Business Rate Relief to Language Schools- COVID 19

The request was successful.

Dear Lewes District Council,

1) Did the council provide Business Rate Relief due to coronavirus COVID (19) to any English Language Schools?
2) If any relief was provided, how many language schools was the relief provided to?
3) If relief was provided, what rationale was used to provide the relief to award the relief to the Language Schools?
4) If relief was provided, the minutes of any meetings held where the decision was made, or any correspondence or evidence used to make the decision?

Yours faithfully,

G Vahi

foi, Lewes District Council

Thank you for your information request received today.

 

I am currently reviewing your request and investigating whether there is
any information available for disclosure.  The Council, in accordance with
Section 10 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’), will reply
to your request promptly and in any event not later than the twentieth
working day following the date of receipt. Subject Access Requests will be
responded to within one calendar month in line with the GDPR (General Data
Protection Regulation).

 

In accordance with section 8(1)(b) of the Act and related guidance from
the Information Commissioner’s Office, the Council reserves the right to
treat any request for information as invalid unless the requester supplies
their real name.  In such cases, the Council may request proof of
identity.

 

Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council are data controllers
and need to collect your personal data in order to respond to your request
for information or subject access request. To read our full privacy notice
for Access to Information please visit: [1]Privacy Notice for Access to
Information

 

 

Please contact me again if you require any assistance with your request
and I will do my best to provide the relevant help and advice.

 

Kind Regards

 

 

Information Governance Officer

Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

References

Visible links
1. https://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/_res...

Access to Information, Lewes District Council

1 Attachment

Dear G Vahi,

 

Information Request:  FOI 122211

 

Thank you for your information request dated 12 October 2020 received in
our office on the same day.

 

1) Did the council provide Business Rate Relief due to coronavirus COVID
(19) to any English Language Schools?

2) If any relief was provided, how many language schools was the relief
provided to?

3) If relief was provided, what rationale was used to provide the relief
to award the relief to the Language Schools?

4) If relief was provided, the minutes of any meetings held where the
decision was made, or any correspondence or evidence used to make the
decision?

 

 

I have reviewed your request and investigated whether there is any
information which can be disclosed to you.  Please find below the
information the council holds, and which I am pleased to provide to you.

 

Lewes District Council has not provided Business Rate Relief, due to Covid
19, to any English Language Schools.

 

I trust that this deals with your enquiry to your satisfaction, but if you
feel that Lewes District Council has misunderstood or not responded
appropriately to your request, you have two courses of action:

 

o You can clarify the terms of your original request to allow this to be
looked at again  (if you expand your request this will be dealt with
as a new request)
o All applicants have a 'right of appeal'.  An appeal should be focused
on the original request and should identify how the council’s response
failed to answer your Information Request.  Appeals must be made in
writing (or e-mail) within 40 working days of receipt of this response
and addressed to the Information Governance Appeals Officer, to the
address below. 

 

Information Governance Appeals Officer

Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

1 Grove Road

EASTBOURNE

BN21 4TW     

                                  

E-mail  : [1][email address]

 

After the council’s internal appeals procedure has been exhausted, a
further appeal about the same Information Request can be directed to the
Information Commissioner for adjudication.  Full details will be provided
should an appeal proceed to this stage.

 

Please note:

If you are considering re-using the information disclosed to you through
this request, for any purpose outside of what could be considered for
personal use, you are required under the Public Sector Re-use of
Information Regulations 2015 to make an Application for Re-use to the
organisation you have requested the information from.  Applications for
Re-Use should be directed to the address detailed in the footer below.

