Information about the 2022 Constable to Sergeant promotion interview board

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.027853

I note you seek access to the following information:

Can you please tell me the following in relation to the 2022 Constable to Sergeant promotion interview board process:

1. How many officers were interviewed?

2. How many officers were successful and unsuccessful listed by their BCU/specialist department and their strand within the BCU (Neighbourhoods, ERT, etc). Please include those not yet posted as a Sergeant.

3. The numbers above listed by the officers protected characteristics under the Equality Act

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) & 40(3A)(a) – Personal Information

Reason for decision

It is important to note that a Freedom of Information Act request is not a private transaction. Both the request itself, and any information disclosed, are considered suitable for open publication. This is because, under Freedom of Information, any information disclosed is released into the wider public domain, effectively to the world and not just to one individual. Recently the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) was been introduced across the European Union (EU) and the European Economic Area (EEA).

In respect of the United Kingdom, GDPR was enshrined in UK law through the Data Protection Act 2018. The MPS, like all UK public authorities are obliged to comply with the Data Protection Act 2018 and this includes the protection of personal data. Information captured by your request, can fairly be considered "personal data" and sensitive, with a clear identifiable link.

In most cases, personal data is exempt from disclosure under the remit of the Freedom of Information Act. Where an individual is requesting third party personal data the MPS must ensure that any action taken adheres to the principles of GDPR/ the Data Protection Act 2018.

To clarify, the Freedom of Information Act only allows disclosure of personal data if that disclosure would be compliant with that law. The disclosure of the information you have requested must be carefully managed in order to ensure that there is no prejudice to any person in any possible way, however remote.

The Section 40(2) (Personal Information) exemption is an absolute and class-based exemption and if a request for information relates to third parties, it is absolute under Section 40(2) if disclosure would not adhere to the principles of GDPR/ the Data Protection Act 2018. There is therefore no requirement to either evidence harm in disclosure or conduct a public interest test.

Disclosure

Please find information disclosed to you today which does not enable the identification any living individual.