Dear Sir or Madam,

I wish to make a request for information under the Freedom Of
Information Act 2000.

I understand that it is the policy of Liverpool City Council to
retain personal data on benefit claimants 'indefinitely' even after
a claim has ceased.

As this policy is in direct contravention of the sixth data
protection principle which requires that personal data be retained
for no longer than is necessary for a given purpose and is
incompatible with any blanket policy that advocates permanent
retention, please supply a copy of the relevant sections of your
records management policy which authorise this permanent retention
of ex-claimants personal data.

Please also supply copies of any Statutory Instruments which
authorise the permanent retention of personal data on ex-benefit
claimants.

Also, as the city council are holding personal data on individuals
which predates the introduction of Council Tax in 1993, please
provide any documents which explain why this information is being
retained, what purpose it is being held for and when - if ever -
the city council intend to destroy it.

I would ask that you remember the statutory duty imposed upon
public authorities by virtue of Section 16 of the Freedom of
Information Act to provide advice and assistance to requesters. If
for any reason you are leaning toward rejecting any part of this
request or if you plan to argue that it is unmanageable or
unanswerable in any way then I would expect you to contact me
promptly to find ways to answer this request to our mutual
satisfaction.

Yours faithfully,

Mr G V Rydell

Thank you for your e-mail.

This e-mail confirms we have received your enquiry.

We will endeavour to respond to this enquiry within 24 hours, but please
note that during

busy periods it may take up to 3 working days to reply to you.

In the mean time, you will be able to find the answers to commonly asked
questions on our
website: www.liverpool.gov.uk .

Please do not respond to this e-mail as it has been generated
automatically.

Liverpool Direct
Winner - 'Best in Public Sector', Call Centre

Association Excellence Awards 2004 Liverpool,

European Capital of Culture 2008

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Dear Mr Rydell,

Thank you for your recent e-mail.

We have forwarded your request to the relevant department, and they will
answer your query as soon as possible.

Please contact us if you have any further queries we may assist with.

Yours sincerely

Liverpool Direct
[email address]
www.liverpool.gov.uk
Liverpool, European Capital of Culture 2008

Would you prefer to receive your council tax bill via e-mail? Go to
www.liverpool.gov.uk and complete the easy online registration form.

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Dear Mr Rydell

FOI REQUEST - 38070

Retention of Benefits records

Many thanks for your recent communication requesting information under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000, which was received in my office today.

Once your request has been actioned either myself or a colleague will
respond to you.

I should be grateful if you would quote the above FOI Request No in all
future communications.

Yours sincerely

Wendy Twigge
Information Manager

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Dear Mr Rydell

Please find attached response to your FOI regarding retention of
personal data. I apologise for the delay in response and trust it
hasn't caused any inconvenience. I confirm I have also sent a copy of
the letter to Information Commissioners Office.

Andrea Glanville

Legal Services

Finance & Legal Services Portfolio

Liverpool City Council

Municipal Buildings

Dale Street

Liverpool

L2 2DH

Telephone 0151 225 2709

Fax: 0151 225 2392

email: [email address]

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Dear Andrea Glanville,

Thank you for your response.

I wish to submit a request for internal review as your reply
contradicts information I was supplied by Liverpool Direct Limited
prior to submitting my request.

I was told by an advisor at LDL that you PERMANENTLY retain
personal data including bank account details and related
information on benefit claimants once a claim has ceased.

As any tape recording of that call will show, I specifically
challenged the advisor about this pointing out that it was
inconsistent with the Data Protection Act and the advisor gave a
further example, citing Community Charge data which he said was
still being retained and that data predated the introduction of
Council tax.

So clearly, this is much longer than the six years you mention in
your response.

Therefore as you cannot both be correct, I do not consider you have
addressed the points raised in my original request particularly in
respect of the data I was told by a member of your staff you are
holding which predates 1993.

Please either supply a copy of the document which details your
retention policy for this type of data or confirm publicly that you
are not holding ANY data which predates the introduction of Council
Tax and that the oldest piece of personal data you are holding on
Council Tax and Housing Benefit ex-claimants is NO OLDER than six
years.

Yours sincerely,

George Rydell

Dear Mr Rydell,

I have noted your request and I have passed it to the relevant service
areas for comment.

Can you clarify your comment 'As any tape recording of that call will
show' are you making reference to the standard response given when
ringing Liverpool Direct which suggests that calls may be recorded for
training purposes, or can you clarify if you recorded the telephone
call. If it is the first option I would draw your attention to the word
'may' therefore your phone call may not have necessarily been recorded,
if however you have details of the call i.e. date and time name of
advisor or as much information as you can provide we can do a search to
identify if whether that call was in fact recorded.

Regards

Andrea Glanville
Legal Services
Finance & Legal Services Portfolio
Liverpool City Council
Municipal Buildings
Dale Street
Liverpool
L2 2DH
Telephone 0151 225 2709
Fax: 0151 225 2392
email: [email address]

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Dear Andrea Glanville,

By way of clarification, I can confirm that due to the nature of my
employment, my employer record all telephone calls both incoming
and outgoing made on either of my domestic telephone numbers. Those
calls are recorded for security purposes and I do not have any
access to the recordings.

My comment as originally phrased referred to the call as having
being recorded by LDL.

I note your comment about the use of the word 'may' and would
submit that I have previously been told by a senior official at LDL
that irrespective of the message you have quoted ALL calls are
recorded but when a person refers to a recording which is
contradictory or damaging to the interests of LDL or LCC, then
staff are instructed to explain that not all calls are recorded -
even though they are. However, I am not prepared to debate that
point further here.

The call in question was made to 0151 233 3009 shortly before 21.00
hrs on the 22nd September and the advisor gave his name as Daniel.

I hope that this will help you identify the recording in question.

Yours sincerely,

George Rydell

Dear Mr Rydell,

FOI REQUEST 42279

Many thanks for your recent communication requesting information under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000, dated 5.11.08, which was received in my
office on 6.11.08

Once your request has been actioned either myself or a colleague will
respond to you.

I should be grateful if you would quote the above FOI Request No in all
future communications.

Yours sincerely

Wendy Twigge
Information Manager

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Dear Mr Rydell

Please find attached response to your request.

Regards

Andrea Glanville

Legal Services

Finance & Legal Services Portfolio

Liverpool City Council

Municipal Buildings

Dale Street

Liverpool

L2 2DH

Telephone 0151 225 2709

Fax: 0151 225 2392

email: [email address]

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Dear Mr Rydell

Please find attached response to your request.

Regards

Andrea Glanville

Legal Services

Finance & Legal Services Portfolio

Liverpool City Council

Municipal Buildings

Dale Street

Liverpool

L2 2DH

Telephone 0151 225 2709

Fax: 0151 225 2392

email: [email address]

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Glanville, Andrea would like to recall the message, "FOI+Liverpool+Direct+Ltd+42279".

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Glanville, Andrea would like to recall the message, "FOI+Liverpool+Direct+Ltd+42279".

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