 

Please contact me again, quoting your reference number, if you require any
further assistance with your current request and I will do my best to
provide the relevant help and advice.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Regards,

Kevin Rance
Information Governance Officer

Tel: +44(0)1273 471600

[2][email address]

Lewes and Eastbourne Legal Services acting on behalf of Lewes District
Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

 

Lewes District Council: Southover House, Southover Road, Lewes BN7 1AB 
[3]www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk. Minicom 01273 484488

Eastbourne Borough Council: 1 Grove Road, Eastbourne BN21 4TW 
[4]www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk. Text Relay 18001 01323 410000

 

[5]cid:image003.jpg@01D1E9A6.A42E8490

Save a tree… please do not print this email unless you really need to

This email is confidential and for the exclusive use of the above named
addressee(s) or an authorised agent. If you are not the intended
recipient(s), you are prohibited from copying, distributing,
disseminating, or in any other way using the content of this email. If you
have received this email in error, please contact the sender using the
contact details given above.

All our Network computers operate virus-scanning but we make no guarantee
that any attachment to this email is free from computer viruses. You are
advised to check all attachments using your own virus-scanning software
before opening or executing them.

All written communications sent by and to Eastbourne Borough Council are
subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. You should therefore be
aware that this email or the information contained in it may be disclosed
without notice to a third party making a request for information about the
subject matter of this email.

 

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/
4. http://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/

Dear Lewes District Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Lewes District Council's handling of my FOI request 'Business Rate Relief to Language Schools- COVID 19'.

I am aware the following English Language School has been awarded the Extended Retail relief but the council has mentioned on the FOI request that no relief was provided to any English Language School.
Didac School Eastbourne
16 Trinity Trees
Eastbourne
East Sussex
BN21 3LE
UNITED KINGDOM

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/b...

Yours faithfully,

G Vahi

foi, Lewes District Council

Thank you for your information request received today.

 

I am currently reviewing your request and investigating whether there is
any information available for disclosure.  The Council, in accordance with
Section 10 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’), will reply
to your request promptly and in any event not later than the twentieth
working day following the date of receipt. Subject Access Requests will be
responded to within one calendar month in line with the GDPR (General Data
Protection Regulation).

 

In accordance with section 8(1)(b) of the Act and related guidance from
the Information Commissioner’s Office, the Council reserves the right to
treat any request for information as invalid unless the requester supplies
their real name.  In such cases, the Council may request proof of
identity.

 

Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council are data controllers
and need to collect your personal data in order to respond to your request
for information or subject access request. To read our full privacy notice
for Access to Information please visit: [1]Privacy Notice for Access to
Information

 

 

Please contact me again if you require any assistance with your request
and I will do my best to provide the relevant help and advice.

 

Kind Regards

 

 

Information Governance Officer

Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

References

Visible links
1. https://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/_res...

foi, Lewes District Council

Dear G Vahi,

Thank you for your follow up email to your FOI request FOI 12211 and your request for an internal review.

However I am not going to proceed with your request for an appeal.

Your initial request was addressed to Lewes District Council and the nil response given is an accurate reflection of the situation.

In your request for an appeal you have cited an English Language School in Eastbourne which comes under the jurisdiction of Eastbourne Borough Council.

Therefore I have instead created a new FOI request on your behalf (EFOI 12270), using the questions in your original email, and will respond within twenty working days in relation to businesses which fall under EBC.

For future reference the two councils are separate entities with separate FOI email addresses although requests for information can be sent to either as long as it is clear from which council (or both) the information is being requested.

Regards,
Kevin Rance
Information Governance Officer
Tel: +44(0)1273 471600
[email address]
Lewes and Eastbourne Legal Services acting on behalf of Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

Lewes District Council: Southover House, Southover Road, Lewes BN7 1AB  www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk. Minicom 01273 484488
Eastbourne Borough Council: 1 Grove Road, Eastbourne BN21 4TW  www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk. Text Relay 18001 01323 410000


Save a tree… please do not print this email unless you really need to
This email is confidential and for the exclusive use of the above named addressee(s) or an authorised agent. If you are not the intended recipient(s), you are prohibited from copying, distributing, disseminating, or in any other way using the content of this email. If you have received this email in error, please contact the sender using the contact details given above.
All our Network computers operate virus-scanning but we make no guarantee that any attachment to this email is free from computer viruses. You are advised to check all attachments using your own virus-scanning software before opening or executing them.
All written communications sent by and to Eastbourne Borough Council are subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. You should therefore be aware that this email or the information contained in it may be disclosed without notice to a third party making a request for information about the subject matter of this email.

show quoted sections

Access to Information, Lewes District Council

1 Attachment

Dear G Vahi,

 

Information Request:  EFOI 12270

 

Thank you for your information request dated 19 October 2020.

