Policy/guidance documents for MPS officers Secondment/Attachment/Exchange

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.025296

I note you seek access to the following information:

Please could you provide any policy/guidance documents on:
1. Secondments from the MPS overseas
2. Attachments from the MPS overseas
3. Voluntary Exchanges from MPS
4. The number of officers to do any of the above to the USA in the last two years.

To clarify, 3 refers to situations such as an officer voluntarily spending a short period of time overseas unpaid with foreign police forces to learn about policing practices or exchange knowledge. This could for instance be while completing a degree or research project.

This request specifically excludes any need for information on intelligence liaison officers/national security related work overseas.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 40 – Personal Information

Reason for decision

Within the documents are contact details which I have redacted by virtue of S.40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) governing personal information.

Section 40(2)&(3) - Personal Information: of the Act provides that any information to which a request for information relates, is exempt information if the first condition of Section 40(3A)(a) is satisfied. The first condition of Section 40(3A)(a) states that personal information is exempt if its disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles. If the disclosure of the requested personal data would not contravene the data protection principles, the disclosure must also not contravene Sections 3A(b) and 3B of the Act.

There are six principles that are set out in Article 5(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) that dictate when the processing of personal data is lawful. The first principle requires that any processing of personal data must be lawful, fair and transparent. Under Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR, the disclosure of personal data is considered to be lawful if:

a. There is a legitimate interest in the disclosure of that personal data.
b. The disclosure of the personal data is necessary to meet that legitimate interest.
c. The disclosure would not cause unwarranted harm to the data subject.

Having considered the release of information relating to the contact details I have found, having considered the legitimate interest test, that:

a. The disclosure of this information would satisfy an identifiable legitimate interest, being to provide information that will show transparency.

b. This disclosure of contact details is necessary to satisfy the legitimate interest identified at point a.

c. However, publication of the contact details would be likely to lead to unwanted and unsolicited intrusion to the individuals and work they are undertaking. In this regard, I believe that disclosure of this personal data would be likely to cause unwarranted harm.

The provision to refuse access to information under Section 40(2)(a)(b) and (3A)(a) of the Act is both absolute and class based. When this exemption is claimed, it is accepted that harm would result from disclosure. There is accordingly no requirement to demonstrate what that harm may be in refusing access to information.

Disclosure

Q1 - Secondments from the MPS overseas
Q2 - Attachments from the MPS overseas

Please see attached documents.

Q3 - Voluntary Exchanges from MPS
Q4 - The number of officers to do any of the above to the USA in the last two years.

None