FOI - Introduction of Protect Duty legislation [Jun 2022]

You requested:

A bullet point list of all the measures the council has taken in preparation for the introduction of the ‘Protect Duty’ which is expected to come into effect in 2022.

The full amount (in £) the council has spent to date implementing the aforementioned measures as well as the amount of money (in £) assigned to make the above changes ahead of the introduction of ‘Protect Duty’.

If you have not yet assigned a budget or implemented measures ahead of ‘Protect Duty’ coming into effect, do you expect to do so in the next 6 months? (please answer either Yes, No or N/A).

Clarification of what we are referring to when we say ‘Protect Duty’: The government is imposing new legislation under the name of ‘Protect Duty’, increasing the protection of the UK’s publicly accessible locations against terrorist attacks and ensuring they are equipped to deal with all possible incidents. Additional security measures and perimeter protection will be required for public venues, organisations, and public spaces under this new legislation. 

Our response to your request is as follows:

We can neither confirm nor deny whether the GLA holds information within the scope of your request regarding “measures [the GLA] has taken in preparation for the introduction of the ‘Protect Duty’ which is expected to come into effect in 2022”.

The duty to confirm or deny in Section 1(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 does not apply when considered along with the following exemption provisions: National Security S24(2).

Section 24(2) provides an exemption from the duty to confirm or deny whether information is held, where the exemption is required for the purposes of safeguarding national security.

Law Enforcement S31(3) 31.—

(1) Information which is not exempt information by virtue of section 30 is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice - (a) the prevention or detection of crime.

(3) The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that, compliance with section 1(1)(a) would, or would be likely to, prejudice any of the matters mentioned in subsection (1).

Health and Safety S38(2) (1) Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to-

(a) endanger the physical or mental health of any individual, or (b) endanger the safety of any individual.

(3) The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that, compliance with section 1(1)(a) would, or would be likely to, have either of the effects mentioned in subsection (1).

Any statement which might confirm or deny whether or not the GLA has taken measures of this nature (or not) would give an indication of the security measures which might be employed by the GLA, providing criminals or, in the worst case, terrorists with information that could help them take action against City Hall or areas/events related to the GLA; or evade detection; and harm people e.g. members of the public, staff, tourists.

Sections 24, 31 and 38 are qualified exemptions and we are required to consider the likelihood of harm and conduct a public interest test when applying any qualified exemption.

Public Interest Test The public interest test required by the Act is set out in section 2(2).

The test is whether “in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information”. It is recognised that there is public interest in confirming or denying that information in scope of the request is held in terms of how public money is spent and what security measures are in place. Greater transparency makes public authorities more accountable and increases public trust and scrutiny. However, there is a real risk that confirmation or denial would make people less safe. The threats to the UK from terrorism are real and are not slight or hypothetical. The current national terrorist threat level is ‘Substantial’ meaning that an attack is likely.

Confirmation or denial would allow terrorists to map where measures have been taken to protect London communities and therefore identify the more vulnerable locations to commit terrorist acts.

Allowing such ‘soft’ targets to be identified undermines the UK’s Counter Terrorism Strategy and national security, undermines law enforcement efforts to prevent crime and endangers the health and safety of the public.

The GLA has taken into consideration that any disclosure of information in response to an FOI request is a disclosure into the public domain, and although such a disclosure would represent a ‘snapshot in time’, it could however be compared against any previous or future responses that we might release or against information released by others. Taking these factors into consideration, it is assed that the public interest favours the exclusion of the duty to confirm or deny whether information is held.

This response should not be taken as inferring whether any information is or is not held in relation to your request.

Please note that this decision in no way implies that you would engage in any criminal or malicious activities.

If you have any further questions relating to this matter, please contact me, quoting the reference MGLA120522-0708.