 

I have reviewed your request and investigated whether there is any
information which can be disclosed to you.  Please find below the
information the council holds, and which I am pleased to provide to you.

 

1)    Did the council provide Business Rate Relief due to coronavirus
COVID (19) to any English Language Schools?

Yes

2)    If any relief was provided, how many language schools was the relief
provided to?

Four

3)    If relief was provided, what rationale was used to provide the
relief to award the relief to the Language Schools?

The issue was raised by one school that they should be treated as
hospitality since teaching English was only a part of their business model
which also included providing a holiday experience. Based on this each
school was looked at on merit and where they were found to be operating
with the same business model the discount applied.

4)    If relief was provided, the minutes of any meetings held where the
decision was made, or any correspondence or evidence used to make the
decision?

There were no meetings to discuss this so no minutes are available.

 

 

I trust that this deals with your enquiry to your satisfaction, but if you
feel that Eastbourne Borough Council has misunderstood or not responded
appropriately to your request, you have two courses of action:

 

o You can clarify the terms of your original request to allow this to be
looked at again  (if you expand your request this will be dealt with
as a new request)
o All applicants have a 'right of appeal'.  An appeal should be focused
on the original request and should identify how the council’s response
failed to answer your Information Request.  Appeals must be made in
writing (or e-mail) within 40 working days of receipt of this response
and addressed to the Information Governance Appeals Officer, to the
address below. 

 

Information Governance Appeals Officer

Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

1 Grove Road

EASTBOURNE

BN21 4TW     

                                  

E-mail  : [1][email address]

 

After the council’s internal appeals procedure has been exhausted, a
further appeal about the same Information Request can be directed to the
Information Commissioner for adjudication.  Full details will be provided
should an appeal proceed to this stage.

 

Please note:

If you are considering re-using the information disclosed to you through
this request, for any purpose outside of what could be considered for
personal use, you are required under the Public Sector Re-use of
Information Regulations 2015 to make an Application for Re-use to the
organisation you have requested the information from.  Applications for
Re-Use should be directed to the address detailed in the footer below.

 

Please contact me again, quoting your reference number, if you require any
further assistance with your current request and I will do my best to
provide the relevant help and advice.

 

 

Regards,

Kevin Rance
Information Governance Officer

Tel: +44(0)1273 471600

[2][email address]

Lewes and Eastbourne Legal Services acting on behalf of Lewes District
Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

 

Lewes District Council: Southover House, Southover Road, Lewes BN7 1AB 
[3]www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk. Minicom 01273 484488

Eastbourne Borough Council: 1 Grove Road, Eastbourne BN21 4TW 
[4]www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk. Text Relay 18001 01323 410000

 

[5]cid:image003.jpg@01D1E9A6.A42E8490

Save a tree… please do not print this email unless you really need to

This email is confidential and for the exclusive use of the above named
addressee(s) or an authorised agent. If you are not the intended
recipient(s), you are prohibited from copying, distributing,
disseminating, or in any other way using the content of this email. If you
have received this email in error, please contact the sender using the
contact details given above.

All our Network computers operate virus-scanning but we make no guarantee
that any attachment to this email is free from computer viruses. You are
advised to check all attachments using your own virus-scanning software
before opening or executing them.

All written communications sent by and to Eastbourne Borough Council are
subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. You should therefore be
aware that this email or the information contained in it may be disclosed
without notice to a third party making a request for information about the
subject matter of this email.

 

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/
4. http://www.lewes-eastbourne.gov.uk/