Police uplift programme

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.025501

I note you seek access to the following information:

I would like a copy of all correspondence between Sir Stephen House and Kit Malthouse which mentions the police uplift programme and police recruitment, since April 2021.

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 31(1)(a) - Law Enforcement

Reason for decision

Section 31(1)(a) - Law Enforcement - provides that any information is exempt if its disclosure under the Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the prevention or detection of crime.

I have claimed this exemption in that the requested letter dated the 6th of June 2022 contains the email address of the Police Uplift Programme Secretariat. The public release of this email address would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of this unit, with information that would assist them in this endeavour.

Disruption to the Work of Senior Members of Staff - The release of the email address to the Police Uplift Programme Secretariat, would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of this unit, with information that would assist them to do so. In this regard, a person within this intent would be likely to use this information to make inappropriate contact with members of staff at the Police Uplift Programme and/or send them vast amounts of unsolicited correspondence. This would tie up the resources of these members of staff and cause disruption to the work of the Police Uplift Programme, hindering its ability to operate. Any hindrance to the work of the Police Uplift Programme would be likely to harm the ability of the police service to achieve its police officer uplift targets. This would in turn, prejudice the ability of the police service to prevent and detect crime.

Evaluation - When considering whether the release of information is in the public interest, I have to consider whether the public interest is in favour of releasing information into the public domain or whether there is sufficient reason to support withholding the requested information. Having considered your request, I accept that there is a public interest in transparency when any request is made for police information. The public interest favouring release must be balanced against any associated risk and/or prejudice that would be caused through disclosure.

Having carefully considered this, I have found that the public release and publication of the email address of the Police Uplift Programme Secretariat, would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of this programme, with information that would assist them in this endeavour. Given this and the fact that the removal of this information does not detract from the quality of the record disclosed, I have found that the release of this information is not in the public interest. I have accordingly withheld this email address under the Act.

Disclosure

Searches located 2 letters that are relevant to your request for information.

I have disclosed one of the located letters in redacted format, that is, I have removed the email address of the Police Uplift Programme Secretariat.