FOI2020-08936 Ethnicity of the DECA Board
Published 7 September 2020
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Dear
I am writing in response to your email dated 3rd August 2020 requesting the following information,
Could we please receive a breakdown by ethnicity of:
a. your chair/all of your chairs (if your organisation has multiple chairpersons)
b. all of your board members.
I am treating your correspondence as a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).
In response to your queries, I have completed a search for the information within the Defence Electronics & Components Agency, and I can confirm that we do hold information in scope of your request and provide the following answers.
Could we please receive a breakdown by ethnicity of :
a. your chair/all of your chairs (if your organisation has multiple chairpersons)
Section 40(2) exempts personal information from disclosure if that information relates to someone other than the applicant, and if disclosure of that information would, amongst other things, contravene one of the data protection principles in Article 5(1) of the General Data Protection Regulations and section 34(1) of the Data Protection Act 2018. In this case, we believe disclosure would contravene the first data protection principle, which provides that processing of personal data is lawful and fair. We have considered the legitimate interests of all parties in disclosure of this information and have found that on balance there is not an overriding legitimate interest in disclosure that outweighs the reasonable expectations of privacy of the individual concerned.
Section 40(2) is an absolute exemption and the Defence Electronics and Components Agency is not obliged to consider whether the public interest favours disclosing the information.
b. all of your board members.
The information you requested is being withheld under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 because the numbers in one or more categories are fewer than five. We cannot provide details where the numbers are fewer than five as the individuals concerned in this group or in other groups could be identifiable. This is the standard approach to statistical reporting.
If you are not satisfied with this response or you wish to complain about any aspect of the handling of your request, then you should contact me in the first instance. If informal resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for an independent internal review by contacting the Information Rights Compliance team, Ground Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB or by e-mailing CIO-FOI-IR@mod.uk. Please note that any request for an internal review must be made within 40 working days of the date on which the attempt to reach informal resolution has ended.
If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may take your complaint to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not investigate your case until the MOD internal review process is complete. You can find further details of the role and powers of the Information Commissioner on the Commissioner’s website
Regards
DECA FOI