04 November 2014 – FOI Response: 642.2014-15 – Freedom of information request – Request for personal records

Request

1. The letter from [name removed] under original signature confirming that he was refusing to uphold my complaint against [name removed] for pursuing a harassment complaint against me on the basis that she was acting in her personal capacity.
2. Any statement or records or minute, or conversation in which [name removed] gave this assurance to [name removed].
3. The statement made by [name removed] to North Yorkshire Police in which she tried to have me arrested for revealing her part in the XXX Fraud.
4. Any written records of conversations or meetings that took place concerning [name removed]’s complaint and the Police Authority’s response to it.
   I have aggregated together your second request (also made on 04 November 2014) with the request above, as they relate to similar information and were received within the period of time as specified in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
5. [name removed]’s contact details.
6. If [name removed] still stands by his determination that my complaint about [name removed] should be dismissed on the basis that she made it in her personal capacity XXX, given that North Yorkshire Police have separately XXX.
7. If [name removed] is aware of the latest information concerning [name removed]’s offending XXX and if this causes him any concern.
8. If [name removed] is aware of the latest information concerning [name removed]’s offending XXX and if this causes him any concern.

Response

Result and Decision following Searches to Locate Information

After consideration, I am neither obliged to confirm or deny that any of the requested information is held because I consider it to be of the category of personal information.

I am required by law to identify the relevant parts (the exemptions) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) that I have considered when reaching this decision, and I must also explain why these exemptions apply.

The exemption that applies in this instance is section 40 of the Act – Personal Information. The reason that this exemption applies is because you have requested information about named individuals. To confirm or deny that such information is held would in itself reveal information about those individuals – in this case regarding alleged complaints of harassment and other allegations of ‘offending’.

Even were the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner in a position to confirm or deny it was held, it would not be possible to disclose it to the world through the Act, as it would be personal to the individuals concerned. This explanation is expanded upon below:

Section 40 – Personal Information

I am not obliged to confirm or deny any information is held in relation to your request pursuant to section 40(5) to the Act, by virtue of the fact that even were such information was public knowledge, it would be exempt pursuant to sections 40(1) and 40(2) of the Act. To either confirm or deny that the information is held would disclose that named individuals had, or had not, had allegations of harassment made against them, or that information relating to alleged ‘offending’ was or was not held, which itself is the personal information of both you as a requestor and named third parties. Therefore, The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire is not obliged to fulfil its duty under section 1(1)(a) of the Act pursuant to section 40(5)(b)(i) of the Act.

To the extent that section 40(5)(b)(i) applies, The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire has determined that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exclusion of the duty to neither confirm nor deny outweighs the public interest in confirming or denying whether or not information is held.

No inference may be drawn from this response as to whether any of this information is held by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.

Section 40(1) is an absolute class-based exemption that applies to the personal information of applicants where they are data subjects, and there is no requirement for any other consideration of public or other interest in disclosure when applying this exemption.

Section 40(2)(b) is an absolute class-based exemption, which does not require a public interest test, but requires the balancing of the legitimate interests of the public against the interests of the individual under the first Data Protection Principle (that of ‘fairness’).

This exemption applies because the right given under the Act to request official information held by public authorities does not apply to the personal data of third parties where disclosure of that information would not be fair to the individual, and where there is no legitimate public interest in disclosure.

In all the circumstances of the case it has been determined that the duty to the individual under the Data Protection Act 1998, and the public interest in maintaining the exemption from disclosure of personal information held by the force in such instances, outweighs the public interest in disclosure. In this instance, personal information can only be disclosed to the individual concerned.

Releasing personal details to a person other than the data subject would not only breach the data subject’s Data Protection rights it may also breach the obligations placed on an authority under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Pursuant to section 17(4) of the Act this letter acts as a refusal notice in relation to the duty to confirm or deny any information is held.