Dear Ms Ahmed,
 
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 (FOIA) - INFORMATION REQUEST
 
The City of London (CoL) acknowledges receipt of your request for
information of 19 December 2014, as attached:
Public authorities are required to respond to requests within the
statutory timescale of 20 working days beginning from the first working
day after they receive a request. The Act does not always require public
authorities to disclose the information which they hold.
 
The FOIA applies to the CoL as a local authority, police authority and
port health authority. The CoL is the local and police authority for the
“Square Mile”, ie the historic City of London, and not for London as a
whole. Please see the following link to a map on the CoL's website, which
shows the area covered:
[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/maps/Pages/explore-the-city.aspx.
The CoL does have some functions, including Port Health Authority
functions, which extend beyond the City boundary. For further information
please see: [2]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Information Officer
Town Clerk’s Department
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
[3]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
 
 
 
 

References

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1. http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/maps/Page...
2. http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/
3. http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/

Dear Ms Ahmed,

I write further to your request for information on 19^th December 2014 and
the City’s reply of the same date.

In your request you asked for:

“a) List all non-domestic properties and their addresses

(b) The names and addresses of the Rate payers referred to above for each
property and their correspondence address (if different from the property
address)

(c) The billing authority reference for each property

(e) The date the rateable occupier first became liable for the business
rates”

The City of London responds as follows:

This response acts as a partial refusal notice under Section 17 of the
Freedom of Information Act.

Regarding parts (a), (c), and (e) of your request, attached is a list of
all properties subject to business rates within the City. It has been
extracted from the City’s records in January 2015 but may not reflect the
most recent amendments made by the Valuation Officer in December 2014. It
contains the information requested in (a) (c) and (e) above as well as the
rateable value and description of each property. The date the ratepayer is
shown to have become liable is the date the current rate account was
opened and generally this will be the same as the actual liability date.
However, in some cases a new account might have been opened even though
the ratepayer did not change, such as following a split or merger of
assessments. It is not possible to verify every date individually.

There is an exemption under Section 31(1)(a) of the Freedom of Information
Act (FOIA) which we consider applies to the remainder of your request,
part (b) the names and addresses of ratepayers and their correspondence
addresses. This section provides that information is exempt from
disclosure if such disclosure would prejudice the “prevention or detection
of crime”.  We consider that circumstances are such in the City that the
disclosure of the names of ratepayers puts their properties at risk from
crime.

We now consider that circumstances are such in the City that the names of
ratepayers are in the current circumstances exempt from disclosure under
Section 31(1)(a). This exemption is subject to the public interest test.
We believe that, particularly bearing in mind the protests in the City and
surrounding areas in recent years, there is a strong public interest in
protecting all property from unlawful occupation or damage. Non disclosure
would not prevent the protestors from exercising their right to protest
lawfully.

Although the campsite at St Paul’s Cathedral was removed, the threat to
buildings in the City remains. The evidence is that illegal occupation has
happened and that more action has been considered. If there were to come
to light after an event evidence that information from rating records had
been used, it would be too late to retrieve the situation. We have a
responsibility, acting reasonably, to consider the disclosure of ratepayer
information within this context.

There is also an exemption under section 31(1)(d) of the FOIA which we
believe applies to this request. This section provides that information is
exempt from disclosure if such disclosure would prejudice the assessment
or collection of any tax or duty.

If information regarding ratepayers of commercial properties were to be
disclosed, it is entirely possible that a criminal act or acts might
follow. In the event it is likely that the assessment or collection of any
tax or duty in the guise of non-domestic rates could be prejudiced.
Occupation of commercial premises that may well follow from the
information being released is likely to prejudicially affect the
collection of both unoccupied and occupied non-domestic rates for the
subject premises. While there is a public interest in making available
public sector information, whether to allow that information to be
exploited commercially by the public or to promote the transparency and
accountability of public bodies, in this case the public interest weighs
against disclosure as there is a strong public interest in ensuring the
most efficient and effective collection of local taxes which are directed
to supporting local public services in a difficult economic environment
where available public sector funds are much reduced.

Finally, I should mention that a public authority is compelled under the
FOIA to consider any disclosure made under the Act as a disclosure to the
world. The Information Tribunal has stated that “Disclosure under [the]
FOIA is effectively an unlimited disclosure to the public as a whole,
without conditions” (Information Tribunal Appeal Decision EA/2006/0011 &
0013 of 8 Jan 2007). This has also been referred to by the Information
Commissioner (eg Information Commissioner's Decision Notice FS 50294078 of
28 April 2010). Therefore I would have to consider any disclosure to you
as being a disclosure to the public as a whole.

If you wish to make a complaint about the way the CoL has managed your
enquiry under the FOIA, please make your complaint in writing to email
address: [1][email address]. For a link to the CoL’s FOI
complaints procedure, please visit the following page:
[2]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Feedback, at the end of which is located the
FOI complaints procedure. If, having used the CoL’s FOI Complaints
Procedure, you are still dissatisfied, you may request the Information
Commissioner to investigate. Please contact: Information Commissioner,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF. Tel: (01625)
545700. Website: [3]http://www.ico.org.uk/

The FOIA applies to the City of London as a local authority, police
authority and port health authority.

The City of London holds the copyright in this email. The supply of it
does not give a right to re-use it in a way that would infringe that
copyright, for example, by making copies, publishing and issuing copies to
the public or to any other person. Brief extracts of any of the material
may be reproduced under the fair dealing provisions of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988 (sections 29 and 30) for the purposes of
research for non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and
news reporting, subject to an acknowledgement of the copyright owner.

Yours sincerely,

Head of Revenues

City of London

P.O. Box 270, Guildhall, London, EC2P 2EJ

Tel: 020 7606 3030   

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

References

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2. file:///tmp/www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/Feedback
3. http://www.ico.org.uk/
4. file:///tmp/www.cityoflondon.gov.uk

Dear Ms Ahmed,
 
The City of London (CoL) acknowledges receipt of your complaint (internal
review request) of 22 January 2015, as attached:
In accordance with guidance published by the Information Commissioner’s
Office, the CoL aims to respond to complaints within 20 working days
beginning from the first working day following receipt of the complaint.
 
Yours sincerely,
 
Information Officer
Town Clerk's Department
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
[1]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
 
 
 
 

References

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1. http://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/

Good afternoon

Please find response to your Freedom of Information request attached.

Kind regards

Dr Peter Kane

Chamberlain

City of London

2^nd Floor North Wing, Guildhall, London

EC2V 7HH

Tel: 020 7332 1300

Email: [1][email address]

References

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1. mailto:[email address]