Civil Claims (1332A/21)
Request
- We write in accordance of the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information:
- Over the last 10 years how many civil claims brought against the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police ended in the Claimant’s favour; and
- Of those how many officers involved in those proceedings were subsequently subject to internal disciplinary proceedings leading to any type of reprimands, written warnings or management action.
CLARIFICATION
Thank you for your email. Kindly note the following:
- Ended in the Claimants favour = damages paid out, whether that be after trial or through settlement pre-trial;
- Civil Claims = those arising from tortious, human rights act and discrimination claims brought by members of the public;
- This is not a request for confirmation of how many files have been paid out on;
- Date of resolution, whether that is following a trial that ended in the Claimant’s favour or settlement.
Response
Our data are not organised in such a way as to allow us to provide this information within the appropriate (cost) limit within the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act (see ‘Reason for Decision’ below).
Although excess cost removes the force’s obligations under the Freedom of Information Act, as a gesture of goodwill I have supplied information, relative to your request, retrieved before it was realised that the fees limit would be exceeded (see attached). I trust this is helpful, but it does not affect our legal right to rely on the fees regulations for the remainder of the request.
REASON FOR DECISION
Please note that researching each individual case would exceed the appropriate limit (FOIA, s.12).
The cost of compliance with the whole of your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond, i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information would exceed the appropriate costs limit under section 12(1) of the FOI Act 2000. For West Midlands Police, the appropriate limit is set at £450, as prescribed by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations