Freedom of information request...

As a local organisation we thought that it would be helpful and interesting to get some local information on trafficking in our area. In March 2011 we submitted a FOI request to the West Yorkshire Police. After having sought advice from the Campaign for Freedom of Information we reduced the number of questions we asked and made them very specific.

Here is our request, followed by a preliminary response from the Police:

For the purposes of this request and in line with recognised statutory bodies, please find two definitions below:

Trafficked people = men, women and children whose experiences fall under the UN definition of
trafficking:
''Trafficking in persons'' shall mean the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power, or of a position
of vulnerability, or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation.

Sex establishments = any place where money is exchanged for sexual services.

Please find our questions below:

1.No. of people who reported incidents of trafficking to the police in West Yorkshire in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 (for information that is available)

2.No. of sex establishments raided by police in West Yorkshire in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 (for information that is available)

3.Breakdown of nationalities of trafficked people who have been rescued by police in West Yorkshire in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 (for information that is available)

4.Areas of West Yorkshire where trafficked people have been found in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 (for information that is available)

We have researched your disclosure logs to avoid duplication and have tried to marry our definitions with yours but if there's anything else we can do to make this process easier for you please do let us know.

Their first preliminary response was as follows:

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 obliges us to respond to requests promptly and in any case no later than 20 working days after receiving your request.

We must consider firstly whether we can comply with S1(1)(a) of the Act, which is our duty to confirm whether or not the information requested is held and secondly we must comply with S1(1)(b), which is the provision of such information.

However, when a qualified exemption applies either to the confirmation or denial or the information provision and the public interest test is engaged, the Act allows the time for response to be longer than 20 working days, if the balance of such public interest is undetermined. In this case, we have not yet reached a decision on where the balance of the public interest lies in respect of either of the above obligations.

We estimate that it will take an additional 20 working days to take a decision on where this balance lies. I would like to apologise in advance for the delay in responding to your request. Please be assured that we will endeavour to send a response out to you as soon as possible. If you no longer require the information requested, please contact us on the details above.

Thank you for your cooperation in this matter.

Their second response was as follows:

Unfortunately, West Yorkshire Police are unable to provide you with the information requested. In order to obtain the data for question 2, it would involve the review of all search warrant applications across the Force; these are not held in a central point and so i am unable to provide you with a calculation as to how long it would take to locate the warrant applications and then search them to see if they relate to sex establishments. It is anticipate that to undertake the search would take over the amount of time to which we are obliged to spend on your request.

Even though we can't get the information requested in Q 2, we have resubmitted Qs 1, 3 and 4 as we were advised that they should be able to answer those questions within the time and cost limit. In the meantime, one of our Researchers is undertaking some work on Q 2.

We'll be back with more information as soon as we have it. Keep your fingers crossed for Qs 1, 3 and 4!

Their third response was as follows:

We have lift off - please click here to read the full report.

Recent activity...