Private Company Hire of the Metropolitan Police for the Performance of Special Services under the 1996 Police Act

The request was refused by Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime.

Dear Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime,

Under the 1996 Police Act, the Metropolitan Police have had the power to charge for special services it carries out on behalf of private companies.

For the period commencing 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2011, please provide me with a detailed list of special services carried out by the Metropolitan Police on behalf of a private company ("the hiring company") under the 1996 Police Act.

Please have this detailed list show:

1) the name of the company which contracted the Metropolitan Police for the peformance of special services ("the hiring company");

2) the primary business (e.g. "insurance" "credit card") of the hiring company;

3) the amount the hiring company paid for the Metropolitan Police's performance of this special service;

4) the kind of special service (e.g., "accident investigation" "fraud") the Metropolitan Police performed for payment by the hiring company;

5) the specific department of the Metropolitan Police which carried out the performance of the special service by the hiring company;

5) the dates over which this special service was performed by The Met on behalf of the hiring company.

Yours faithfully,

Tom Kearney

Yvonne Peart,

Dear Mr Kearney,

Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The Mayor's Office of Policing and Crime does not hold the requested information. I have therefore transferred your request to the Metropolitan Police Service for response.

You should hear from the shortly.

Yvonne Peart
Information Officer

show quoted sections

Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime

Dear Mr Kearney

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2012020000997
I write in connection with your request for information  which was
received by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 07/02/2012.  I note
you seek access to the following information:

NOTE; The Mayor's office of Policing and Crime have advised the applicant
they do not hold this information - so this request has been passed to the
Metropolitan Police Service.

"Dear Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime,  

 Under the 1996 Police Act, the Metropolitan Police have had the  power to
charge for special services it carries out on behalf of     private
companies.  For the period commencing 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2011,
please provide me with a detailed list of special services carried out by
the Metropolitan Police on behalf of a private company ("the  hiring
company") under the 1996 Police Act.  Please have this detailed list show:
 

1) the name of the company which contracted the Metropolitan Police for
the peformance of special services ("the hiring company");  

2) the primary business (e.g. "insurance" "credit card") of the hiring
company;

3) the amount the hiring company paid for the Metropolitan Police's
performance of this special service;  

4) the kind of special service (e.g., "accident investigation" "fraud")
the Metropolitan Police performed for payment by the     hiring company;  

5) the specific department of the Metropolitan Police which carried out
the performance of the special service by the hiring company;  

6) the dates over which this special service was performed by The  Met on
behalf of the hiring company. "

Your request will now be considered in accordance with the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (the Act).  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 or containing a reference to a third
party.  In some circumstances the MPS may be unable to achieve this
deadline.  If this is likely you will be informed and given a revised
time-scale at the earliest opportunity.

Some requests may also require either full or partial transference 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.

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Your attention is drawn to the attached sheet, which details your right of
complaint.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write
or contact Peter Deja on telephone number 02071613640 quoting the
reference number above.

Yours sincerely

Peter Deja
Policy and Support Officer
COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Are you unhappy with how your request has been handled or do you think the
decision is incorrect?

You have the right to require the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to
review their decision.

Prior to lodging a formal complaint you are welcome and encouraged to
discuss the decision with the case officer that dealt with your request.  

Ask to have the decision looked at again –

The quickest and easiest way to have the decision looked at again is to
telephone the case officer that is nominated at the end of your decision
letter.

That person will be able to discuss the decision, explain any issues and
assist with any problems.

Complaint

If you are dissatisfied with the handling procedures or the decision of
the MPS made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) regarding
access to information you can lodge a complaint with the MPS to have the
decision reviewed.

Complaints should be made in writing, within forty (40) working days from
the date of the refusal notice, and addressed to:

FOI Complaint
Public Access Office
PO Box 57192
London
SW6 1SF
[email address]

In all possible circumstances the MPS will aim to respond to your
complaint within 20 working days.
The Information Commissioner

After lodging a complaint with the MPS if you are still dissatisfied with
the decision you may make application to the Information Commissioner for
a decision on whether the request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act.

For information on how to make application to the Information Commissioner
please visit their website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
 Alternatively, phone or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone:  01625 545 700

Total Policing is the Met's commitment to be on the streets and in your
communities to catch offenders, prevent crime and support victims. We are
here for London, working with you to make our capital safer.

 

Consider our environment - please do not print this email unless
absolutely necessary.

NOTICE - This email and any attachments may be confidential, subject to
copyright and/or legal privilege and are intended solely for the use of
the intended recipient. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender and delete it from your system.  To avoid incurring
legal liabilities, you must not distribute or copy the information in this
email without the permission of the sender. MPS communication systems are
monitored to the extent permitted by law.  Consequently, any email and/or
attachments may be read by monitoring staff. Only specified personnel are
authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of the MPS by
email. The MPS accepts no responsibility for unauthorised agreements
reached with other employees or agents.  The security of this email and
any attachments cannot be guaranteed. Email messages are routinely scanned
but malicious software infection and corruption of content can still occur
during transmission over the Internet. Any views or opinions expressed in
this communication are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
represent those of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).

Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime

Dear Mr. Kearney

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2012020000997

I write in connection with your request for information which was received
by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 07/02/12.  I note you seek
access to the following information:

For the period commencing 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2011, please
provide me with a detailed list of special services carried out by the
Metropolitan Police on behalf of a private company ("the hiring company")
under the 1996 Police Act.

