Copy of Invoice
Dear Croydon Borough Council,
Please provide us with a copy of the following Invoice No: VHG/23500, by Venture Housing (London) Ltd to Croydon Borough Council, Dated 6 of October '17, for £2409.00.
Payment Number: 1470446 Payment Date: 08-Nov-17.
We need to inspect this invoice to see if it makes sense.
Yours faithfully,
Isaac
Dear Croydon Council,
In reply to your response received today the 30 of March, for me to clarify what this invoice relates to.
Please note, this response is totally evasive and not cooperative.
This exact information 'what it relates to' is why I'm asking from you The Croydon Borough Council, via this FOI request, to see and inspect a copy of this particular invoice, something I believe you are required by law to provide me with.
To identify of which Invoice I'm referring to, I provided many details. I will again outline it here FYI.
Invoice No: VHG/23500
Invoiced by Venture Housing (London) Ltd
Invoiced to Croydon Borough Council
Dated 6 of October '17
For £2409.00.
Payment Number: 1470446
Payment Date: 08-Nov-17
Please send me a copy of this Invoice ASAP.
Yours sincerely,
Isaac
Dear Croydon Borough Council,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Croydon Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'Copy of Invoice' invoice No: VHG/23500 by Venture Housing (London) Ltd to Croydon Borough Council -Dated 6 of October '17 - For £2409.00.
First, the Councill wrote asking ME TO CLARIFY what this invoice relates to!... when this is actually what I'm asking for from you and are trying to get from you via the FOI act!
I responded and complaint.
Then you wrote to me that providing the Info and or a copy of the invoice would be ''disclosing personal data''!
This is public information as the provider is dealing with a public body which is the council and I'm sure the FOI allows me to inspect what dealings a public official body has with others and how they conduct it. To enable me to see If there are not any malpractice involved in this, as I seriously suspect.
I will be following it up to the end!
The council could have had provided a copy while deleting any private data that is not to be disclosed, so to let me see a copy of the invoice to enable me to understand the exact dealing of it and what it relates to. But the Council rather decided to evade transparency!
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...
Yours faithfully,
Isaac
Dear Isaac,
Further to your email of 01 May 2020, we acknowledge your request for an
internal review regarding the Council’s response to your request for
information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoIA).
We can confirm your request has been actioned and is currently being
investigated.
We aim to complete this task within 20 working days of the request and
will therefore endeavor to provide you with a full response by Tuesday 02
June 2020. If we are unable to meet this deadline, we will let you know in
advance.
Regards,
Mohammed Patel
Trainee Solicitor
[1]cid:image001.png@01D21F1F.66A39710
Resources Department
For Director of Law & Governance
Bernard Weatherill House
7th Floor, Zone C
8 Mint Walk
Croydon CR0 1EA
DX: 136017 Croydon 17
Tel: 020 8686 4433
To allow us to deal with the disruption caused by Coronavirus /COVID-19
please communicate with us only by email and not by post. Our lawyers and
support colleagues may be working from different locations. Legal Services
will communicate electronically only. We do not have a fax in our service.
We will accept service of court proceedings for the Council by email on
any business day between the hours of 9am and 4.30pm. Any email received
after 4.30pm will be deemed to be served on us the next business day. The
email address for service is [2][email address]
Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount.
Please use this web site address to view the council's e-mail disclaimer -
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/email-disclaimer
References
Visible links
2. mailto:[email address]
Internal Review Request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
Our reference: Internal Review 1927345
Dear Mr Isaac,
Further to my email dated 12 May 2020 acknowledging your request for an
internal review, I have now concluded this review and I am able to reply
as follows.
Background
In your request for Internal Review, you asked the Council to reconsider
your initial request dated 18 March 2020 as you had not been provided with
the information originally requested.
Your initial request was as follows:
“Please provide us with a copy of the following Invoice
No: VHG/23500, by Venture Housing (London) Ltd to
Croydon Borough Council, Dated 6 of October '17, for
£2409.00.
Payment Number: 1470446 Payment Date: 08-Nov-
17.”
The Council responded to you on 01 May 2020 and provided the following
response informing you that it considered that Section 40(2) (a) of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) applied and in particular:
“To disclose this invoice would be disclosing personal data to you,
withholding of personal data as defined by the Data Protection Act 2018.
It is important to remember that when information is released under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000, it is considered released to the wider
public. Any such disclosure of personal information would not be compliant
with the provisions of the Data Protection Act 2018.”
