In accordance with section 1(1) (b) of the Act our response is
provided below;
FOI 3279
RTC's West Street Crewe
In relation to questions 1 & 2. I have now considered this
part of your request and I am not obliged to provide the Incident
number or plan as this information is exempt information.
Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 requires the
Cheshire Constabulary, when refusing to provide such information
(because the information is exempt) to provide you 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 information is exempt information by virtue of:
Section 30 (1) (a) Investigations and Proceedings Conducted by
Public Authorities.
Section 40 (2) Personal data
The reference number and plan are unique to each of the
investigations of road traffic collisions. They are a reference to
and contain details of the investigating officers findings and as
such the Constabulary will not make this information publically
available.
In applying the exemption at Section 30 (1) (a) I have
considered the following public interest factors.
There are the general arguments in favour of promoting
transparency, accountability and participation. Disclosure may
enhance the quality of discussion and decision making.
Set against those considerations are the prejudice that may be
caused to the investigatory and prosecution processes. There is a
general recognition that it is the public interest to safeguard the
investigatory process. This general principle was recognised in an
Information Tribunal case (2009) when it stated that the general
public interest served by section 30 was “the effective
investigation and prosecution of crime, which itself requires in
particular (a) the protection of witnesses and informers to ensure
that people are not deterred from making statements or reports by
the fear that they may be publicised, (b) the maintenance of the
independence of the judicial and prosecution processes and (c) the
preservation of the criminal court as the sole forum for
determining guilt.”
In all the circumstances of the case the public interest in
maintaining the exemption at section 30 (1) (a) outweighs the
public interest in disclosure.
Section 40 (2) any information to which a request for
information relates is also exempt information if
(a) it constitutes personal data which does not fall within
subsection (1), and
(b) either the first or the second condition below is
satisfied
(3) The first condition is:-
(a) in a case where the information falls within any of
paragraphs (a) to (d) of the definition of "data" in section 1(1)
of the Data Protection Act 1998, that the disclosure of the
information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act
would contravene:-
(i) any of the data protection principles.
(b) in any other case, that the disclosure of the information to
a member of the public otherwise than under this Act would
contravene any of the data protection principles if the exemptions
in section 33A (1) of the Data Protection Act 1998 (which relates
to manual data held by public authorities) were disregarded.
Personal data is defined in section 1(1) of the Data Protection
Act as:
“data which relate to a living individual who can be
identified-
(a) from those data, or
(I,) from those data and other information which is in the
possession of, or is likely to come into the possession of, the
data controller,
and includes any expression of opinion about the individual and
any indication of the intention of the data controller or any other
person in respect of the individual.
The two main elements of personal data are that the information
must ‘relate’ to a living person and that the person must be
identifiable.
Information will relate to a person if it is about them, linked
to them, has some biographical significance for them, is used to
inform decisions affecting them, and has them as its main focus or
impacts on them in any way. The information can be in any form,
paper files or documents.
In this case, the requested information is the reference number
and plan drawing or sketch of vehicles and persons involved in road
traffic collisions.
In determining whether or not the information constitutes
personal information I have come to this conclusion on the basis
that:
1. the information was requested by reference to the unique
number and plan drawing relating to that number and therefore
disclosure of the requested information would inevitably link
individuals with the information.
2. it describes events directly relating to individuals involved
in a road traffic collision.
3. it was prepared to inform decisions affecting the individuals
involved in the road traffic collision .
As the processing by disclosure of this information does not
meet any Schedule 2 or Schedule 3 condition of the Data Protection
Act:
“Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully and, in
particular, shall not be processed unless
(a) at least one of the conditions in Schedule 2 is met, and
(b) in the case of sensitive personal data, at least one of the
conditions in Schedule 3 is also met’
Disclosure would breach principle 1 of the Data Protection Act
1998 and would be unlawful.