30 October 2009
Mr Mark Walker
Policy & Communication
By email
West Berkshire District Council
Council Offices
Market Street Newbury
Berkshire RG14 5LD
Our Ref: FoI/2009/399
Your Ref:
Please ask for: Sue Broughton
Direct Line: 01635 519747
Fax: 01635 519613
e-mail: [West Berkshire Council request email]
Dear Mr Walker,
Request for information: Disciplinary action and complaints in respect of political
affiliation or views of schools staff
We have now discussed your request. For the reasons given below we are unable to
confirm or deny what information is held in respect of the first two questions.
1. Has your authority ever found a member of the BNP or any other political Party guilty
of a disciplinary offence related to their Party membership in the last three years? If so
please give information as to when and how many.
Information regarding political opinions or affiliation is sensitive personal data under the
provisions of Section 2 of the Data Protection Act 1998. Information on disciplinary
actions by the Council is in our view an internal matter and our employees would expect
that such disciplinary actions would be kept confidential. To provide information, even
statistical, which could be linked to disciplinary action the Council has taken and
therefore to an individual would, in our view be a breach of ‘fair and lawful’ processing.
Under Section 40 (5) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 we are therefore unable to
confirm or deny that this information is held. An annex (Annex 1) explaining the
exemption is attached.
2. Has any parent complained to you regarding the Party membership of any employee
or the expression of political views within School classrooms under your authority during
the last three years?
Complaints made to the Council are made in confidence, and we would not make this
information public in view of our expressed promise of confidentiality to complainants.
Under Section 41(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 we are therefore unable to
confirm or deny whether any such complaints have been made. An annex (Annex 2)
explaining the exemption is attached.
3. What safeguards do you currently have in place to prevent members of any political
Party promoting their views within Schools?
There is no Human Resources guidance on this matter. There is therefore no recorded
information to provide in response to your request.
If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled, you may ask for an
internal review. You should contact David Lowe, Policy & Scrutiny Manager, Policy &
Communication, Council Offices, Market Street, Newbury RG14 5LD, email
[email address] if you wish to request a review. If you are not content with the
outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information
Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
Sue Broughton
Information Management Officer
Annex 1
40 Personal information
(1) Any information to which a request for information relates is exempt information if it
constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject.
(2) Any information to which a request for information relates is also exempt information
if—
(a) it constitutes personal data which do not fall within subsection (1), and
(b) either the first or the second condition below is satisfied.
(3) The first condition is—
(a) in a case where the information falls within any of paragraphs (a) to (d) of the
definition of “data” in section 1(1) of the [1998 c. 29.] Data Protection Act 1998, that the
disclosure of the information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act
would contravene—
(i) any of the data protection principles, or
(ii) section 10 of that Act (right to prevent processing likely to cause damage or distress),
and
(b) in any other case, that the disclosure of the information to a member of the public
otherwise than under this Act would contravene any of the data protection principles if
the exemptions in section 33A(1) of the [1998 c. 29.] Data Protection Act 1998 (which
relate to manual data held by public authorities) were disregarded.
(4) The second condition is that by virtue of any provision of Part IV of the [1998 c. 29.]
Data Protection Act 1998 the information is exempt from section 7(1)(c) of that Act (data
subject’s right of access to personal data).
(5) The duty to confirm or deny—
(a) does not arise in relation to information which is (or if it were held by the public
authority would be) exempt information by virtue of subsection (1), and
(b) does not arise in relation to other information if or to the extent that either—
(i) the giving to a member of the public of the confirmation or denial that would have to be
given to comply with section 1(1)(a) would (apart from this Act) contravene any of the
data protection principles or section 10 of the [1998 c. 29.] Data Protection Act 1998 or
would do so if the exemptions in section 33A(1) of that Act were disregarded, or
(ii) by virtue of any provision of Part IV of the [1998 c. 29.] Data Protection Act 1998 the
information is exempt from section 7(1)(a) of that Act (data subject’s right to be informed
whether personal data being processed).
(6) In determining for the purposes of this section whether anything done before 24th
October 2007 would contravene any of the data protection principles, the exemptions in
Part III of Schedule 8 to the [1998 c. 29.] Data Protection Act 1998 shall be disregarded.
(7) In this section—
• “the data protection principles” means the principles set out in Part I of
Schedule 1 to the [1998 c. 29.] Data Protection Act 1998, as read
subject to Part II of that Schedule and section 27(1) of that Act;
• “data subject” has the same meaning as in section 1(1) of that Act;
• “personal data” has the same meaning as in section 1(1) of that Act.
This is an absolute exemption not subject to the public interest test.
Annex 2
41 Information provided in confidence
(1) Information is exempt information if—
(a) it was obtained by the public authority from any other person (including another public
authority), and
(b) the disclosure of the information to the public (otherwise than under this Act) by the
public authority holding it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or
any other person.
(2) The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that, the confirmation or
denial that would have to be given to comply with section 1(1)(a) would (apart from this
Act) constitute an actionable breach of confidence.
This is an absolute exemption not subject to the public interest test.
