Non hate crime incidents
Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.21.021245
I note you seek access to the following information:
1 - How many Non Crime Hate Incidents have been recorded against the current Home Secretary?
2 - How many Non Crime Hate Incidents have been recorded against serving members of The Met Police?
Please, where possible, answer in relation to the relevant Monitored Strand.
Time period: since NCHIs became a thing in 2014.
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(5) exemption – Personal Information
Reason for decision
In regards to question 1 – The Metropolitan Police Service neither confirms nor denies that it holds the information you have requested as the duty in Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
A Freedom of Information Act request is not a private transaction. Both the request itself, and any information disclosed, are considered suitable for open publication. This is because, under Freedom of Information, any information disclosed is released into the wider public domain, effectively to the world and not just to one individual.
To confirm or deny whether personal information exists in response to your request could publicly reveal information about an individual, thereby breaching the right to privacy afforded to persons under the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
Section 40 (5B)(a)(i) – Personal Information - As previously mentioned, the release of information under the Freedom of Information Act is a release into the public domain and not just to the individual requesting the information. Once information is disclosed under the Act there is no control or limits as to who or how the information is shared with other individuals. Therefore a release under the Act is considered a disclosure to the world in general.
To confirm or deny that the MPS hold or do not hold information in relation to your request would in fact disclose information about a living, identifiable individual. This would amount to a release into the public domain of personal information about an individual. The individual in question would have no expectation that this information would be released into the public domain, and therefore their rights under the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) would be breached by release.
To clarify, the Freedom of Information Act only allows the processing of personal data if that processing would be compliant with the Data Protection principles. These principles are outlined under section 34 of the DPA 2018 and under Article 5 of the GDPR.
In this instance, processing this data (by issuing a confirmation or denial in regards to the requested information) would breach the first principle, that of ‘lawful, fair and transparent’ processing. When balancing the legitimate interests of the public against the interests of the individual and the harm and distress that would be caused by a confirmation or denial, the processing of information in this way becomes unlawful and Section 40(5B) (a)(i) is made out.
This notice does not confirm or deny that the MPS holds the information that you have requested.
In regards to question 2 – I have today decided to provide you with the requested information.
Disclosure
Q2 - How many Non Crime Hate Incidents have been recorded against serving members of The Met Police?
The figure is 1 (Racial incident).