BNP membership list

Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)

Thank you for your email received today in which you make a request for
information that Northumbria Police may hold.

We are in the process of dealing with your request and expect to revert to
you shortly. A response should be provided by 3 November 2009.

Yours sincerely

Helen Robbins

Information Compliance Unit

NORTHUMBRIA POLICE PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE

The information contained in this message and any attachment(s) is
confidential and intended only for the attention of the named organisation
or individual to whom it is addressed. The message may contain
information that is covered by legal, professional or other privilege. No
mistake in transmission is intended to waive or compromise any such
privilege. This message has been sent over public networks and the sender
cannot be held responsible for its integrity.

If you are not the intended recipient be aware that any disclosure,
copying, distribution or action taken in reliance of the information
contained herein is strictly prohibited, and is contrary to the provisions
of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act, 1988 and of the Data Protection
Act, 1998.

Any views expressed are those of the sender and, unless specifically
stated, do not necessarily represent the view of Northumbria Police.

We cannot accept any liability for any loss or damage sustained as a
result of software viruses. It is your responsibility to carry out such
virus checking as is necessary.

If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by
e-mail at once and delete the message immediately.

For more information about Northumbria Police please visit our website -
[1]http://www.northumbria.police.uk

References

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Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')

Thank you for your email dated 6 October 2009 in which you made a request
for access to certain information which may be held by Northumbria Police.

As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of
access to information held by a Public Authority (including the Police),
subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

You asked:

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 Northumbria Police 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 Northumbria Police personnel database?

4. Who was responsible for the decision to compare sensitive personnel data
against Northumbria Polices personnel data?

5. What were the grounds for such a decision?

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

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

In response:

We have now had the opportunity to fully consider your request and I
provide a response for your attention.

Northumbria Police 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 S1(1)(a) of the Freedom of
Information Act, the force also has to analyse 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 S30 and S31 are, so
the following public interest factors are relevant.

S30 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 FOIA
forces may provide different responses and application of the S30 exemption
in some areas and not others would in fact immediately expose such
investigations.

S31 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 Police Service 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 force have taken such action at this time.

The information we have supplied to you is likely to contain intellectual
property rights of Northumbria Police. Your use of the information must be
strictly in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as
amended) or such other applicable legislation. In particular, you must not
re-use this information for any commercial purpose.

How to complain

If you are unhappy with our decision or do not consider that we have
handled your request properly and we are unable to resolve this issue
informally, you are entitled to make a formal complaint to us under our
complaints procedure which is attached.

(See attached file: FOI Complaint Rights.doc)

If you are still unhappy after we have investigated your complaint and
reported to you the outcome, you may complain directly to the Information
Commissioner’s Office and request that they investigate to ascertain
whether we have dealt with your request in accordance with the Act.

Yours sincerely

Michael Cleugh
Data Protection and Disclosure Advisor
Direct Dial: 01661 869389
NORTHUMBRIA POLICE PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE

The information contained in this message and any attachment(s) is confidential and intended only for the attention of the named organisation or individual to whom it is addressed. The message may contain information that is covered by legal, professional or other privilege. No mistake in transmission is intended to waive or compromise any such privilege. This message has been sent over public networks and the sender cannot be held responsible for its integrity.

If you are not the intended recipient be aware that any disclosure, copying, distribution or action taken in reliance of the information contained herein is strictly prohibited, and is contrary to the provisions of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act, 1988 and of the Data Protection Act, 1998.

Any views expressed are those of the sender and, unless specifically stated, do not necessarily represent the view of Northumbria Police.

We cannot accept any liability for any loss or damage sustained as a result of software viruses. It is your responsibility to carry out such virus checking as is necessary.

If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by e-mail at once and delete the message immediately.

For more information about Northumbria Police please visit our website - http://www.northumbria.police.uk

We acknowledge receipt of your request for an internal review of the
response you received in relation to the above mentioned Freedom Of
Information request.

