20th November 2013 – FOI Response: 648.2013-14 – Freedom of information request

Request

Under the Freedom of Information Act could you please provide me with information on how much the PCC claimed in expenses in the first 12 months of office – November 2012 to October 2013.

Could the list please be broken down to include details on how much was claimed on travel, food, and accommodation? Could you also provide details on the PCC’s mileage allowance?

Response

Extent and Result of Searches to Locate Information

To locate information relevant to your request, searches were conducted within the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire.

I can confirm that the information you have requested is held by the Commissioner.

Decision

Expenses

The following link will give you access to the page where the Commissioner’s expenses are published: https://northyorkshire-pfcc.mixd.co.uk/commissioner/finances/expenses/

All of the Commissioner’s expenses are published on that page, including any expenses incurred for travel, food, accommodation and mileage. Your request asks for details of the Commissioner’s expenses for the period November 2012 – October 2013. The Commissioner only took office on the 22nd November 2012 and so there is no recorded information held prior to then. The above link will give you access to the Commissioner’s expenses from 22nd November 2012 to 31st October 2013 inclusive. You will, therefore, be able to access all of the information covered by your request via the above link.

It has been decided that the Commissioner is exempt from providing you with a separate copy of this information for the reasons detailed below.

Section 21 – Information reasonably accessible by other means
It has been decided that the Commissioner is exempt from providing you with a separate copy of the expenses information which has already been published pursuant to S21 of the Act.

Section 21 is a class based absolute exemption which does not require consideration of the harm or public interest when applying this exemption.

This exemption applies as all the Commissioner’s expenses are published quarterly on the Commissioner’s website. Currently all of the Commissioner’s expenses to the end of October 2013 are published, this includes information for the timescale specified in your request, as well as the different type of expenditure you specify. The information can be obtained at the above link.

S17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) requires the Commissioner when refusing to provide information because the information is exempt, to provide the applicant with a notice which: (a) states the fact, (b) specifies the exemption in question and (c) states (if it would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.

Pursuant to Section 17(1) of the Act this letter acts as a Refusal Notice in relation to the exempted parts of your request.

Complaint Rights

In the event that you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request for information, you have a right to a review or to complain to the Information Commissioners Office, the details of which are set out in the enclosed sheet.