Freedom of Information
Under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000, you can gain access to information held by Lancashire Constabulary. We must consider all requests for recorded information we receive and must:
- Inform the applicant whether the information is held; and
- Supply the requested information subject to the application of exemptions contained within the Act.
The FOIA is fully retrospective and covers all information held in a recorded format.
If you wish to apply for your personal information, please see the page regarding Subject Access. Such requests are exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 by virtue of Section 40(1).
To do this, please visit the Data Protection page.
Home Office Historic Data Wash of Police Workforce Nominal Records Against the Police National Data Base
In January 2023, following the conviction of a serving Met Police Officer for serious sexual offences, the Home Office announced that all police forces must carry out checks on all staff to identify if anyone ‘has slipped through the net’. This means that police forces are required to provide assurances where a police officer, member of police staff or volunteer has been convicted of a criminal offence, or any member of staff has any intelligence or adverse information against them on police data bases has the relevant vetting clearance and proper criminal and / or disciplinary investigations have been undertaken. These checks are ongoing, and the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) intend to publish the data sets below in January 2024:
(a) Total number of searches completed (number of individuals broken down to force level)
(b) Number of individuals with no concern (broken down to force level)
(c) Number of individuals of potential concern escalated to the appropriate authority (broken down to force level) and of those:
i) Number of individuals triggering further criminal investigation enquiries
ii) Number of individuals triggering a disciplinary investigation
iii) Number of individuals subject of vetting clearance review
iv) Number of individuals subject of management intervention or other action
v) Number of individuals subject of no action
ci) In relation to c(i) to (iv) above, further workforce data information will also be provided at a national level, using the relevant codes within the College of Policing National Standard for Recording Workforce Data Information (version 4.0):
i) Age
ii) Gender
iii) Ethnicity
In addition:
iv) Officer Rank (categorised as federated, superintending and Chief Officer)
v) Grade of staff (categorised)
vi) Length of service (categorised)
d) The nature of the allegations relating to those individuals subject to criminal investigations will also be published in broad terms using the Home Office Counting Rules (HOCR) definitions set out below:
- Violence against the person
- Sexual offences
- Robbery
- Burglary
- Vehicle offences
- Theft
- Arson and criminal damage
- Drug offences
- Public order offences
- Possession of weapons
- Miscellaneous crimes against society
- Fraud
- Multiple
di) For disciplinary investigations the NPCC will publish in broad terms the nature of the investigation relating to the overall categories in the ‘IOPC Guidance on capturing data about police complaints’
As such, any Freedom of Information requests received by Lancashire Constabulary after April 4th 2023 for this data, will be exempt as per section 22 of the FOI Act – information intended for future publication.
Time Considerations
The deadline for a public authority to respond to requests made under FOI is 20 working days, although there are some circumstances where this may be extended under the terms of the legislation. Occasionally, for example, if a request requires clarification, is particularly complicated or subject to the application of certain exemptions where there is a need to consider public interest factors, the 20 working day period may be extended.
Where clarification is required, Lancashire Constabulary will stop the 20 working day time clock until clarification has been received from the applicant and will close off the request completely if no clarification is received within 20 working days.
Please note that every effort will be made to comply with the statutory timescales in relation to FOIA / data protection subject access requests. However, as a consequence of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Lancashire Constabulary will prioritise those functions and services which seek to protect the public so you may experience delays during this extraordinary period of time.
How to obtain information
Before making a Freedom of Information request, please view the types of information available on this website under the Publication Scheme.
General information about crime and crime statistics can also be found at the Office For National Statistics website.
If the information that you are looking for is not available on these websites, please make a request.
To make a valid request under the Freedom of Information Act, the following criteria must be met:
- The request must be made in writing
- It can be made by letter, fax or email
- It must state the name of the applicant
- It must contain a return address (this can be an email address)
- It must clearly identify the information being sought
- It must be legible
- It must contain details of the format you would like the information to be sent to you (e.g. on disc, via email, hard copy)
Requests made to Lancashire Constabulary under the Freedom of Information Act should be sent to:
Email: [email protected]
or
Freedom of Information
Information Assurance
Lancashire Constabulary
Saunders Lane
Hutton
Preston
PR4 5SB
