Council Income, from summons and liability orders.

The request was successful.

Dear Stockport Borough Council,
Would you please forward the following information:
The number of Summons and liability orders issued regarding Council Tax arrears for the period 1993 to date and the total amount collected thereby. The list should contain year by year totals.

Yours faithfully,

Derek Buxton,

FOI Officer, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Mr Buxton,

 

Thank you for your request for information below which has been given
reference FOI 4924. Please quote this on any correspondence regarding your
request.

 

Stockport Council will respond to your request within 20 working days. If
there will be a charge for disbursements e.g. photocopying in order to
provide the information, we will inform you as soon as possible to see if
you wish to proceed; however such charges are usually waived if they
amount to less than £10.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Corporate Information Services

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

 

show quoted sections

FOI Officer, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Mr Buxton,

 

I am writing regarding your request for information below (Ref 4924).

 

Please can you clarify your request? Both questions ask for year by year
totals:

 

1. The number of Summons and liability orders issued regarding Council Tax
arrears for the period 1993 to date

 

As yearly figures are requested, is this a request for figures for
Summonses and Liability Orders which relate to that financial year; or is
it a request for figures for Summonses and Liability Orders issued in that
year which relate to any year?

 

2. the total amount collected thereby.

 

Please clarify what you mean by this question; we cannot answer this
without it being much more specific.

 

Once we receive this clarification, we will respond within 20 working
days.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Corporate Information Services

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

 

show quoted sections

Dear FOI Officer,
To clarify, I would like the numbers for each of the years from 1993 to date, ie the figures for 1993; 1994; 1995 and on to date.

Yours sincerely,

Derek Buxton

FOI Officer, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Mr Buxton,

 

Thank you for your email; however unfortunately this has not provided the
requested clarification.

 

Please can you clarify if you are asking for numbers from each year which
relates to that year, or numbers from each year which relate to any year,
as per our previous email? A Summons or Liability Order could be issued in
2010 but relate to a debt from 2009; or it could be issued in 2010 and
relate to 2010. Please clarify if you want numbers of Liability Orders and
Summonses issued per year which relate to that financial year or if you
want numbers of Liability Orders and Summonses issued per year which
relate to any year.

 

Please also clarify your second question as requested in our previous
email.

Yours sincerely,  

 

Corporate Information Services

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

 

show quoted sections

Dear FOI Officer,
The figures should relate to each financial year.

Yours sincerely,

Derek Buxton

FOI Officer, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Mr Buxton,

 

Your email below does not provide the clarification we have requested;
therefore:

 

·         Question 1: We will work on the basis that the request is for
Summonses and Liability Orders issued in the year that relate to that
financial year only.

 

·         Question 2: This could be interpreted in a variety of different
ways, for example:

 

o    As the question is asking for information year-by-year and refers to
the issue of specific recovery documents, is the ‘total amount collected
thereby’ directly related to those or as a result of all methods of
recovery?

o    At what date is the ‘total amount collected thereby’ to be reported
on – immediately following the issue of the documents? at the end of the
year? As at now?

 

Without clear and specific instructions defining what this aspect of your
request relates to, as per our previous emails to you requesting
clarification, we cannot answer this question.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Corporate Information Services

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

 

show quoted sections

Alan Maxted left an annotation ()

"Filibuster" comes to my mind

Dear FOI Officer,
I wish to know the number of Sumonses and Liability Orders issued each year together with the charges made for those items.
Yours sincerely,

Derek Buxton

Dear FOI Officer,
To make it simple, I wish to know the number of Sumonsses and Liability orders issued in each of the years to date, together with the charges levied.
Yours sincerely,

Derek Buxton

Sheila Oliver (Account suspended) left an annotation ()

Mr Buxton

I know Peter Devine reporter at the Manchester Evening News is very interested in this issue. You might like to contact him.

Good luck with trying to get a reply from SMBC. Watch out for a vexatious label flying out to hit you and damaging your reputation.

Kind regards

Sheila

Derek Buxton left an annotation ()

Sheila Oliver,
Thank you for that and the name provided. I expect problems, others in various parts of the Country have met with the same response.

Derek

Dear FOI Officer,
My e-mails are perfectly clear, especially as by now you know the purpose of this. Please supply the information ASAP. Or are you refusing to let out this information? There seems to be a disconnect somewhere here, a law has been put in place to enable information to be garnered by the public, who do when all is said and done pay for it. It seems however that you consider that you are the masters and can do as you like, why is that?

Yours sincerely,

Derek Buxton

FOI Officer, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

Dear Mr Buxton,

 

I am writing in response to your email below.

 

The purpose of this email is unclear – you emailed us with clarification
on 4^th November and following receipt of this, we are progressing with
your request. You sent an almost identical email on 5^th November and we
have now received the email from you below. For the avoidance of doubt, we
are using the clarification you provided on 4^th November and will be
responding to your request in due course. The Council has not indicated to
you that it will not provide this information or respond to your clarified
request.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Corporate Information Services

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

 

show quoted sections

FOI Officer, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Buxton,

 

I am writing in response to your clarified request for information below
(Ref 4924).

The response to your request has been prepared by the relevant Council
service and is attached.

 

If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your request for
information, you are entitled to ask for an internal review; however you
must do so within 40 working days of the date of this response. Any
internal review will be carried out by a senior member of staff who was
not involved with your original request. To ask for an internal review,
contact [1][email address] in the first instance.

 

If you are unhappy with the outcome of any internal review, you are
entitled to complain to the Information Commissioner. To do so, contact:

 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

[2]www.ico.gov.uk

 

01625 545 745

 

Yours sincerely,

 

Corporate Information Services

Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council

 

show quoted sections

Dear FOI Officer,
Thank you very much for the information.

Yours sincerely,

Derek Buxton

George Cant left an annotation ()

Hi there

I have been researing these figures from councils for a few years. It seems a lot of councils increased the ammount of liability orders aroujd the same time ( 2004 > ). The other interesting figures to know along side these are
0. the amount of bills sent per year
1. The suscsefull collection rates each year ( % )
2. The ammount of accounts sent to baillifs py
3. total ammount collected by baillifs. py

My research has pointed me to an astonishing finding.

A few councils seem to have increased the ammount of liability orders they were getting to falsely inflate the collection rates. Its abit hard to explain but if you read this, you may have an understanding.

http://www.crazycouncil.co.uk/council-ta...

http://www.crazycouncil.co.uk/council-tax

regards george