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Birmingham City Council External Bankruptcy Solicitors for Council Tax

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Dear Birmingham City Council,

External Bankruptcy Solicitors for Council Tax

Please provide the names and addresses of all external solicitors used to carry out bankruptcy work on behalf of your council in relation to council tax for domestic properties, both past and present.

If you use in-house solicitors to carry out this work please provide their names.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs. S Metcalfe

Benefit Service Policy, Birmingham City Council

1 Attachment

 

 

 

 

Hello

 

 

 

Thank you for your request for information held by the Council under the
provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This has been referred
to an appropriate officer within the Revenues and Benefits Service in
order to provide you with the requested data.

 

Your request

 

External Bankruptcy Solicitors for Council Tax

 

Please provide the names and addresses of all external solicitors used to
carry out bankruptcy work on behalf of your council in relation to council
tax for domestic properties, both past and present.

 

If you use in-house solicitors to carry out this work please provide their
names.

 

 

 

 

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, we
will let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.

 

If you require any further information or are not happy with our response
please do not hesitate to contact a member of our team via our mailbox
[1][email address]  quoting the reference number
above in any future communications.

 

 

 

Birmingham City Council have changed the way we communicate sensitive and
confidential information with you.  If the response to your FOI request
contains either sensitive or confidential information, we will send it by
Egress Switch. We have chosen to use Switch for data protection and to
ensure that when this information needs to be shared, it is done so
securely. Your replies to us through Switch will also be protected and you
can also initiate secure correspondence with us (and other paying
subscribers) free of charge.

 

The first time we send an email to you using Egress Switch, you will see
this  when you open the email

 

[2]cid:image004.jpg@01D1F873.0EDD32C0

Follow the instructions in order to access the email, or by log in with
your Switch ID and password if you already have one.

 

You can also refer to the ‘Egress Switch Recipient Guide’ (PDF at
[3]http://download.egress.com/docs/Switch_R...) for further
information.

 

For more information about Switch, please visit: [4]www.egress.com.

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Strategy Development Team

 

 

 

Data Protection Act 1998

The information you have provided within your Freedom of Information
request will be held on our database and may also be held within manual
records for a period of 2 years from the date Birmingham City Council
received your request. Any personal data that you provide to Birmingham
City Council will be held in line with the requirements set out within the
Data Protection Act 1998.

 

Re Use of Public Sector Information

Where Birmingham City Council is the copyright holder of any information
that may be released, re-use for personal, educational or non-commercial
purposes is permitted without further reference to the City Council. Where
the re-use is for other purposes, such as commercial re-use, the applicant
should notify the City Council in writing to seek approval or agree terms
for re-use.

 

 

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
3. http://download.egress.com/docs/Switch_R...
4. http://www.egress.com/

Benefit Service Policy, Birmingham City Council

Dear Mrs. S Metcalfe

 

Freedom of Information Act 2000 – Request for Information FOI 16436

 

 

I am responding to your request for information held by the Council under
the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

The original request:

 

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|External Bankruptcy Solicitors for Council Tax |
| |
|  |
| |
|Please provide the names and addresses of all external solicitors used |
|to carry out bankruptcy work on behalf of your council in relation to |
|council tax for domestic properties, both past and present. |
| |
|  |
| |
|If you use in-house solicitors to carry out this work please provide |
|their names. |
| |
|  |
| |
|Yours faithfully, |
| |
|  |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

This has been referred to an appropriate officer, who has provided the
following data in order to answer your enquiry.

 

The response:

 

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Birmingham City Council (the “Council”) employs in house solicitors to |
|carry out Bankruptcy work, and as such holds the information you seek. |
| |
|  |
| |
|The names of employees constitute personal data as defined in section 1 |
|of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) as it relates to an identifiable |
|individual. The Council has obligations to protect the personal |
|information of individuals under the DPA. This type of information is |
|exempt from disclosure by virtue of Section 40 in the Freedom of |
|Information Act (FOIA) which provides an exemption from the right to |
|know where the information requested is personal data. |
| |
|  |
| |
|Where a requester is asking for someone else’s personal data, in this |
|case the names of public authority employees, this is exempt under |
|Section 40(2) of the FOIA which states: |
| |
|  |
| |
|40 (2) Any information to which a request for information relates is |
|also exempt information if – |
| |
|  |
| |
|(a) it constitutes personal data which do not fall within subsection |
|(1), and |
| |
|(b) either the first or the second condition below is satisfied. |
| |
|  |
| |
|Having determined the requested information is personal data the Council|
|then considered whether any disclosure would breach any of the data |
|protection principles in respect of section 40(3)(a)(i) detailed below, |
| |
|  |
| |
|40 (3) The first condition is – |
| |
|  |
| |
|(a) in a case where the information falls within any of the paragraphs |
|(a) to (d) of the definition of “data” in section 1(1) of the Data |
|Protection Act 1998, that the disclosure of the information to a member |
|of the public otherwise than under this Act would contravene – |
| |
|  |
| |
|(i) any of the data protection principles |
| |
|  |
| |
|The first principle in the Data Protection Act 1998 states: |
| |
|  |
| |
|“1. Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully and, in |
|particular, shall not be processed unless – |
| |
|  |
| |
|(a) at least one of the conditions in Schedule 2 is met. |
| |
|  |
| |
|This means the Council has to consider whether it would be fair to |
|disclose the information to the public, especially in light of the fact |
|that the information is disclosed to the wider public not just to the |
|specific requester.  |
| |
|  |
| |
|In our view it would not be fair to disclose the personal data of in |
|house solicitors to a third party where employees do not reasonably |
|expect their information to be disclosed in this way. One of the |
|conditions for processing personal data in Schedule 2 is where the data |
|subject has given consent to the processing.  The employees in question |
|were consulted for a view and they refused consent.   Since the Council |
|does not have the consent of employees to release personal data, the |
|relevant condition in Schedule 2 cannot be met. |
| |
|  |
| |
|It is the Council’s conclusion therefore that disclosure of the |
|information in question risks the Council being in breach of the first |
|principle of the DPA. As a result the exemption provided by Section |
|40(2) and (3) of the Freedom of Information Act is engaged. |
| |
|  |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

 

If you are not satisfied with this response you may ask for an internal
review. Please contact the corporate team at the address below:

 

Performance & Information (WS)

PO Box 16366

Birmingham

B2 2YY

or

[1][email address]

 

If subsequently you are not satisfied with the Council’s decision you may
apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO
cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure
provided by the Council.

 

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at the following address:

 

The Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 01625 545745

Web Address: [2]www.ico.org.uk

 

Yours sincerely

 

Strategy Development Team

Tel: 0121 464 2152

 

 

Please respond to Benefit Service Policy, NOT to individuals

 

 

 

Data Protection Act 1998

The information you have provided within your Freedom of Information
request will be held on our database and may also be held within manual
records for a period of 2 years from the date Birmingham City Council
received your request. Any personal data that you provide to Birmingham
City Council will be held in line with the requirements set out within the
Data Protection Act 1998.

 

Re use of Public Sector Information

Where Birmingham City Council is the copyright holder of any information
that may be released, re-use for personal, educational or non-commercial
purposes is permitted without further reference to the City Council. Where
the re-use is for other purposes, such as commercial re-use, the applicant
should notify the City Council in writing to seek approval or agree terms
for re-use.

 

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

 

***********************************************************************

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cannot guarantee that this message or any attachment is virus free or has
not been intercepted and amended.

***********************************************************************

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.ico.gov.uk/

We don't know whether the most recent response to this request contains information or not – if you are Mrs. S Metcalfe please sign in and let everyone know.