Metropolitan Police Service
- Date 10 July 2018
- Sector Police and criminal justice
- Decision(s) FOI 23: Partly upheld, FOI 24: Partly upheld
The complainant has requested information about the purchase and use of Covert Communications Data Capture (“CCDC”) from the Metropolitan Police Service (the “MPS”). The MPS would neither confirm nor deny (“NCND”) whether it holds the requested information, citing the exemptions at sections 23(5) (information supplied by, or relating to, bodies dealing with security matters), 24(2) (national security) and 31(3) (law enforcement) of the FOIA for the request in its entirety.
In respect of parts (1) and (3) of the request the Commissioner’s decision is that sections 23(5) and 24(2) were cited correctly so the MPS was not obliged to confirm or deny whether the requested information is held; this is also her position in respect of some of part (4) of the request. For part (2) of the request and the ‘legislation’ and ‘codes of practice’ elements of part (4) of the request, the Commissioner’s decision is that the exemptions were applied incorrectly. The MPS is required to confirm or deny whether this information is held and either disclose it or issue a fresh response compliant with section 17 of the FOIA. Information Tribunal appeal EA/2018/0164 disposed by consent.