FOI and Subject Access Request
We are committed to being open and accountable.
We publish a range of information including responses to Freedom of Information Requests and expenditure by the senior team.
The Freedom of Information Act 2000 gives a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities, sets out exemptions from that right and places a number of obligations on public authorities.
Any person who makes a request to a public authority for information must be informed whether the public authority holds that information and, subject to exemptions, must be supplied with that information. Under Data Protection legislation, individuals also have the Right of Access to information about themselves held by an organisation (see Data Protection Requests below).
As far as public authorities are concerned, the Freedom of Information Act will extend this right to allow public access to all types of information held.
The NPCC are not lawfully permitted to amend a record after a Freedom of Information request has been made. This means that on occasion there will be protectively marked information released and published with redactions made by engaging the relevant exemptions the legislation permits.
You can make a request for information to [email protected].
Data Protection legislation (GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018) gives you the right to ask an organisation what personal information they might hold about you and provide you with a copy of that information wherever possible, also known as your Right of Access, or more commonly ‘Subject Access’ request.
Subject Access is not a pre-employment vetting service. If you are asked by a prospective employer to confirm whether or not you have any convictions or cautions on your record, you should contact the Disclosure and Barring Service or Disclosure Scotland for the Disclosure Services that they provide.
If you would like to know what information is held about you on the Police National Computer, the ACRO Criminal Records Office (ACRO) provides this service on behalf of the majority of police forces throughout England and Wales. You can get further information on how to apply for this information and what you can expect to receive by visiting the ACRO website.
It is important to note that ACRO provides this service on behalf of the majority of police forces, but is not responsible for any information held on the Police National Computer. If you receive information from Police National Computer that you want to query or challenge, you will need to contact the police force indicated on the printout as they are best placed to help you. ACRO cannot amend or delete information held on Police National Computer.
The Chief Constable of each individual police force is responsible as Data Controller for the personal data of individuals in relation to alleged or actual criminal matters they hold on their own local systems or may upload onto national systems.
If you think that a local police force might hold information about you on their local systems, you can either contact the police force in person, or look on their website which will contain a standard form for you to complete and return.
The form will contain full instructions. You can access the websites of all English and Welsh police forces via www.police.co.uk.
If you are planning to travel or emigrate to any of these countries and need to provide the relevant High Commission or Embassy with confirmation of whether or not you have a criminal record, you will need to apply for a Police Certificate. You can get further information on how to apply for this information and what you can expect to receive by visiting the ACRO website.
Please remember that the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) is not a police force and does not investigate or record crime. It is also not responsible for information held on the Police National Computer.
It might therefore not hold or be able to provide you with the information that you need. However, if you think that the NPCC might hold some information about you, then contact us to make an enquiry either by email via [email protected] or by post via:
Data Protection Advisor
National Police FOI & Data Protection Unit
c/o PO Box 481
Fareham
Hampshire
PO14 9FS
For any other data protection related enquiries, the NPCC Data Protection Officer can be contacted via email at [email protected] or by post at:
NPCC Data Protection Officer
National Police Chiefs’ Council
50 Broadway,
London,
SW1H 0BL
The NPCC became designated as a public authority under section 5(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 on 22 November 2018.
Force and NPCC performance for freedom of information and subject access requests can be found here.
This data is collated and published by the National Police Freedom of Information and Data Protection Unit (NPFDU).