We will review the response and provide you with a reply in due course.
Yours sincerely

Helen Robbins

Information Compliance Unit

NORTHUMBRIA POLICE PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE

The information contained in this message and any attachment(s) is
confidential and intended only for the attention of the named organisation
or individual to whom it is addressed. The message may contain
information that is covered by legal, professional or other privilege. No
mistake in transmission is intended to waive or compromise any such
privilege. This message has been sent over public networks and the sender
cannot be held responsible for its integrity.

If you are not the intended recipient be aware that any disclosure,
copying, distribution or action taken in reliance of the information
contained herein is strictly prohibited, and is contrary to the provisions
of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act, 1988 and of the Data Protection
Act, 1998.

Any views expressed are those of the sender and, unless specifically
stated, do not necessarily represent the view of Northumbria Police.

We cannot accept any liability for any loss or damage sustained as a
result of software viruses. It is your responsibility to carry out such
virus checking as is necessary.

If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by
e-mail at once and delete the message immediately.

For more information about Northumbria Police please visit our website -
[1]http://www.northumbria.police.uk

References

Visible links
1. http://www.northumbria.police.uk/

Dear Mr Walker

Provision of information held by Northumbria Police made under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 (the 'Act')

Thank you for your e-mail dated 7th December 2009 in which you requested a
review of the response to your request for access to certain information
which may be held by Northumbria Police.

As you may be aware the purpose of the Act is to allow a general right of
access to information held by a Public Authority (including the Police),
subject to certain limitations and exemptions.

You asked:

***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 Northumbria Police 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 Northumbria Police personnel database?

4. Who was responsible for the decision to compare sensitive
personnel data against Northumbria Polices personnel data?

5. What were the grounds for such a decision?

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

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

Your request for review asked:

***Thank you for your response of 5th November 2009. I would like to
request an internal review of the decision not to disclose information.

As you will be aware there is a general right of access to information
held by public authorities. In OGC v Information Commissioner [2008]
EA/2006/0040, 5.3.07 (at para 71) the High Court approved the following
statement:-

***There is an assumption built into FOIA that the disclosure of
information by public authorities on request is in itself of value and in
the public interest, in order to promote transparency and accountability
in relation to the activities of public authorities.***

You have claimed exemptions which are subject to a public interest test.
This requires you to take into account the public interest in deciding
whether to release information even when an exemption applies. In short,
our understanding is that the public interest may override the exemption.

It is our belief that there is a presumption in favour of disclosure in
the Act created by the reverse emphasis in section 2. We argue that where
the balance is even, the public interest in a particular disclosure should
prevail.

We wish the review to consider the following points:-

1. The public would assume that the Police forces had obtained and
reviewed a copy of the leaked BNP list as there is a policy banning BNP
members from serving in the force and the list was leaked onto the
Internet (via Wikileaks). Several forces have publicly disciplined workers
on the basis that they were on this list. At the time Spokespersons for
Forces were happy to tell the Press that they were "scouring" the list for
people to discipline. Several forces have also confirmed that they hold
the list for this purpose and others in response to FOI requests. We argue
that claiming exemptions on the grounds you do is therefore misconceived.

2. The only criminal charge we are aware of relates to Matt Single,
the person convicted under Data Protection law for leaking it. No other
criminal matter relating to the list has been brought before the courts.
It is difficult to understand what kind of criminal investigations might
be prejudiced by answering our request, therefore.

3. We argue that it would be possible for you to disclose
information in response to our request that does not relate to the areas
covered by the exemptions. A blanket refusal is not a proportionate
response.

