Current Inspectors process

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.029594

I note you seek access to the following information:

I would like to make a request for the current Inspectors process, specifically the paper sift element. The request would concern data held about me personally but also data concerning facts, statistics and diversity data in relation to applications on SN BCU.

Clarification:
I am requesting disclosure of Information concerning the 2023 Sergeants to Inspectors Process. Some data relates to me personally. The other data is simply statistical and would not identify any person therefore it should be able to be provided. All data I am asking for is data from the time the process was launched up until, and including, the moderation and publishing of results from the paper sift stage. The data required from this time frame is as follows;

3. A full list of all persons present at the SN SLT moderation panel. This is to include anyone present physically or virtually.

4. Please provide the roles each person took in that panel.

5. If someone was assigned to take minutes please identify this person. Please provide a copy of any minutes taken.

6. The total number of applicants for the process in SN. Please provide absolute totals as well as totals broken down by strand ( HQ, ERPT, SNT etc.)

7. The total number of applicants for the process in SN who were awarded 12 or more points by their 1st line manager. Please provide absolute total and breakdown by strand.

8. The total number of applicants for the process in SN who were awarded less than 12 points by their 1st line manager. Please provide absolute total and breakdown by strand.

9. The total number of applicants for the process in SN who were awarded 12 points or more by the SLT moderation panel which was recorded as the score given by the 2nd line manager. Please provide absolute total and breakdown by strand.

10. The total number of applicants for the process in SN who were awarded less than 12 points by the SLT moderation panel which was recorded as the score given by the 2nd line manager. Please provide absolute total and breakdown by strand.

11. The total number of applicants who, on the application form diversity data, identified as any part of LGBTQ+. Please provide absolute total as well as a breakdown by strand.

12. The total number of applicants who, on the application form diversity data, identified as any part of LGBTQ+ and were awarded 12 or more points by 1st line manager. Please provide absolute total as well as a breakdown by strand.

13. The total number of applicants who, on the application form diversity data, identified as any part of LGBTQ+ and were awarded 12 or more points by SLT moderation panel which was recorded as the score given by the 2nd line manager Please provide absolute total as well as a breakdown by strand.

14. The total number of applicants who, on the application form diversity data, identified as any part of LGBTQ+ and were awarded less than 12 points by 1st line manager. Please provide absolute total as well as a breakdown by strand.

15. The total number of applicants who, on the application form diversity data, identified as any part of LGBTQ+ and were awarded less than 12 points by SLT moderation panel which was recorded as the score given by the 2nd line manager Please provide absolute total as well as a breakdown by strand.

16. The total number of applicants who, on the application form diversity data, recorded sexuality as ‘prefer not to say’ Please provide absolute total as well as a breakdown by strand.

17. The total number of applicants who, on the application form diversity data, recorded sexuality as ‘prefer not to say’ and were awarded 12 or more points by 1st line manager. Please provide absolute total as well as a breakdown by strand.

18. The total number of applicants who, on the application form diversity data, recorded sexuality as ‘prefer not to say’ and were awarded 12 or more points by SLT moderation panel which was recorded as the score given by the 2nd line manager Please provide absolute total as well as a breakdown by strand.

19. The total number of applicants who, on the application form diversity data, recorded sexuality as ‘prefer not to say’ and were awarded less than 12 points by 1st line manager. Please provide absolute total as well as a breakdown by strand.

20. The total number of applicants who, on the application form diversity data, recorded sexuality as ‘prefer not to say’ and were awarded less than 12 points by SLT moderation panel which was recorded as the score given by the 2nd line manager Please provide absolute total as well as a breakdown by strand.

21. The Police Promotions SOP states the following ‘The Police Promotions SOP includes a route to challenge assessment decisions where you can provide clear evidence that a deliberate or negligent failure to follow a defined process has had an impact on your application outcome‘. Please provide all documents held in any system which relate to what a ‘defined process’ is. If SN BCU has created its own process please provide any documents relating to that process.

Decision

** Questions 1 and 2 of your request were sent to the Data Office in order for it to logged and dealt with as a Right of Access (ROA) request. These do not fall under the Freedom of Information Act **

Therefore this FoIA response relates to questions 3 to 21 only.

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)(3) - Personal Information

Reason for decision

Where the request is seeking access to third party personal data the section 40(2) exemption may be engaged.

With regard to obtaining answers to questions 11 – 20, FOI exemption Section 40(2)(3A)(a) – Personal Information has been applied.

Sec 40(2)(3A)(a) - Personal Information s40 is an absolute exemption which means that the legislators have identified that harm would be caused by any release. In addition there is no requirement to consider the public interest test.

