Officers tested positive for controlled substances from 2013/14 to 2022/23

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.029719

I note you seek access to the following information:
How many officers have tested positive for the use of controlled substances during the following years?:
2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23

How many officers had their employment at the Metropolitan Police terminated for testing positive for the use of controlled substances during the following years?: 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17, 2017/18, 2018/19, 2019/20, 2020/21,
2021/22, 2022/23

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)(a)(b) and (3A)(a) – Personal Information

Reason for decision

I note that you have asked us to disclose the total number of officers who have tested positive for the use of controlled substances broken down by the financial years 2013/14 to 2022/23, and have further asked us to disclose the total number of those officers, that had their employment at the MPS terminated for testing positive for the use of controlled substances.
I am pleased to inform you that I have made the decision to disclose the located information to you, however, due to low numbers located, I am unable to provide a breakdown to the level you have requested, that is, a breakdown by each financial year, as to do so could identify individuals and would release sensitive personal information in relation to those individuals into the public domain. I have therefore made the decision to instead provide a total figure for each question, rather than a breakdown by financial year. For this reason, Section 40(2)(a)(b) and (3A)(a) of the Act, which provides an exemption to withhold personal information, has been applied to refuse disclosure in this case.

Section 40(2)(3)&(4) – Personal Information - There are six data protection principles that are set out in Section 34 of the Data Protection Act 2018. The first principle requires that the disclosure of the requested personal data must be lawful and fair. Under the Act, 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.

The requested information contains personal data that I consider exempt under the Act. For example; were we to disclose the total number of officers who have tested positive for the use of controlled substances for each financial year from 2013/14 up to 2022/23, and the total number of those officers who had their employment at the MPS terminated, broken down by fianancial year, it would, due to extremely low figures when broken down in this manner, identify indivdiuals, and release sensitive personal information about those individuals into the public domain.

Having assessed the data, and having also considered the legitimate interest test, I have found that disclosure of the requested information broken down in the way you are seeking would not be in accordance with the first principle of the Data Protection Act, which requires that the disclosure of personal data must be lawful and fair.

Disclosure

How many officers have tested positive for the use of controlled substances during the following years?:

Financial Year	Total officers tested positive
2013/14 to 2022/23	56

How many officers had their employment at the Metropolitan Police terminated for testing positive for the use of controlled substances during the following years?:

Financial Year	Total officers tested positive and employment terminated
2013/14 to 2022/23	27