Marie Romano
Head of Compliance
Office of the Police and Crime
Commissioner for Derbyshire
Butterley Hall
Ripley
Derbyshire
DE5 3RS
tel: 0300 122 6000
xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xxxxxx.xx
www.derbyshire-pcc.gov.uk
DATE 16/11/2020
E-mail only: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Dear Mark,
FOI Request: FOI 28/2020
I write in connection with your request for information processed under the Freedom
of Information Act 2000 and sent to the Police and Crime Commissioner for
Derbyshire on the 16/10/2020 regarding Badgers as detailed below –
1) Please provide the name of the operation to police the 2020 badger cull in
Derbyshire.
2) Please provide all internal (within the constabulary) and external
communications relating to said operation and policing of the 2020 badger
cull.I am specifically interested in (although not exclusively) any reference to
the badger vaccination programme.
Please see in the attached email the information in relation to your request. I can
confirm that we do hold some information relating to your request however, please
note that under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), we have applied to
some of the information the following exemptions –
•
Section 40 Personal Data and
•
Section 36 Prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs
Therefore, this information has been redacted or removed completely from your
response. For ease of identification any redactions will be clearly marked by
XXXX
covering the redacted words where we have removed an entire email this is also
documented
.
• The OPCC has assessed the information requested and has decided that
Section 40 (2) FOIA - Personal Information applies to some of that
information. Personal information for instance would refer to anything which
could identify an individual like - (names, personnel numbers and direct
contact numbers of staff members working for the Office of the Police and
Crime Commissioner (OPCC) or the Derbyshire Constabulary below senior
level). Similarly, we have consulted with any third parties and redacted any
personal data like names, direct email addresses and contact numbers where
applicable. Any members of the public who have contacted the OPCC we
have redacted their personal details - name and contact details also.
Therefore, this personal information is exempt by virtue of section 40 (2) of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), as disclosure of this information
to the public generally, in the OPCC’s view, would not be consistent with data
protection principles in Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulations
(GDPR).
• Under Section 36 (s36) (Prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs) of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). S36 requires a qualified
person’s opinion for the exemption to be engaged. The qualified person for
the OPCC is the Police and Crime Commissioner – Hardyal Dhindsa and
therefore he has given his reasonable opinion that disclosure of some of the
information you’ve requested which includes - (emails containing advice,
opinions, and views from colleagues as well as operational policing
discussions) is exempt from being released, as to release the information
would be likely to inhibit the free and frank provision of advice and the free
and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation and would
prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs. As s36 is a qualified
exemption for the OPCC we have detailed our public interest test (PIT)
considerations below. Also, a copy of the record of the Commissioner’s
opinion is attached for your information.
N.B. In reaching his final decision the Commissioner reviewed the information placed
before him as the qualified person. The Commissioner was provided with a
submission outlining the reasons for applying the exemption as well as the counter
arguments in favour of disclosure. The Commissioner also has had access to the
withheld information to read and digest and therefore, was sufficiently well informed
to allow him to form a reasonable opinion on whether or not the information should
be disclosed.
When applying s36 as detailed above the OPCC has to carry out a public interest
test (PIT) to ascertain whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption
outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. Below are the reasons
that were considered and agreed upon.
PIT Considerations
Reasons for releasing the information:
•
To promote the accountability and transparency of the OPCC and other
partners in discussions relating to badgers, badger culling and badger
vaccination and allow individuals to understand decisions made relating
to this live topic.
However, it is the view of the OPCC that the public interest in
maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information
and therefore that’s why some of the information you have requested has been
redacted from the final response. The reasons why we have decided to withhold this
information under s36 FOIA is detailed below.
Reasons for withholding the information:
•
There is a strong need for a “safe space” for the Commissioner/OPCC to
formulate ideas, debate ideas and to give and receive advice on the
current live issue of badger culling and badger vaccination. The
Commissioner/OPCC should be able to debate ideas with partners and
to receive and give advice away from any public scrutiny and criticism.
Good decision making is crucial to the Commissioner and his decisions
needs to be based on the best advice available after a full consideration
of the options. Colleagues and third parties feel able to provide free and
frank views and advice to the Commissioner, due to the fact these
exchanges are not intended to go into the public domain. It would be
likely to prejudice the frankness and candour of these discussions and
advice currently and in future if colleagues knew that their honest
opinions, advice and deliberations were going to be placed in to the
public domain. It also would be likely to impair the overall quality of
decision making by the OPCC/Commissioner and partners and could
make it more difficult for the OPCC and partners to work collaboratively
and cohesively when delivering their core business objectives, which
isn’t in the public interest.
•
There is a strong need for Derbyshire Constabulary and OPCC to
discuss operational policing tactics without fear of these being made
public especially when it would be likely to have an adverse effect on
Derbyshire Constabularies ability to police events currently or in future
or to be able to offer an effective public service overall. There is a real
risk that because the badger culling/vaccinations is currently a live and
contentious issue, release of the Constabularies operational
discussions and strategic thinking could have a disruptive effect for the
Constabulary, other partners and the wider public and could cause
unnecessary diversion/additional resources in responding to these
events which would cost the public purse more money which isn’t in the
public interest.
If you are not satisfied with our response to your request, under Section 17 of the
FOIA of the FOIA you are entitled to ask for an internal review of our decision. Any
internal review needs to be submitted within two months of the date of receipt of this
response and state why you are unhappy with the response. You can submit an
internal review in the following ways:
• emailing the OPCC Inbox –
xxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xxxxxx.xx or;
• writing to the OPCC at –
The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Derbyshire
Butterley Hall
Ripley
Derbyshire
DE5 3RS
By phone – 0300 122 6000 (as a reasonable adjustment under the Equality
Act 2010).
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the internal review under Section 50 of
the FOIA you can apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a
decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the
internal review procedure provided by the OPCC. You can contact the ICO in the
following ways:
• online at the ICO –
https://ico.org.uk/global/contact-us/ or;
• writing to the ICO at –
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Yours sincerely
Marie Romano
On behalf of the Police and Crime Commissioner