Complete Non-Residential / Business Property Rates Data (Section 31)
Gavin Chait made this Freedom of Information request to Carmarthenshire County Council as part of a batch sent to 10 authorities This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear Carmarthenshire Council,
In terms of the Freedom of Information Act of 2000, and subject to section 40(2) on excluding personal data, could you please provide me with a complete and up-to-date list of all business (non-residential) property rates data for your local authority, and including the following fields:
- Billing Authority Reference Code (linking the property to the VOA database reference)
- Firm's Trading Name (i.e. property occupant)
- Full Property Address (Number, Street, Postal Code, Town)
- Occupied / Vacant
- Date of Occupation / Vacancy
- Actual annual rates charged (in Pounds)
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.
We recognise that you ordinarily refuse to release these data in terms of Regulation 31(1)(a). In November 2016, we appealed this class of refusal - specifically as it relates to this request - to the Information Commissioner’s Office and they issued a Decision Notice (FS50628943 - https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak..., and FS50628978 - https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...) on 28 February 2017 finding that “it is not correct to withhold this information under Regulation 31(1)(a)”, and that “the public interest in the information being disclosed outweighs that in the exemption being maintained”.
Note that these Decision Notices supersede Voyias v Information Commissioner and London Borough of Camden Council (EA/2011/0007) and Decision Notice FS50538789 (related to Stoke on Trent Council).
Please provide this as machine-readable as either a CSV or Microsoft Excel file, capable of re-use, and under terms of the Open Government Licence.
I'm sure you get many requests for business rates and we intend to update this national series every three months. Could we request that - as more than 30% of local authorities already do - you update and release this dataset via a dedicated page on your local authority website or on an open data service. You should find that this reduces the time and cost of this request process.
Yours faithfully,
Gavin Chait
Dear Mr Chait,
Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 30th March, 2017 and is being dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
We are therefore required to provide a response within 20 working days, which will be on or before 2nd May, 2017.
If we require clarification we will also contact you as soon as we can – please note that the timescale for response specified above may be subject to change if this is the case.
In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any queries, remembering to quote the reference number above in any communications.
Yours sincerely
John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data
Tîm Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth a Chwynion
Adran y Prif Weithredwr
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin
Information & Data Protection Officer
Information Governance & Complaints Team
Chief Executive's Department
Carmarthenshire County Council
Mewnol/Internal: 4127
Allanol/External: 01267 224127
Dear Mr Chait,
Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 30^th
March, 2017 and has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act
2000.
The specific information you requested was as follows:
In terms of the Freedom of Information Act of 2000, and subject to section
40(2) on excluding personal data, could you please provide me with a
complete and up-to-date list of all business (non-residential) property
rates data for your local authority, and including the following fields:
- Billing Authority Reference Code (linking the property to the VOA
database reference)
- Firm's Trading Name (i.e. property occupant)
- Full Property Address (Number, Street, Postal Code, Town)
- Occupied / Vacant
- Date of Occupation / Vacancy
- Actual annual rates charged (in Pounds)
In response, please find attached a file containing the relevant
information held by the Council.
Yours sincerely
John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data
Tîm Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth a Chwynion
Adran y Prif Weithredwr
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin
Information & Data Protection Officer
Information Governance & Complaints Team
Chief Executive's Department
Carmarthenshire County Council
Mewnol/Internal: 4127
Allanol/External: 01267 224127
Dear FOIA,
Thank you for you response, however the data supplied does not include all of that requested. Could you please also include the occupation status of each property?
If you are unable to provide an absolute “Occupation / Vacancy” status, please provide the Exemptions or Reliefs that a particular property may be receiving.
Yours sincerely,
Gavin Chait
As requested.
Thank you
Julie John
Information Officer
Chief Executive's Department
Tel: (01267) 224498
Internal: 4498
Dear Julie John,
Thanks for the data, however these descriptions still don't indicate whether the reliefs/exemptions relate to empty properties, liquidations, or that sort of thing.
As I indicated in my initial request, I am well aware that you have previously refused to release such data under Section 31(1)(a). However, as I also stated, that exemption cannot apply in terms of this request as indicated by the Decision Notices from the Information Commissioner.
Decision Notice (FS50628943 - https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak..., and FS50628978 - https://ico.org.uk/media/action-weve-tak...) were released on 28 February 2017 finding that “it is not correct to withhold this information under Regulation 31(1)(a)”, and that “the public interest in the information being disclosed outweighs that in the exemption being maintained”.
Note that these Decision Notices supersede Voyias v Information Commissioner and London Borough of Camden Council (EA/2011/0007) and Decision Notice FS50538789 (related to Stoke on Trent Council).
Please could you update the data provided in terms of our original request and in compliance with these Decision Notes.
Yours sincerely,
Gavin Chait
Dear Mr Chait,
With reference to the request below and your subsequent complaint to the
Information Commissioner’s Office (case reference number FS50685329), I
have looked into this matter and it is apparent that the second dataset
provided, on business rates relief cases, was the incorrect one.
The correct dataset would have been the one on empty properties and which
is normally provided in response to such requests. We also accept that
your further email was not addressed and would therefore offer our sincere
apologies for this fact.
Please therefore find attached dataset on empty properties, which can be
cross referenced against the current data on all hereditaments, which is
also attached.
Please also note that the dataset on empty properties does not include
information on empty properties owned by individuals, as per England v
Bexley & the ICO.
Yours sincerely
John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data
Tîm Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth a Chwynion
Adran y Prif Weithredwr
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin
Information & Data Protection Officer
Information Governance & Complaints Team
Chief Executive's Department
Carmarthenshire County Council
Mewnol/Internal: 4127
Allanol/External: 01267 224127
_____________________________________________
From: FOIA
Sent: 05 April 2017 10:22
To: 'Gavin Chait' <[FOI #398220 email]>
Subject: FOIA/9643
Dear Mr Chait,
Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 30^th
March, 2017 and has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act
2000.
The specific information you requested was as follows:
In terms of the Freedom of Information Act of 2000, and subject to section
40(2) on excluding personal data, could you please provide me with a
complete and up-to-date list of all business (non-residential) property
rates data for your local authority, and including the following fields:
- Billing Authority Reference Code (linking the property to the VOA
database reference)
- Firm's Trading Name (i.e. property occupant)
- Full Property Address (Number, Street, Postal Code, Town)
- Occupied / Vacant
- Date of Occupation / Vacancy
- Actual annual rates charged (in Pounds)
In response, please find attached a file containing the relevant
information held by the Council.
Yours sincerely
John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data
Tîm Llywodraethu Gwybodaeth a Chwynion
Adran y Prif Weithredwr
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin
Information & Data Protection Officer
Information Governance & Complaints Team
Chief Executive's Department
Carmarthenshire County Council
Mewnol/Internal: 4127
Allanol/External: 01267 224127
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