Staffordshire police have long conveyed difficulties associated with providing RTC (road traffic collision reports). Since mid-2023 it appears they have struggled to acquire staff and address requests for information – read more here. Things appeared no better by Septemeber 2024. Crime reports were similarly affected as evidenced by the exchange sin 2023 and 2024 which saw the constabulary unable to attend to Memorandum of Understanding requests. As for those requests from those not included in the ABI/NPCC MoU they are simply denied access – the constabulary has yet to respond to the request for an explanation which can be read here.
25/01/2024 the constabulary’s publication log displays another request about disclosure of RTC reports, the full request can be read here but asks:
- “Do Staffordshire Police now provide Road Traffic Collision reports to third parties as they did pre-July 2023?”
Staffordshire police disclosed the information, responding:
- No.
It is noteworthy, however, that their response to Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) requests now appears timely, consistently meeting the 20-working-day requirement outlined in the Act. Their publication and disclosure page also seems up to date.
In the past, they have faced scrutiny from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):
- 18/11/2024 – Staffordshire Police received a formal reprimand from the ICO after 18 months of FoIA failures.
- 19/11/2024 – The force became the subject of an ICO/FoIA Section 48 ‘Practice Recommendation’ (Reference: FPR0987682).
Unfortunately, their urgency in addressing concerns about failing victims does not match this improvement. How extensive is their backlog of fee-generating RTC requests?
