FOI/EIR Request - 2304111659
Dear Open Rights Group, 
 
I am writing to confirm receipt of your FOI request.  Arrangements have
been made to assign this to the relevant Service Area for a response.
Please quote the above case number in all queries to the FOI Team about
this matter.
Kind regards
FOI Team
Information Governance
Law & Governance
Peterborough City Council
Sand Martin House
Bittern Way
Fletton Quays
Peterborough
PE2 8TY
Contact details:
Kevin Taylor, Access to Information Officer - 01733 452576
Tazeem Akhtar, Access to Information Officer - 01733 207138
Sadaf Abdullah, Access to Records Officer - 01733 864668
Tracey Wright, Information Manager - 01733 452533
Ben Stevenson, Head of Information Governance/Data Protection Officer on
01733 452387 (non-working day Wed)
Emma Doran, 
Business Support Officer - 01733 453571
Email: [1]f[email address] 
To find out more about Peterborough City Council please go
to [2]www.peterborough.gov.uk. 
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FOI/EIR Request - 2304111659

Dear Open Rights Group, 

I write with regard to your Freedom of Information Request, our reference
FOI-2304111659,  which our records indicate was due for response to you by
11 May 2023.  I apologise that we have not been able to provide you with
the information you require within the 20 working day statutory period on
this occasion. We are currently finalising our response and will have the
information to you as soon as possible. 

 

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any queries or
concerns. 

 

Kind regards 

Tazeem Akhtar 
Access To Information Officer 
Information Governance
Law & Governance
Peterborough City Council
Sand Martin House
Bittern Way
Fletton Quays
Peterborough
PE2 8TY
Contact details:
Kevin Taylor, Access to Information Officer - 01733 452576
Tazeem Akhtar, Access to Information Officer - 01733 207138
Sadaf Abdullah, Access to Records Officer - 01733 864668
Tracey Wright, Information Manager - 01733 452533
Ben Stevenson, Head of Information Governance/Data Protection Officer on
01733 452387 (non-working day Wed)
Emma Doran, 
Business Support Officer - 01733 453571
Email: [1]f[email address] 
To find out more about Peterborough City Council please go
to [2]www.peterborough.gov.uk. 
Please consider the environment before printing this email.

Conditions apply to the confidentiality, copyright, legal liability and
use of this email.For full information relating to the transmission and
use of this email please visit www.peterborough.gov.uk/emaildisclaimer

References

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2. http://www.peterborough.gov.uk/

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST – FOI 2304111659    

  

Dear Open Rights Group, 

  

Your request for information, with reference number FOI 2304111659 has now
been considered and the information requested is given below. 

 

Request and Response

I am requesting the following documents completed by your authority, and
any sub-councils within your authority, related to Prevent, Channel or
safeguarding more generally that includes Prevent:

- Prevent/Channel Privacy Notice
- Information Management Strategy
- Data Protection Impact Assessment/Privacy Impact Assessment
- Equality Impact Assessment
- Data Sharing Agreement(s) or similar
- Any Memorandum of Understanding with the Home Office.

Our response is shown below:

Prevent/Channel Privacy Notice

Our Prevent & Channel Privacy Notice can be viewed via the link below. 
Please scroll down the page until you locate the PDF document titled
‘Prevent & Channel Privacy Notice’ :

[1]https://www.peterborough.gov.uk/council/...

Information relating to Prevent and Channel, can be viewed here:

[2]https://www.peterborough.gov.uk/resident...

  

Information Management Strategy

While we do not have an Information Management Strategy, information and
information sharing is captured in the Prevent Partnership Plan (PPP). 
The PPP is classified as official sensitive due to the information it
contains.   Please find attached a redacted copy of the PPP. It has been
necessary to apply redactions on information which is considered to be
exempt in accordance with the exemptions permitted under the FOIA, those
being section 24 - National Security and section 31 - Law Enforcement.  
These are qualified prejudice-based exemptions and as such we have
conducted a public interest test which is detailed below for each of the
statutory exemptions we are relying on.  

   

Section 24 National Security  

   

(1) Information which does not fall within section 23(1) is exempt
information if exemption from section 1(1) (b) is required for the purpose
of safeguarding national security.  

 

Considerations in favour of disclosing the information  

  

There is a general public interest in disclosure and openness in
government increases public trust in, and engagement with, the government.
In relation to the Channel/Prevent programme, the disclosure of some
information could enhance the openness of government and help the public
understand, in greater depth, how the government is responding to a range
of factors that can draw people into terrorism or pull people away from
it.  

   

It is also in the public interest to be assured that the government’s
counter terrorism strategy is robust and appropriate.  

  

Considerations in favour of withholding the information  

  

There is currently a substantial terrorist threat to the United Kingdom
and disclosing certain information could put national security at risk by
jeopardising or negating the government’s efforts to prevent acts of
terrorism and terrorist related crime.  The Information Commissioner
recognises that terrorists are highly motivated and will go to great
lengths to achieve their goals.

Certain information could be used by individuals or groups to devise
counter strategies to these programmes, weakening their effectiveness and
expose susceptible individuals to a greater risk of being drawn into
terrorism. If more people are drawn into terrorism this would increase the
national security threat to the UK.

