Police

Section 113B(4) of the Police Act 1997 required the chief officer—on meeting a request from the secretary of state, considering the issue of an enhanced criminal record certificate—to have regard to sub-para (a), which set out a relevance test, and sub-para (b), which involved the issue of proportionality, ie setting a balance between the importance and desirability of providing information on the one hand against, on the other, the degree of interference with and the likely consequences of such interference in the private life of the person to whom the information related.

The decision was expressly that of the chief officer; context was relevant; there was no presumption to be made against disclosure and nor was there a presumption to be made in favour of disclosure; the balance required by proportionality necessitated a close attention by the decision-maker to detail; relevant in striking the balance was the force of the accusations; and it