Last updated on May 8th, 2023 at 11:42 am
Last updated on May 8th, 2023 at 11:42 am
Reading Time: 2 minutesAt the back end of last year you will no doubt recall I had cause to think that Tom Winsor had dsisappeared, that post is here.
I have now had my reply from the Home Office asking for a copy of all the documents relating to FOI request 18164/2011.
No thanks to the Home Office I have found an unedited version of that response, it reads like this;
Dear Mr Tompsett,
Thank you for your e-mail of 22 March 2011, in which you ask for information regarding the Independent Review of Remuneration and Conditions of Service for Police Officers and Staff. Your request has been handled as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
You asked specifically for:
‘…how much Tom Winsor has either been paid or will be paid to carry out his review on remuneration and conditions of service for police officers and staff in England and Wales?
In relation to this review, can you please also inform me the amount of money paid or being paid to Sir Edward Crew and Professor Richard Disney for their work in participating with Tom Winsor?’
I am able to disclose the following information:
The law firm White and Case, at which Tom Winsor is a partner, will receive £300 per day for his services. Sir Edward Crew, who is the review’s Policing Advisor, will also receive £300 per day for his services.
Richard Disney is Professor of labour market economics at the University of Nottingham. The university has received £16,000 for his report.
In keeping with the Freedom of Information Act, we assume that all information can be released to the public unless it is exempt. In line with normal practice we are therefore releasing the information which you requested via the Home Office website.
So, a few porkies from the Home Office then, they only made an edited version available on their website
Magically no mention of Tom Winsor at all, despite the wording of the original request;
‘…how much Tom Winsor has either been paid or will be paid to carry out his review on remuneration and conditions of service for police officers and staff in England and Wales?
Now it has got worse, my reply from the Home Office says this;
We have searched our records and can confirm that the information sought with respect to
CR18164 is no longer available.The Home Office does not retain FOI case files for an indefinite period of time. Records of FOI
cases are kept for two years after the last recorded action on the case. The last recorded
action on CR 18164 was in March 2011.
Inaccurate, as they replied in May 2011, but hey what’s a couple of months between friends?
Tom Winsor has disappeared, White and Case have disappeared and now the documentation relating to previuous FOI requests has disappeared. A two year retention policy does not seem very long compared to the length of time other public sector organisations are required to keep documents for.
Maybe a less cynical person can put me out of my misery.
Happy New Year to you all.
But the real reward was a Ruritarian Admirals uniform and a salary as a civil servant SCS3 minimum of 103000 maximum 20800, and a little more now as these are old figures. As well as a knighthood of course.