Fleet Engineer / Workshop Manager & Passenger Transport Services
Dear Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council,
I am the Director of a recruitment Company called Proactive
Technical Recruitment and i wondered whether you can help me
please
, would you be able to provide the Name , Phone Number , Email
address for the Fleet Engineer at your Council AND / OR
the Workshop Manager , these will be the people responsible for
the maintenance of Council Vehicles such as Minibuses,Vans,Trucks
etc .
I understand that some work is subcontracted out in which case
please can you supply the name of the Company you subcontract the
work to and a contact name
One final question , do you have a department that is responsible
for Passenger Transport in the Community and if so can you also
supply the name of this Gentleman or lady and a contact number or
email address
Andrew Jennings
Director - Proactive Technical Recruitment
01784-487600 or 07799-866467
Good Morning
Thank you for your recent request made under the Freedom of Information
Act.
Details of how to do business with the Council can be found on our website
at [1]this link.
With reference to the names of the Council officers, the Council has
relied on section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The
Council can place
reliance on this section when disclosure of the information requested may
breach The Data Protection Act 1998.
The legislation specifies that Data Controllers, such as the Council, have
to comply with the 8 Data Protection principles.
The first principle, which is set out in Schedule 1 of the Act stats that
a Personal Data may only be processed where it is fair and lawful to do so
and where one of the conditions set out in Schedule 2 are satisfied. I do
not believe that any of the conditions in Schedule 2 are met.
To advise you further I have detailed Schedule 2 below:-
SCHEDULE 2 - CONDITIONS RELEVANT FOR PURPOSES OF THE FIRST PRINCIPLE:
PROCESSING OF ANY PERSONAL DATA
1. The data subject has given his consent to the processing.
2. The processing is necessary-
(a) for the performance of a contract to which the data subject is a
party, or
(b) for the taking of steps at the request of the data subject with a view
to entering into a contract.
3. The processing is necessary for compliance with any legal obligation to
which the data controller is subject, other than an obligation imposed
by contract.
4. The processing is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of
the data subject.
5. The processing is necessary-
(a) for the administration of justice,
(b) for the exercise of any functions conferred on any person by or under
any enactment,
(c) for the exercise of any functions of the Crown, a Minister of the
Crown or a government department, or
(d) for the exercise of any other functions of a public nature exercised
in the public interest by any person.
6. - (1) The processing is necessary for the purposes of legitimate
interests pursued by the data controller or by the third party or
parties to whom the data are disclosed, except where the processing is
unwarranted in any particular case by reason of prejudice to the rights
and freedoms or legitimate interests of the data subject.
The Council has had regard to the legal precedent for the non-disclosure
of this information made on 7th February 2014 by Lord Justice Moses in
the Court of Appeal (Civil Division) in the case of Edem v. The
Information Commissioner & The Financial Services Authority (FSA) (Case
No: C3/2013/0791). The case involved the requested disclosure of the names
of three junior members of staff who had been involved in the handling of
Mr Edem’s complaint against the FSA regarding their regulation of Egg PLC.
In his judgement, Lord Justice Moses stated:
9. There is no dispute but that disclosure of the names would be
“processing” within s.1 of the Data Protection Act 1998. Nor was there any
dispute but that the names were data.
[…]
12. It seems to me beyond question that those living individuals could be
identified from a combination of their names and the documents emanating
from the Financial Services Authority which show that they were working
there in the capacity described by Rosalind Leaphard.
13. There is ample authority in the Court of the Justice of the European
Union that a person’s name, in conjunction with job-related information,
is their personal data. In Criminal Proceedings against Lindqvist
(C-101/01, [2003] ECR 1-12971) the court stated:-
“The term personal data used in Article 3.1 of Directive 95/46 covers,
according to the definition in Article 2(a) thereof, any information
relating to an identified or identifiable natural person. The term
undoubtedly covers the name of a person in conjunction with his telephone
co-ordinates or information about his working condition or hobbies.”
In Commission v Bavarian Lager (C-28/08 [2010] ECR 1-6055,) the Court
states:-
“[68]. It should be noted that in paragraph 104 the judgment under appeal,
the General Court, in examining Article 2(a) Regulation No. 45/2001, that
is to say the definition of the concept of single ‘personal data’,
correctly held that surnames and forenames may be regarded as personal
data.”
The Council is therefore adhering to this ruling and refusing this aspect
of your request due to the seniority of the officers in question and the
fact that they do not hold public facing jobs. There is therefore an
expectation that their privacy would be upheld. Disclosure would also make
it highly likely that officers would receive unsolicited marketing
advances which would prevent them from conducting their duties.
Wirral Borough Council publishes details of all outsourced services on The
Chest contract register. This can be searched online at [2]this link by
selecting ‘Wirral Borough Council’ from the ‘Council’ field and selecting
the relevant areas from the Category drop-down menu.
Your request is therefore also refused under Section 21 of the Freedom of
Information Act, ‘information reasonably accessible by other means’.
Further guidance on Section 21 can be found on the Information
Commissioner’s website at [3]this link.
You have the right under Section 17 of the Act to ask for an internal
review in respect of this refusal of your request for information. This
should be addressed to:
Information Manager
Legal and Member Services
Town Hall
Brighton Street
Wallasey
CH44 8ED
[4][Wirral Borough Council request email]
If you are dissatisfied with the result of your internal review, you also
have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner, whose address
is
The Information Commissioner’s Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire SK9 5AF
[5]www.ico.gov.uk
Kind regards,
Sent on behalf of
Tracy O'Hare
Information Management
Transformation and Resources
Wirral Council
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