Dear Mr Thackeray

Re: - Request for Information, Business Rates

Thank you for your request for information, which was received by Manchester City Council on 1 May 2010 and has been considered under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, (FOIA).

You have requested:

1)Details of any mandatory or discretionary relief from non-domestic rates which has been applied at any time over the past 5 years to 258 Deansgate, Manchester M3 4BG.

2) If such relief has been applied, please provide:

- a copy of the application and all documents supplied in support

of it.

- the reasons behind the Council's decision to apply the relief.

I consider that the Council would not be able to disclose personal information relating to private individuals as personal information about their identity and financial affairs is protected under the absolute exemption provided by Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This exemption applies where the disclosure of the information, so far as it comprises or contains personal information about individuals, would contravene one or more of the data protection principles under the Data Protection Act 1998, including the principle that information should be processed lawfully and fairly. Without the consent of an individual rate payer I do not consider that the release of this information into the public domain under FoIA could be justified under any of the processing conditions provided under Schedule 2 of the Data Protection Act.

Although business organisations are not private individuals and are not subject to the protection afforded by the terms of the Data Protection Act, these organisations provide their contact information in the expectation that this information is solely for use in the collection of business rates. They certainly would not expect that their contact information or financial information about their account, to be released into the public domain.

Section 41 of the FoIA provides that confidential information supplied to the Council is exempt where its disclosure would constitute an actionable breach of confidence. I am satisfied this exemption is engaged as businesses supply this information in the expectation that their confidentiality will be respected and public disclosure would constitute an unauthorised use of that information. Although the Council accepts there is a genuine public interest in knowing that businesses generally are paying business rates, that is not the same as releasing business rate account details and related contact information, to the public at large.

Please note if you are not satisfied with this response you may ask for an internal review. If you wish to complain you should contact Lynn Evans, Information Compliance Officer who is based at the Town Hall.

If you require more information about the Council's access to information complaints procedure this is available at section 25 of the Council's Code of Practice which can be downloaded from:

http://www.manchester.gov.uk/freedom/request

If you do not have internet access and require a paper copy, please let me know.

If you decide to apply and are not satisfied with the outcome of the internal review, you also have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Yours sincerely

Paul Byrne

Business Rates Manager

Business Rates Service

PO Box 466

Town Hall

Manchester M16 6AT