Council Tax liability orders
Dear Ministry of Justice,
1 Why are there no records or copies of summons's sent by Chester Magistrates Court kept by the Court
Yours faithfully,
gavin dalton
Dear Ministry of Justice, sorry my request should of read
1 Why are there no records or copies of summons's sent for council tax liability order hearings by Chester
Magistrates Court kept by the Court
Yours faithfully,
gavin dalton
Dear Ministry of Justice,
could you please explain the reason for you delay in replying to my FOI request By law you should of replied by 27th December.
Yours faithfully,
gavin dalton
Dear Mr Dalton,
Please see the attached response to your Freedom of Information Request.
This reply was previously sent to you on the 18th December 2013
Yours sincerely
Mr M Pauls
Matthew Pauls
KILO/Assurance/H&S
NW Regional Support Unit
Manchester CJC
1 Bridge St West
M60 1TE
DX 724780 Manchester 44
Tel - 0161 240 5953
Goldfax - 0870 739 4138
Dear Ministry of Justice,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Ministry of Justice's handling of my FOI request 'Council Tax liability orders'.
it appeares that they have answered a different question. I request that the question;
1 Why are there no records or copies of summons's sent for council
tax liability order hearings by Chester
Magistrates Court kept by the Court.
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,
gavin dalton
Dear Mr Gavin Dalton,
Thank you for your e-mail of the 28^th November 2013 in which you asked
for
“1 Why are there no records or copies of summons's sent by Chester Magistrates
Court kept by the Court.
And
1 Why are there no records or copies of summons's sent for council
tax liability order hearings by Chester
Magistrates Court kept by the Court”
I am writing to advise you that your enquiry does not fall under the
Freedom of Information regime.
It may be helpful if I explain that the Freedom of Information Act (2000)
gives individuals and organisations the right of access to all types of
recorded information held, at the time the request is received, by public
authorities such as the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). Section 84 of the Act
states that in order for a request for information to be handled as a
Freedom of Information (FOI) request, it must be for recorded information.
For example, a Freedom of Information request would be for a copy of a
policy, rather than an explanation as to why we have that policy in place.
On occasion, the Ministry of Justice receives requests that do not ask for
recorded information, but ask more general questions about, for example, a
policy, opinion or a decision.
I therefore referred your query to the ministerial correspondence unit to
deal with a business as usual . Because this has been dealt with in this
manner, you cannot request an Internal review as it falls outside the
scope of the act.
In relation to the FOI response under FOI 87211, this was unfortunately
sent to you in error in relation to your above question via the What do
They know Website when it should have remained linked to your FOI request
'Schedual 4 lgfa 1992'. We sincerely apologise for any inconvenience that
this may have caused you.
If you would like any further information on the original request please
forward your queries to:
Ministerial Correspondence Unit, Ministry of Justice, 102 Petty France,
London, SW1H 9AJ, United Kingdom DX 152380 Westminster 8
Telephone: +44 (0)20 3334 3555
Fax: +44 (0)870 761 7753
E-Mail [email address]
Many Thanks,
Data Access and Compliance Unit
Information Directorate
Post point 10.34
102 Petty France
London
SW1H 9AJ
Dear Data Access & Compliance Unit,
Are records of summons to appear at chester magistrates court kept by the court?
if so what details are held
Yours sincerely,
gavin dalton
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R. Suggitt left an annotation ()
The reasons for refusing to answer this FOI are not plausible. Excessive costs incurred due to poor records management are not an excuse to refuse to supply the requested information.
There is a code of practice, issued under section 46 of the Freedom of Information Act, giving guidance on good practice in records management. The fact the MoJ states it would cost more than £600 to retrieve such data suggests there is inadequate records management within the MoJ.
There would be no reason why the requested information could not be disclosed if adequate records were kept. Archives should be kept in a way that enables them to be quickly and easily retrieved.
If a complaint is made to the Information Commissioner’s Office about poor records handling, it will expect the authority to provide details of how the MoJ manages this data.
I am therefore 100% confident that locating information due to poor records management practice cannot be taken into account when calculating the costs, i.e., for exemption under section 12 FOIA.