount/s that would fall under all / any allowances, expenses) for E.g. Travel (Trains / taxis , mileage - allowance), accommodation (including for your own / any rented properties), hotel accommodation, for all / any other business purposes Etc including all / any other amounts paid to you, claimed / reimbursed and or paid as an allowance (or whatever other name )?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours faithfully,

Martin McGartland

Expenses

Updated 1 August 2018

Contents

1. Authorised allowances
2. Chief executive approval
3. Publishing allowances

Paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’) provides that a police and crime commissioner (PCC) is to be paid authorised allowances. ‘Authorised allowances’ means allowances, in respect of expenses incurred by the commissioner in the exercise of the commissioner’s functions, which are of the kinds and amounts determined by the Secretary of State. A determination under paragraph 3 may make different provision for different cases.

1. Authorised allowances

The purpose of authorised allowances is to reimburse expenses incurred by PCCs in carrying out their duties, not to provide a general gratuity for undertaking the role. Commissioners are paid a salary determined by the Secretary of State on the advice of the senior salaries review board.

The kinds of allowances determined by the Secretary of State for the purposes of paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to the 2011 Act are allowances in respect of:

travel expenses
subsistence expenses
exceptional expenses
reasonably incurred by a PCC in the exercise of the commissioner’s functions.

The amounts of such allowances determined by the Secretary of State are set out in the below table:

1.1 Table of PCC authorised allowance amounts
Type of expense Key restriction Rates
Train In course of business Reimbursed up to standard class rates
Mileage allowances Only if necessary As per HMRC rates
Taxis Only where public transport not available Cost of taxi fare
Foreign travel Prior authority from chief executive and for business purposes Economy class for flights
Hotel accommodation Business purposes and agreed in advance. Value for money and best use of public funds - lower priced suitable accommodation No explicit limitation on star standard of hotel accommodation
Subsistence (UK and foreign) Only paid for evening meals and, where applicable, breakfast (not lunch) Breakfast £10, Dinner £30
Exceptional expenses not falling within any of the other types Reasonable incurred in carrying out business of the authority As approved by the chief executive

2. Chief executive approval
The commissioner’s chief executive should subject all of the commissioner’s claims for expenses to rigorous verification and auditing.

Any claims for exceptional expenses incurred by the commissioner in the exercise of the commissioner’s functions will require the approval of the commissioner’s chief executive. In considering whether to grant this approval the chief executive shall take into account the following factors:

a. whether there are exceptional circumstances warranting additional support
b. whether the Commissioner could reasonably have been expected to take any action to avoid the circumstances which gave rise to the expenditure or liability
c. whether the Commissioner’s performance of their Commissioner functions will be significantly impaired by a refusal of the claim

3. Publishing allowances

Under paragraph 1(d) of the Schedule to the Elected Local Policing Bodies (Specified Information) Order 2011, PCCs are required to publish the allowances paid to them and to their deputies in respect of expenses incurred by the commissioner or deputy in the exercise of the commissioner’s functions.

PCCs and their deputies should publish a breakdown of their expenses including:

their name, force area, financial year, month, date, claim reference numbers, expense type (e.g. travel, accommodation), short description, details, amount claimed, amount reimbursed, amount not reimbursed, and the reason why a claim was not reimbursed
for travel and subsistence claims: date, place of origin, place of destination, category of journey, class of travel, mileage, length of hotel stay, category of hotel stay

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

Enquiries, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner

I acknowledge receipt of your email.

You are wrong when you state the information is not available and has not been published. The information you require is on the OPCC website - http://www.northumbria-pcc.gov.uk/

Yours sincerely

Scott

Scott Duffy
Director of Governance and Communication.
Office of Police & Crime Commissioner – Northumbria Police.

Victory House
Balliol Business Park
Benton Lane
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE12 8EW

0191 221 9800

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Martin McGartland

Martin McGartland

03 December 2018

Dear Scott,

Thank you for your reply of 23 November regarding my FOI request of 22 November 2018.

In your reply you wrote;

“I acknowledge receipt of your email.
You are wrong when you state the information is not available and has not been published. The information you require is on the OPCC website - http://www.northumbria-pcc.gov.uk/
Yours sincerely
Scott”

The following is a link to the OPCC expenses page (when I read before I made my request) http://www.northumbria-pcc.gov.uk/transp...
The page and lists of all travel - expenses from December 2012 and November 2018 ONLY includes expenses for rail travel and taxis. Far from my being “wrong” the request I made clearly stated that;

“PCCs and their deputies should publish a breakdown of their expenses including:
their name, force area, financial year, month, date, claim reference numbers, expense type (e.g. travel, accommodation), short description, details, amount claimed, amount reimbursed, amount not reimbursed, and the reason why a claim was not reimbursed 
for travel and subsistence claims: date, place of origin, place of destination, category of journey, class of travel, mileage, length of hotel stay, category of hotel stay"

And; 1. “Why you as PCC of Northumbria have not been publishing all of the above information as required?”

i.e. “all” would of course include e.g. accommodation. mileage. Length of hotel stay, subsistence claims etc. None of which are included on the travel – expenses page. It is clear that “all” expenses are not / have not been published as they are required to be . It would also include all and any other expenses that I referred to in my 22 November 2018.

