Trips to Portugal under Operation Grange from 2011 to 2020

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.029163

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. How much funding has Operation Grange received to date?

2. What is the amount of any and all applications for Special Grant funding made to the Home Office but not yet paid related to Operation Grange?

3. For each year since Operation Grange started, please provide the number of visits to Portugal by officers and staff related to it. Specify how many of these visits lasted five days or more.

Redefined question (2)
2. What is the amount of any and all applications for Special Grant funding made to the Home Office but not yet paid related to Operation Grange?'

In answer to a question from Lord Black of Brentwood, Baroness Williams of Trafford responded:

'The Home Office has agreed to provide up to £350,000 of Special Grant funding in respect of Operation Grange up to March 2022. The current total spend as of October 2021 rounds to £13.2 million.'

UIN HL4255, tabled on 22 November 2021

Implicit in my question is the assumption that the Met applies for Special Grant funding to continue the operation.

The purpose of Q2 is to add clarity to the total cost of Operation Grange - to identify money in the pipeline not captured by Q1.

It may be, however, that the answer to Q2 is 'nil', in which case the answer to Q1 will accurately reflect the total cost of Operation Grange to the public purse.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. 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 22 (1)(a)(b)(c) - Information intended for future publication

Reason for decision

Regarding - Q2 - What is the amount of any and all applications for Special Grant funding made to the Home Office but not yet paid related to Operation Grange?

Section 22 is applicable if the amount of the request made for the forthcoming year is intended for future publication.

Section 22(1)(a)(b)(c) - Information intended for future publication) - There is a public interest in the disclosure of this information as it relates to and investigation that have gained a lot of media attention.

Early disclosure of information sharing agreements may lead to additional public funds needing to be spent to disclose information already intended for future publication.

The strongest reason favouring disclosure is the public interest in understanding and having insight of how the MPS manages resources. The strongest reason favouring non-disclosure is the need to ensure disclosure does not lead to inaccurate information being disclosed or an unnecessary increase in public funds needing to be spent to comply with this request in full when the information is already intended for future publication.
On weighing up the competing interest, the MPS finds the public interest favours non-disclosure of the amount of any and all applications for Special Grant funding made to the Home Office at this time as the MPS already intend to publish the information.

Disclosure

Q1 - How much funding has Operation Grange received to date?

Expenditure as at 30th September 2022 was £12,944,155 - Final figure for this current year isn’t available yet.

Q3 - For each year since Operation Grange started, please provide the number of visits to Portugal by officers and staff related to it. Specify how many of these visits lasted five days or more.

There have been a total of 49 trips to Portugal with 4 trips lasting five days or more.
2011 – 3 trips
2012 – 6
2013 – 12
2014 – 9
2015 – 7
2016 – 1
2017 – 3
2018 – 4
2019 – 3
2020 – 1