Author: Christopher Knight

Section 11 FOIA and the Form of a Request

Posted on | by Christopher Knight

In the usual end of term rush, the Court of Appeal has handed down judgment in Innes v Information Commissioner [2014] EWCA Civ 1086 on the provision in section 11 FOIA which allows a requestor to express a preference for communication by a particular means, so long as it is reasonably practicable to give effect to the preference. The issue in Innes was that Mr Innes had requested certain school admissions information and had sent a further email shortly afterwards asking for that information to be supplied to him in Excel format. The ICO, the FTT and the Upper Tribunal had all ruled against Mr Innes, in part relying on the Scottish decision of Glasgow City Council v Scottish Information Commissioner [2009] CSIH 73; [2010] SC 125.

The Court of Appeal, however, took a different view. The judgment of Underhill LJ is surprisingly long, but can be quite quickly summarised. His initial reasoning was that provision of information in permanent form encompassed hard or electronic copies, but no more than that; what was sought was the right to choose the form of permanent form in which the information is provided, but FOIA gives no such right: at [34]. However, Underhill LJ, with some hesitation (not shared by Longmore LJ), went on to accept that that was not the end of the matter. It was a natural use of English to describe the software format in which a copy of the requested information was provided as an aspect of its “form”. It  naturally flowed that he could choose the format in which that electronic information was provided. The fact that a software format such as Excel was more than simply a means of presenting information did not mean that the format could not be described as an aspect of the form of the information. Such a reading fitted with the apparent philosophy of the Act. Citizens were given the right of access to public information at least in part so that they could make use of that information, and there was no countervailing policy consideration. A construction of the Act that made it easier for them to do so effectively was to be preferred: at [38]-[40]. No assistance was drawn from Hansard, the Glasgow case or the dataset amendments. The upshot is that, so long as the request is reasonably practicable and does not require the public authority to put the information into a new format or breach its licence conditions, a request to be supplied with information in a specific programme should be complied with.

The Court also took a non-technical approach to when the request was made. Underhill LJ accepted that the wording of section 11 meant that the request for the format must be made at the time of the information request, and could not be made later. However, it was also quite happy to construe the follow-up email of Mr Innes as further, replacement, FOIA request: at [49]. It is not perhaps entirely to see how those two points are readily compatible, or least how the latter does not fundamentally undermine the former.

Mr Innes had also raised a section 16 complaint. Underhill LJ had some criticisms about the reasoning of the FTT – particularly about the approach it had adopted to what was a section 1 request and therefore what section 16 applied to – but accepted that on the material before it the First Tier Tribunal could not properly have found a breach of section 16 on the part of the Council, it having explained the information it had provided and offered to provide further explanations if required: at [62]. Underhill LJ agreed that section 16 did not encompass assistance in explaining information which he had requested and which had been provided, providing that it was information supplied under section 1: at [61].

Edd Capewell appeared for the ICO.

Christopher Knight

Personal Data in the CJEU

Posted on | by Christopher Knight

Working out what is and what is not personal data is often difficult, and all the more so where a document is contains different sections or has mixed purposes. In Cases C‑141/12 and C‑372/12 YS v Minister voor Immigratie, Integratie en Asiel (judgment of 17 July 2014, nyr), a request had been made by an immigrant in Holland for a copy of an administrative report concerning his application for a residence permit. It is helpful to set out the details of the document sought. A case officer drafts a document in which he explains the reasons for his draft decision (“the Minute”). The Minute is part of the preparatory process within that service but not of the final decision, even though some points mentioned in it may reappear in the statement of reasons of that decision.

Generally, the Minute contains the following information: name, telephone and office number of the case officer responsible for preparing the decision; boxes for the initials and names of revisers; data relating to the applicant, such as name, date of birth, nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion and language; details of the procedural history; details of the statements made by the applicant and the documents submitted; the legal provisions which are applicable; and, finally, an assessment of the foregoing information in the light of the applicable legal provisions. This assessment is referred to as the ‘legal analysis’. Depending on the case, the legal analysis may be more or less extensive, varying from a few sentences to several pages. In an in-depth analysis, the case officer responsible for the preparation of the decision addresses, inter alia, the credibility of the statements made and explains why he considers an applicant eligible or not for a residence permit. A summary analysis may merely refer to the application of a particular policy line.

Was the Minute personal data within the meaning Article 2(a) of Directive 95/46/EC? There is no doubt, said the CJEU, that the data relating to the applicant for a residence permit and contained in a minute, such as the applicant’s name, date of birth, nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion and language, are information relating to that natural person, who is identified in that minute in particular by his name, and must consequently be considered to be ‘personal data’: at [38].

However, the legal analysis in the Minute, although it may contain personal data, does not in itself constitute such data: at [39]. Held the CJEU, “a legal analysis is not information relating to the applicant for a residence permit, but at most, in so far as it is not limited to a purely abstract interpretation of the law, is information about the assessment and application by the competent authority of that law to the applicant’s situation, that situation being established inter alia by means of the personal data relating to him which that authority has available to it”: at [40]. Extending the application of personal data to cover the legal analysis would not guarantee the right to privacy, or the right to check the accuracy of the personal data itself, but would amount to a right to administrative documents, which the Directive does not provide: at [45]-[46].

