Information Commissioner's Office

Hampshire Constabulary

16 July 2015, Police and criminal justice

The complainant requested information from Hampshire Constabulary (the police) about a police investigation into a cycling event held in the New Forest area of Hampshire in October 2013. He asked for information including evidence from witnesses, the police form MG3 and the report to the Crown Prosecutor for the charging decision and investigative advice. The Commissioner found that the police had correctly relied on the section 30(1) (information held for the purposes of an investigation) FOIA exemption to withhold the information since the exemption was engaged and the balance of the public interest favoured maintaining the exemption. Having found that the information had been withheld correctly relying on the section 30(1) FOIA exemption, the Commissioner did not proceed to consider the police reliance on the section 40(2) (personal information) FOIA exemption, which was also cited. He also found that the police had breached section 10(1) FOIA in not responding to the information request within 20 working days of receiving it. The Commissioner requires no steps to be taken to ensure compliance with the legislation. This decision notice is currently under appeal to the Tribunal.

FOI 10: Upheld FOI 30: Not upheld