4. You have failed to fully consider the public interest in
disclosure. Specifically we would like the Review to consider the public
interest in:-
(a) Assisting public understanding of an issue that is subject to
current national debate
(b) Enabling a proper debate of issues relating to Data Protection,
Privacy, Freedom of Association, Freedom of Expression and misuse of
Government powers to the detriment of individual rights. We argue that an
informed debate cannot take place without wide availability of all the
relevant information.
(c) Allowing individuals affected adversely in Employment
information which they can refer to in order to challenge discrimination
on political grounds.
(d) Allowing analysis and scrutiny of the effect and implications
of a major policy decision with Human Rights implications
(e) Providing our Union sufficient information to allow us to make
representations on this issue. See Case No A.31/00 relating to the
enforcement of The Open Government Code of Practice on Access to
Government Information enforced by the Parliamentary Ombudsman. This is
particularly important to us as we have members who are or may be directly
affected in their employment.
(f) Providing our Union with information which can be used to see
the practical implications of a limitation on the right of Freedom of
Association. This is important as further restrictions are being
considered. In fact we recently gave evidence to the Smith review
(concerning Education) on this point, amongst others.
(g) Providing information which makes individuals and institutions
accountable for decisions.

Our Union argues that the substance of the information we have requested
relates to a matter of serious and legitimate public concern and its
disclosure will inform public debate. The public interest in disclosing
the information outweighs any public interest in not disclosing it.***

We understand that other police forces have responded to your request for
information. It is the view of Northumbria Police that we are not bound
by their decisions but are required to consider your request independently
as an individual force. We have also taken into account the arguments put
forward by you in favour of disclosure in respect of public interest.

Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act provides two distinct but
related rights of access to information which impose corresponding duties
on public authorities. These are namely: the duty to inform the
applicant whether or not information is held by the authority, and, if so,
it has the duty to communicate that information to the applicant unless a
suitable exemption applies. In this case, Northumbria Police applied
exemptions as per Section 30 Investigations and Section 31 Law
Enforcement.

Northumbria Police subsequently applied a public interest test and found
in favour of the decision to neither confirm nor deny whether the
requested information is held. Having reviewed the rationale, we are
satisfied that the explanation is in accordance with the provisions of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Logic supports the application of these
exemptions and the decision to neither confirm nor deny that information
is held. Intelligence gathering, witness support and police sources and
operations could potentially be compromised and undermined. In direct
response to the public interest concerns that you raised I have added a
response to your issues below:-

a) We are unaware of any ongoing national debate that the
government should change the law allowing police membership of the BNP.

b) All information relating to the barring of police force members
from political party membership is already a matter of public record.
This information can be found in Hansard and media reports of the time
when current Police regulations were debated in open parliament. The
debate has already been concluded.

c), d), e), f) and g) Although the Police Federation is not a trade union
per se, they and other staff associations were engaged in internal
consultation discussions with regard the implementation of the most recent
changes to Police Regulations, we can see little relevance in this subject
being re-examined by the Solidarity Trade Union. Unison is the only
recognised trade union for police staff.

Please note, when information is released under the Freedom of Information
Act 200 it is released as if into the public domain and therefore cannot
be treated as a private correspondence between the requester and the
public authority.

As a general point, there is a legal bar to membership of a political
party in the police service. We have therefore been unable to understand
how information relating to investigations is relevant to any potential
debate on changing Police Regulations.

This concludes my internal review into your request under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of this
review then it remains open to you to refer this matter to the Information
Commissioner at the following address:

The Information Commissioner***s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely

Superintendent Mike Jones

NORTHUMBRIA POLICE PRIVACY AND CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE

The information contained in this message and any attachment(s) is
confidential and intended only for the attention of the named organisation
or individual to whom it is addressed. The message may contain
information that is covered by legal, professional or other privilege. No
mistake in transmission is intended to waive or compromise any such
privilege. This message has been sent over public networks and the sender
cannot be held responsible for its integrity.

If you are not the intended recipient be aware that any disclosure,
copying, distribution or action taken in reliance of the information
contained herein is strictly prohibited, and is contrary to the provisions
of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act, 1988 and of the Data Protection
Act, 1998.

Any views expressed are those of the sender and, unless specifically
stated, do not necessarily represent the view of Northumbria Police.

We cannot accept any liability for any loss or damage sustained as a
result of software viruses. It is your responsibility to carry out such
virus checking as is necessary.

If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender by
e-mail at once and delete the message immediately.

For more information about Northumbria Police please visit our website -
[1]http://www.northumbria.police.uk

References

Visible links
1. http://www.northumbria.police.uk/