Information Compliance Team
Headquarters
Leigh Road
Eastleigh
Hampshire
SO50 9SJ
Sent by email to:
Oliver Todd
t. 02380 626850
e. xx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
w. hantsfire.gov.uk
Date:
11 April 2023
Our Reference:
FOI 154 22-23
Enquiries to:
Information Compliance Officer
Freedom of Information Act 2000
Dear Oliver Todd
We are writing in respect of your application for the release of information held by the Service,
which we received on 13 March 2023. We can confirm that we have now completed our search
for the information requested.
You asked:
Please may I have the Current HIOWFRS PDA's.
Our answer:
We can confirm we hold the information requested, please find it in the attached spreadsheet.
For your awareness, we have redacted some of the incident types. We are also not providing
other information as it does not relate to Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service
(HIWFRS) pre-determined attendance (PDA).
National Security Exemption
HIWFRS holds the redacted information from the PDA. However, this information is exempt
under section 24(1) National Security of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Section 24(1)
provides that information is exempt from Section 1(1)(b) if it is required for the purposes
of safeguarding national security.
The national security exemption is based on the effect the disclosure would have, not on the
content or source of the information.
As you may be aware, disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act is a release to the
public at large. While we are not questioning the motives of the applicant, releasing our
response plan to certain incident types would enable terrorists to plan and execute attacks
designed to overwhelm the immediate response causing more damage and loss of life. This
would be to the detriment of providing an efficient emergency service and a failure in our duty
of care to all members of the public.
Public Interest Test
For this exemption to apply, the public interest in maintaining these exemptions must outweigh
the public interest in disclosing the information.
Public Interest in Disclosure
There are several reasons in favour of disclosure to the public at large as follows:
• It promotes transparency, showing that we have appropriate vehicles/capabilities.
• Shows we have an appropriate response plan to tackle any incident effectively.
• It shows we are not sending excessive resources for any incident we attend, wasting
public funds.
• There is a general interest in how our service responds to incidents.
Public Interest Against Disclosure
There are several reasons against the disclosure to the public at large as follows:
• The information would be likely to be used to plan attacks designed to overwhelm our
immediate response, leading to increased loss of life.
• Would be likely to lead to more damaging attacks by terrorists.
• Would be likely to lead to the identification of vehicles that are attending the incidents,
enabling them to be targeted to increase the effect of the primary terrorist attack.
Health and Safety Exemption
We are refusing to provide certain incident types and our response plan on the grounds that it
would be likely to endanger the health and safety of individuals, as per sections 38(1)(a) and
(b) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
While we are not questioning the motives of the applicant, a disclosure under the Freedom of
Information Act is deemed to be to the world at large. This information can be used by terrorists
and criminals to target our vehicles and would lead to an increased risk to the safety of
operational staff traveling to and operating at the incident. This would also have consequences
for the public as it would impinge on our ability to respond to incidents.
Public Interest Test
For these exemptions to apply, the public interest in maintaining these exemptions must
outweigh the public interest in disclosing the information.
Public Interest in Disclosure
There are several reasons in favour of disclosure to the public at large as follows:
• It promotes transparency, showing that we have appropriate vehicles/capabilities to
tackle incidents.
• Shows we have an appropriate response plan to tackle any incident effectively.
Public Interest Against Disclosure
There are also significant reasons why providing the information is not in the public interest as
it may:
• Be likely to endanger the safety of our staff that attend certain incident types, which
could lead to loss of life.
• Would be likely to enable the targeting of our vehicles as part of increasing the effect
of a terrorist attack leading to our staff being injured
• Would delay our response time to other vehicles affecting our ability to carry out
lifesaving work, which would endanger members of the public.
Conclusion
Public safety and the ability to deliver an effective response to emergencies are of paramount
importance to HIWFRS. Disclosing this information would be likely to compromise our ability
to respond to terrorist activities and would endanger the health and safety of those involved in
incidents. Therefore, we believe that the balance of public interest favours not disclosing this
information.
Any future correspondence with Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service in
relation to this matter should be sent to the Information Compliance Officer at the above
address.
If for whatever reason you are unhappy with our response you may request an internal review
by contacting xx@xxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx or by writing to the Data Protection Officer at the above
address.
Should you remain dissatisfied you can appeal against the internal review decision by
contacting the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely
Information Compliance Officer
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service
Document Outline
