Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')
As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of access to information held at the time of a request, by a Public Authority (including the Police), subject to certain limitations and exemptions.
You asked:
1 In the 2019-20 financial year please state:
i) how many of your police officers (not civilian staff, specials or PCSOs) were the subject of a disciplinary sanctions of ANY description because they were found to have had sex while on duty, and
ii) how many of these officers were dismissed from the force?
2 Of these officers please provide a breakdown between:
i) male officers and
ii) female officers?
3 Of these officers please provide a breakdown between:
i) those having sex with a fellow officer,
ii) those having sex with a member of the public, and
iii) those having sex with a fellow officer and a member of the public (although obviously not necessarily at the same time)?
NOTE: This question relates to disciplinary hearings that concluded and were recorded in the 2019-20 financial year regardless of when the actual incident took place or when the allegation was first investigated.
In Response:
We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I provide a response for your attention.
As the information you have requested is accessible by other means I have not provided you with a copy of the information and will rely on Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. You should therefore consider this a refusal for your request.
I have provided an explanation to this exemption below.
Section 21 (1) - Information accessible by other means
Information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant is exempt information.
This information is already in the public domain as its been reported in several media releases already. Section 21 is therefore relevant.
In order to assist I direct you to one such source via the link below.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-53422445
There have been no other instances.
