Dear Mr Madden

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2017110000103

I write in connection with your request for information which was received
by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 03/11/2017.  I note you seek
access to the following information:

"Can you please provide me with the figures for the following incidents
that have occurred in London From 30th September To 31 October 2017

Reported sexual assaults of all nature by private hire drivers working for
the operator uber or that have had the operator uber stated as part of the
witness statement"

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.  

If you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please contact
us at [email address] or on the phone at 0207 161 3500, quoting the
reference number above. Should your enquiry relate to the logging or
allocations process we will be able to assist you directly and where your
enquiry relates to other matters (such as the status of the request) we
will be able to pass on a message and/or advise you of the relevant
contact details.

Yours sincerely

R. Loizou
Support Officer - Freedom of Information Triage Team
 
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 to discuss the
response with the case officer who dealt with your request.  

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
Information Rights Unit
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.ico.org.uk.  Alternatively, write to or
phone:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone: 0303 123 1113

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).

Find us at:

Facebook: Facebook.com/metpoliceuk

Twitter: @metpoliceuk

Dear Mr Madden
Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2017110000103
I write in connection with your request for information which was received
by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 03/11/2017. I note you seek
access to the following information:
"Can you please provide me with the figures for the following incidents
that have occurred in London From 30th September To 31 October 2017:
Reported sexual assaults of all nature by private hire drivers working for
the operator uber or that have had the operator uber stated as part of the
witness statement"

I would like to inform you that we are currently processing your Freedom
of Information Act request, but that it is taking longer than anticipated.
 
The reason for this is because the Met HQ Data Team who are responsible
for corporate data collation are still in the process of collating the
data.

I would like to apologise for the delay and any inconvenience caused,
however we anticipate that you should receive a response from us by Friday
15th December 2017 at the very latest. If it is not possible to process
your FOIA request within this time, we will write to you again.  

Yours Sincerely

Deborah Solomon
Information Manager
MPS Information Rights Unit

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).

Find us at:

Facebook: Facebook.com/metpoliceuk

Twitter: @metpoliceuk

Dear Mr Madden

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2017110000103

I write in connection with your request for information which was received
by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 03/11/2017. I note you seek
access to the following information:
"Can you please provide me with the figures for the following incidents
that have occurred in London From 30th September To 31 October 2017:
Reported sexual assaults of all nature by private hire drivers working for
the operator uber or that have had the operator uber stated as part of the
witness statement"
I would like to inform you that we are still processing your Freedom of
Information Act request, but that it is taking longer than anticipated.
 
The reason for this is because the Met HQ Data Team are still in the
process of collating the data.
I would like to apologise once more, for the delay and any inconvenience
caused, and thank you for your patience. We anticipate that you should
receive a response from us by Monday 22nd January 2018 at the very latest.
If it is not possible to process your FOIA request within this time, we
will write to you again.  
Yours Sincerely
Deborah Solomon
Information Manager
MPS Information Rights Unit

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).

Find us at:

Facebook: Facebook.com/metpoliceuk

Twitter: @metpoliceuk

Dear P T Madden

Freedom of Information Review Reference No: 2018010000959

I write in connection with your request for a review of the handling
and/or decision relating to  2017110000103 which was received by the
Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on  23/01/2018.  

A review will now be conducted in accordance with the Code of Practice
issued under Section 45 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act).
 The reviewing officer will reconsider the original request before
responding to you with their findings.

There is no statutory time limit in relation to the completion of an
Internal Review.  However, the MPS aim to complete Internal Reviews within
20 working days or in exceptional cases, within 40 working days.  This is
based upon guidance published by the Information Commissioner.

If it is not possible to complete the Internal Review within this
timescale you will be informed at the earliest opportunity.

If you are unhappy with the outcome of an Internal Review you may wish to
refer the matter to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).

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

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone:  0303 123 1113

Yours sincerely

R. Loizou
Support Officer - Freedom of Information Triage Team

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).

Find us at:

Facebook: Facebook.com/metpoliceuk

Twitter: @metpoliceuk

Dear Mr Madden

Freedom of Information Review Reference No: 2018010000959

Further to our earlier correspondence dated 23/01/2018, I am now able to
provide a response to your complaint concerning Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA) request reference number: 2017110000103.  

Section 10(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 states:

'Subject to subsections (2) and (3), a public authority must comply with
section 1(1) promptly and in any event not later than the twentieth
working day following the date of receipt.'

In the circumstances of your request, neither the information requested
nor a refusal notice was provided to you within 20 working days.
Therefore, the MPS have not complied with the requirements of section 10
of the Act.

I have made enquiries and have ascertained that the Information Manager
with responsibility for your request is awaiting data for your request. I
have asked them to chase this as a matter of urgency so that you can be
provided with a response.

For your information, some information related to the subject that you
have enquired about can be found on Transport for London's website. I have
provided the link below:

https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/safety-and-...

You may also wish to search TFL FOIA disclosures concerning Uber. Please
see the link below:

https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transparenc...

