Attribute Data

Dear Mr West

Thank you for your email below. We are dealing with this under the
Freedom Of Information Act and will reply within 20 working days.

Yours sincerely,

Ros Creasey
Group Customer Service Manager
Valuation Office Agency
East Midlands Group
Ground Floor
Ferrers House
Castle Meadow Road
Nottingham
NG2 1AB

Tel 03000 500 913
Fax 03000 500 975

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Dear Mr West

Freedom of Information Act 2000 - request

Thank you for your further request which was received on 6 June 2011
where you asked:

"can you please supply full details of the properties you have
referenced in NG3 5R and NG3 5S - i.e provide all of the attribute data
you hold (VS codes/) for these properties" As identified in our
statistical release to Billing (Local) Authority level published on our
website at:
(http://www.voa.gov.uk/publications/stati...
ributes-septenber-2010/CT-property-attribute-data-Sept-2010.html)

"also the attribute codes that determine whether street parking is
available and finally the plot size".

When we spoke on 9 June 2011 you clarified that you wished to have all
the property attribute data for properties within the postcodes of NG3
5R and NG3 5S which we have referred to ("you have referenced") i.e. all
the properties the Listing Officer (LO) has considered in these two post
codes when considering your request.

Accordingly I have established that beyond the specific properties Mr
Payne, our caseworker, has quoted to you in the evidence pack in
connection with your outstanding council tax appeal and forthcoming
Tribunal hearing which fall in NG3 5R. I have established we hold a
list of 83 properties that falls within your request as itemised above.
A further 56 properties fall in NG3 5S.

You have further qualified that you do not require the individual
address.

However you are seeking sensitive data down to a property level which
may enable you to identify the respective property, particularly with
say a VS code. Accordingly I am precluded from releasing this
information for the reasons outlined in the enclosed Appendix C to this
reply. However I appreciate you are in discussions with the LO about
your case and I believe it is reasonable and proportionate outside of
FOIA to disclose that the 139 properties are in Gelding , they are in
post codes NG3 5R and NG3 5S, they are in Group Codes:

31 (Private & LA dwellings built after 1953),
32 (Better quality estate & individual dwellings built after 1945) Or 37
(Larger 3 storey town houses built from 1980,)

They are all Detached Houses (HD)

The floor areas range from 111 metres squared to 274 metres squared.

Further these properties are in Chartwell Grove, Linden Place, Spring
Lane, Mapperley Plains Goddard Court Plains Farm Close, Plains Road,
Spring Lane. Some of which have been quoted as the evidence pack, that
said the VOA would not want to be accused of being selective accordingly
I am providing you with the list of addresses with the respective band
as Appendix A. I have also run a separate report using the search
parameters above for NG3 5S. These properties are in Cheddington Avenue,
Copplestone Drive, Kingsbridge Avenue, Lapford Close, Spencer Avenue,
Winston Close and Orchard Park.

Appendices A and B will follow under separate cover.

I hope this disclosure assists you. If you have any further concerns
please contact Guy Ward in our Nottingham office as I am away from the
office after today .

Yours sincerely

Ros Creasey
Group Customer Service Manager
Valuation Office Agency
East Midlands Group
Ground Floor
Ferrers House
Castle Meadow Road
Nottingham
NG2 1AB

Tel 03000 500 913
Tel 0115 9892161
Fax 03000 500 975

Appendix C relating to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) element of
your request.

Section 1 (1) of the FOIA gives you a general right of access to
information held by public authorities. If you make a request (in
writing) for information to a public authority you are entitled to be
told whether we "hold" information of the description specified in the
request and, if that is the case, to have that information
"communicated" to you.

You will be aware from the statistical release in September 2010, which
you have referred to in your request that the Valuation Office Agency
hold the raw data you are seeking. The information is held in order that
the Valuation Office Agency can maintain council tax valuatiion lists in
England and Wales and carry out its other functions. When considering a
request to release information not already in the public domain, i.e.
all the data together down to individual property level, the VOA has to
consider whether the information sought under FOIA is essentially
information we would give to anybody, anywhere, and would be provided to
any subsequent requester.
When another law prevents disclosure of information, it is exempt from
disclosure because of section 44(1) (a) of the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 (FOI Act). Furthermore, if confirming or denying information is
held would itself reveal information which is exempt under section 44(1)
(a), the duty to confirm or deny information is held does not arise;
section 44(2) FOI Act refers.

