Dear Ms Davis,

Further to your communication of 8^th July 2010, in which you make the following request:

`Please can you provide me with the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000:

I write with the Councils response:

In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 this letter acts as a Refusal Notice as the Authority has determined that you should not be provided with the information you have requested for the following reasons.

The Council holds the information sought on its Business Rates database.  The only means by which such data can be accessed would be by processing the data held with reference to identifying which properties received a relevant exemption from Business Rates.  The exemption and discount information is personal to the owners of the properties concerned and would thus involve the processing of personal data under the Data Protection Act 1998.

The Data Protection Act prohibits disclosure of personal data, defined as “Data which relate to a living individual who can be identified: from those data, or from those data and other information which is in the possession of, or is likely to come into the possession of the data controller”. The definition of personal data is not limited to the disclosure of an individuals name but can mean any information relating to an identifiable person, directly or indirectly by reference to e.g. an identification number or to one or more factors specific to e.g. economic identity.

Under the Freedom of Information Act requests for information that would contravene any of the data protection principles are exempt under Section 40. Having considered the Data Protection Principles the Authority has decided that those principles would be contravened and cannot provide you with the information sought. This is an absolute exemption under the Act.

Furthermore we would rely on Section 41- Information provided in confidence. If a ratepayer notifies the Council for Business Rates purposes that their property is vacant, then that individual has a legitimate expectation that that information will not be disclosed to third parties who have no legitimate right to the information, there being no overriding public interest in overriding that implied duty of confidentiality. There is also specific legislation governing the use of the Business Rates database that prohibits secondary use of the Business Rates data (Local Government Finance Act) and it is our opinion that we are further prohibited under that legislation from using the data for the purposes of disclosing the information sought. Where disclosure of information is prohibited by other legislation it is exempt information under Section 44 of the Freedom of Information Act and cannot therefore be disclosed.

There is another exemption under Section 31 of the Freedom of Information Act that in this Authority's view also applies to this request. This section provides that information is exempt from disclosure if such disclosure would prejudice the “prevention or detection of crime”.  Putting the addresses of empty properties within the Borough into the public domain would in the Authority's view compromise the security of the buildings concerned and would prejudice the objectives of preventing criminal behaviour. We consider there is a significant risk that releasing details of empty properties might lead to burglary, arson or squatting. 

Section 31 is a qualified exemption to which the public interest test must be applied. There do not appear to be any obvious public interest considerations that would weigh in favour of disclosure beyond that wherever possible it is in the public interest for them to have access to information.  There is however in our view clear public interest considerations that weigh in favour of not disclosing the information since to do so would prejudice the objective of prevention of crime which is of course in everyone's interests. Having considered whether the public interest weighs in favour of disclosure or non-disclosure in this instance the Authority has decided that it is not in the public interest to release such information.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me on my direct line telephone number below. If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to:  Freedom of Information Officer, 4^th Floor, Riverside House East, Woolwich High Street, SE18 6DN, or E-mail: [Greenwich Borough Council request email]

If you are not content with the outcome your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Authority. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely,

Mr G Reid

Business Rate Team Manager

020 8921 5317 (Direct Line)