I have also provided links below to MPS FOIA disclosures which may be of
interest to you:

https://www.met.police.uk/globalassets/f...

https://www.met.police.uk/globalassets/f...

As a response to your request is currently outstanding, I am unable to
complete a full internal review in relation to your request. However,
should you be dissatisfied with the MPS response to your request, you may
request an internal review in relation to the decision.

I would like to take this opportunity to apologise on behalf of the MPS
for any inconvenience caused by the time taken to respond to your Freedom
of Information Act request. The progress of your request will continue to
be monitored and the issues you have raised have been recorded, enabling
us to provide a more efficient and effective service in the future.

Yours sincerely

Yvette Taylor
Information Manager

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).

Find us at:

Facebook: Facebook.com/metpoliceuk

Twitter: @metpoliceuk

Dear Mr Madden

Freedom of Information Request Reference No: 2017110000103

I write in connection with your request for information which was received
by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) on 03/11/2017.  I note you seek
access to the following information:

* Can you please provide me with the figures for the following incidents
that have occurred in London From 30th September To 31 October 2017
Reported sexual assaults of all nature by private hire drivers working
for the operator uber or that have had the operator uber stated as
part of the witness statement .

Firstly I would like to apologise on behalf of the MPS for the delay in
responding to your request and any inconvenience this may have caused.

SEARCHES TO LOCATE INFORMATION

To locate the information relevant to your request searches were conducted
on the MPS website.  The searches located some information relevant to
your request.

DECISION

This letter is to inform you that it will not be possible to respond to
your request within the cost threshold.  This response serves as a Refusal
Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act).
 Please see the legal annex for further information on the exemptions
applied in respect of your request.

REASONS FOR DECISION

Your request asks for figures for "reported sexual assaults of all nature
by private hire drivers working for the operator uber or that have had the
operator uber stated as part of the witness statement"  In order to comply
with the latter half of your request the MPS would need to read and review
all witness statements for reported sexual assaults so that we could
ascertain whether or not the statement "had the operator uber stated".

The MPS publish crime data on our website via the Crime Data Dashboard
(https://www.met.police.uk/stats-and-data...).  The
dashboard allows you to select crime types from a drop down list and
choose a date range using sliders.  Having limited the crime types to
sexual offences and the slider to October 2017 (01/10/2017 to 31/10/2017)
the dashboard shows that there were 1,745 sexual offences committed in
this period.

In order to ascertain whether or not statements in respect of these cases
"had the operator uber stated" we would need to read them and record
whether uber is or is not mentioned.  A statement can be many pages long
and there can be multiple statements recorded in respect of crimes.  Even
if we assumed that there is only one statement per offence, that the
statement could be read in a minute and that they had already been
collated this work would still take more than 29 hours to complete.  In
reality the time spend obtaining the statements (locating them
within/extracting them from case files) and then reading the statements
would be much higher.

We therefore 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; this is set at
£450.00.   This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18
hours [at a rate of £25 per hour] in determining whether the MPS holds the
information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

I would like to provide you with advice as to how you may narrow your
request so that it does not exceed the appropriate limit.

I would suggest that you narrow your request by omitting the second half
of it.  In respect of the first part of your request the MPS could, within
the cost limit, carry out the following work:

Extract data from our crime system where a sexual offence was reported and
the person accused has a recorded occupation of "taxi driver".  Following
that work would be needed to read those crime reports in order to
ascertain whether or not uber is mentioned.  

As the above would still require the reading of crime reports you should
keep your date parameters short in order to avoid a further cost refusal.
 Also you should note that the occupation field is not mandatory and
therefore such detail is not always recorded.  

Please note that any data extracted within the 18 hour limit would be
subject to the consideration of exemptions and therefore this advice
should not be taken as confirmation that any such data, if held, would be
suitable for disclosure.

Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please
contact me on 0207 161 3583 or via email at [email address],
quoting the reference number above.

Yours sincerely

David Edwards
Information Rights Unit

LEGAL ANNEX

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(1)&(2) of the Act provides:

(1) Section 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.

(2) Subsection (1) does not exempt the public authority from its
obligation to comply with paragraph (a) of section 1(1) unless the
estimated cost of complying with that paragraph alone would exceed the
appropriate limit.

Section 16 of the Act provides:

(1) It shall be the duty of a public authority to provide advice and
assistance, so far as it would be reasonable to expect the authority to do
so, to persons who propose to make, or have made, requests for information
to it.

(2) Any public authority which, in relation to the provision of advice or
assistance in any case, conforms with the code of practice under section
45 is to be taken to comply with the duty imposed by subsection (1) in
relation to that case.
 
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 to discuss the
response with the case officer who dealt with your request.  

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
Information Rights Unit
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.ico.org.uk.  Alternatively, write to or
phone:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Phone:  0303 123 1113

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).

Find us at:

Facebook: Facebook.com/metpoliceuk

Twitter: @metpoliceuk