FOI 0086-2025/26 Operation Soteria

Request
0086.2025-26
I am interested in obtaining information around the implementation of Operation Soteria at North Yorkshire Police.  Please publish all internal communications of DCI Nichola Holden regarding NYP implementation of this from 2023-2025.  Please publish any internal policies or information on procedures relating to this.

0088.2025-26
All internal notes ref Operation Soteria to provide transparency and  public records on the forces implementation. 

Under Section 5 of the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004, requests can be aggregated where (a) the two or more requests by one person relate, to any extent, to the same or similar information, and (b) those requests received by the public authority within any period of sixty consecutive working days.

As such, your requests made on 24 April, 0086.2025-26, and 0088.2025-26, have been aggregated into one response.

Extent of Searches to Locate Information
Following receipt of your request searches were conducted within North Yorkshire Police to locate relevant information. 

Decision
I am not obliged to provide you with a response to your request pursuant to Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). Please note that when one part of your request falls under Section 12, we are not obliged to review the rest of the questions and the whole request is therefore exempt.

Section 12(1) applies to your request as the cost of complying with your request is above the amount to which we are legally required to respond i.e. the cost of identifying and retrieving any relevant information exceeds the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Due to the nature of our recording systems the information requested, if held, is not in an easily retrievable format. Our information retrieval process generally relies on a computer ran report which captures any information recorded upon the surface of a record or within specified fields. Where relevant information is held deeper in the record, or outside of a specified field, a manual assessment is required to retrieve that information.

Initial enquiries have been carried out as to the number of emails which would need to be reviewed to determine their relevance to your request and this has returned a result of approximately 700 emails received. This does not include sent emails, notes or policies and procedures. At an estimate of 3 minutes per email, this exercise alone would take in excess of 35 hours, which would exceed the time limit allowed under the Act. To reiterate, this does not include time spent reviewing sent emails, notes and policies, to determine their relevance for disclosure. 

Pursuant to Section 17(5) of the Freedom of Information Act this letter acts as a Refusal Notice.

Pursuant to Section 16 of the Act I am required to offer you advice and assistance with regarding to refining your request to within the ‘appropriate limit’ (time/cost limit). However, due to the information provided above I am unable to suggest how you may refine your request and still receive meaningful information within the cost threshold.  If you wish to discuss this please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please note that systems used for recording information are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the data.  It should be noted therefore that this force’s response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other responses you may receive.