Information Access Team
Shared Services Directorate
2 Marsham Street, London SW1P 4DF
Switchboard 020 7035 4848
E-mail: [email address] Website: www.homeoffice.gov.uk
Dr
Geraint
Bevan
Our
Ref:
11476
[email address]
(by email)
11 August 2010
Dear Dr Bevan,
I am writing further to my correspondence of 3 March 2009 regarding your
information request dated 3 March 2009. We are now in a position to provide
you with a full reply to your request. I apologise for the time taken to provide
you with this response, which I recognise falls well short of the standards the
Department sets itself.
You asked for:
1. details of
databases currently maintained (or planned) by the Home Office
(or agents acting on its behalf) which record (or are intended to record)
personal information about more than 10,000 British residents
2. the (approximate) number of people whose personal information is
recorded (or planned to be recorded on each of those databases.
Your request has been handled as a request for information under the terms
of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.
I confirm that the Home Office holds the information you have requested and
am pleased to be able to disclose most of it to you - please see the
attachment to this letter. This provides, where possible, the name of all
databases held by the Home Office, and a general description of the type of
information stored on it. The list of databases is taken from the Home Office’s
Information Asset Register (IAR), and is accurate as of October 2009. The
details of 156
databases have been released to you, and this list includes all
databases currently maintained by the Home Office. Please note, not all of
these record personal information about UK residents – as noted, the list is
taken from the Home Office’s IAR. It does, however, provide a description of
each database, which I hope you wil find of use.
For your further information, please note the Home Office Headquarters will
be publishing an updated version of the releasable parts of its IAR later this
month. The UK Border Agency, Criminal Records Bureau, and Identity and
Passport Service wil likewise be publishing updated versions of their IARs in
due course.
It is not possible to provide you with the number of people whose details are
recorded on each database. This is because each database may contain
multiple entries for the same individual. Therefore, the only way that the
number of persons can be counted is by looking at each entry individually.
Consequently, to ascertain the number of individuals concerned would exceed
the appropriate cost limit of £600, as specified in the Appropriate Limit and
Fees Regulations 2004 (see Annex A for further details). Although your
request would at present be too costly to answer, if you refine it so that it falls
under the cost limit it wil be considered further.
While it has been possible to provide you with the title and a description for
most of the databases held by the Home Office and its agencies, details
relating to two databases have been withheld.
After careful consideration it
has been determined that this information is exempt from disclosure by virtue
of the exemptions provided at the following sections of the Freedom of
Information Act:
• Section 30(2)(b) ‘investigations and proceedings conducted by
public authorities’
• Section 31(1)(a) ‘law enforcement’
Section 30(2)(b) provides for the withholding of information relating to the
obtaining of information from confidential sources, and section 31(1)(a) for the
withholding of information if disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice
the prevention or detection of crime. Further information on the application
of these exemptions is provided in Annex B below.
In reliance on sections 23(5) ‘information supplied by, or relating to, bodies
dealing with security matters’, and 24(2) ‘national security’, the Home Office
neither confirms nor denies it holds any further information relevant to your
request. These sections of the FOIA exempt public authorities from the duty to
say whether or not they hold requested information. Further information on
the application of these exemptions, including the relevant public interest test,
can be found in the Annex to this letter. This response should not be taken as
conclusive evidence that the information you have requested exists or does
not exist.
I hope that you find this information of interest, and would like to assure you
that you have been supplied with all disclosable information that the Home
Office holds. Where information has been withheld, I would like to assure you
that we have considered the application of exemptions with great care in this
case.
Yours sincerely
Diana Pottinger
Information Access Caseworker
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ANNEX A – Section 12 cost limit.
Under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act, the Home Office is not
obliged to comply with any information request where the prescribed costs of
supplying you with the information exceed £600. The £600 limit applies to all
central government departments and is based on work being carried out at a
rate of £25 per hour, which equates to 3½ days work per request. Prescribed
costs include those which cover the cost of locating and retrieving information,
and preparing the information for disclosure to you. They do not include
considering whether any information is exempt from disclosure, overheads
such as heating or lighting, or disbursements such as photocopying or
postage.
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ANNEX B – Public Interest Test Exemptions, Sections 30 and 31
Section 30 Investigations and proceedings conducted by public
authorities
(2) Information held by a public authority is exempt information if—
(b) it relates to the obtaining of information from confidential sources.
Section 31 Law enforcement
(1) Information which is not exempt information by virtue of section 30 is
exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to,
prejudice—
(a) the prevention or detection of crime,
Considerations Favouring Disclosure
Providing members of the public with a full list of databases would aid
transparency, and could possibly help to prompt the reuse of public sector
data.
With regard to databases which hold personal data, there is an added factor
in favour of disclosure. Concern over the levels of Government monitoring of
citizens is high on the public agenda. Disclosure of the details of all such
databases would inform the public about the types of information the Home
Office may hold about them. The release of such information could also
contribute to the quality and accuracy of the public debate about the so-called
“surveillance society”.
Considerations Favouring Non-Disclosure
The current and future prevention of crime would be compromised by the
release of details about particular databases into the public domain. Release
of this information could harm ongoing investigations and security operations,
by alerting suspects and organisations to the fact that certain information is
collected and held by the Home Office. Making the existence of some
databases public could also encourage hackers to attempt to attack or destroy
the databases, and this could seriously hamper ongoing investigations and
security operations. In addition if knowledge of the existence of certain types
of databases were to be made public, this could implicate the sources of the
information base. Making the databases known could reveal confidential
sources, or result in the public making assumptions about sources.
Balancing Test
Withholding the names and description of two of the databases is critical for
the prevention and detection of crime. While there is a public interest in being
open and transparent, the public interest arguments in favour of withholding
the information are stronger. The public interest in favour of providing facts
to promote full debate, must be weighed against keeping the public safe and
maintaining security. Listing and describing all the databases held would
provide criminals/terrorists planning attacks on the UK with information that
could affect the future prevention and detection of crime. This would
additionally put the security of members of the public at risk. It could also
result in the Home Office’s infrastructure coming under attack by hackers,
which would place the UK public in even greater jeopardy. On balance,
maintaining public safety and the prevention and detection of crime outweighs
any arguments for release. It is therefore not in the public interest to release
the withheld information.
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ANNEX C – Public Interest test Exemptions, Section 23 and 24
Section 23(5) and 24(2) of the Freedom of Information Act state:
23(1) Information held by a public authority is exempt information if it was
directly or indirectly supplied to the public authority by, or relates to, any of the
bodies specified in subsection (3).
(5) The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that,
compliance with section 1(1)(a) would involve the disclosure of any
information (whether or not already recorded) which was directly or indirectly
supplied to the public authority by, or relates to, any of the bodies specified in
subsection (3).
24(1) Information which does not fall within subsection 23(1) is exempt
information if exemption from section 1(1)(b) is required for the purpose of
safeguarding national security.
(2) The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that,
exemption from section 1(1)(a) is required for the purpose of safeguarding
national security.
Section 23(5) is an absolute provision and consequently there is no further
consideration required.
Section 24(2) public interest test
Public interest considerations in favour of confirming whether the
information is held
To confirm or deny whether the requested information is held would indicate
whether the Home Office does or does not have databases with national
security issues. There is some speculation about what type of databases are
held with little firm information in the public domain. Increased openness with
regard to this would increase understanding and transparency in this area and
inform the public debate.
Public interest considerations in favour of maintaining the exclusion of
the duty to either confirm or deny
In this instance, maintenance of the exclusion of the duty to confirm or deny
whether the department holds the information you have requested is required
for the purpose of safeguarding national security. Electronic attacks are
directed at government organisations globally, including in the UK. If the
department were to either confirm or deny whether it held certain information,
it would increase this risk of electronic attack.
Balance of the public interest
We have determined that safeguarding of national security interests is of
paramount importance and that in all circumstances of the case, the public
interest in maintaining the exclusion of the duty to confirm or deny outweighs
the public interest in confirming or denying whether we hold the information in
question. This response should not be taken as conclusive evidence that the
information you have requested exists or does not exist.
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ANNEX D If you are dissatisfied with this response you may request an independent
internal review of our handling of your request by submitting your complaint
within two months to the below address quoting reference 11476:
Information Access Team
Information Management Service
Home Office
Ground Floor, Seacole Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
Email: [email address]
During the independent review the department’s handling of your information
request wil be reassessed by staff who were not involved in providing you
with this response. Should you remain dissatisfied after this internal review,
you wil have a right of complaint to the Information Commissioner as
established by section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act.