Section 40(2)(3) - Personal Information - In respect of this exemption, it is first most important I explain 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.

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.
Where an individual is requesting his or her own personal data the information is always exempt. Such information can be requested under other legislation (the Data Protection Act via a Subject Access Request).

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.

It is also legitimate for the MPS to consider the cumulative effect of disclosing information of a similar nature in respect of routinely disclosing personal staff names and email addresses under the Freedom of Information Act. The MPS need to very carefully consider the effect this has on staff as well as public perception in how it responsibly and sensitively handles personal data (in terms of continual disclosure over time under FOIA) in a public forum.

Section 40(2)(a)(b) 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), 3B of the Act.

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 records contain the following types of personal data that I consider exempt under the Act:

Questions 11 to 20 in relation to the sexuality of individuals and scores

Having considered the release of the identified personal data, the MPS has found, having considered the legitimate interest test, that, that there is not a true public interest in disclosure of the personal information which makes up the recorded information held, the information requested is uniquely personal to an individual.

The disclosure of the requested information under FOIA legislation is not necessary to meet a legitimate interest. This is because one would not expect note made about them during an interview to be made public.

You have requested information about the sexuality of candidates. This type of information relates to special category data and is provided in confidence. It would be unfair to provide this information for such a small sample size and this, in conjunction with the scoring, increases the likelihood of identification.

Special Category Personal Data

Please see a link to the ICO guidance in relation to the ICO Special category data:

S40 Requests for personal data about public authority employees v2.1 (ico.org.uk)

See the exception below:

“If the information is special category personal data, as defined in the UK GDPR, you need a UK GDPR Article 9 condition for processing, as well as an Article 6 basis for processing.

Special category data is defined in Article 9 of the UK GDPR:

This does not include criminal offence data which is treated separately. Due to its sensitivity, the conditions for processing special category data are very restrictive and generally concern specific, stated purposes. Consequently, only two are relevant to allow you to lawfully disclose under FOIA or the EIR.

These are in Article 9(2) of the UK GDPR:

• explicit consent; or
• the processing relates to personal data which has clearly been made public by the individual concerned.

When you are responding to a request for special category data about public sector employees, you are unlikely to be able to meet the requirements of the above conditions. Such a request typically relates to the most personal aspects of employees’ lives, for example their health or sexual life, rather than their working life. The employee is unlikely to have made this public and they are unlikely to give their consent for you to provide this data”.

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.

No minutes were taken in regards to question 5. Therefore searches failed to locate this information.

Questions 3, 11 – 20 are exempt under Section 40(2)(3) - Personal Information

Question 21

I am pleased to inform you that the information requested is held by the MPS and is already in the public domain. The information can be accessed via the following:

Website: http://mpsedit.intranet.mps/link/795f1dd368084f45a911e099068b38e6.aspx?id=149832

Disclosure

Answers to questions 4, 6 – 10

Q4 - Please provide the roles each person took in that panel.

All persons present provided feedback on the evidence provided benchmarking against the promotion framework. A consensus of grading achieved in order to ensure fairness across all strands and consistency of line managers decision making.

Q6 - The total number of applicants for the process in SN. Please provide absolute totals as well as totals broken down by strand (HQ, ERPT, SNT etc.)

12 candidates submitted application listing their BOCU as SN, unfortunately we are unable to advise the breakdown by strand as Oleeo only asks for level 4 organisations (which is BOCU level).

Q7 - The total number of applicants for the process in SN who were awarded 12 or more points by their 1st line manager. Please provide absolute total and breakdown by strand.

9 candidates scored 12 or more. Unfortunately we are unable to advise the breakdown by strand as Oleeo only asks for level 4 organisations (which is BOCU level).

Q8 - The total number of applicants for the process in SN who were awarded less than 12 points by their 1st line manager. Please provide absolute total and breakdown by strand.

3 candidates scored less than 12. Unfortunately we are unable to advise the breakdown by strand as Oleeo only asks for level 4 organisations (which is BOCU level).

Q8 - The total number of applicants for the process in SN who were awarded 12 points or more by the SLT moderation panel which was recorded as the score given by the 2nd line manager. Please provide absolute total and breakdown by strand.

7 candidates scored 12 or more. Unfortunately we are unable to advise the breakdown by strand as Oleeo only asks for level 4 organisations (which is BOCU level).

Q9 - The total number of applicants for the process in SN who were awarded less than 12 points by the SLT moderation panel which was recorded as the score given by the 2nd line manager. Please provide absolute total and breakdown by strand.

5 candidates scored less than 12. Unfortunately we are unable to advise the breakdown by strand as Oleeo only asks for level 4 organisations (which is BOCU level).