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OPERATIONS GROUP
Law & Governance Division
Town Hall, Darlington DL1 5QT
Mr Gavin Chait
(01325) 406777
xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
request-915064-
2nd December 2022
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Our ref: DBC-1841-22
Your ref:
Please ask for: Richie Sanderson
Document Name:
Dear Mr Chait
Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Information Request
Your request for information, received, has now been considered. Below is an
outline of your request with our responses added in the attached spreadsheet.
In terms of the Freedom of Information Act of 2000, and subject to section 40(2) on
personal data, could you please provide me with your local authority’s complete
and most-recently updated list of all business (non-residential) property rates data,
including the following fields:
- Billing Authority Property Reference Code (linking the property to the public VOA
database reference)
- Firm's Trading Name (i.e. property occupant or ratepayer)
- Full Property Address (Number, Street, Postal Code, Town)
- Occupation / Vacancy status
- Date of Occupation / Vacancy
- Actual annual rates charged (in Pounds) and/or categories of reliefs/exemptions
granted
In some cases, we have not provided details of the liable party as they are an
individual, not a business, as such, we believe that this information is personal data
as defined by the Data Protection Act 2018 and that its disclosure would be in breach
of the first data protection principle. As a result, we are refusing this element of
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your request under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. A full
refusal notice is appended to this letter.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request or would like to request an
internal review of our response, please write to:
Complaints and Information Governance Manager
Darlington Borough Council
Neighbourhood Services and Resources Group
Town Hall
Darlington
DL1 5QT
E-mail:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
You can also obtain further information from the Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113
Website:
www.ico.org.uk
Yours sincerely
Richie Sanderson
Complaints & Information Governance Assistant
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Refusal Notice – Section 40(2) Freedom of Information Act 2000
Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the FOIA) provides that:
(2)
Any information to which a request for information relates is also
exempt information if—
(a) it constitutes personal data which does not fall within subsection
(1), and
(b) the first, second or third condition below is satisfied.
(3A)
The first condition is that the disclosure of the information to a
member of the public otherwise than under this Act—
(a) would contravene any of the data protection principles…”
Is the information ‘personal data’?
Section 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (the DPA) states:
(2)
““Personal data” means any information relating to an identified or
identifiable living individual (subject to subsection (14)(c)).
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(3)
“Identifiable living individual” means a living individual who can be
identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to—
(a) an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location
data or an online identifier, or
(b) one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic,
mental, economic, cultural or social identity of the individual.”
In this case the data relates to the liability of an individual for National Non-Domestic
Rates.
Accordingly, we believe that the information does constitute personal data.
Would disclosure breach any of the data protection principles?
The second test under section 40(2) is whether the disclosure of the information
would breach any of the data protection principles. The first data protection
principle states:
(1)
“Personal data shall be:
(a) processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to
the data subject (‘lawfulness, fairness and transparency)”
In this context, ‘processing’ is construed broadly and includes disclosure of the
information requested. As the information withheld meets the definition of
personal data, it can only be disclosed if to do so would be lawful, fair and
transparent in relation to the data subject and in accordance with the conditions set
out in Article 6 of the GDPR.
Article 6 conditions
In this instance, the sixth condition is the only potentially relevant condition from
Article 6. The condition states:
“processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued
by the by the controller or by a third party, except where such interests are
overridden by the interests of fundamental rights and freedoms of the data
subject which require protection of personal data, in particular where the
data subject is a child.”
To ensure that this condition is met, we are required to balance your interests in
having access to the information against the privacy interests of the third party. In
this case, we believe that information provided by the ratepayer is provided for the
purposes of collection of taxation and there is a reasonable expectation that the
information will not be placed in the public domain, as such, disclosure of this
information would not be considered fair.
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As we have determined that disclosure of the information withheld does not satisfy
the sixth condition, we believe that the Council would be in breach of the first data
protection principle if the information were to be disclosed.
As a result of the above, we have determined that the information you have
requested is exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of the FOIA. You have the
right to appeal against this decision. Details of how to do this are provided in the
letter that accompanies this refusal notice.
