Officers deployed at Israel / Palestine protests

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.035834

I note you seek access to the following information:

1a - How many officers have been deployed on Israel / Palestine protests each weekend since October?

1b - How many of those have had days off forcibly cancelled?

2 - How many officers have been brought in on mutual aid?

3a - How many officers have been used for traffic management?

3b - How many have had days off cancelled?

4 - What are the relevant costs for all of the above? Please break down per weekend

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 22(1)(a) – Information intended for future publication
Section 21(1) - Information Accessible to Applicant by Other Means

Reason for decision

I will disclose the answers to questions 1b, 3a and 3b under the section titled Disclosure

Section 22(1)(a) – Information intended for future publication - The number of officers that have been deployed on Israel / Palestine protests, How many officers have been used for traffic management and What are the relevant costs for all of the above is already in the public domain, via the publication scheme. This covers all data up to and including 30 November 2023.

Information intended for future publication - I can also confirm that the MPS hold the requested data in relation to 1 December 2023 onwards. This will be published in accordance with our publication scheme; and is consistent with the data we have published for last year. This data will therefore not be disclosed at this stage, as it is exempt from disclosure by virtue of the following provision of the Act:

Section 22(1)(a) – Information intended for future publication – can be engaged if, at the time of the request, the public authority has the intention to publish the specific information requested.

This information can be accessed via the following link:

Website: Metropolitan Police Service (MPS)
Israel / Palestine protests

In supplying this link in response to your request I have claimed a Section 21 exemption of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. The information requested has been identified as being accessible via other means.

Section 21(1) - Information Accessible to Applicant by Other Means - The purpose of the section 21 exemption is to ensure that there is no right of access to information via FOIA if it is available to the applicant by another route. To claim this exemption the data must be reasonably accessible.

Processes in place - In recent years there has been an increase in Freedom of Information Act requests. Data collation in relation to this subject matter is carried out by a team of analysts who collate, review and interpret the data acquired. This process is well established, and ensures that data that is of the public interest is available on a regular basis, and significantly also serves to reduce the financial and administrative cost of responding to requests for information under the Act. It would be both administratively and financially prohibitive for the MPS to collate and release information in response to individual requests when the information requested will be published at some future date. The Information Commissioner’s Office’s (ICO) guidance states ‘12. Although the public authority must hold the information at the time of the request with a view to its publication, the exemption does not require a set publication date to be in place’.

Responding to the Current Public Interest - The ICO’s guidance also states ‘10. The information that the public authority intends to be published must be the specific information the applicant has requested’. MO6 have confirmed that this point is satisfied. Due to public interest the MPS has identified that requests for information about large scale events, particularly ongoing demonstrations and protests are likely to be received under the Act and MO6 have made the decision to proactively publish certain event data via the publication scheme. The MPS has a strong commitment to proactively publish information in the public interest and will do so in relation to the information you have sought.

I have found that there is a public interest in providing the data in relation to your request. This would show a number of things. Firstly, the total number of officers attending the demonstrations and protests, secondly, how many of these officers have had rest days cancelled, thirdly, how many officers have been brought in on mutual aid, fourthly, how many have been used for traffic management and had days off cancelled and lastly, the cost of all of this.

As the conflict is ongoing and demonstrations and protests are still occurring and are highly publicised, there is a clear a public interest in this information and I have made it clear that the MPS understands the need to proactively publish information in the current public interest. The key to engaging section 22 is that the decision to publish must have been made prior to any request for the information being received. MO6 have confirmed this decision was made last year, and their intention to publish further information will occur later this year. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) who brings UK police leaders together to set direction in policing and drive progress for the public states, ‘The actual publication date is not required for section 22 to be engaged. However, the Act states that the publication date must be ‘reasonable’. The public interest factors favouring disclosure will be satisfied upon publication of this information and therefore I deem it appropriate to apply a section 22 exemption to this part of this request.

Disclosure

Q1A - How many officers have been deployed on Israel / Palestine protests each weekend since October?

Withheld by virtue of Section 21 and Section 22 – mentioned above

Q1B - How many of those have had days off forcibly cancelled?

Rest Days	October	November	December
Plus 15	30	46	93
Minus 15	1394	1821	623
Total	1424	1867	716

*Please note the MPS cannot breakdown whether these were cancelled by choice or by force, this is not recorded on CARM (Computer Aided Resource Management). This is a duty planning and human resource management system that records the information above.

Q2 - How many officers have been brought in on mutual aid?

Withheld by virtue of Section 21 and Section 22 – mentioned above

Q3A - How many officers have been used for traffic management?

Total to 18 February 2024

Inspectors	26
Sergeants	313
PC’s	2122

Q3B - How many have had days off cancelled?

544

Q4 - What are the relevant costs for all of the above? Please break down per weekend

Withheld by virtue of Section 21 and Section 22 – mentioned above