1.    Between Jan 1, 2005 and Oct 1, 2009 please could you reveal how much South Yorkshire Police has paid to mobile phone communications companies to recover call records for use in criminal investigations.

 

2.    Could you provide an annual breakdown of the amount paid.

 

3.    How many companies have received payments for this work from you.

 

4.    How many requests for this information have you made on an annual basis since Jan 1, 2005 - Oct, 1, 2009.

 

5.    Does the force have a budget for this kind of work? If so, what has the budget been set at annually since Jan 1, 2005? If you do not have a specific budget where has the cash come from?

 

Date or Financial Year	Jan 05 – March 05	2005/2006	2006/2007	2007/2008	2008/2009	Apr 09 – Oct 09
Annual Breakdown of Amount Paid	£105,749.79	£140,980.74	£172,118.15	£182,629.19	£312,681.05	£123,495.26
Number of Companies	12	13	13	18	16	15
Number of Requests	500	2000	2196	3006	3290	1800
Budget	£120,212.00	£120,211.00	£137,647.00	£120,211.00	£120,211.00	£230,211.00

6.    Does the force have a policy stating when officers should apply for mobile phone data? If so, please could you provide a copy.

There is no policy for officers. A bespoke communications data strategy is agreed with the Senior Investigating Officer for each major investigation. Other requests are assessed individually based on the relevant Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 legislation and code of practice for acquisition of communications data. Please see following link:

http://security.homeoffice.gov.uk/ripa/publication-search/ripa-cop/

 

7.    How valuable is this kind of data to police investigations?

The Freedom of Information Act gives any individual anywhere in the world the right to information held by Public Authorities, subject to the application of exemptions. It is not a requirement of the Act to offer opinion about the information requested. Therefore I cannot comment on the final part of you request.