Communication and all correspondence - Holocaust Memorial Garden stone at Hyde Park

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.037587

I note you seek access to the following information:

I would like all internal communication and all correspondence between Royal Parks and the Metropolitan Police regarding the decision to cover up the Holocaust Memorial Garden stone at Hyde Park in anticipation of the most recent protest on 27 April 2024.

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)(3A)(a) – Personal Information

Reason for decision

The email correspondence that has been located contains the names, email addresses, direct phone numbers and work addresses of several individuals, both internal and external to the MPS. This information can lead to the identification of these individuals, which means Section 40 of the Act – pertaining to personal information – is engaged.

Section 40(2)(3A)(a) – Personal Information - 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 identifiable in your request:

• Names,
• Titles held, and at which Organisation,
• Individual email addresses,
• Direct phone numbers, and
• Base locations.

Where the request is seeking access to third party personal data, such as in this case, the Section 40(2) exemption may be engaged.

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 Act.

The first condition ensures that the exemption would apply in circumstances where the disclosure of the information would breach any of the data protection principles.

There are six Data Protection principles specified within Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

In this instance it has been decided that the disclosure of the Personal Data inherent in this information would be incompatible with principle (a) of the GDPR which requires that personal data.

Disclosure

To answer your request, we have reviewed our records which include emails and details of meetings. Please note that there were no meetings held that focused exclusively on the covering of the memorial however such matters may fall under wider Public Order planning meetings.

Our records show that in a meeting that was attended by representatives from both the MPS and Royal Parks and held on 22 April an MPS officer stated: “I’ve asked Royal Parks to cover it up like they have previously”.

In a subsequent meeting held on 25 April and again attended by both MPS and Royal Parks representatives the MPS stated that “Everything is in place” and “As long as they are covering it up that’s the main thing”.

In addition, please find below the located email correspondence relating to the issue in question.