The Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) gives a right of
public access to information held by public authorities. Under the
terms of the publication scheme, Authorities are required to
provide details of any information that is subject to charges.
Where Authorities have historically levied a fee for certain
types of information as part of normal business processes, prior to
the introduction of the Freedom of Information Act, they will
continue to charge for that information.
Suffolk Constabulary will not make this information available
via the publication scheme, and will deal with such requests as
business as usual by the relevant department.
For example, Subject Access requests are and will continue to be
dealt under the Data Protection Act, and the Road Safety Management
Unit will continue to deal with requests for accident reports.
With the development in electronic systems, there will be few
occasions where actual hard copy documents are required however;
consideration can be made to apply a fee for copying and postage
reimbursements, when it is regarded as excessive.
This will be judged on a case-by-case basis and will be
periodically revised and updated. Any fees will be communicated to
the applicant on receipt of a request for the information.
Suffolk Constabulary’s Publication Scheme is generally free for
all to access the information however, where information is not
included in the scheme but is noted as being available, or where a
hard copy of that information is required, the Constabulary will
endeavour to respond to the request as quickly as possible.
The statutory timeframe of 20 working days, depicted by the Act,
is not relevant in these incidences.
The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate
Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 (the Fees Regulations) provide the
framework for setting the maximum fee that can be charged when
complying with a request for information under FOIA.
The appropriate cost limit for a request is £450 for public
authorities excluding government. When a request is received the
Constabulary will estimate how much it will cost to deal with it,
and if it will be within this limit.
When estimating the cost of compliance, the Constabulary will
consider the cost of:
- Determining whether the information requested is held
- Locating the information
- Retrieving such information or documents.
The cost of staff time associated with these activities is
currently calculated at £25 per hour. The time spent considering
whether or not information is exempt from disclosure cannot be
taken into account when estimating the cost of compliance
Where the limit is not exceeded, the only charges that can be
passed to the applicant are those associated with providing the
information, for example photocopying and postage. These are
collectively known as disbursements.
If you require a document in another format or language, the
Constabulary will do its best to help you. Please email your
request, together with your contact details to headquarters@suffolk.pnn.police.uk.
Where it is estimated that the time limit will be exceeded,
there is no obligation to comply with the request, rather the
applicant will be informed by way of a Section 12 refusal
notice.
Under Section 16 of the FOI Act, Public Authorities have a duty
to assist the applicant. Suffolk Constabulary will endeavour to
fulfil this duty wherever possible, by either:
- Providing information obtained before it was realised that the
fees limit had been reached or;
- Providing advice as to how the request could be refined.
Suffolk Constabulary will, by the request of the applicant, be
willing to provide the information even where the cost exceeds the
time limit. Under section 9 of the FOIA, a fees notice will be
issued to the applicant.
The Fees notice must specify the fee that is being charged by
the authority in complying with a request made under section 1 of
the FOIA and on receipt of payment, the request will
processed.
Further assistance with regards charging under FOI can be found
on the
Information Commissioner website.
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