NFRS 2023 46 - Station callsigns - Amended

You asked for:

1. Would it be possible to get a list of all the stations in Nottinghamshire with thestation Callsign please as of 2023.
2. As well as this would it be possible to get a list of the appliances based at thatstation + the Callsign (Excluding Senior Officers) and the fleet number for theappliances (if applicable for yourselves as I am aware of counties like NorthYorkshire not having them to my knowledge)

Our Response:

1. Would it be possible to get a list of all the stations in Nottinghamshire with thestation Callsign please as of 2023.

   Answer: - Our stations do not have a specific callsign, a list of stations can be found at Our stations.

   We’ve also provided a list of stations with their corresponding ID number.

   ID	Station Name
   01	Mansfield
   02	Blidworth
   03	London Road
   05	Ashfield
   06	Edwinstowe
   07	Warsop
   08	Worksop
   10	Harworth
   11	Misterton
   12	Retford
   13	Tuxford
   14	Southwell
   15	Collingham
   16	Newark
   17	Bingham
   19	West Bridgford
   20	Stockhill
   23	Stapleford
   24	Eastwood
   25	Hucknall
   26	Arnold

2. As well as this would it be possible to get a list of the appliances based at thatstation + the Callsign (Excluding Senior Officers) and the fleet number for theappliances (if applicable for yourselves as I am aware of counties like NorthYorkshire not having them to my knowledge)

   Answer: - Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service has assessed that the requested information would be exempt by virtue of the following exemptions section 24(1) National Security and section 40(2) Personal Information of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Section 24: - National security.

1. Information which does not fall within section 23(1) is exempt information ifexemption from section 1(1)(b) is required for the purpose of safeguardingnational security.

Section 24 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is categorised as a Qualified and Prejudice Based type exemption and therefore requires a public interest test to be carried and furthermore requires that Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service articulate the harm in disclosure.

Section 40: - Personal Information

(2)Any information to which a request for information relates is also exemptinformation if—

1. it constitutes personal data which does not fall within subsection (1), and
2. the first, second or third condition below is satisfied.

(3A) The first condition is that the disclosure of the information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act—

1. would contravene any of the data protection principles, or
2. would do so if the exemptions in section 24(1) of the Data Protection Act2018 (manual unstructured data held by public authorities) weredisregarded.

(3B) The second condition is that the disclosure of the information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act would contravene Article 21 of the GDPR (general processing: right to object to processing).

(4A) The third condition is that—

1. on a request under Article 15(1) of the GDPR (general processing: right ofaccess by the data subject) for access to personal data, the informationwould be withheld in reliance on provision made by or under section 15, 16or 26 of, or Schedule 2, 3 or 4 to, the Data Protection Act 2018, or
2. (b) on a request under section 45(1)(b) of that Act (law enforcementprocessing: right of access by the data subject), the information would bewithheld in reliance on subsection (4) of that section.

Section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 is categorised as an Absolute and Class Based type exemption and therefore does not require a public interest test to be carried nor must Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service articulate the harm in disclosure.

Section 24

Overall Harm

As an emergency service Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Services must ensure that certain information relating to details of its equipment, material, and personnel which would be deemed essential in order to carry out our operational duties is appropriately protected from those who wish to cause harm or disruption both at a local and national level.

Releasing information such as the type, number at a specific location, and crew callsigns would create a major vulnerability to our aim to maintain the effective operation of our local and national emergency provision. The threat to the UK (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) from terrorism is classified as substantial which indicates that an attack is likely. The Threat levels do not have an expiry date. They can change at any time as different information becomes available and is set by the Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre and the Security Service (MI5).

The risks of disclosure have been highlighted in the recent data breach at the PSNI Spreadsheet containing leaked PSNI data 'can be accessed within three minutes' | UTV | ITV News. Whilst the applicant has not requested a breakdown of the data to the levels reported within the PSNI breach, the fact of the matter is to disclose the requested information creates a publicly accessible repository of operational data that could be used to plan and execute operations aimed at disrupting or inflicting harm on the organisation.

In order to save lives, minimise harm and lessen the overall consequences of a terrorist attack within the country, it is vital that measures are in place to ensure rapid and unimpeded response to such events occur and reduce potential hostiles from targeting our facilities. The Service believes that maintaining security and ensuring public safety in a national and local context takes precedence over releasing certain information and it is believed to disclose the requested information intensifies through potential risks.

Public Interest

Test Favour in disclosure

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Services understands that there would be a public interest in knowing how public funds are spent, that the service is well maintained, has the equipment in the right place and designed for the task they are to perform, with adequate number of personnel to crew them to respond to any type of incident. It further encourages openness and transparency between the service fostering public support and confidence.

Favour in non-disclosure:

As an emergency service Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Services must ensure that certain information relating to details of its equipment, material, and personnel, which would be deemed essential in order to carry out our operational duties is appropriately protected from those who wish to cause harm or disruption both at a local and national level. Releasing information s such as the type, number at a specific location, and crew callsigns would create a major vulnerability to its aim to maintain the effective operation of its local and national emergency provision. It is further argued that that disclosing the information would not add to the public’s understanding or awareness on the matter and would simply provide a detail repository of emergency equipment for those who may wish to cause harm both to the country and the public. The service provides a list of stations on it’s website including generic staffing levels.

Balance of the Public Interest

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service considers that there is a public interest in knowing that the service is well maintained, has the equipment in the right place and designed for the task they are to perform, with adequate number of personnel to crew them to respond to any type of incident. However, the public interest in disclosing that information is very slight as it would add very little in terms of accountability for public expenditure or decision-making. Whereby the public interest in safeguarding national security is very great indeed. Having found that the exemptions are engaged in this case, for the reasons stated above, that this public interest could only be balanced by the presence of equally strong public interest factors in favour of disclosure. There are none in this case. Therefore, the balance of the public interest weighs heavily in favour of maintaining the exemption.