Minutes of all meetings to date of the National Protest Working Group

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.031937

I note you seek access to the following information:

Minutes of all meetings to date of the National Protest Working Group.

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)
Section 40(2)(3A)(a) - (Personal Information)

Reason for decision

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).

Section 31(1)(a) - Law Enforcement - While we appreciate you will have no ill meaning behind your request, disclosure could be used by those with criminal intent against the MPS or the UK as intelligence against MPS resources, knowledge at a given point in time and law enforcement tactics to undermine national policing efforts. It is not in the public interest to disclose information that could be used to assist in the planning of criminal activity, due to an adverse FOIA disclosure.

Disclosure would lead to a loss of confidence in the MPS and UK ability to protect the safety of the community (for example, following an adverse FOIA disclosure regarding national resources or local intelligence).

The risks to individuals and the community is likely to be significant if the information is used by those with the necessary criminal intent to undermine the very purpose information is held (crime prevention and detection at a national scale).

Extra security measures and policing resources may need to be put into place with the disclosure of this information. This is because of the risk disclosure brings in that it could be used as intelligence by those with the necessary criminal intent to undermine policing in different parts of the UK based on the content of the full minutes.

The strongest reason favouring disclosure is increasing public knowledge of a policing conversation at a national level.

The strongest reason favouring non-disclosure is to not undermine law enforcement tactics, methodology and resources by virtue of an adverse FOIA disclosure.

On weighing up the competing interests I have determined that the disclosure of the above information would not be in the public interest. I consider that the benefit that would result from the information being disclosed does not outweigh the considerations favouring non-disclosure.

The other information disclosed today ensures the public interest is met without placing law enforcement and the safety and security of the community in harm’s way.

I appreciate this is not the decision you would have liked for this part of your request. However this decision has been made on the understanding that the public interest is not what interests the public but is what would be of greater interest to the public as a whole, should the information be disclosed.

Section 40(2)(3A)(a) - Personal Information - 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 Freedom of Information Act provides an exemption for Personal Data and this is known as the section 40 exemption. The information sought under your Freedom of Information request includes the following which we consider to be the Personal Data of the individuals that could be identified through the release of this information/ Personal information requested within this FOIA request includes:

• Disclosure of identifiable personal data (names)

Where the request is seeking access to third party personal data the Section 40(2) exemption may be engaged. 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(A) 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 specified within Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

In this instance we have decided that the disclosure of the Personal Data would be incompatible with the first Data Protection principle which requires that personal data shall be: ‘processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject (‘lawfulness, fairness and transparency’);

Under the Data Protection Act 2018, 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.

Here, we need to balance the rights and freedoms of the individuals involved with any legitimate public interest in disclosure. Having considered the release of the identified personal data, the MPS has found, having considered the legitimate interest test, that, whilst there is not a public interest in disclosure of the personal information and the information requested is uniquely personal to individuals.

The data subjects in the circumstances of your request would have a legitimate expectation that this type of personal data would not be used for non-policing purposes (i.e. FOIA requests – disclosures for which are put up publicly on the MPS website Publication Scheme).

Disclosure in the circumstances of your request would be unlawful and would therefore contravene the first data protection principle. I have therefore applied the exemption provided under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act to this information as the first condition, defined in subsection 3(A)(a) of Section 40 has been satisfied.

Disclosure

Please find attached two sets of redacted minutes.