Teresa Chance
Central Policy - Freedom of Information
1C/25
100 Parliament Street
London SW1A 2BQ
By email to:
Francis Irving
Tel
[FOI #36547 email]
Fax
020 7147 0666
Email
Date
2 July 2010
www.hmrc.gov.uk
Our Ref
FOI 1699/10
Your Ref
________
Dear Mr Irving
Freedom of Information Act 2000
I refer to your request, which HMRC received on 4 June 2010, for the following information:
I understand the HMRC runs the Government Banking Service (GBS).
Can you please send me a list of the accounts that are in the GBS.
For each account, please give the following information:
* The public authority the account is for, e.g. "MHRA"
* The account name, e.g. "GBS Re MHRA"
* Any other description of the account you have available
* The bank the account is with, e.g. "Citibank"
Background
The Government Banking Service was launched on 19 May 2008. It incorporates the Office
of HM Paymaster General (OPG), which was transferred to HMRC from HM Treasury in
April 2006. The Government Banking Service is a shared service, offering banking services
to around 900 government departments, agencies and other public bodies. ‘Government
Banking’ refers to the banking services that departments and other public bodies need to
conduct their business, i.e. when they pay their customers, employees and suppliers or
when they receive payments (usually described as “transaction services”). The Government
Banking Service has procured banking services with two banks: the Royal Bank of Scotland
Group (RBSG) and Citigroup (Citi).
Information is available in large print, audio tape and Braille formats.
Type Talk service prefix number – 18001
HMRC Response
I am answering under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Extracts of
the relevant sections of the legislation cited in this letter are copied in the appendix at the
foot of this letter. I can confirm that HMRC holds the information you have requested but I
consider that the information is exempt from disclosure under the FOIA. The exemptions
which I am relying on are absolute exemptions under section 2(3) of the FOIA. This means
that I am not required to consider any public interest arguments for and against disclosure.
Section 21
Some information within the scope of your request is exempt under s21(1) of the FOIA
because it is information which is already reasonably available to you.
Some public authorities publish information about their own accounts with the Government
Banking Service. For example, HMRC itself provides some information about how
Employers such as government departments and health authorities who have an account
with the Government Banking Service can make payments of PAYE Tax to HMRC.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/payinghmrc/paye.htmhttp://www.hmrc.gov.uk/payinghmrc/paye.htm
#10
Similarly, HM Courts Service provides details of how to make payments via the Government
Banking Service.
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/cms/7741.htm
Section 23
Some of the information within the scope of your request is exempt from disclosure under
s23(1) of the FOIA which exempts information supplied by or relating to bodies dealing with
security matters.
Section 41
Some of the information within the scope of your request is exempt from disclosure under
s41(1) of the FOIA since it is information provided to HMRC in confidence. Information
provided to HMRC by agencies and other public bodies is covered by this exemption.
Section 44
All of the information within the scope of your request is exempt from disclosure under
s44(1)(a) of the FOIA which exempts information if its disclosure is prohibited by or under
any enactment.
Section 18(1) of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005 (CRCA) provides
that Revenue and Customs Officials may not disclose information which is held by the
Revenue and Customs in connection with a function of HMRC. Under Article 3 of the
Transfer of Functions (Office of Her Majesty's Paymaster General) Order 2006, the following
functions of the Paymaster General were transferred to HMRC:
(a) functions relating to the administration and oversight of the Office of Her Majesty's
Paymaster General;
(b) powers to authorise or require action by or in relation to that Office, for the purpose of
discharging a duty or liability of the Paymaster General or for any other purpose.
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2006/20060607.htm
The Government Banking Service account information you are seeking is held in connection
with these functions. Section 23(1) CRCA further provides that, where information falling in
section 18(1) relates to a ‘person’ who is identified or who could be identified, the exemption
in section 44(1) (a) FOIA applies. ‘Person’ includes both living persons and legal entities
such as, in this case, public authorities (see paragraph 110 of the explanatory notes to the
CRCA).
Therefore, to engage the section 44 FOIA exemption we consider ‘Is the information held by
us for one of our functions?’ and ‘Does it relate to an identifiable person?’ If the answer to
both the questions is ‘yes’, the information is exempt from the right to information under
FOIA. The fact that some of the information you have requested may already be in the
public domain does not change HMRC’s statutory duty of confidentiality in respect of this
information.
Other exemptions
In addition to the exemptions relied on in this response, I consider that other qualified
exemptions are also engaged with regard to the information you have requested.
Specifically, I consider that sections 28(1) and 29(1) of the FOIA are engaged. Since the
information requested is exempt under absolute exemptions, I have not set out here the
reasons why we consider prejudice might arise, or the relevant public interest considerations
in respect of these qualified exemptions.
If you are not happy with this reply you may request a review by writing to HMRC FOI Team,
Room 1C/25, 100 Parliament Street London SWIA 2BQ or by e-mail to
[email address]. You must request a review within 2 months of the date of this
letter. It would assist our review if you set out which aspects of the reply concern you and
why you are dissatisfied.
If you are not content with the outcome of an internal review, you may apply directly to the
Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner will not usually
consider a case unless you have exhausted the internal review procedure provided by
HMRC. He can be contacted at The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.
Yours sincerely
Teresa Chance
Appendix
Legislation relevant to disclosures under FOIA
Freedom of Information Act 2000
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/ukpga_20000036_en_1
2 Effect of the exemptions in Part II
(2) In respect of any information which is exempt information by virtue of any provision of
Part II, section 1(1)(b) does not apply if or to the extent that—
(a) the information is exempt information by virtue of a provision conferring absolute
exemption, or
(b) in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exemption
outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.
(3) For the purposes of this section, the following provisions of Part II (and no others) are to
be regarded as conferring absolute exemption—
(a) section 21,
(b) section 23,
….
(g) section 41, and
(h) section 44.
PART II EXEMPT INFORMATION
21 Information accessible to applicant by other means
(1) Information which is reasonably accessible to the applicant otherwise than under section
1 is exempt information.
23 Information supplied by, or relating to, bodies dealing with security matters
(1) Information held by a public authority is exempt information if it was directly or indirectly
supplied to the public authority by, or relates to, any of the bodies specified in subsection (3).
41 Information provided in confidence
(1) Information is exempt information if—
(a) it was obtained by the public authority from any other person (including another public
authority), and
(b) the disclosure of the information to the public (otherwise than under this Act) by the
public authority holding it would constitute a breach of confidence actionable by that or any
other person.
44 Prohibitions on disclosure
(1) Information is exempt information if its disclosure (otherwise than under this Act) by the
public authority holding it—
(a) is prohibited by or under any enactment,
(b) is incompatible with any Community obligation, or
(c) would constitute or be punishable as a contempt of court.
Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2005/ukpga_20050011_en_1
18 Confidentiality
(1) Revenue and Customs officials may not disclose information which is held by the
Revenue and Customs in connection with a function of the Revenue and Customs.
23 Freedom of information
(1) Revenue and customs information relating to a person, the disclosure of which is
prohibited by section 18(1), is exempt information by virtue of section 44(1)(a) of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (c. 36) (prohibitions on disclosure) if its disclosure—
(a) would specify the identity of the person to whom the information relates, or
(b) would enable the identity of such a person to be deduced.
(2) Except as specified in subsection (1), information the disclosure of which is prohibited by
section 18(1) is not exempt information for the purposes of section 44(1)(a) of the Freedom
of Information Act 2000.
(3) In subsection (1) “revenue and customs information relating to a person” has the same
meaning as in section 19.
