From: the Information Commissioner’s Office
To Thames Valley Police (TVP)
05/09/2023
We are writing to you because a data protection concern has been raised with us about Thames Valley Police (TVP) by [redacted] on behalf of:
[redacted]
Concern raised with us
As we understand it, Mr [redacted] is concerned that TVP have not appropriately handled his request, initially submitted on his behalf on 10 February 2023 by [redacted] In particular they had asked for a copy of a crime report about the theft of their client’s vehicle.
We understand in their responses TVP refer to the ACPO and ABI memorandum of understanding, and explain that the request was being dealt with as a discretionary disclosure rather than as a subject access request (SAR). TVP also state that the request is likely to be an enforced SAR and is not in the spirit of the Act.
From the information available it is unclear that the request would be considered an enforced SAR. For instance, while the request states it is necessary for an insurance purpose and to support a legal claim, it does not appear that Mr [redacted] was required to agree to make a SAR as a condition of CMA acting on his behalf and it does not appear that he was advised of any detrimental effects on his claim if he declined. It also appears that Mr [redacted] was suitably informed about the information that would be requested and the reason for this and provided his signed consent for the request to be made. In this case it is unlikely to be suitable to refuse the request on the basis of it being enforced.
Note: the above were identified as irrelevant as no ‘relevant record’ was requested – as confirmed here
In addition, as SARs are primarily purpose blind, a request being considered not in the spirit of the Act does not provide a valid exemption to allow it to be refused. There are circumstances where the intention of a request may be taken into account, although this this unlikely to apply here. For example, a request can be refused on the basis that it is manifestly unfounded, in which case an organisation can consider factors such as the context of a request and the requestor’s actions, but it must be able to demonstrate that there is no genuine intention to obtain the information asked for.
Next steps
In this case we ask that TVP takes steps to ensure that a full response has been provided to Mr [redacted] request, if you have not already done so. We understand that a response may have been provided outside of a SAR on 20 March 2023 and we note that a SAR will not necessarily provide all of the information required.
Yours sincerely,
Lead Case Officer
Information Commissioner’s Office
Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
T. 0330 414 6248 ico.org.uk twitter.com/iconews