Police officer driver training

The request was successful.

Dear Merseyside Police,

1)Is there a guideline on how often police officers should retake their standard response police driving test driving test?

2)Is there a law on how often police officers should retake their standard response police driving test driving test?

3)Can I have access to the database Merseyside Police use to see when officers last took their standard response police driving test or higher?

4)If not, what percentage of officers have passed their most recent standard response police driving test or higher?

5)Also, what number of officers have and have not passed their most recent standard response police driving test or higher?

6)What is the longest amount of time a current officer has gone without having a standard response police driving test or higher?

7)If a database Merseyside Police use to see when officers last took their standard response police driving test or higher does not exist, what are the procedures for finding out if an officer needs to be take their standard response police driving test?

Yours faithfully,

Ollie Gillman

Merseyside Police

Dear Mr Gillman

Reference No : DM46/13


Thank you for your application for information concerning police driving tests. This will be dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

Your request will now be considered and you will receive a response within the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act, subject
to the information not being exempt nor containing a reference to a third party. In the event that we are not able to achieve this deadline you
will be informed at the earliest opportunity and given a revised time-scale.

There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of the information you have requested. If this is the case you will be
informed and the 20 working day timescale will be suspended until we receive payment from you.

Some requests may also require either full or partial transfer to another public authority in order to answer your query in the fullest possible
way. Again, you will be informed if this is the case.


Yours sincerely,

Mr D May
Disclosure Analyst
Information Bureau
Merseyside Police
PO Box 59, Liverpool. L69 1JD
Email : [Merseyside Police request email]

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Merseyside Police

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Gillman

Response Letter - FOI Application DM46/13 (please quote in all
correspondence)

I write in connection with your request for information which was received
by Merseyside Police on 19/02/2013. I note that you seek access to the
following information:

1) Is there a guideline on how often police officers should retake their
standard response police driving test driving test?

2) Is there a law on how often police officers should retake their
standard response police driving test driving test?

3) Can I have access to the database Merseyside Police use to see when
officers last took their standard response police driving test or higher?

4) If not, what percentage of officers have passed their most recent
standard response police driving test or higher?

5) Also, what number of officers have and have not passed their most
recent standard response police driving test or higher?

6) What is the longest amount of time a current officer has gone without
having a standard response police driving test or higher?

7) If a database Merseyside Police use to see when officers last took
their standard response police driving test or higher does not exist, what
are the procedures for finding out if an officer needs to be take their
standard response police driving test?

Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within
Merseyside Police to locate information relevant to your request. I can
confirm that:

i) Information is held in respect of parts 1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 of your
request; and
ii) Information is not held in relation to parts 4 and 5 of your request

To locate the information relevant to your request, searches were
conducted in the Academy.

I have today decided to:

i) Disclose information relating to parts 1, 2 and 7 of your request; and
ii) Exempt information relating to part 3 of your request under Section
40(2) of the Freedom Of Information Act; and
iii) Exempt information relating to part 6 of your request under Section
12 of the Freedom Of Information Act.

Section 40 of the Freedom Of Information Act states that personal
information is exempt from disclosure.

Section 12 of the Freedom Of Information Act states that information need
not be disclosed if the cost of retrieving that information exceeds £450,
or 18 hours based on a cost of £25 per hour.

The database which records details of officers' driver training naturally
contains a large amount of personal information, the disclosure of which
would infringe the rights of the officers concerned under the Data
Protection Act.

The database does not allow for the automatic retrieval of times spent by
officers before having their standard response police driving test.
Researching this information would therefore require manual inspection of
all records relating to current officers.

Although excess cost removes the force’s obligation under the Freedom of
Information Act, information is supplied relative to your request that was
retrieved or available before it was known that the fees limit would be
exceeded. This is intended to be of assistance but it does not affect the
legal right of the force to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder
of the request(s). The interpretation of the cost exemption is in
accordance with Information Commissioner’s advice in decision notice case
number FS50143930.

Please find attached my full Response Table.

(See attached file: DM46-13 Response Table.doc)

Complaint Rights

Your attention is drawn to the information following this response, which
details your rights of review and of complaint.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write
to or e-mail me at the below address, quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

Mr D May
Disclosure Analyst
Information Access Unit
Information Bureau
Merseyside Police
PO BOX 59
LIVERPOOL L69 1JD
Tel: 0151 777 7021
Fax: 0151 777 7099
E-mail: [Merseyside Police request email]

Making a complaint or appeal about your Freedom of Information response

We accept that sometimes you may not agree with the decision we’ve made
about your Freedom of Information request. If this is the case there is an
internal complaints procedure that should be followed.

You should make your complaint in writing to:

Information Access Unit

Information Bureau
Merseyside Police

PO BOX 59

LIVERPOOL

L69 1JD

It should detail:

What the original request was

The nature of the complaint

Why you feel you should have received more information

Your complaint will be fully investigated and will be dealt with by a
staff member who was not involved in the original decision. We will write
to you to advise the outcome of your complaint.

If you are dissatisfied with the results of your complaint you have the
right to appeal to the Information Commissioner. He can be contacted at:

The Office of the Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire SK9 5AF

More information is available from the Information Commissioner's website

[1]http://www.ico.gov.uk

============================================================
This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended 
solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed.

If you have received this email in error please notify the sender as soon 
as possible.

This footnote confirms that all reasonable steps have been taken to 
ensure that this email message has been swept for the presence of 
computer viruses.

The views expressed in this communication may not necessarily be the
views of Merseyside Police.

All communications, including telephone calls and electronic messages to
and from Merseyside Police may be subject to monitoring and recording.
============================================================

References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.gov.uk/