MPS policy regarding the recording of fraud reports and the use of action fraud

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.027421

I note you seek access to the following information:

Please could I have a copy of the MPS policy regarding the recording of fraud reports and the use of action fraud.

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) – Law Enforcement
Section 40(2)&(3A)(a) - Personal Information

Reason for decision

Section 31(1) – Law Enforcement of the Act 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 release and publication of the telephone number and email address of the Metropolitan Police Fraud unit & the Police Only number for Action Fraud would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of the MPS, with information that would assist them in this endeavour.

Disruption to the Work of MPS Employees - The release and publication of the telephone number of the MPS Fraud Unit & Police only phone numbers for Action Fraud, would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of the unit, with information that would assist them to do so. In this regard, a person with this intent would be likely to use this information to make inappropriate contact with members of staff working in this unit. This would tie up the resources of these members of staff and cause disruption to the work of the MPS, hindering its ability to prevent and/or detect crime.

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 by disclosure. Having carefully considered this, I have found that that the public release and publication of the telephone numbers of members of staff employed in the MPS Fraud Unit & Police Only phone numbers for Action Fraud would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of MPS, 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 records being disclosed, I have found that the release of this information is not in the public interest. I have accordingly refused to release the information described above in response to your request for information.

Section 40(2)&(3A)(a) - Personal Information - of the Act provides that any information to which a request for information relates, is exempt information if the first condition of Section 40(3A)(a) is satisfied. The first condition of Section 40(3A)(a) states that personal information is exempt if its disclosure would contravene any of the data protection principles. If the disclosure of the requested personal data would not contravene the data protection principles, the disclosure must also not contravene Sections 3A(b) and 3B of the Act.

There are six principles that are set out in Article 5(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) that dictate when the processing of personal data is lawful. The first principle requires that any processing of personal data must be lawful, fair and transparent. Under Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR, the disclosure of personal data is considered to be lawful if:

a. There is a legitimate interest in the disclosure of that personal data.
b. The disclosure of the personal data is necessary to meet that legitimate interest.
c. The disclosure would not cause unwarranted harm to the data subject.

Both the Investigation flowchart & Action fraud further information documents contains the name of the author. Having considered the legitimate interest test in respect of this personal data, I have found that:

a. This member of staff does not hold a role or rank/grade where they would reasonably expect their name to be published in response to a Freedom of Information Act request. Additionally, their name is recorded in this document for internal use only within the MPS as a part of the business interest appeal process. I have not identified a legitimate interest that would be satisfied in disclosing their personal data in response to this request for information.

The provision to refuse access to information under Section 40(2)(a)(b) and (3A)(a) of the Act is both absolute and class based. When this exemption is claimed, it is accepted that harm would result from disclosure. There is accordingly no requirement to demonstrate what that harm may be in refusing access to information.

Disclosure

I have disclosed & attached the Action Fraud Policy plus 2 additional documents (outlined above), some of these documents have been redacted.

The Action Fraud Policy in addition to an investigation flowchart and further information on Action Fraud are in the documents attached.