Regional Asset Confiscation Enforcement (ACE) Team
Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.21.021219
I note you seek access to the following information:
Please provide me with information on the force’s Regional Asset Confiscation Enforcement (ACE) Team.
Regarding the last 4 financial years, I would appreciate the figures for the team’s:
Total budget
Total headcount
Number of confiscation orders enforced
Value of funds recovered through confiscation orders
Decision
I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. However, please note that the MPS can neither confirm nor deny whether any additional information is held as the duty in Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act).
Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:
Section 23(5) - Information relating to the Security bodies;
Reason for decision
Section 23(5) - Information relating to the Security bodies - The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that, compliance with section 1(1)(a) would involve the disclosure of any information (whether or not already recorded) which was directly or indirectly supplied to the public authority by, or relates to, any of the bodies specified in subsection (3).
Section 23 is an absolute exemption which means that the legislators have identified that harm would be caused by any disclosure and there is no requirement to consider the public interest test.
Please note, this should not be taken to as an indication of whether or not any additional information is held.
Disclosure
Unfortunately, we are unable to provide you with a complete answer in relation to the Budget as funding for the ACE team draws from different budgets to cover the likes of staffing, equipment, licences and training. There is no central collation of these figures.
However, MOPAC do publish details of the Home Office funding stream
With regard to staffing, the MPS ACET currently have 1 Detective Sergeant and 5 Constables (one of whom is part-time), this is also true for 2019 and 2020. Between 2017 and 2018, the MPS ACET were assisting the City of London Police who now have a separate ACE Team – during this period of time their staff were in addition to our team (2 members of staff).
During the period requested, the team were engaged In 3,594 cases. More cases than this were reviewed during the period; this figure relates only to cases which were opened/re-opened.
As a multi-agency unit, this team has also assisted non-MPS Agencies with the enforcement of confiscation orders.
Finally, in relation to the value of funds recovered through confiscation orders, the following data can be provided:
2017/2018 Financial Year - £18,608,091
2018/2019 Financial Year - £25,189,757
2019/2020 Financial Year - £16,089,034
2020/2021 Financial Year - £10,541,192
The grand total is £70,428,074