20. LETTER
TO
THE
COMMISSIONER
FROM
RT
HON
JACQUI
SMITH
MP, 15 JUNE
2009
Thank you for your letter of 8 June 2009 in which
you ask for my permission for the Metropolitan Police, and through
them, West Mercia Police to release data in 'a summarised format'
relating to my overnight stays in London and in Redditch.
As you are aware, there are broader issues of policy
in approaching the police for information relating to the protection
of an individual as spelt out in the letters from Sir David Normington
and [the Director of the Propriety and Ethics Team] of the Cabinet
Office that I enclosed with my letter of 26 March.
However, I have never opposed your seeking this information
with respect to my specific circumstances.
The only stipulation I made was that this information
should be as accurate as that provided from other sources. You
have been scrupulous in your consideration of my Ministerial and
personal diaries. We have, of course, spent a significant period
of time going through night by night my whereabouts using these
diaries. I have provided extra photographic and other evidence
to support my recollection in some cases. The letter from my immediate
neighbour supports the conclusions of this analysis.
The summarised information that you have produced
for the number of nights spent in Redditch or London that accompanied
your letter of 22 April was the result of this night by night
analysis.
I am, therefore, content for you to receive the information
that you have requested from the Metropolitan Police and West
Mercia on the condition that they can supply me with the night
by night analysis that forms the basis of the summary. I am writing
to the Commissioner and the Chief Constable to make this request.
15 June 2009
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