Dear Madam

Thank you for your email of 26^th August 2009, in which you asked for the following information:

1) details i.e. names and qualifications of the three presiding magistrates in attendance at Carmarthen Magistrate's Courts, Guildhall Square Carmarthen. West Wales on the afternoon of 26th August 2009 hearing claims concerning council tax applications for liability orders from Carmarthenshire County Council;

2) the names of the two representatives (one male, one female) from Carmarthenshire County council making the applications for liability orders at the above court on said afternoon;

3) whether it is lawful for the information in 1) and 2) to be withheld from the defendant and his/her authorised agents;

4) whether it is lawful for court officials to deny identification of a magistrate;

5) whether withholding such information from the defendant is an offence;

6) what penalties such an offence carries; and

7) whether it is an offence for a magistrate to refuse a defendants agent, a copy of any order made.

Please note that questions 3 to 7 of your request will not be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). This part of your request has been forwarded to the relevant business unit to answer and you will receive a response in due course.

Questions 1 and 2 will be handled under the FOIA. However, from our preliminary assessment it is clear that we will not be able to answer your request without further clarification. Under section 1(3) of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a public authority need not comply with a request unless any further information reasonably required to locate the information is supplied.

You have asked for the `qualifications' of the three presiding magistrates in attendance at Carmarthen Magistrate's Court on the afternoon of 26^th August 2009. I would be grateful if you could you clarify which qualifications you are requesting, for example, all academic qualifications, qualifications linked to their roles as magistrates etc.

Upon receipt of this information we will be in a position to continue with the processing of your request.

Should you need to contact me, it would be helpful if you quote our reference number.

Yours sincerely

Gemma Hadjigeorge

Data Access & Compliance Unit