BNP membership list.

Dear Mr Walker

I acknowledge receipt of your correspondence received 05/10/2009 which is
being dealt with as a request for information in accordance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.

I am in the process of dealing with your request and will respond in due
course and in any case by 02/11/2009. Please contact us by e-mail at
[Cheshire Constabulary request email] if you have any further enquiries.

Regards,

John Gannon
Freedom of Information Officer
Tel: 01244 614176
===================================
Cheshire Constabulary Headquarters
Clemonds Hey
Oakmere Road
Winsford
CW7 2UA
===================================

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Cheshire Constabulary monitors all Internet and email activity
and requires it is used for official communications only. Thank
you for your co-operation.

Dear Mr Walker,

I refer to your recent request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 as set out below:

In November 2008 the membership list of the British National Party
(BNP) was published online. On September 1, 2009 a disgruntled
former official Matt Single was convicted in relation to this for
offences under the Data Protection Act.

I refer to Schedule 1 of The Data Protection Principles.

Under Schedule 1, any use of 'sensitive personal data' must be
processed
only when at least one of the conditions in Schedule 2 is met, and
at
least one of the conditions in Schedule 3 is also met.

1. Please tell me if the Chesire Constabulary has processed any
data relating to the leaked British National Party membership list.

2. Please tell me which of the conditions in Schedule 2 and
Schedule 3
were met when processing sensitive personal data?

3. Has sensitive personal data been used for any purposes other
than
comparing against the Chesire Constabulary Police personnel
database?

4. Who was responsible for the decision to compare sensitive
personnel
data against Chesire Constabulary Police's personnel data?

4. What were the grounds for such a decision?

5. I request the minutes of any meeting held to come to such a
decision.

6. Please describe the process used in making such a decision and
whether the consequences of this decision, if any, were assessed.

In accordance with section 1 of the Act our response is provided below;

Under section 17 (4) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 the Cheshire
Constabulary is not obliged to make a statement under section (1) (c) or
(3) if, or to the extent that, the statement would involve disclosure of
information which would itself be exempt information by virtue of
Section 30(3) Investigations,
Section 31(3) Law Enforcement and
Section 40 (5) (b)(i) Personal Information.

The Cheshire Constabulary can neither confirm nor deny it holds any
information in relation to investigations it may have or have not
conducted, which have not subsequently been placed in the public domain.
Not only would this undermine any current investigation by alerting those
who are suspected of criminal activity, but it may also thwart any such
investigation which is being managed as a covert operation. This in itself
would disclose our tactical options, undermining future operations, but
also in this case potentially disclose personal data of an individual. This
is because the list to which you refer contained the names of individuals.
To confirm, or deny that certain action may or may not have been taken will
reveal whether an individual named was suspected of being employed by the
force. This may not in fact mean they are a member of the BNP but in fact
do no more than simply confirm that we have a member of staff with the same
name as one that appears on the list.

Before refusing to comply with the provisions of Section 1(1)(a) of the
Freedom of Information Act, the Cheshire Constabulary also has to consider
any public interest factors in neither confirming nor denying that
information is or is not held if any of the exemptions cited are qualified
in nature. Both Section 30 and Section 31 are, so the following public
interest factors are relevant.
Section 30 Investigations
Favouring confirmation or denial:
Confirming the existence of information would show that the force conducted
an investigation, which the public would expect.
Against confirmation or denial:
An investigation if unknown could be compromised and it could hinder the
prevention or detection of crime. That may even be because under Freedom of
Information Act forces may provide different responses and application of
the Section 30 exemption in some areas and not others would in fact
immediately expose such investigations.
Section 31 Law Enforcement
Favouring confirmation or denial:
Some information regarding the ability to check against the list is already
in the public domain and its full usage would make the public better
informed.
Against confirmation or denial:
Law enforcement tactics could be compromised and there could be a hindrance
to the prevention or detection of crime.

Balance of Public Interest
At this time the potential harm to current and future investigations
outweighs any public benefit in knowing if any additional information is,
or is not held. Police Officers and staff are held to public account for
their actions by the misconduct regulations and the force is held to
account for investigating such matters appropriately by Her Majesties
Inspector Of Constabulary, and/or in some cases by the Independent Police
Complaints Commission. There is no further tangible community benefit in
complying with section 1(1)(a) of the Act at this time.

This response should not be taken as an inference that the force does, or
does not hold any further information in relation to your request.

It may assist you to know that the Cheshire Constabulary would be legally
entitled to process this sensitive personal data anyway, under Schedule 2
Condition 5 and Schedule 3 paragraph 10 (Statutory Instrument 417/2000,
the Data Protection (Processing of Sensitive Personal Data) Order 2000,
paragraph 2). The grounds for any decision would be that being a member of
the BNP is incompatible with the role of a police officer/police staff and
would be regarded as gross misconduct requiring formal action. This does
not however mean that the Cheshire Constabulary has taken such action at
this time.

If I can be of any further assistance in this matter, please do not
hesitate to contact me.

If you are not satisfied with the decision applied in this case I enclose
for your attention a copy of the Constabulary's appeal procedures.

(See attached file: FOI Appeals Procedures.Final version.doc)

Regards

John Gannon
Freedom of Information Officer
01244 614176

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Walker

Thank you for your email dated 07/12/2009 in which you express
dissatisfaction with our response to your request under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 and our subsequent responses to you query, our
reference number 2154

In view of your comments your request has been forwarded to Mr Nick Regan
who has been appointed by the Authority to act as an independent
appeals/reviewing officer. In accordance with our current policy, in line
with the requirements of the Act and guidance from the Information
Commissioner, our response to a review will be provided on or before the
07/01/2010.

If you require any further information you may contact Mr Regan direct on
the following:

By telephone: 01244 614113

or by email to

[email address]

You can of course contact me direct over this or any other FOI matter at
any time using the contact information already provided.

Regards

John Gannon
Freedom of Information Officer
01244 614176
===========================
Cheshire Constabulary HQ
Winsford
CW7 2UA

This communication is intended for the addressee(s) only.
Please notify the sender if received in error. Internet email
is not to be treated as a secure means of communication.
Cheshire Constabulary monitors all Internet and email activity
and requires it is used for official communications only. Thank
you for your co-operation.