Kanish Patel
Date
15 August 2023
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Post Office
Ground Floor
Finsbury Dials
20 Finsbury Street
London EC2Y 9AQ
Classification:
Private
Dear Kanish Patel,
Internal Review under the Freedom of Information Act
IR2023/00467 I am writing in response to your request for an Internal Review of Post Office
Limited’s (“Post Office”) handling of your recent request for information under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FOIA”).
In your original request for recorded information under Ref: IR2023/00467 received
by Post Office on 7 August, you requested the following information:
Please confirm how many people are still employed that were involved in the
process of convicting Sub Postmasters?
Post Office responded to you on 4 August to state that the information was held but
that it was exempt from disclosure under s38 – Health and Safety – as Post Office
was concerned that disclosing the number of people currently employed that met
the requirements of your request would put the health and safety of staff at risk.
On the 7 August, you contacted Post Office to request an Internal Review of its
decision. A copy of the body of your email is provided below:
Page 1 of 3
postoffice.co.uk
Post Office Limited is registered in England and Wales. Registered No. 2154540.
Registered Office Finsbury Dials, 20 Finsbury Street, London, EC2Y 9AQ.
Post Office and the Post Office logo are registered trade marks of Post Office Limited.
I am writing to request an internal review of Post Office Limited's handling of my
FOI request 'Current employees'.
You have interpreted the request correctly however, my request for information
specifically relates to the number of people currently employed at Post Office
that were involved in the process of convicting Sub Postmasters not who.
In line with the requirements of the FOIA and the associated Code of Practice, we
have carried out an internal review of your request for information and the way your
request has been handled by the Information Rights Team in accordance with the
Act. Having considered your original request afresh, while taking careful note of the
comments in your request for an internal review, as well as consulting with
colleagues in the business, the Post Office Review Panel considers that the
Information Rights team has appropriately responded to your request in accordance
with the Act.
The Panel noted, however, that the original decision letter did not make it clear that
it was not the disclosure of the names that engaged the exemption but the overall
number of staff. In addition to the exemption relied upon in the original decision, the
Panel also considers that the information would also be exempt under s40(2) &
s40(3) – Personal Data – as it may be possible to identify who the staff are and
therefore this makes the number of staff personal data.
Sections 40(2) and 40(3A) of the FOIA exempt personal information from disclosure
if that information relates to someone other than the applicant, and if disclosure of
that information would breach any of the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of
the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
We consider that disclosure of this information is likely to breach the first data
protection principle, which provides that personal data must be processed lawfully,
fairly, and in a transparent manner. Disclosure would not constitute 'fair' processing
of the personal data because there is no expectation that staff would expect to be
identified in particular roles.
Page 2 of 3
postoffice.co.uk
Classification: Private
In the event that you remain unhappy with the handling of this request, you also
have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner who can be contacted at the
address below:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 0303 123 1113
https://ico.org.uk
Yours sincerely,
Information Rights Team
xxxxxxxxxxx.xxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx
https://corporate.postoffice.co.uk/en/governance/access-to-information/access-to-
information/
Post Office Limited is committed to protecting your privacy, information about
how we do this can be found on our website at www.postoffice.co.uk/privacy
Page 3 of 3
postoffice.co.uk
Classification: Private