Ethnic diversity & grade of media and communications team - 2021/22

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.0026938

I note you seek access to the following information:

Clarification -
I refer to it as Financial Year (1 April 2022 – to date and 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022)

Previous request
Can you please provide me a breakdown by ethnic diversity and grade in the media and communications team for the period 2022/23 and 2021/22.

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)(3) - 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.

Information that would identify or could assist the identification of individuals may be
exempt from disclosure by virtue of Section 40 of the Act.

Section 40(3)(a)(i) is applicable in circumstances where disclosure would breach one or more of the data protection principles specified within the Data Protection Act 1998.

There are under 100 people in the Media and Communications team. To reveal the breakdown by grades and ethnicity could identify individuals.

Disclosure

We have instead provided you with data on the wider team breakdown. Please see the table below.

	Mar-22	Oct-22
BAME	7.4%	7.2%
Non BAME	92.6%	92.8%