Not the most ground-breaking decision to emanate from Luxembourg, but a nonetheless interesting reminder of the utility of carefully distinguishing between different types of data within the same document.

Christopher Knight

Late Reliance on Part I Exemptions

Posted on | by Christopher Knight

Although hardly at the top of anyone’s list of burning questions which keep them awake at night, there has been a debate about whether the permission to rely on exemptions late (usually after the DN and in the course of litigation before the FTT) extends beyond the substantive exemptions in Part II of FOIA – as provided for in Birkett v DEFRA [2011] EWCA Civ 1606 – to the procedural exemptions of sections 12 and 14.

The question is made all the more enthralling by a conflict of case law, which those who attended our Information Law Conference in 2013 and who weren’t snoozing during my paper will recall. Independent Police Complaints Commission v Information Commissioner [2012] 1 Info LR 427 had held that there could be late reliance on section 12. The Upper Tribunal in All Party Parliamentary Group on Extraordinary Rendition v Information Commissioner & Ministry of Defence [2011] UKUT 153 (AAC); [2011] 2 Info LR 75 expressed the clear, if obiter, view that section 12 was not in the same position as substantive FOIA Part II exemptions because it had a different purpose; section 12 is not about the nature of the information but the effect on the public authority of having to deal with the request. The scheme of FOIA was likely to be distorted, the Upper Tribunal held, if the authority could suddenly rely on section 12 after already having carried out the search and engaged with the requestor: at [45]-[47]. The APPGER approach was accepted by the FTT in Sittampalam v Information Commissioner & BBC [2011] 2 Info LR 195. There was at least a school of thought that the APPGER logic ought also to apply to section 14 (which, as was explained in Dransfield, is not properly an exemption at all: at [10]-[11]).

In Department for Education v Information Commissioner & McInerney (EA/2013/0270) GRC Chamber President Judge Warren considered the late reliance by the DfE on sections 12 and 14, and upheld the DfE’s appeal under section 14. In an appendix, he dismissed the suggestion of the ICO that APPGER meant that section 14 could not be relied upon late. In rather brief reasoning, he considered that if section 17 did not bar late reliance on Part II exemptions (as it was clear that it did not following Birkett), there was no linguistic reason to apply the same approach to Part I exemptions. Sections 12 and 14 could therefore be relied upon late, as a matter of right.

So that is that. Except of course, that there is now a real conflict of authority at FTT level, and with conflicting dicta at UT level too (APPGER having doubted Information Commissioner v Home Office [2011] UKUT 17 (AAC) on this point). Maybe someone would like to take the point on appeal and have it properly determined.

Andrew Sharland was for the DfE and Robin Hopkins was for the ICO.

Christopher Knight

Section 14 in the Court of Appeal

Posted on | by Christopher Knight

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water. Just when you had got your head round the decisions of Judge Wikeley in Information Commissioner v Devon CC & Dransfield 2012] UKUT 440 (AAC); [2013] 1 Info LR 360 and Craven v Information Commissioner & DECC [2012] UKUT 442 (AAC); [2013] 1 Info LR 335, and the Information Commissioner has issued spangly new guidance on section 14, and the FTT has been merrily applying the new tests to a host of appeals. Just when all that had become de rigeur and everyone was settling back down…

The Court of Appeal, in the form of Briggs LJ at an oral renewal hearing, has granted Mr Dransfield and Ms Craven permission to appeal against the judgments of Judge Wikeley on the issues of the proper interpretation of section 14(1) FOIA and regulation 12(4)(b) EIR (respectively), and the application to their requests for information. Briggs LJ also granted both appellants the necessary extension of time for their appeals. He refused their applications to admit fresh evidence.

No appeal date has been set – the Order granting permission was only sent on 9 June. But the various members of 11KBW involved below (Tom Cross for the ICO, Rachel Kamm for Devon CC, James Cornwell for DECC) will enable Panopticon to ensure that it continues to cause readers to gaze in horror at their screens with the latest updates. Our work here is only just beginning…

Christopher Knight

Cyril Smith and the FTT

Posted on | by Christopher Knight

Although not a decision of any particular legal significance, it is perhaps worth mentioning the judgment last week of the First-tier Tribunal in Corke v Information Commissioner & Crown Prosecution Service (EA/2014/0012), if only because it is one of those relatively rare occasions on which the work of the FTT itself (as opposed to the information it results in) has been the subject of news coverage, ranging from the Daily Mail to the BBC.

The request was for disclosure of information relating to the now fairly notorious decisions made over time not to prosecute Sir Cyril Smith (a Liberal MP who died in 2010) for offences against children. The disputed material consists of two Minutes prepared by a CPS lawyer in 1998 and 1999. The first reviewed case papers considered in1970 and looked at the weight of the evidence, reflected on the changing approach to the investigation and prosecution of such crimes between 1970 and 1998 and considers bars to a prosecution being launched in 1998. The second considered two more allegations. The material contains the names of individuals concerned in the case in particular the youths who made allegations against Sir Cyril.