Please have this detailed list show:
     
1) the name of the company which contracted the Metropolitan Police for
the performance of special services ("the hiring company");

2) the primary business (e.g. "insurance" "credit card") of the hiring
company;

3) the amount the hiring company paid for the Metropolitan Police's
performance of this special service;

4) the kind of special service (e.g., "accident investigation" "fraud")
the Metropolitan Police performed for payment by the hiring company;

5) the specific department of the Metropolitan Police which carried out
the performance of the special service by the hiring company;

6) the dates over which this special service was performed by The Met on
behalf of the hiring company.

This letter is to inform you that it will not be possible to respond to
your request within the cost threshold. In order to comply with your
request, we would need to compile information on the number of requests to
the MPS for Special Police Services (SPS) each year. The MPS plans for and
polices over 4,500 events each year. However, Central records do not hold
details of whether the policing provided for each of these events was for
SPS.

There would be a need to compile this information manually from either the
records (Application for Special Police Services) maintained in each of
the Borough Events Offices or the invoices raised by Finance Services. To
establish the cost of the SPS would require interrogation of records held
by Finance Services and in illustration, excluding receipts from football
and other sporting events, in the last financial year (2010/11) the MPS
raised over 1,900 invoices in respect of operational receipts.

We estimate that the cost of complying with this request would exceed the
appropriate limit. The appropriate limit has been specified in regulations
and for agencies outside Central Government at £450.00. This represents
the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether
the MPS holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the
information.

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts a
Refusal Notice.

Section 17(5) of the Act provides:

(5) A public authority which, in relation to any request for information,
is relying on a claim that section 12 or 14 applies must, within the time
for complying with section 1(1), give the applicant a notice stating that
fact.

Section 12 of the Act provides:

(1) Section 1(1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a
request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of
complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit.

Under Section 16 (duty to assist) we are required to assist applicants
making FOI requests and as such it may be beneficial to provide an
explanation as to the approach to requests for SPS in the MPS. The
requests for SPS can be of a scale where the SPS is provided continuously
over a number of years and involve the deployment of a significant number
of police officer and police staff for which the MPS recovers the full
cost of the SPS provided. Examples include the Agreements with the Palace
of Westminster and Transport for London.

At the other end of the scale are those one off events such as funfairs or
music festivals where an organiser requesting SPS needs to complete an
"Application for Special Police Services" form.
                         
If the MPS agrees to the request for SPS and that the services to be
provided are SPS and are not core policing, the organiser will be advised
of the level of police resources to be provided and the cost of the SPS
based upon the charges approved annually. In each case the organiser and
the MPS will sign the application.

The existence of a jointly signed SPS agreement, either in respect of a
one off event or in respect of a commitment over a number of year, is
paramount in ensuring that the provision of the SPS, is in accordance with
the legislation and case law.

I would also like to direct your attention to the Metropolitan Police
Authority (MPA) archived website. The MPS produces an annual report on the
Cost Implications of Policing Public Order Events each July which details
the associated cost recovery where SPS were provided. The link below will
refer you to the July 2011 report. Reports from previous years are also
available via the MPA site

http://www.mpa.gov.uk/committees/finres/...

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Your attention is drawn to the attached sheet which details your right of
complaint.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write
or contact Gladys Shuckard Rowe on telephone number 0207 230 3101 quoting
the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

Gladys Shuckard Rowe

COMPLAINT RIGHTS

Are you unhappy with how your request has been handled or do you think the
decision is incorrect?

You have the right to require the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to
review their decision.

Prior to lodging a formal complaint you are welcome and encouraged to
discuss the decision with the case officer that dealt with your request.  

Ask to have the decision looked at again –

The quickest and easiest way to have the decision looked at again is to
telephone the case officer that is nominated at the end of your decision
letter.

That person will be able to discuss the decision, explain any issues and
assist with any problems.

Complaint

If you are dissatisfied with the handling procedures or the decision of
the MPS made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) regarding
access to information you can lodge a complaint with the MPS to have the
decision reviewed.

Complaints should be made in writing, within forty (40) working days from
the date of the refusal notice, and addressed to:

FOI Complaint
Public Access Office
PO Box 57192
London
SW6 1SF
[email address]

In all possible circumstances the MPS will aim to respond to your
complaint within 20 working days.
The Information Commissioner

After lodging a complaint with the MPS if you are still dissatisfied with
the decision you may make application to the Information Commissioner for
a decision on whether the request for information has been dealt with in
accordance with the requirements of the Act.

For information on how to make application to the Information Commissioner
please visit their website at www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk.
 Alternatively, phone or write to:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone:  01625 545 700

Total Policing is the Met's commitment to be on the streets and in your
communities to catch offenders, prevent crime and support victims. We are
here for London, working with you to make our capital safer.

 

Consider our environment - please do not print this email unless
absolutely necessary.

NOTICE - This email and any attachments may be confidential, subject to
copyright and/or legal privilege and are intended solely for the use of
the intended recipient. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender and delete it from your system.  To avoid incurring
legal liabilities, you must not distribute or copy the information in this
email without the permission of the sender. MPS communication systems are
monitored to the extent permitted by law.  Consequently, any email and/or
attachments may be read by monitoring staff. Only specified personnel are
authorised to conclude any binding agreement on behalf of the MPS by
email. The MPS accepts no responsibility for unauthorised agreements
reached with other employees or agents.  The security of this email and
any attachments cannot be guaranteed. Email messages are routinely scanned
but malicious software infection and corruption of content can still occur
during transmission over the Internet. Any views or opinions expressed in
this communication are solely those of the author and do not necessarily
represent those of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS).