August FOI Requests

The request was refused by Carmarthenshire County Council.

Dear Carmarthenshire Council,

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000.

In accordance with the provisions specified within the above Act I hereby request the following information.
All information requested relates to Business Rates.
This request for information falls within the parameters of the Act but if you require clarification on any of the points above or should you wish to discuss this further then please do not hesitate to contact me.
Required Information;- A list of all live business rates accounts with a 2017 list Rateable Value.
• Property Reference Number (also known as Billing Authority Reference Number) of the property on which the charge is made. Please note that this is not the Rate Demand or Rate Account Number.
• Current rateable value
• Account holder name
• Property address
• The billing address (where different to the property address), the contact telephone number and email address
• The date the current ratepayer became liable for the business rates – we do not require any historical account liability dates only the current ratepayers liability start date
• whether a property is empty or occupied
• Where a property is currently empty please provide the date the ratepayer became liable for empty rates
• Where there is an exemption on the account please provide the start and end date and type of exemption applied (e.g. listed building)
• Where there is a relief on the account please provide the date it was applied and the type of relief (e.g. Retail Discount)
• We do not require any personal information or sole traders.
Please provide the information in an electronic, spreadsheet format ideally excel. The Act requires that a response be provided within a period of 20 working days from the date hereof.

Yours faithfully,

Richard roberts

FOIA, Carmarthenshire County Council

Diolch am eich gohebiaeth.

Os ydych yn gwneud cais am wybodaeth, bydd y cyfnodau isod yn berthnasol:

Deddf Rhyddid Gwybodaeth 2000 (DRhG) a’r Rheoliadau Gwybodaeth
Amgylcheddol 2004 (RhGA) - 20 diwrnod gwaith, oni bai bod angen eglurhad
arnom ynghylch y wybodaeth yr ydych yn gofyn amdano. 

O ganlyniad i’r sefyllfa bresennol gyda'r firws COVID-19 a'r effaith ar
rai o wasanaethau'r Cyngor, gall fod angen i flaenoriaethu ceisiadau DRhG
a RhGA, yn dibynnu ar y wybodaeth y gofynnir amdani. Ymddiheurwn am hyn.

Deddf Diogelu Data 2018 a’r GDPR (ceisiadau am ddata personol) – un mis ar
ôl derbyn y cais.

Os bydd angen eglurhad arnom ar unrhyw agwedd o’ch cais, byddwn yn
cysylltu â chi mor gynted ag y bo modd.

 

 

Tîm Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin

 

show quoted sections

FOIA, Carmarthenshire County Council

1 Attachment

Dear Mr. Roberts

 

I refer to your request for information, which was received on 11^th
August, 2020 and has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act
2000.

 

The specific information you requested was as follows:

 

Required Information;- A list of all live business rates accounts with a
2017 list Rateable Value.

•Property Reference Number (also known as Billing Authority Reference
Number) of the property on which the charge is made. Please note that this
is not the Rate Demand or Rate Account Number.

•Current rateable value

•Account holder name

•Property address

•The billing address (where different to the property address), the
contact telephone number and email address •The date the current ratepayer
became liable for the business rates – we do not require any historical
account liability dates only the current ratepayers liability start date
•whether a property is empty or occupied •Where a property is currently
empty please provide the date the ratepayer became liable for empty rates
•Where there is an exemption on the account please provide the start and
end date and type of exemption applied (e.g. listed building) •Where there
is a relief on the account please provide the date it was applied and the
type of relief (e.g. Retail Discount) •We do not require any personal
information or sole traders

 

The Council does hold the information you have requested.  However, after
giving your request careful consideration we are of the view that the
information should be withheld from disclosure.  Our reasons are set out
below.

 

1. Section 21 of the FOIA

 

The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) is required to publish certain
information regarding Business Rates valuations and does so via its
website, providing a tool which allows any member of the public to search
for properties by town or postcode and so forth.  This search tool
provides the address of the property, a description of the premises, the
local authority reference number, its rateable value as well as how this
was calculated.

 

This information can be found online here:

 

[1]https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/business-...

 

In view of the above, we consider that we are not obliged to comply with
the parts of your request which ask for this information as it is already
reasonably accessible to you via this website and search tool.

 

2. Section 41 of the FOIA

 

The information, which is not published by the VOA, is exempt from
disclosure under the FOIA on the basis of the exemption found in Section
41 of the 2000 Act.

 

The grounds for applying this exemption in relation to Business Rates
information is set out in detail in a First Tier Tribunal case
(EA/2018/0033). Briefly, Judge Buckley determined that disclosing this
information would constitute an actionable breach of confidence, and we
would therefore refer you to this decision and in particular, paragraphs
151 to 161:

 

[2]http://informationrights.decisions.tribu...

 

As I am in effect refusing to provide some of the requested information on
the basis that it is already published, please consider this email to be a
formal notice of refusal as required by Section 16 of the FOIA.

 

This email also constitutes a refusal notice under Section 17 of the FOIA
in relation to the other information we are withholding from disclosure.

 

3. Your right of appeal

 

If you are unhappy with the way in which your request has been handled,
you can request a review by writing to:

 

The Head of Administration & Law

Carmarthenshire County Council

County Hall

Carmarthen

SA31 1JP

 

Email: [3][email address]

 

If you remain unhappy with the handling of your request or complaint, you
have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

 

The Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 0303 123 1113

Website: [4]www.ico.gov.uk

 

There is no charge for making an appeal.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

 

Julie John

Information Officer

ICT & Corporate Property/ TG a Pholisi Corfforaethol

Chief Executive’s Department/Adran Y Prif Weithredwr

Carmarthenshire County Council/Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin

 

Allanol/External (01267) 224498

Mewnol/Internal: 4498

 

[5]signature_1228683212

 

 

References

Visible links
1. https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/business-...
2. http://informationrights.decisions.tribu...
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.ico.gov.uk/