The CPS withheld information within the scope of the request, citing section 30(1)(c) (information held for the purpose of criminal proceedings), section 42(1) (legal professional privilege), and section 40(2) (third party personal data). The ICO issued a DN which held that the public interest was finely balanced, but upheld the refusal to disclose. Amongst other things, the ICO noted that the CPS had provided some public explanation of its past decisions and made clear that the same approach would be unlikely to be taken now.

The FTT disagreed with the DN and found that the public interest favoured disclosure of almost all of the requested information (with some redactions). It held that the safe space of the CPS would be unlikely to be harmed given the unique nature of the particular case involved, and the professionalism (and professional obligations) of CPS lawyers. It considered that the documents were in themselves significant historical documents which cast light on changes in the law as it has responded to the evolution of understanding of these crimes and changing social attitudes to them, as well as casting light on Sir Cyril himself. The unusual nature of the case also meant that the public interest in disclosing material covered by section 42 also favoured disclosure. Not surprisingly, the death of Sir Cyril Smith was also mentioned. The FTT redacted material which went beyond the names of the complainants, which might conceivably be used to identify them.

Christopher Knight

Data Protection and Child Protection

Posted on | by Christopher Knight

One of the difficulties users and practitioners have with the Data Protection Act 1998 is that there is so little case law on any of the provisions, it can be very hard to know how a court will react to the complicated structure and often unusual factual scenarios which can throw up potential claims. There are two reasons why there is so little case law. First, most damages claims under the DPA go to the County Court, where unless you were in the case it is hard to know that it happened or get hold of a judgment. Secondly, most damages claims are for small sums, which is it is more cost-effective to settle than fight.

Neither of those problems applied in MXA v Hounslow LBC, West Berkshire Council, Taunton Dean BC & Wokingham BC (QBD, 4 June 2014, not yet reported), in which M had filed claims in the High Court against a series of local authorities alleging that they held inaccurate and damaging information about him (presumably under sections 10 and 14 DPA, although the limited report available does not make clear). The local authorities applied to strike out the claims, and M failed to attend the hearing. M also alleged a breach of Article 8 ECHR in the data handling.

The facts as summarised are regrettably common. Harrow received information alleging that the step-daughter of M, E, was being physically and sexually abused by M. M complained about records of allegations of sexual misbehaviour towards a child in 2007 set out in a police report, which he denied. Harrow passed the information to Wokingham when E moved into that area. Wokingham recorded and reviewed the material and passed it on to West Berkshire when E moved again. Further allegations received by West Berkshire were sufficiently serious to require an investigation. M had signed forms consenting to the sharing and collection of information. Care proceedings were later initiated.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Bean J granted the application to strike out. He held that the local authorities were conducting child protection functions under their statutory duties (see, for example, the Children Act 1989).  In relation to the fifth data protection principle that personal data should not be held for longer than necessary, Harrow had received a recent complaint and had been provided with police records of convictions and other allegations. The duty of the local authorities, as the baton passed to each of them, was to keep those records for as long as necessary to ensure E’s welfare. The welfare investigation was at an early stage and the local authorities would clearly be acting in breach of their duty if they shredded the information. M could not argue that the information was so historic and uncorroborated that it ought to have been wiped and not disseminated. It had not been disseminated to the public, but passed only to local authorities where the family had lived.

Data controllers recorded a variety of information including allegations and mere suspicions due to the nature of the investigation. The suggestion that the information should not have been recorded unless the data controller was satisfied of its truth to a civil standard was unsustainable, as to which Bean J cited Johnson v Medical Defence Union [2007] EWCA Civ 262; [2011] 1 Info LR 110. Any claim based on the fourth data protection principle that information should be accurate and up to date was met by para 7 of Part II of Schedule 1 as the purpose for which the data was obtained was child protection. Reasonable steps had been taken to ensure its accuracy and the record indicated those matters which M had said were inaccurate. M had twice signed forms consenting to the retrieval of medical and criminal records.

Moreover, M’s section 10 claim to prevent processing likely to cause damage or distress was excluded by section 10(2) and para 3 of Schedule 2, as the processing was necessary to enable the local authorities to comply with their statutory obligations. They were doing no more than performing a proper statutory function.

Bean J also struck out claims of negligence, held that Articles 3 and 6 ECHR were irrelevant, and that there was an interference with M’s Article 8 rights but that it was plainly proportionate in order to protect E.

All of which goes to show that the DPA does not stop public authorities carrying out their important duties, even where underlying facts or allegations are disputed, and that on the occasions where the DPA makes it to court the judges can be trusted to understand both the context in which the authority must operate and that the DPA is intended to recognise that context. Perhaps DPA users have nothing to fear but fear itself after all.

11KBW’s Timothy Pitt-Payne QC acted for West Berkshire Council.

Christopher Knight