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Dear Mr Harper

Re: Request for Internal Review - Request 4110

Thank you for your s dated 20^th August and 10^th September 2009 regarding the response to your recent request to the Council (our ref: 4110).

In your s you asked for an internal review of the handling of your Request. I have summarised the details of your appeal below:

I am sorry that you are dissatisfied with our handling of your requests and I have investigated your complaints under Stage 1 of the Council's Corporate Complaints Procedure. Further details of our procedure can be found on our website: http://www.westminster.gov.uk/services/councilgovernmentanddemocracy/councils/contactsconsultationandfeedback/complaints-and-compliments/complaints/

Response

Your original request to the Council was made on 21^st July 2009 asking for a list of all the vacant properties within Westminster City Council. Your request was logged by the Council on 22^nd July with a target completion date of 18^th August 2009. On 20^th August, you wrote to the Council chasing a response to your request as it was overdue. On 10^th September you wrote again to the Council asking for an internal review of the handling of your case.

I have now reviewed the correspondence and notes regarding your case and can report as follows:

When a request is received by the Council it is allocated to a named contact within the department holding the relevant information. It appears that in your case, the request was allocated to the incorrect department. Upon receipt of your email dated 20^th August, this error came to light and the request was reallocated. We did not however inform you that this was the case, and for this oversight I would like to offer my apologies. We have revised our internal procedures to ensure that this does not happen in future.

Once your request was reallocated, a response should have been provided promptly and again, this did not occur. I can advise that the information you have requested is currently available on the WhatDoTheyKnow website:

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/10603/response/36075/attach/3/empty%20list.csv.txt

As this information is available by other means (i.e. a public website), it is exempt from disclosure under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act. The list contains all empty commercial properties in Westminster and is correct as at 27^th July 2009.

Attached to this response is also a copy of the most recent empty residential homes list. This list does not include details of the owners of the residential properties. This is because it would identify individuals and therefore is exempt from disclosure under Section 40(2) of the Act. Section 40 (2) states that information cannot be disclosed if such action would breach the principles of the Data Protection Act 1998. Principle 1 of the Act says that personal data must be processed fairly and lawfully. Residents inform the council that properties are empty in confidence and there is no expectation that this would be made public. As there are no legal grounds compelling disclosure, to do so would breach principle 1 and therefore Section 40(2) is engaged.

Conclusion

In summary, I am satisfied that the Council did fail to respond to your request in a timely fashion as required by law. We also failed to keep you informed once the error came to light and to let you know that some of the information your requested was readily available. Therefore your complaint is upheld.

This completes the internal review into the handling of your Request under the Council's complaints procedure. Should you be dissatisfied with our response, you are entitled to contact the Information Commissioner under Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. For your reference, I have provided his contact details below:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Tel: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45
Fax: 01625 524510

Web: www.ico.gov.uk

I hope this fulfils your request. Should you have any queries, please contact me at the address above.

Yours sincerely,

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Under the Data Protection Act 1998, Data Subjects have rights to challenge, alter or erase the inaccurate and unlawful processing of their information. In the first instance please contact The Data Protection Officer, Information Services, 101 Orchardson Street, London NW8 8EA. If you are not satisfied with our response you may contact The Information Commissioner: Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF