Tory PCC Expenses & #FOI Raise Their Ugly Heads Again

Last updated on May 8th, 2023 at 11:42 am

Reading Time: 2 minutes

Has anybody here seen Julia Mulligan since the PCC Elections?  She seems to have gone walkabout, or at least her office has in FOIWorld.

31st March, I posed a simple question (or at least I thought it was)

Dear North Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner,

I notice from the Commissioner’s published expenses an entry on 13th June 2013, this is for Invoice Number SI10384, payable to the Association of Chief Police Officers, for PCCs Fees and Subscriptions, for an amount of £10,695.34 with a description of ACPO fees.

Could you please tell me;

a) To whom do these fees refer?

b) Could you please provide me with electronic copies of the invoice and any other documentation referring to this item of expenditure?

Thank you

Yours faithfully,

Not an unreasonable question I thought, shouldn’t take too long to answer that one.  It was particularly relevant in the run-up to the Election because Ms Mulligan was being particularly transparent and bringing her Expenses and Allowances data on her website up to date.  Very commendable, good to see.

In view of my question just imagine how shocked and surtprised I was when the 20 day limit came and went, and I was forced to issue a gentle reminder.

Nowhere near as shocked and bemused as I was when I received the following response on 29th April

Good Morning,

I acknowledge that your request is overdue however we are still waiting for the statistics from the relevant business area. I can only apologise for the delay and will endeavour to respond to your request as soon as possible.

Kind regards,

Robert Bates
Collar Number 5480
Legal Officer (Civil Disclosure)
North Yorkshire Police

Committed to the Code of Ethics

Well, here we are on the 24th May, still no reply, the statistics are presumably still not ready.

Come on Ms Mulligan the Law requires you to respond.  This is your opportunity to show us that you are not a Home Office puppet.  Don’t follow their lead whgen it comes to the Freedom of Information Act please, they have an abysmal track record there.  It’s a simple question, who wwere the £10,695.34 ACPO Membership Feesw paid for and why.  Why did this money come out of your account and not the Chief Constable, it’s not like you are a Chief Police Officer is it?  You’re a Police and Crime Commissioner, something totally different.

It’s Wednesday today, if I don’t have a response by the end of the week Internal Review and Information Commissioner will surely follow.

I thank you, obliged.

ADDENDUM

 

Here is the oath sworn and signed by Ms Nulligan after her re-election.  It does say something about ‘transparency’ in there somewhere

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