Recorded crimes at doctors surgeries/health centres from April 2017 to March 2022

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.024626

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. Please disclose the total number of recorded crimes that were committed for the Location Code NE- Medical/dental/veterinary surgery/health clinic in each of the following years:
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22

2. Please provide a breakdown of how these recorded crimes for the Location Code NE- Medical/dental/veterinary surgery/health clinic were categorised in each of the following years:
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
2020-21
2021-22

I.e. please disclose the number of crimes that were recorded as assaults, the number that were recorded as harassment etc

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(2) – Personal Information

Reason for decision

Before I explain the reasons for the decisions I have made in relation to your request, I thought that it would be helpful if I outline the parameters set out by the Act within which a request for information can be answered. The Act creates a statutory right of access to information held by public authorities. A public authority in receipt of a request must, if permitted, confirm if the requested information is held by that public authority and, if so, then communicate that information to the applicant.

The right of access to information is not without exception and is subject to a number of exemptions which are designed to enable public authorities to withhold information that is not suitable for release. Importantly, the Act is designed to place information into the public domain, that is, once access to information is granted to one person under the Act, it is then considered public information and must be communicated to any individual should a request be received.

Some of the details in column C of the attached spreadsheet regarding the types of crime that took place in a Doctor Surgeries/ Medical Centres during the financial years 2017-2022 could cause an individual to be identified and is therefore exempted in this case.

Section 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 confirms that information which relates to an identified or identifiable living individual is Personal Data.

The Freedom of Information Act provides an exemption for Personal Data and this is known as the section 40 exemption.

Some of the information sought under your Freedom of Information request includes the following which we consider to be Personal Data

• Details related to low numbers of crimes, that could, if disclosed, identify an individual.

Where the request is seeking access to third party personal data the section 40(2) exemption may be engaged.

In order to apply the Section 40(2) exemption the disclosure of the requested information must satisfy either the first, second or third conditions as defined by subsections 3A, 3B and 4A of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (as amended by Section 58 of the Data Protection Act 2018).

The first condition ensures that the exemption would apply in circumstances where the disclosure of the information would breach any of the Data Protection Act 2018 principles.

There are six Data Protection principles set out in the 2018 act and these can be found at section 34.
In this instance I have decided that the disclosure of the Personal Data would be incompatible with the first Data Protection principle which states that the processing (in this case the disclosure) of the data must be both lawful and fair.

Section 40(2)(a)(b)(3A)(i)) – Personal Information - Were we to disclose the requested information broken down further would be likely to lead to the identification of living individuals and therefore such information is considered to be Personal Data.

The disclosure of this personal data would breach the first data protection principle, specified within Article 5(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which requires that personal data shall be: ‘processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject (‘lawfulness, fairness and transparency’);’

Processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that at least one of 6 conditions specified under Article 6 of the GDPR are applicable. Article 6, GDPR sets out the six lawful bases, applying to all processing; one of which must be in place in every case of disclosure of personal data under FOIA, in accordance with the First Data Protection Principle.

The disclosure of the personal data contained within the requested information would be unwarranted in the circumstances of this request. This is because the disclosure of this personal data is not necessary to satisfy the legitimate public interest and in relation to personal data, there is no presumption of disclosure. Furthermore, none of the conditions specified within Article 6 of the GDPR would be met. Therefore section 40(2)(3A)(a) is engaged and disclosure cannot be made.

Disclosure

Please refer to the attached spreadsheet below.