Internal Review Request
In your request for an Internal Review dated 01 May 2020, you stated the
following:
“I am writing to request an internal review of Croydon Borough Council's
handling of my FOI request 'Copy of Invoice' invoice No:
VHG/23500 by Venture Housing (London) Ltd to Croydon Borough Council
-Dated 6 of October '17 - For £2409.00.
First, the Councill wrote asking ME TO CLARIFY what this invoice relates
to!... when this is actually what I'm asking for from you and
are trying to get from you via the FOI act!
I responded and complaint.
Then you wrote to me that providing the Info and or a copy of the invoice
would be ''disclosing personal data''!
This is public information as the provider is dealing with a public body
which is the council and I'm sure the FOI allows me to inspect
what dealings a public official body has with others and how they conduct
it. To enable me to see If there are not any malpractice
involved in this, as I seriously suspect.
I will be following it up to the end!
The council could have had provided a copy while deleting any private data
that is not to be disclosed, so to let me see a copy of the
invoice to enable me to understand the exact dealing of it and what it
relates to. But the Council rather decided to evade transparency!”
Response
Having carefully considered your request, the Council is unable to
disclose the requested invoice as it contains personal data regarding
another party. Section 3(2) of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) defines
personal data as any information relating to an identified or identifiable
living individual.
Section 40(2) of FOIA provides an exemption from the right to information
if it is personal data as defined in the DPA. In this case, we believe the
invoice does contain personal data of another party, therefore we must
consider whether it is exempt from disclosure under FOIA.
According to Section 40(3A)(a) of the FOIA, personal data of another party
should not be disclosed if it would contravene any of the data protection
principles listed in Article 5 of the GDPR. The most relevant principle is
(a), which states:
“Personal data shall be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent
manner in relation to the data subject.”
This means that the data can only be released if it is lawful, fair and
transparent. Therefore, it is our view that disclosing the requested
invoice would be unlawful and in breach of the above GDPR principle, based
on the fact that it contains personal data of another party.
As this is an absolute exemption, the public interest test does not apply
here. These exemptions are designed to balance the right to access
information with the right of privacy.
Therefore, the Council is withholding this information and it will not be
provided to you.
If you are not content with the outcome of this internal review, you have
the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a
decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner’s Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF
Regards,
Mohammed Patel
Trainee Solicitor
[1]cid:image001.png@01D21F1F.66A39710
Resources Department
For Director of Law & Governance
Bernard Weatherill House
7th Floor, Zone C
8 Mint Walk
Croydon CR0 1EA
DX: 136017 Croydon 17
Tel: 020 8686 4433
To allow us to deal with the disruption caused by Coronavirus /COVID-19
please communicate with us only by email and not by post. Our lawyers and
support colleagues may be working from different locations. Legal Services
will communicate electronically only. We do not have a fax in our service.
We will accept service of court proceedings for the Council by email on
any business day between the hours of 9am and 4.30pm. Any email received
after 4.30pm will be deemed to be served on us the next business day. The
email address for service is [2][email address]
From: Patel, Mohammed
Sent: 12 May 2020 16:01
To: [FOI #655875 email]
Subject: Internal Review Request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
- Our Reference: 1927345
Dear Isaac,
Further to your email of 01 May 2020, we acknowledge your request for an
internal review regarding the Council’s response to your request for
information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoIA).
We can confirm your request has been actioned and is currently being
investigated.
We aim to complete this task within 20 working days of the request and
will therefore endeavor to provide you with a full response by Tuesday 02
June 2020. If we are unable to meet this deadline, we will let you know in
advance.
Regards,
Mohammed Patel
Trainee Solicitor
[3]cid:image001.png@01D21F1F.66A39710
Resources Department
For Director of Law & Governance
Bernard Weatherill House
7th Floor, Zone C
8 Mint Walk
Croydon CR0 1EA
DX: 136017 Croydon 17
Tel: 020 8686 4433
To allow us to deal with the disruption caused by Coronavirus /COVID-19
please communicate with us only by email and not by post. Our lawyers and
support colleagues may be working from different locations. Legal Services
will communicate electronically only. We do not have a fax in our service.
We will accept service of court proceedings for the Council by email on
any business day between the hours of 9am and 4.30pm. Any email received
after 4.30pm will be deemed to be served on us the next business day. The
email address for service is [4][email address]
Council services, online, 24/7 www.croydon.gov.uk/myaccount.
Please use this web site address to view the council's e-mail disclaimer -
http://www.croydon.gov.uk/email-disclaimer
References
Visible links
2. mailto:[email address]
4. mailto:[email address]
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