Complete Non-Residential / Business Property Rates Data (Q3 2022)
Gavin Chait made this Freedom of Information request to Fenland District Council as part of a batch sent to 103 authorities This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear Fenland District Council,
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
If you are unable to provide an absolute “Occupation / Vacancy” status, please provide the Exemptions and / or Reliefs that a particular property may be receiving.
NOTE: While FOIs are meant to be requestor blind, these data are actively used by national government and UK universities to inform the economic response to COVID-19. Most recently, these data were used by MHCLG for the assessment of support to local authorities via the LEVELLING UP FUND.
Please publish quickly so that organisations trying to support your local authority can do so, and, if you have any difficulties, please contact me so that I may help.
Please provide these data as machine-readable as either a CSV or Microsoft Excel file, capable of re-use, and under terms of the Open Government Licence (reuse for any and all purposes, including commercial).
I last requested these data three months ago, and this is a request for your latest updated dataset.
Yours faithfully,
Gavin Chait
Dear Gavin Chait
Please accept this email as an exemption notice for your recent FOI
request dated 11/11/22.
The Council did provide data on a regular basis of a commonly requested
information relating to business rates. This is also known as Non Domestic
Rates (NDR) or National Non Domestic Rates (NNDR).
There was an Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) First Tribunal
judgement (EA/2018/0033) which has highlighted that all taxpayer
information is confidential and as such covered by an exemption under
Section 41 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This is an absolute
exemption so is not subject to a public interest test. However, the
judgement also held that there was not a strong public interest in support
of release under Section 31(1)(a). This was in addition to the information
on sole traders and partnerships being exempt under Section 40(2) -
Personal Data. As such the Council has withdrawn this data set on the
basis that it is exempt under Section 41 of the Freedom of Information
Act.
The Council considers that Section 41 applies to customers’ accounts but
does not apply where the Council itself is an account holder and is able
to provide details of these accounts subject to Section 40(2) - Personal
Data of Individuals or Personal Data relating to living Individuals.
Further NDR information can be found on the Valuation Office Agency's
website:
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
If you require any further information regarding your request or are
unhappy with the response, you should contact the Member Services Officers
at Fenland District Council or e-mail [2][Fenland District Council request email] in the first
instance.
If after this, you are still dissatisfied with this decision, you may
request the Information Commissioner to investigate. The contact details
are:
Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
WILMSLOW
Cheshire SK9 5AF
Tel: 01625 545700
[3]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk
Many thanks
Freedom of Information Officer
01354 654321
[4]www.fenland.gov.uk
[5]Medium logo 2008 cmyk
How did we do? Visit our website to [6]have your say
E-mails and any attachments from Fenland District Council (the Council)
are confidential. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the
sender immediately by replying to the e-mail, and then delete it without
making copies or using it in any other way or placing any reliance on it.
It is not intended that this e-mail shall constitute either an offer or
acceptance nor is it intended to form a contract between the Council and
the addressee or any third party.
Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the sender and do not
necessarily represent those of the Council unless otherwise specifically
stated.
Although any attachments to the message will have been checked for viruses
before transmission, you are urged to carry out your own virus check
before opening attachments, since the Council accepts no responsibility
for loss or damage caused by software viruses.
Senders and recipients of e-mail should be aware that, under the EU
General Data Protection Regulation 2016, the Freedom of Information Act
2000, the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 and other related
legislation, the contents of e-mails may have to be disclosed in response
to a request.
To provide you with our services we will need to record personal
information, such as your e-mail address. This information will be kept
securely and only accessed by approved staff. We will not share your
information with anyone else without first telling you. If you would like
more details about how we protect personal information, then please
contact our Data Protection Officer.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
2. mailto:[Fenland District Council request email]
3. http://www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk/
4. http://www.fenland.gov.uk/
6. http://www.fenland.gov.uk/threecs
We work to defend the right to FOI for everyone
Help us protect your right to hold public authorities to account. Donate and support our work.
Donate Now