Oxford City Council Purchases from HM Land Registry

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Dear Oxford City Council,

Hello, I would like to look at how Oxford City Council spends money on purchases from the Land Registry. Please can you provide me with the following information for all purchases of titles by Oxford City Council from the Land Registry since 1 January 2010:

o The Land Registry title purchased
o The date of the purchase
o The method of purchase (for example through the Portal system)
o The cost of the purchase
o The Oxford City Council department making the purchase

If you could provide me with this information in an Excel spreadsheet with separate worksheets for each year (ie 2010, 2011, 2012, etc), with each of the worksheets having the column headings "Title", "Purchase Date", "Purchase Method", "Cost", "Department", and sorted by title then purchase date, I would very much appreciate it, but if that is too much trouble the raw data will be fine.

Thank you very much for helping me with this request.

Yours faithfully,

James Allen

freedomofinformation, Oxford City Council

Dear Mr Allen,

Oxford City Council – Reference: 10088

Thank you for your email below. Your request was received on 29th April 2021 and you will be sent a response within 20 working days (of receipt) in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000/ Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), subject to the information not being exempt or containing reference to a third party.

The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) recognises the unprecedented challenges all are facing during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

In particular they understand that resources, whether they are finances or people, may be diverted away from usual compliance or information rights work. Whilst the ICO can’t extend statutory timescales, they will not be penalising public authorities for prioritising other areas or adapting their usual approach during this extraordinary period.

Therefore while the Council will make every effort to comply with the Statutory Requirements you may experience understandable delays when making information rights requests during the pandemic.

Yours sincerely

Kathryn Winfield
Information Governance Requests Officer

Kathryn Winfield | Information Governance Requests Officer | Oxford City Council | Law and Governance | St. Aldate's Chambers | Oxford | OX1 1DS | Email: [email address] | T: 01865 252007
My working days are Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays

Stop the virus from spreading. Keep Oxford safe.
Follow the guidance: Clean hands. Wear a face mask. Keep your distance. Get tested if you have symptoms.

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Dear freedomofinformation,

Could you tell me if you are still on target to respond to my FOI request within the statutory time period?

Yours sincerely,

James Allen

freedomofinformation, Oxford City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Allen,
 
Oxford City Council – Reference: 10088
 
Further to the acknowledgement below, I can respond to your Freedom of
Information Act 2000 request received on 29^th April 2021 as follows:
 
Officers request information through the  online portal system.   The
payments are made by direct debit.
 
Please see the attached spreadsheet,  this is the only information we
hold.
 
 
If you disagree with any part of the response to your request, you are
entitled to ask the Council for an internal review of the decision(s)
made.  You may do this by writing to the Monitoring Officer, by either
email – [1][email address] – or by post to Monitoring Officer, Oxford City
Council, St Aldate’s Chambers, St Aldate’s, Oxford, OX1 1DS.  After the
result of the internal review, if you remain dissatisfied, you may ask the
Information Commissioner to intervene on your behalf.  You may do this by
writing to the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Kathryn Winfield
Information Governance Requests Officer
 
Kathryn Winfield | Information Governance Requests Officer | Oxford City
Council | Law and Governance | St. Aldate's Chambers | Oxford | OX1 1DS |
Email: [2][email address] | T: 01865 252007
My working days are Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays
 
Stop the virus from spreading. Keep Oxford safe.
Follow the guidance: Clean hands. Wear a face mask. Keep your distance.
Get tested if you have symptoms.
 

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Dear freedomofinformation,

Hi Kathryn,

Thank you very much for the information that you have provided. Unfortunately, it does not include the title number(s) that the Council purchased. Also, there are no purchases included for April 2021. Could you please provide me with the puchase information that includes the title number(s) purchased and the purchases for April 2021? Thank you very much.

Yours sincerely,

James Allen

Dear Oxford City Council,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Oxford City Council's handling of my FOI request 'Oxford City Council Purchases from HM Land Registry'.