   

In applying section 24(1) we have determined that safeguarding national
security interests is of paramount importance and that in all
circumstances of the case it is our opinion that the public interest test
clearly favours the non-disclosure of certain information, the disclosure
of which could put national security at risk.

   

Section 31 Law Enforcement  

 

(1)   Information which is not exempt information by virtue of section 30
is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be
likely to, prejudice-  

   

(a)   the prevention or detection of crime  

   

Peterborough City Council considers that disclosure of certain information
may undermine the Council’s partners and their activities in the
prevention of crime. Disclosure undermining trust in any Channel/Prevent
activity would be detrimental to the process, especially if it discouraged
individuals previously engaging with Channel/Prevent.  

 

Considerations in favour of disclosing the information  

Disclosing information relating to those children (under-18s) referred to
the local authority due to concerns that they are vulnerable to being
radicalised will reassure the public that Prevent activity is being
undertaken to ensure individuals who may be vulnerable to being drawn into
any form of terrorism are being supported by the Channel project.
Therefore, disclosure of information that allows the public to feel
reassured about the work of the government and partner agencies and which
could therefore lead to an effective challenge to those that seek to
damage the communities in and around the UK, would potentially be in the
public interest to disclose.  

   

Considerations in favour of withholding the information  

 

Organisations and partner agencies are given reassurances that information
submitted will be treated in the strictest of confidence. Releasing the
information requested would increase concern around the identification of
individuals in the process – irrespective of whether identification
actually takes place. Disclosure of this information could erode trust in
the Channel process from partners. This would undermine the successful
delivery of Channel and ultimately law enforcement.

Disclosure of certain information could discourage individuals from
engaging with Channel and the prevention of crime.

    

We have determined that prevention of crime is of paramount importance and
that in all circumstances of this case it is our opinion that the public
interest clearly favours the non-disclosure of certain information, the
disclosure of which would be likely to prejudice the prevention or
detection of crime in accordance with section 31(1)(a)   

   

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 this email message
acts as a refusal notice in accordance with section 17 of the Act, where
exemptions have been applied.  

 Data Protection Impact Assessment/Privacy Impact Assessment

 

This document not currently available but work is currently being
undertaken as part of the Data Sharing Agreement work which is currently
on-going.

NB - Please note the development is in relation to a data sharing
agreement concerning Channel matters only. It does not relate to Prevent
matters. 

Equality Impact Assessment

This document not currently available but work is currently being
undertaken as part of the Data Sharing Agreement work which is currently
on-going.

NB - Please note the development is in relation to a data sharing
agreement concerning Channel matters only. It does not relate to Prevent
matters. 

 

Data Sharing Agreement(s) or similar

This document is not yet available as it is currently being developed.  

NB - Please note the development is in relation to a data sharing
agreement concerning Channel matters only. It does not relate to Prevent
matters. 

 

Any Memorandum of Understanding with the Home Office

There is no general Memorandum of Understanding with the Home Office in
relation to information sharing.  This is covered by the [3]Channel
Statutory Guidance and [4]Prevent Duty Guidance, which are both published
on the gov.uk website. 

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​_______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 
      

Re-use of information 

You may re-use any documents supplied for your own use, including for
non-commercial research purposes. The documents may also be used for news
reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example by publishing
the documents or issuing copies to the public will require the permission
of the copyright owner, where copyright exists.  Such a request would be
considered separately in accordance with the relevant Re-use of Public
Sector Information Regulations 2015 and is not automatic.  Therefore no
permission is implied in the re-use of these documents, until such a
request for re-use has been made and agreed, subject to any appropriate
conditions.  

  

You may re-use any dataset included in this response (excluding logos)
free of charge, in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open
Government Licence v2.0. To view this licence, visit the [5]National
Archives website or email [6][email address].  Where we have identified
any third-party copyright information, you will need to obtain permission
from the copyright holders concerned.  Users reproducing Peterborough City
Council content without adaptation should include a source accreditation
to Peterborough City Council: Source: Peterborough City Council licensed
under the Open Government Licence v.2.0.  Users reproducing content which
is adapted should include a source accreditation to Peterborough City
Council: Adapted from data from Peterborough City Council licensed under
the Open Government Licence v.2.0. 

  

If you have any queries or concerns then please do not hesitate to
contact me. 

  

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request please contact
the Information Manager, Peterborough City Council, Sand Martin House,
Bittern Way, Fletton Quays, Peterborough, PE2 8TY; Telephone: 01733
452533, e-mail: [7][Peterborough City Council request email] 

  

You can also complain to the Information Commissioner at: 

 

            The Information Commissioner's Office 

            Wycliffe House, Water lane 

            Wilmslow, Cheshire 

            SK9 5AF                                   

Tel: 01625 545700          

[8]http://www.ico.org.uk/ 

 

  

Yours faithfully 

FOI Team

  

Information Governance

Law & Governance

Peterborough City Council

Sand Martin House

Bittern Way

Fletton Quays

Peterborough

PE2 8TY

Contact details:

Email: [9]f[email address] 

Telephone: 01733 452533 

To find out more about Peterborough City Council please go
to [10]www.peterborough.gov.uk. 

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

Conditions apply to the confidentiality, copyright, legal liability and
use of this email.For full information relating to the transmission and
use of this email please visit www.peterborough.gov.uk/emaildisclaimer

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