Up

Feb' 2006: Met' Police responses to applications made under the ABI / ACPO memorandum of understanding:

Are you an insurer or adjuster who needs to see the report for a Met' Police crime?  You may wish to ask your insured to make their own application otherwise you could be waiting a while!

Are you an insured who has reported a crime to the Met'?  To speed the process (to avid delays) we'd recommend you make an application for the crime report immediately.  If you wish to make an application for your crime report (and all information held about you), click on the relevant icon below to receive the necessary Subject Access form ('1' as pdf, '2' in MS Word format):

1. Met Subject Access.pdf
2. Form 3019B - Data Protection Act 1998 - How to apply for access to information about you held on the Police National Computer (PNC)

Problems in the Met'?

In August 2005, following our application under the Freedom of Information Act, we learned that the delays associated with the provision of information by the Met' police was weeks rather than months.  We were advised:

This did not sit well with us; we had made an application in June 2005 in respect of which we had yet to receive a reply. In fact, we eventually received the response in January 2006!  We sought an explanation for the delay (not an isolated case) citing the August 2005 response which, it appeared, could not be correct.  We asked what the current backlog was and were advised:

Odd, we had previously been provided statistical information.  We therefore made a further Freedom of Information Act  approach to ascertain the backlogs.  It appears statistics are held, the response we received to our questions was as follows:

1. The number of requests your constabulary has received for the last calendar year

The MPS received 1053 requests for information under the ACPO/ABI MOU in 2005.

2. The number of requests currently outstanding

There are currently 218 requests outstanding.

3. The number of staff who are handling the requests

There are currently 8 members of staff processing the requests alongside other duties. Processing involves collecting and redacting the information. The number of staff processing requests under the MOU varied in 2005. From April till October of there were 2-3 staff processing the requests alongside other duties.

4. The number of requests you process (conclude by sending the information) per day

The number of requests completed varies from day to day. It is unlikely that a request will be sent out on the same day as it is started. In 2005, MPS completed 886 requests made under the MOU.

5. The current backlog

There are currently 102 requests which have not been completed in the time specified in the MOU.

Apparently the current delays being experienced by all companies requesting information under the MOU is due to the Volume of requests received by the Public Access Office (PAO). 

As agreed with the department's senior management, the PAO's priority is to deal with requests made under the Freedom of Information and the Data Protection Acts.  The PAO has a legal obligation to respond to these requests within a statutory time limit.  

Requests for information made by Insurance Companies and Loss Adjustors are not considered a priority as the PAO have no legal obligation to reply within the suggested time scale and they are therefore completed as and when possible. 

As case clerks deal with all three types of request, the length of time taken per each response will vary as the complexity of each case varies. Therefore it is not possible to state when an applicant (insurer / loss adjuster) can expect a reply on any of their cases.  However we are assured that  requests from all companies received under the ACPO / ABI agreement are treated the same.

mmmmmmmmmMMmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

     www.mphayes.co.uk    www.mwosb.co.uk   www.incidentcharting.com