My request was for details of each title that has been purchased since 2010, with the results to specifically include the Land Registry title number, but this piece of information was not included in the results. Oxford City Council must know which title it is purchasing each time it makes a purchase otherwise we have no idea what the Council is spending our money on. This is the key piece of information that I was requesting so I would be grateful if the results could be provided with the title number of each purchase included as per my original request.

Also the results did not include the month of April 2021. I would be grateful if those purchases could be included (and May 2021 too, if possible).

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

Yours faithfully,

James Allen

Dear freedomofinformation,

Just to clarify, when I asked for the Land Registry title that was purchased I was referring to the Land Registry title number, not the details of the property to which the title refers.

I would be very grateful if you could provide me with the information that I requested.

Yours sincerely,

James Allen

Dear freedomofinformation,

It is now more than 20 working days since I requested an internal review.

Yours sincerely,

James Allen

GRIFFITHS Emma, Oxford City Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Allen,

I have been asked by the Council's Head of Law & Governance and Monitoring Officer, Susan Sale, to carry out an internal review in relation to your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI10088). I am sorry for the delay in dealing with the internal review.

You submitted a request for information on 29 April 2021 (FOI 10088):

"Hello, I would like to look at how Oxford City Council spends money on purchases from the Land Registry. Please can you provide me with the following information for all purchases of titles by Oxford City Council from the Land Registry since 1 January 2010:

The Land Registry title purchased
The date of the purchase
The method of purchase (for example through the Portal system)
The cost of the purchase
The Oxford City Council department making the purchase

If you could provide me with this information in an Excel spreadsheet with separate worksheets for each year (ie 2010, 2011, 2012, etc), with each of the worksheets having the column headings "Title", "Purchase Date", "Purchase Method", "Cost", "Department", and sorted by title then purchase date, I would very much appreciate it, but if that is too much trouble the raw data will be fine."

On 25 May 2021 my colleague Kathryn Winfield responded to your request for information as follows.

"Oxford City Council - Reference: 10088

Further to the acknowledgement below, I can respond to your Freedom of Information Act 2000 request received on 29th April 2021 as follows:

Officers request information through the online portal system. The payments are made by direct debit.

Please see the attached spreadsheet, this is the only information we hold. [Attached to this email]

If you disagree with any part of the response to your request, you are entitled to ask the Council for an internal review of the decision(s) made. You may do this by writing to the Monitoring Officer, by either email - [email address] - or by post to Monitoring Officer, Oxford City Council, St Aldate's Chambers, St Aldate's, Oxford, OX1 1DS. After the result of the internal review, if you remain dissatisfied, you may ask the Information Commissioner to intervene on your behalf. You may do this by writing to the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF."

On 27 June 2021 you wrote: "Just to clarify, when I asked for the Land Registry title that was purchased I was referring to the Land Registry title number, not the details of the property to which the title refers."

I have carried out a review of the way in which the Council responded to your request for information and can confirm that the Council does not hold any other information in relation to the title searches it has purchased from the Land Registry via its portal. The information that you were sent represents the record held of all official title searches that the Council made via the Land Registry Portal and the Council does not hold any other information in relation to your request.

I hope that this information is helpful.

If you are not satisfied with this response you may ask the Information Commissioner to intervene on your behalf. You may do this by writing to the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely,
Emma Griffiths
For and on behalf of Susan Sale, Head of Law & Governance and Monitoring Officer, Oxford City Council

Emma Griffiths | Lawyer | Law & Governance | Oxford City Council | St Aldate's Chambers | St Aldate's | Oxford OX1 1DS | DX 4309 Oxford 1 | 01865 252208 (POST POINT SAC 3.8)

Service of documents by email is accepted at [email address] only. The subject header must be marked 'SERVICE'. Service by fax is not accepted.

Stop the virus from spreading. Keep Oxford safe.
Follow the guidance: Clean hands. Wear a face mask. Keep your distance. Get tested if you have symptoms.

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