Business Rates Assessments and Reliefs

The request was successful.

Dear Leeds City Council,

I understand that your council regularly publishes information on business/non-domestic rated properties, However recent datasets do not confirm whether properties in your area are subject to Retail Relief/Discount or Small Business Rate Relief.
We therefore request a list detailing all current Rateable Value assessments and which accounts are, and which are not, subject to some form rate relief (eg. Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR), charitable, empty relief, retail relief). Please include the following columns insofar as possible.
• Full Postal Address
• Rating Description (e.g. offices, workshop etc.)
• Correspondence Address (if different from Full Postal Address)
• Account Name
• Account No./Ref.
• Property Ref
• RV 2017
• RV 2010
• SBRR (discount, not multiplier) – yes or no
• Retail Relief/Discount – yes or no
• Vacant – yes or no
• Other relief (e.g. charity, hardship, rural, community & amateur sports clubs etc.) – yes or no
• Current liability start date

Yours faithfully,

Tom Snowdon

DPFOI, Leeds City Council

Thank you for contacting the Leeds City Council Information Management &
Governance Requests team. We confirm that we have received your
correspondence.
 
If you have submitted a Freedom of Information or Environmental
Information Regulation request- we will respond to your request in
accordance with the appropriate legislation within 20 working days. While
you wait, you may wish to check information published by the Council on
the [1]Data Mill North to see if the information you have requested is
already available.
 
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with the GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. Please note in order to
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o Council Tax bill
o Utility bill 

If we require further information from you before we are able to process
your request we will contact you directly to request this.  If you would
like more information on how Leeds City Council process these types of
requests, information is available on our [2]website

 

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Yours sincerely
 
Information Management & Governance – Requests Team

 

 

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References

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1. https://datamillnorth.org/
2. https://www.leeds.gov.uk/opendata/your-r...
3. https://www.leeds.gov.uk/privacy-and-dat...

IMG.Requests, Leeds City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Tom Snowdon,

Freedom of Information Request (Ref: 231426)

I refer to the above and your request dated 19 September 2019. I have
contacted the relevant services and now provide a response to your request
relating to Business Rates Reliefs.

I understand that your council regularly publishes information on
business/non-domestic rated properties, However recent datasets do not
confirm whether properties in your area are subject to Retail
Relief/Discount or Small Business Rate Relief.

We therefore request a list detailing all current Rateable Value
assessments and which accounts are, and which are not, subject to some
form rate relief (eg. Small Business Rate Relief (SBRR), charitable, empty
relief, retail relief). Please include the following columns insofar as
possible.

 

• Full Postal Address

Please see Data attached. Where the ratepayer is an individual has been
exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 (the FOIA) together with the condition in section 40(3)(a)(i). 
This provides an absolute exemption if disclosure of the personal data
would breach any of the data protection principles.

 

• Rating Description (e.g. offices, workshop etc.)

This information is available to view on the data attached.

 

• Correspondence Address (if different from Full Postal Address)

I am of the view that the information you asked for regarding current
contracts with Leeds City Council and bailiff companies is commercially
sensitive exempt from release under Section 43 (Commercial Interests) of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.  By releasing this Information we
could provide prospective competitors with an unfair advantage in any
future tendering process, and subsequently prejudice the commercial
interests of the authority.

 

The details held within the contract provide specific details regarding
costs that the providers have supplied. This could potentially prejudice
the commercial interests of the provider.  Whilst there is a clear public
interest in the accountability and scrutiny of how public money is spent,
the Council does not consider there to be a strong public interest in
releasing the details contained within the contract as there is a
significant risk that this could prejudice the service and/or have
financial implications to the company providing the contract.

 

• Account Name • Account No./Ref.

We have determined that the information you have requested is exempt under
Section 31(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 which says that
information may be withheld if the public authority deems that its
disclosure would, or be likely to, prejudice the prevention or detection
of crime. Leeds City Council believes that disclosing this data would
release detailed information could lead to a cyber-attack, which are an
ever increasing threat to public authorities, thus prejudicing the
prevention of crime. Releasing this information would also allow potential
attackers to determine the most successful forms of attack as well as
allow attackers to determine whether their attacks were detected.

 

As the exemption is subject to the public interest test we have considered
this accordingly. Whilst we recognise there is significant interest in
this information, we consider that the public interest in maintaining the
above exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure. The Council
believes that in this case the greater public interest lies in withholding
the information in order to protect the integrity of the Council’s IT
infrastructure.

 

• Property Ref

Please see data attached

 

• RV 2017

Please see data attached.

 

• RV 2010- 2010 Rateable Value

Under Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, we are not
required to provide information in response to a request for information
if it is already reasonably accessible to you, the information you have
requested is available on the Leeds Data Mill via the following link:
[1]https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/business-...

 

• SBRR (discount, not multiplier) – yes or no • Retail Relief/Discount –
yes or no • Vacant – yes or no • Other relief (e.g. charity, hardship,
rural, community & amateur sports clubs etc.) – yes or no • Current
liability start date

Please see data attached.

I trust that this response is satisfactory. If however you are
dissatisfied with this response you have a right to appeal to an
independent officer within the council. They will re-examine your request
and assess whether we have adhered to the requirements of the act. Should
you wish to follow this course of action please address your concerns in
writing to the above address.

 

You also have a right under Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act
to ask the Information Commissioner to decide whether we have met with our
obligations under the act.  The Commissioner has however made it clear
that she expects all applicants to exhaust internal appeals procedures
prior to making such an application. Should you wish to contact the
Commissioner’s office then you can write to the following address:

Office of the Information Commissioner, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

You may also contact the Commissioner via her website at www.ico.org.uk

 

I trust that this is self-explanatory.  If you have any queries please
contact me using the contact information above.

 

 

Kind regards,

 

Rizwana Parvin

Information Governance Officer

Requests Team

Information Management and Governance

Digital and Information Services

Leeds City Council

 

0113 378 4251

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References

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1. https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/business-...
2. file:///tmp/www.leeds.gov.uk/climateconversation