Dear Sir,

North Wales Fire and Rescue Service (NWFRS) hereby acknowledges receipt of your request for information as detailed below, which is being actioned under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This is now receiving the Service’s attention and a response will normally be provided within 20 working days.

To confirm, your request was received on 19th September 2021 and you have supplied an email address for response.

Yours faithfully,

Swyddog Rhyddid Gwybodaeth/Freedom of Information Officer
Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub Gogledd Cymru/North Wales Fire and Rescue Service

Rydym yn croesawu gohebiaeth a galwadau yn y Gymraeg a’r Saesneg - byddwn yn ymateb yn gyfartal i’r ddwy ac yn ateb yn eich dewis iaith heb oedi.
We welcome correspondence and calls in Welsh and English - we will respond equally to both and will reply in your language of choice without delay.
Gwnewch yn siŵr eich bod yn profi’ch larwm mwg yn rheolaidd. Os nad oes gennych larwm, neu os ydy’ch larwm wedi torri, ffoniwch 0800 169 1234, anfonwch e-bost i [email address] neu ewch i www.gwastan-gogcymru.org.uk am gyngor ynglŷn â beth i’w wneud nesaf.

Please make sure that you regularly check your smoke alarm. If you do not have one, or find that the one that you do have is not working, call 0800 169 1234, e-mail [email address] or visit www.nwales-fireservice.org.uk for advice on what to do next.

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Dear Sir,

Further to your recent request to North Wales Fire and Rescue Service
(NWFRS) made under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act for a list
of NWFRS’s Pre-Determined Attendances (PDAs), I can confirm that the
Service holds this information.

The information is exempt under Section 24 (National Security) of the
Freedom of Information Act. Section 24 provides that information is
exempt from disclosure under Section 1(1)b if it is required for the
purposes of safeguarding national security.

Safeguarding national security also includes protecting potential targets
even if there is no evidence that an attack is imminent. Knowledge of PDAs
may potentially allow individuals or groups to try and cause such
incidents, thereby intentionally diverting resources away from
intended/potential targets.

In applying this exemption NWFRS is required to carry out a public
interest test and has concluded that the public interest in maintaining
this exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure.

In assessing the balance of the public interest test, the Service is
mindful that the Freedom of Information Act works on an ‘applicant blind’
basis and that by providing information to one person a precedent is set
for making it available to anyone else who asks for it. In addition, NWFRS
has also to bear in mind that disclosures made under the Act are
considered to be to the whole world rather than a particular individual. 

There is a strong public interest in NWFRS doing all it can to protect
the critical national infrastructure and national security, and the
Service is of the view that disclosing the requested information would
undermine this purpose, which would not be in the public interest. 
Although there has to be a real possibility that the disclosure would
undermine national security, the impact does not need to

be direct or immediate.

While there may be some public interest in providing details for PDAs the
benefit of this does not outweigh the potential consequences of
endangering the health and welfare of people.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the
right to ask for an internal review. Internal review requests should be
submitted within two months of the date of receipt of the response to your
original correspondence and should be addressed to:

The Freedom of Information Officer

North Wales Fire and Rescue Service Headquarters

Ffordd Salesbury

St Asaph Business Park

St Asaph

Denbighshire

LL17 0JJ

If you remain dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have a
right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

The Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45

Website: [1]www.ico.gov.uk

There is no charge for making an appeal.

Yours faithfully,

Swyddog Rhyddid Gwybodaeth/Freedom of Information Officer
Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub Gogledd Cymru/North Wales Fire and Rescue Service

Rydym yn croesawu gohebiaeth a galwadau yn y Gymraeg a’r Saesneg - byddwn
yn ymateb yn gyfartal i’r ddwy ac yn ateb yn eich dewis iaith heb oedi.

We welcome correspondence and calls in Welsh and English - we will respond
equally to both and will reply in your language of choice without delay.

Gwnewch yn siŵr eich bod yn profi’ch larwm mwg yn rheolaidd. Os nad oes
gennych larwm, neu os ydy’ch larwm wedi torri, ffoniwch 0800 169 1234,
anfonwch e-bost i [2][email address] neu ewch i
[3]www.gwastan-gogcymru.org.uk am gyngor ynglŷn â beth i’w wneud nesaf.

Please make sure that you regularly check your smoke alarm. If you do not
have one, or find that the one that you do have is not working, call 0800
169 1234, e-mail [4][email address] or visit
[5]www.nwales-fireservice.org.uk for advice on what to do next.

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