I would ask that you please deal with my 22 November 2018 request correctly. I would also like add to my request for information relating to Rail travel claimed for following amounts and dates;

- 01 November 2018 of £161.35
- 17 October 2018 of £243.75
- 19 September 2018 0f £128.05
- 12 September 2018 of £232.65
- 10 September 2018 0f £128.05
- 24 July 2018 of £90.70
- 17 July 2018 of £159.40
- 05 July 2018 of £189.05

Under FOIA I would like to know the category of each journey as well as class of travel for each of the above?

Yours sincerely,

Martin McGartland

Enquiries, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner

Dear Mr McGartland,

I am writing further to your recent email.

The information you refer is published in compliance with the Specified Information Order.

Yours sincerely.

Kevin

Kevin Payne
Office of Dame Vera Baird QC
Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria

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Dear Enquiries,

Would you please deal with my request and also answer following;

I would ask that you please deal with my 22 November 2018 request correctly. I would also like add to my request for information relating to Rail travel claimed for following amounts and dates;

- 01 November 2018 of £161.35
- 17 October 2018 of £243.75
- 19 September 2018 0f £128.05
- 12 September 2018 of £232.65
- 10 September 2018 0f £128.05
- 24 July 2018 of £90.70
- 17 July 2018 of £159.40
- 05 July 2018 of £189.05

Under FOIA I would like to know the category of each journey as well as class of travel for each of the above?

Yours sincerely,

Martin McGartland

Enquiries, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner

Dear Mr McGartland,

Subject: Freedom of Information Acknowledgement – Reference 432018.

I refer to the request, which you have made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for records held by this office.

Your request was received by this department on 14 December 2018.

A final decision on your request would normally be sent to you within 20 working days of receipt of your request. This means that you can expect to receive your decision by 16 January 2018.
There are some limited situations under the Freedom of Information Act, which could mean that the period for a final decision may be longer than the normal 20 working days. If this occurs in your request, we will promptly advise you in writing.

Should our final decision not reach you on time, please feel free to contact the officer named to discuss any problems that may have arisen.

If you have not heard from us once the allotted time has expired, you are automatically entitled to appeal to this department for a review of the matter. This review is a full and new examination of the matter, and is carried out by a more senior member of staff of this office.

In the event that you need to make such an appeal, you can do so by writing to Kevin Payne of this department at the details given below. You should state that you are appealing because an initial decision was not sent to you within the time permitted. In that event, you would normally have 40 days (after the original decision should have been sent to you) in which time to make the appeal.

Best Wishes.

Kevin

Kevin Payne
Office of Dame Vera Baird QC
Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria

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Martin McGartland (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

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Martin McGartland

Dear Enquiries,

Could I please have a reply.

Yours sincerely,

Martin McGartland

Enquiries, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner

Dear Mr McGartland,

I refer you to the content of my earlier email as per below.

I can assure you that you will receive a response in due course.

Yours sincerely.

Kevin Payne
Office of Dame Vera Baird QC
Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria

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Enquiries, Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner

1 Attachment

Dear Mr McGartland,

Subject – Freedom of Information Request

I am writing further to your recent FOI request to this office dated 14 December 2018. 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 Crime Commissioner), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

I have copied your request as follows for ease of reference -

- 01 November 2018 of £161.35
- 17 October 2018 of £243.75
- 19 September 2018 0f £128.05
- 12 September 2018 of £232.65
- 10 September 2018 0f £128.05
- 24 July 2018 of £90.70
- 17 July 2018 of £159.40
- 05 July 2018 of £189.05

Under FOIA I would like to know the category of each journey as well as class of travel for each of the above?

No information held, details of rail travel such as category/class are not retained. As previously noted, the information published on the PCC's website is done so in compliance with the Specified Information Order.

The Disclosure Log contains copies of some of the information that has been disclosed by Northumbria Police & Crime Commissioner 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-pcc.gov.uk/transp...

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

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.

Kind regards.

Kevin

Kevin Payne
Office of Dame Vera Baird QC
Police and Crime Commissioner for Northumbria