NDAs 437/2024
FOI Reference: 437/2024
Request 1 - 5:
1 - The total amount of money spent on NDAs by your force from in the specified period.
2 - The number of individuals who signed NDAs with your force during the specified period, categorised by:
a. Police officers
b. Civilian staff members
c. Members of the public
Please also break this down by male and female, if possible.
3 - The largest amount of money paid to someone part of a single NDA agreement during the specified period.4 - If not over the cost limit, a breakdown of the reasons for which NDAs were signed, categorised by:
a. Matters relating to employment
b. Complaints against the police force
c. Other reasons (please specify)
5 - Any legal fees associated with these NDAs, if any.
Response 1:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
Excluding pay in lieu of notice and accrued leave payments, termination payments amounted to:
£78,063.75
Response 2:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, however some of that information has been exempted by virtue of Section 40(2) Personal Information (please see the end of the document for an explanation of the applied exemption)
|
Role and Sex |
Number of NDA’s signed |
|
Police Officers |
Section 40(2) applies |
|
Civilian Staff Members |
Section 40(2) applies |
|
Members of the Public |
Section 40(2) applies |
Explanation of the applied exemption.
Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 places two duties on public authorities. Unless exemptions apply, the first duty at Section 1(1) (a) is to confirm or deny whether the information specified in a request is held. The second duty at Section 1(1) (b) is to disclose information that has been confirmed as being held.
Where exemptions are relied upon Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires Dyfed Powys Police, when refusing to provide such information (because the information is exempt) to provide you the applicant with a notice which:
(a) states that fact
(b) specifies the exemption in question and
(c) states (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies.
Section 40(2) Personal Information
Section 40(2) is a class-based absolute exemption. This means that the legislators when writing the legislation considered that the release of such information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 would cause harm to the public authority or individual concerned. There is therefore no requirement to carry out a HARM Test in respect of such information. There is also no requirement to carry out a Public Interest Test.
Section 40(2) applies to third party personal data and is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 if disclosure, in relation to data subject to law enforcement processing, would breach any of the data protection principles contained within Part 3 - Chapter 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018. Under Section 34 within Chapter 2 “The Controller in relation to personal data is responsible for and must be able to demonstrate, compliance with” Chapter 2. Such information would not be released under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 unless there is a strong public interest. One of the main differences between the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 2018 is that any information released under FOI is released into the public domain, not just the individual requesting the information and disclosure under the Act must be made with that in mind. As such, any release that identifies an individual through releasing their personal data, even third party personal data is exempt.
Personal data is defined under Section 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 as:
“(2) ‘Personal data’ means any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual (subject to subsection (14)(c)).
(3) ‘Identifiable living individual’ means a living individual who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to—
(a) An identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data or an online identifier, or
(b) One or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of the individual.”
All members of the public including those employed by the force have an intrinsic right to privacy and these rights are protected by virtue of the Human Rights Act, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and a public authority must not interfere with that right. Any release of the information subject to the exemption is likely to compromise those rights.
Data Protection Act 2018
Part 3 – Law Enforcement – Chapter 2 Principles Section 35
The first data protection principle:
“(1) The first data protection principle is that the processing of personal data for any of the law enforcement purposes must be lawful and fair.”
General Data Protection Regulation
Article 5 of the GDPR – ‘Principles relating to processing of personal data’ provides:
“1. ‘Personal data’ shall be
- Processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject (‘lawfulness, fairness and transparency);
- Collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes; further processing for archiving purposes in the public interest…
- The controller shall be responsible for, and be able to demonstrate compliance with, paragraph 1 (‘accountability’).”
Dyfed-Powys Police would not want to disclose any information that could potentially identify an individual. In this particular case, to release some the information requested could lead to the identification of individuals. To release such information would be a direct breach of Principle 1 of the Data Protection Act regarding the fair and lawful processing of information. As a consequence I am satisfied that Section 40(2) Personal Information exemption is applicable to the release of the information.
The Section 40 exemption is a class-based exemption. This means that the legislators when writing the legislation considered that the release of such information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 would cause harm to the public authority or individual concerned. There is therefore no requirement to carry out a HARM Test in respect of such information.
The Section 40 exemption is in part qualified and in part absolute, in the present case it would be absolute as to release the information would breach Data Protection legislation and therefore there is no requirement to carry out a public interest test.
Response 3:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
£59,396.19
Response 4:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
Matters relating to employment dispute
Response 5:
I can confirm that Dyfed-Powys Police does hold the information requested, as outlined below.
Contribution of £350 plus vat to legal costs
It should be noted that as a result of the systems adopted by Dyfed-Powys Police in relation to the recording of such information that the information released may or may not be accurate.
(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 13/05/2024)