Claire’s Law (428A/23)
Request
Would it be possible to disclose the following information – for the calendar years 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022?
1.How many requests for a disclosure were made to your force under the “Right to Ask” during the years stated above? Can you please include the gender of the person making the request if it was given?
2.Can you please break down as a percentage – the time it took to process the ‘Right to Ask’ disclosure requests: a) 0-20 days, b) 21-35 days and c) 36+ days
3.Can you please provide me with the longest period of time it took to process a ‘Right to Ask’ application (from request to disclosure / outcome) during the years stated above?
4.How many requests for disclosures were made to your force under the under ‘Right to Know’ during this time period? Can you please reveal which gender the right to know request relates to?
5.Can you please break down as a percentage – the time it took process these ‘Right to Know’ disclosure requests: a) 0-20 days, b) 21-35 days and c) 36+ days
6.Can you please provide me with the longest period of time it took to process a ‘Right to Know’ application (from request to disclosure / outcome) during the years stated above?
Response
Please be advised that the information that you have requested is not available in a readily retrievable format. In relation to right to know and right to ask applications, In January 2022 West Midlands Police created a bespoke team who now process all applications for the force
Prior to 2022 we would need to locate, retrieve and review each individual record to ascertain if it was a Right to Know or Right to Ask application and to ascertain the gender of the applicant
The time to locate and retrieve information for the additional years 2014/2015/2016/2017/2018 would be in addition to the calculation above
Therefore, the cost of providing you with the information is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of locating and retrieving the information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this part of the request and if one part of a request exceeds the fees limit then S12 of the Act applies to the whole request
However, In accordance with Section 16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request and can provide information in relation to Information in respect of 2022.