Officers who have been on sick leave due to psychological illness from 2018 to 2021

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.026375

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. The number of ethnic minority officers who have been on sick leave due to any psychological illness in the years 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

2. The number of white officers who have been on sick leave due to any psychological illness in the years 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Would it be possible to give me the information requested by rank please?

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

The Section 40(2) Exemption has been utilised because, with reference to BAME officers, due to small numbers between the ranks of Sergeant and Chief Superintendent, providing a breakdown of ranks could lead to the identification of individuals.

It is important to note that a Freedom of Information request is not a private transaction. Both the request itself and any information disclosed are considered suitable for open publication, 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. Any information released under the Act is also published on the MPS website.

Section 40(2)(a)(b) and (3)(a)(i) - Personal Information - 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 3(a), 3(b) and 4(c) 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 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.

Disclosure

Please find requested information below.

BAME OFFICERS	2018	2019	2020	2021
Sergeant – Chief Superintendent	16	20	19	20
Detective Sergeant	-	-	-	-
Police Sergeant	-	-	-	-
Detective Constable	32	41	46	49
Police Constable	132	157	159	183

 

WHITE OFFICERS	2018	2019	2020	2021
Sergeant – Chief Superintendent	34	26	16	26
Detective Sergeant	37	47	31	37
Police Sergeant	75	86	83	91
Detective Constable	168	175	138	160
Police Constable	654	747	685	813