FOI 0665-2024/25- Subject Access Requests received
Request:
Q1. Number of Subject Access Requests (SAR) the force received in:
2021
2022
2023
Q2. Number of SARs complied with, within the statutory time limit in
2021
2022
2023
Q3. Number of SARs complied with in full in
2021
2022
2023
Q4. Number of SARs part complied with in
2021
2022
2023
Q5. Number of SARs not complied with in
2021
2022
2023
Q6. In cases where SARs were late, part complied or not complied with how many of the subjects were active complainants (active complaints with the police – against the police) in
2021
2022
2023
Q7. In cases where SARs were late, part complied or not complied with how many of the subjects were past complainants (past complaints with the police – against the police) in
2021
2022
2023
Additional questions (if time and resources permit):
Q8. In cases where SARs were late what reasons were given, if any?
Q9. In cases where SARs were part complied with, what reasons were given, if any?
Q10. In cases where SARs were not complied with, what reasons were given, if any?
Response:
Extent of Searches to Locate Information
Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police to locate relevant information.
Decision
I am not obliged to provide you with a response to your request pursuant to Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please note that when one part of your request falls under Section 12, we are not obliged to review the rest of the questions and the whole request is therefore exempt.
Section 12(1) applies to your request as the cost of complying with your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of identifying and retrieving any relevant information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
Due to the nature of our recording systems the information requested, if held, is not in an easily retrievable format. Our information retrieval process generally relies on a computer ran report which captures any information recorded upon the surface of a record or within specified fields. Where relevant information is held deeper in the record, or outside of a specified field, a manual assessment is required to retrieve that information.
For Q3 – Q10 in order to retrieve the requested information, it would be necessary to manually review over 1300 subject access requests to establish how many requests where all information was provided, how many were part complied with and the reason for this, how many were not complied with and the reason for this as well as manually review complaint data relating to Q6 and Q7 to establish if we had been informed of the complaint and if the complaint was active or a past complaint, this manual process would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act.
Pursuant to Section 17(5) of the Freedom of Information Act this letter acts as a Refusal Notice.
Pursuant to Section 16 of the Act I am required to offer you advice and assistance with regarding to refining your request to within the ‘appropriate limit’ (time/cost limit). However, we may be able to provide some information for parts 1 and 2 if you resubmit and omit parts 3-10. If you wish to discuss this please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data. It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.