Section 18(1) of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005
(CRCA) provides that the Valuation Office' (Agency), as it is an
executive agency of HM Revenue and Customs, may not disclose information
which is held by them in connection with a function as part of the
Revenue and Customs. The information you are seeking, is held in
connection with our functions as set out above.

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) FOI Act applies. 'Person'
includes both living persons and legal entities such as companies,
trusts and charities (see paragraph 110 of the explanatory notes to the
CRCA).

Therefore, to engage the section 44 FOI Act 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
FOI Act. And that applies no matter whether the applicant is a third
party, the individual/organisation or someone acting with the
individual's/organisation's permission.

Taken together, the above removes information about our customers from
the right of access under FOI Act. Section 44 is an absolute exemption
and therefore does not require a consideration of the public interest.

That said, although counciltaxpayer information is excluded from the
FOIA regime, if one of the conditions set out in section 18 (2) of the
CRCA applies, the VOA may disclose on a discretionary basis. For
information, section 18 (2) is set out in the appendix to my letter.
These conditions do not affect the interaction between sections 18 (1)
and 23 (1) of the CRCA so disclosure is not made under FOIA. As you
currently have an outstanding appeal, which is listed for hearing, the
VOA are able to disclose some further information to you outside of FOIA
and hence this is why I have produced Appendices A and B and referred to
the property attributes in my reply to you

If you are unhappy with the decision I have made in relation to your
FOIA request you may ask for an internal review. You should contact the
Customer Service Team at The Chief Executive's Office: Customer Service
Team, Valuation Office Agency, Wingate House, 93/107 Shaftesbury
Avenue, London, W1D 5BU.

email: [email address]

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a
decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have
exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Valuation Office
Agency. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information
Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire,
SK9 5AF.

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I am not in the office until the Monday 4 July 2011. I am unable to
access my email.

Please accept this email as acknowledgement of your message and I will
deal with on my return.

If the matter is urgent please resend to
[email address].

This message is confidential and the information must not be used, disclosed, or copied to any other person who is not entitled to receive it. If you have received this message in error please notify the sender and then delete it.

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Dear Mr West

Thank you for your email below. I apologise but due to an error with my
email on return from leave I had not received your earlier email.

In your email you have asked me, "would you agree that if the VOA
released this data they would be in breach of the data protection act?".
The short answer is yes and I am responding as I do not believe this is
an Internal Review. However if you are seeking one please contact
[email address] in line with the paragraph about your
appeal rights and it would be helpful if you set out which aspects of my
reply concerned you and why you are dissatisfied

You may recall in Appendix C to my reply of 10 June 2010 I explained why
I could not provide individual property information as it was exempt
under section 44 (1) (a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)
as a result of provisions set out in section 18 (1) and 23 of the
Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act (the enactment) and stopped
there. I confirm in addition I could have gone on to quote the exemption
set out in section 40 (2) and (3) of the FOIA as any property
information held by the Agency relating to third parties is personal
information as it relates to a (council) taxpayer and is held to
determine their council tax valuation band and disclosure would breach
the data protection principles.

It may be helpful to reiterate what we state in our Publication Scheme,
http://www.voa.gov.uk/corporate/freedomO...

"Information we will not disclose under Freedom of Information (FOI) Act
2000

Release of information under FOI is release to the world. Public
authorities are not allowed to take account of the identity of the
person making the request, or their motives, when deciding what
information will be disclosed in response to an FOI request.

To carry out its functions the Valuation Office Agency (as part of HM
Revenue and Customs HMRC) holds confidential customer information
including information on properties. When HMRC was created in April
2005, Parliament decided that any information held for an HMRC function
that identifies a 'person', (including legal entities such as limited
companies), or which would enable their identity to be deduced, is
exempt from disclosure under the FOI regime. The provision is set out in
Section 23 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act (2005) and
applies even if the requestor is an individual asking for information we
hold about them, or a director asking for our information about their
company."

I hope this reply has been helpful.

Regards

Mrs Ros Creasey
Group Customer Service Manager
Valuation Office Agency
East Midlands Group
Ground Floor
Ferrers House
Castle Meadow Road
Nottingham
NG2 1AB

Tel 03000 500 913
Fax 03000 500 975

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