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Freedom of information request

Outward post-codes of staff

Freedom of information request reference
CAS-296070
Request resolved

Request

Please provide a list of the outward codes from the home postcodes of National Archives staff, including the number of staff living in each outward code.

Outcome

Some information provided.

Response

The National Archives holds information relevant to your request and we are pleased to provide some of this information to you. Please see the attached dataset.

We are unable to provide you with some of the information you have requested because it is covered by the exemption at section 40(2) of the FOI Act, which exempts personal information about a ‘third party’ (someone other than the requester), if revealing it would breach the terms of Data Protection Legislation. For further information about why this exemption has been applied, please see the explanatory annex at the end of this letter.

In this instance, where there are less than 5 persons residing within a postcode, this information is considered exempt from disclosure under s40(2) of the FOI Act. It is considered that the disclosure of this information would lead to the identification of individual staff members.

Annexe

Exemptions applied

Section 40(2): Personal Information where the applicant is not the data subject

Section 40 exempts personal information about a ‘third party’ (someone other than the requester), if revealing it would breach the terms of Data Protection Legislation. Data Protection Legislation prevents personal information from release if it would be unfair or at odds with the reason why it was collected, or where the subject had officially served notice that releasing it would cause them damage or distress. Personal information must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner as set out by Art. 5 of the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR).

In this case the exemption applies because the requested material contains the personal and the sensitive personal information of a number of identified individuals assumed still to be living.

These individuals have a reasonable expectation of privacy which would not include the release of this information into the public domain by The National Archives during their lifetime. To do so would be likely to cause damage and/or distress and would be a breach of the first data protection principle, which is concerned with the fair, lawful and transparent processing of information of this kind.

Further guidance on the application of this exemption can be found on the ICO website.

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