FOI 269-2024 / Feb 2024 / Warwickshire Hunt
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 269-2024
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 29th February 2024 as follows:
- Can you tell me if there is an ongoing investigation into 9th October 2023 where the killed a fox all filmed on camera and in the press.
- Whom signed the new protocol that the hunt has to stick to.
- How many 999 calls to you about hunt related incidents in 2024.
- How many 999 calls to you about the hunt related incidents in 2023.
Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Q1 response: Information is available in the public domain and is therefore exempt from disclosure by virtue of Section 21 of FOIA – ‘Information Reasonably Accessible by Other Means’. Please see the below link to the Warwickshire Police website:
Benjamin Halsall and Warwickshire Hunt Ltd charged under Hunting Act 2004 | Warwickshire Police
Q2 response: 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.
When refusing to provide such information, because the information is exempt, Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, requires Warwickshire Police 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.
The exemption applicable in this case is:
Section 40(2) Personal Information
Section 40 is an absolute class-based exemption, which does not require evidence of the harm disclosure would cause and does not require consideration of a public interest test. That being said, where Section 40(2) is engaged, in order to make the exemption absolute there needs to be evidence that a Data Protection Principle would be breached by disclosure.
This exemption is engaged where disclosure of information relates to personal data of a third party or could lead to the identification of an individual, either from that information alone or combined with any other information from within the Police Service or public domain. In this case, disclosure of names is likely to lead to the identification of individuals. Such a disclosure would breach individuals’ rights under the Data Protection Act 2018, in particular Article 5(1) of the GDPR which states that personal data shall be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject.
This letter serves as a refusal notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act.
Outside of the Act, and as a gesture of goodwill, I can advise that, for Warwickshire Police, it was signed off at Chief Officer level.
Q3 & Q4 response: 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.
Although Warwickshire Police have publicly acknowledged that complaints have been made in relation to hunt activity, for example via the following article published on the force website:
An update on the policing of hunt activities in Warwickshire | Warwickshire Police
Please be advised that, where you refer to ‘the hunt’ in Q4, it has been assumed that this applies to Q3 also, and both questions have been interpreted as asking for information relating to the ‘Warwickshire Hunt Ltd’. Therefore, Warwickshire Police can neither confirm nor deny whether information is held in relation to your request as the duty in Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not apply, by virtue of the following exemption:
Section 40(5) Personal information
Section 40 is an absolute exemption and does not require me to articulate the harm in neither confirming nor denying whether information is held, nor does it require a public interest test to be carried out.
Please be advised that any information released as a result of a Freedom of Information request is, in effect, being released into the public domain. Therefore, it could subsequently be published or would have to be made available to any member of the public if it were requested.
The decision to issue a ‘neither confirm nor deny’ response is not affected by whether Warwickshire Police do or do not hold the information but relates to the consequences of confirming or denying the information is held. The decision to neither confirm nor deny is separate from a decision not to disclose information and needs to be taken entirely on its own merits.
Any information that relates to an individual, or from which an individual could be identified, constitutes personal data and to release information that constitutes personal data into the public domain contravenes the Data Protection Act 2018, in particular Article 5(1) of the GDPR.
Where confirming or denying that Warwickshire Police do or do not hold information would, of itself, provide information about individuals, including the fact such information may or may not be held, then the exemption applied is Section 40(5).
In accordance with the Act, this letter represents a Refusal Notice for these parts of the request; however, no inference can be taken from this refusal that the specified information is or is not held.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB