Information
FOI 02042024-1 – Chief Constable’s Application
Request
In August 2018, ACC Nick Adderley, then of Staffordshire, was appointed Northants Chief Constable.
As part of this promotion process, please provide the following information:
1) Which Staffordshire chief officer supported Mr Adderley’s application.
2) Which Staffordshire officer was contacted to verify the contents of Mr Adderley’s CV & covering letter.
3) Who provided a testimonial/reference in support of Mr Adderley’s competence for the role.”
Response
Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) 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 Freedom of Information Act requires that we provide the applicant with a notice which:
- a) States that fact
- b) Specifies the exemption(s) in question and
- c) State (if that would not otherwise be apparent) why the exemption applies
I can confirm that the Office of the Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner does hold some of the information that you have requested. However, we are withholding that information since we consider that the following exemptions apply to it:
Section 40(5) – Personal data
Consideration on applying this exemption is subject to whether the disclosure of any information would lead to identifying individuals and place information pertaining to them into the public domain. This constitutes personal data which would, if released, be in breach of the rights provided by the Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulations; namely the first data protection principle, which states that personal data will be processed lawfully, fairly and transparently. It is my view that the request runs counter to the three requirements prescribed by law and that there is no lawful basis to provide this information.
This is an absolute exemption, and no public interest test is required.
