Freedom of information request
I write under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request information held by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) concerning Operation Magnolia — the largest and most systemic child abuse investigation in Cleveland Police history. This request is made following my previous request on this subject, to which you provided a limited disclosure of information dated February 2020. Many months have now passed, and I am entitled to make a further request to establish what additional information you now hold.
What I am requesting
- Confirmation of information held
Please confirm whether your office holds any information of any kind relating to Operation
Magnolia. This includes, but is not limited to:- Correspondence (internal and external, including emails, letters, and messages)
- Minutes of meetings (formal or informal)
- Briefings and reports (including those from the Chief Constable, Force leadership, or external bodies)
- Funding requests, budget allocations, or financial records
- Records of oversight, scrutiny, or performance monitoring of the Force’s handling of the operation
- Any assessment of resourcing, staffing levels, or investigative capacity for Operation Magnolia
- Any reference to the operation in the Commissioner’s formal scrutiny of the Force, including at Police and Crime Panel meetings or in private briefings
- Disclosure of all information held
If any information is held, I require its immediate disclosure, without redaction that would conceal the extent — or the lack — of oversight by your office in this matter. I explicitly draw your attention to the public interest in transparency where the statutory duties of a directly elected Commissioner are in question. Redactions may only be applied where strictly required by law, and where they are, you must provide a detailed explanation of the exemption relied upon and why the public interest favours withholding. - If no information is held
If, as may be the case, your office holds no information whatsoever about Operation Magnolia, you must state this categorically and without equivocation. In that event, I require a substantive explanation of the following:- How your office can claim to have fulfilled its statutory duty under section 1 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 to hold the Chief Constable to account, given that you apparently hold no information about the largest child abuse operation in the Force’s history.
- Specifically, how you have discharged your duty to secure an efficient and effective police force when, on the information available, no budget has ever been formally set for Operation Magnolia, no staffing establishment has ever been agreed, and the operation is currently running with only four officers serving over 930 victims.
Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner response
Please note under section 14(2) of the Act, public authorities do not have to comply with a request which is identical, or substantially similar to previous requests submitted by the same individual, unless a reasonable period has elapsed between those requests.
Your request has been assessed as substantially similar to previous requests you have made as the scope does not differ significantly. We are also of the view that a reasonable period of time has not elapsed between the requests you have submitted with the most recent request which includes information within the scope of your request being March 2026. We are confident that the information will not differ to any significant degree from what you were provided with at the time of your request.
However, for complete transparency a briefing did take place on the 7th May 2026 where the PCC was given a verbal update by the Assistant Chief Constable regarding Operation Magnolia – there were no notes taken during this briefing.
The meeting invitations have been attached for transparency, however, some information has been redacted as it is withheld under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, as it comprises of personal data about a third party.
Disclosing this information would contravene the data protection principles under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. As Section 40(2) is an absolute exemption, there is no requirement to a public interest test.
For ease and transparency, I have also referenced your previous requests below which we have responded to in regard to the information you seek, with your last request sent to us in March 2026.
0016-25-26 – 17th June 2025
0024-25-26 – 13th June 2025
0027-25-26 – 18th August 2025
0048-25-26 – 17th February 2026
0054-25-26 – 2nd March 2026
0056-25-26 – 11th March 2026
FOI 26/27 – 007: Calendar meeting invites (application, 897kB)