THAMES Valley Police has refused to say how many reports it received of people breaking coronavirus regulations this year.

The Oxford Mail submitted a Freedom of Information request in November asking the force asking how many reports or calls it received about people breaking Covid restrictions or rules in Oxfordshire from March to November.

The force said that it will not reveal the figures as the information is intended for some kind of 'future publication' and said that disclosing the numbers ‘prematurely’ could result in ‘incorrect information which could lessen the confidence of members of the public, officers and staff members’.

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The force added that it recognised the general public interest in ‘being open and transparent with members of the public and can understand the interest in this current topic.’

The response said: “A full disclosure over the matter is planned so that the subject can be released in due course.

“The information should not be placed into the public domain prematurely as it may contain inaccurate information and therefore provide a message to the public that would not be up to date or accurate.”

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It added: “The public interest in a disclosure of current plans relating to coronavirus is not in dispute, but in order for that interest to be served, premature disclosure of information should be prevented.”

The force could not give a date when the information would be published.

A spokesperson said: “We are unable to confirm an exact date... Data will be released as soon as the force is able to.”