JISCMail - DATA-PROTECTION Archives

A request through 'legal channels' is still caught by s1 FOIA. Usually however the s21 exemption will clearly apply and it is usually possible to forego a formal refusal notice and just pretend FOI does not exist. If the applicant clearly knows what he is doing they are not going to complain to ICO - they will pursue proper remedy. e.g. if HMRC demands some information from us under statutory powers, there is clearly no point in issuing a s17 notice citing s21. However we do have cases where e.g. a less switched on solicitor asks for information when proceedings are under way (more often in a Tribunal setting than a court setting where they normally get it right and discovery is automatic) and cites FOIA - we then issue a refusal notice and insist they apply for an order. There are good reasons for this as it avoids complicated decisions on confidentiality etc. as anything obtained on discovery can only be used for the purpose of the proceedings.

Tim,
Just to check. If the applicant says I do not want this under foi or dp or foi, would that still apply?

Could an applicant be given non personal information confidentially (not under foi dp or eir) and then be bound by a duty of confidence?

Also, if they ask for through legal channels (pre discovery), is it still foi/dp or eir.

Or neither? :)

I would go the dp route and keep it as clear as possible because the situation is already problematic.

Best

Lawrence

Lawrence W. Serewicz
Principal Information Management Officer
Room 4/10
Durham County Council
DH1 5UF
0191-372-8371

Public authorities subject to FOI are not legally entitled to answer “neither unless the request is verbal and not for environmental data – we might do this a lot of the time, but in principle, even a verbal request for non-environmental information might engage the FOI duty to provide advice and assistance. So a written request for information made by a member of the public is either FOI, EIR, or DP. It cannot be anything else. A verbal request for personal data might dodge Section 7, but anyone asking this kind of question is probably going to cause pain one way or the other, so it’s better to go down the right legal track than further infuriate the already infuriated requester.

So, to give my answer to Brenda’s question, I agree that DP is the route. You wouldn’t tell anyone else this information, if recorded.

Tim Turner

NHS Manchester

From: This list is for those interested in Data Protection issues [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tim Trent
Sent: 25 August 2010 17:17
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [data-protection] Statistics

I think it is neither, or either, but I don;t really mind.

I think is is Customer Service.

On 25 Aug 2010, at 16:25, Brenda Scourfield wrote:

If some asks for

1) The number of times I have rung your office
2) The number of times your officers have visited me

Is this DP or FOI ? I think DP because I cannot ask how many times my neighbour has rung the office or how many times an officer has visited him. If I had suspicions he was being investigated by one of our depts an answer of none or 12 would supply me with personal data.

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