Councillors and Council Tax Arrears

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Lewes District Council should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Hello,

I'm writing to you in the hope of obtaining information relating to the number of reminder letters and summons sent to elected councillors in your authority area since 2015/16.

I'd prefer to receive the information in Excel spreadsheet - xlsx or xls - format and if you cannot provide the information in full, I would like to request that you provide as much as you are able to within the cost and time limits of the Act.

If you need clarification or can suggest ways in which the request can be refined in order for it to be successful, I'd be grateful if you could contact me as soon as possible.

Please note that there is precedent for councillors to be named in relation to this issue - the High Court ruled in March 2015 that they should not have their identities protected when it comes to non-payment of council tax.

I'd like to know the following:

1. How many unpaid council tax reminders were sent to councillors elected in your authority between 2015/16 and 2017/18? Please break down by financial year?

2. How many councillors were summonsed to court or given summary warrants in the same period? Again, please break down by financial year.

3a. How many reminders were issued to the councillors named? Please break down by year.

3b. For each instance, please provide the name of each councillor, the party they represent or represented at the time and the amount of council tax owed according to sums requested in the letter. Please also provide the amount of council tax that remains outstanding.

3c. Please also state for each councillor, whether they were barred from voting on the council's budget as a result of their council tax arrears and whether any summons received resulted in a court hearing going ahead.

I'd be grateful if you could provide the information for questions 1 and 2 as totals for your authority and present the rest of the information within a spreadsheet with the following columns:

Financial Year - Authority Name - Councillor Name - Party - No of Reminders - No of Summons - Amount Owed According to Reminders - Court Hearing Y/N - Outcome of Hearing - Banned from Voting Y/N - Current Sum Outstanding

Yours faithfully,

Joanna Morris

foi, Lewes District Council

Thank you for your information request received today.

 

I am currently reviewing your request and investigating whether there is
any information available for disclosure.  The Council, in accordance with
Section 10 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’), will reply
to your request promptly and in any event not later than the twentieth
working day following the date of receipt. Subject Access Requests will be
responded to within one calendar month in line with the GDPR (General Data
Protection Regulation).

 

In accordance with section 8(1)(b) of the Act and related guidance from
the Information Commissioner’s Office, the Council reserves the right to
treat any request for information as invalid unless the requester supplies
their real name.  In such cases, the Council may request proof of
identity.

 

 

Please contact me again if you require any assistance with your request
and I will do my best to provide the relevant help and advice.

 

Kind Regards

 

 

Information Governance Officer

Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

foi, Lewes District Council

1 Attachment

Dear   Ms. Morris,

 

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request dated 12 April 2019
which has been registered under reference FOI 8956.

 

1. How many unpaid council tax reminders were sent to councillors elected
in your authority between 2015/16 and 2017/18? Please break down by
financial year?

 

2. How many councillors were summonsed to court or given summary warrants
in the same period? Again, please break down by financial year.

 

3a. How many reminders were issued to the councillors named? Please break
down by year.

 

3b. For each instance, please provide the name of each councillor, the
party they represent or represented at the time and the amount of council
tax owed according to sums requested in the letter.  Please also provide
the amount of council tax that remains outstanding.

 

3c. Please also state for each councillor, whether they were barred from
voting on the council's budget as a result of their council tax arrears
and whether any summons received resulted in a court hearing going ahead.

 

As the Council has concerns over the receipt of anonymous and, possibly,
pseudonymous requests, it has decided to tighten procedures and reserves
the right to ask for proof of identity. Therefore I would appreciate it if
you could provide, electronically or otherwise, some proof of your
identity.

 

The usual forms of proof such as passport, drivers licence or a utility
bill are acceptable but other formats will be considered as long as they
demonstrate the genuine identity of the requestor.

 

A request for information must contain the ‘real name’ and address of the
requestor:

 

Freedom of Information Act 2000 Section 8(1)(b):

 

In this Act any reference to a “request for information” is a reference to
such a request which—

 

        “…states the name of the applicant and an address for
correspondence”

 

I have attached the ICO guidance (Identity or motives of the applicant)
and would draw your attention to the section on page 4.

 

Alternatively, you are entitled to appeal to the Information Governance
Appeals Officer -

 

Information Governance Appeals Officer

Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

1 Grove Road

EASTBOURNE

BN21 4TW

 

Email: [1][email address]

 

In the meantime your request has been put on hold until I receive your
reply.  If I do not hear from you within 30 working days of the date of
this email I will assume that you no longer wish to proceed with your
information request, and will take no further action.

 

 

Regards,

 

 

Kevin Rance

Information Governance Officer

Tel: +44(0)1273 471600

[2][email address]

Lewes and Eastbourne Legal Services acting on behalf of Lewes District
Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

 

Lewes District Council: Southover House, Southover Road, Lewes BN7 1AB 
[3]www.lewes.gov.uk. Minicom 01273 484488 Eastbourne Borough Council: 1
Grove Road, Eastbourne BN21 4TW  [4]www.eastbourne.gov.uk. Text Relay
18001 01323 410000

 

 

Save a tree… please do not print this email unless you really need to This
email is confidential and for the exclusive use of the above named
addressee(s) or an authorised agent. If you are not the intended
recipient(s), you are prohibited from copying, distributing,
disseminating, or in any other way using the content of this email. If you
have received this email in error, please contact the sender using the
contact details given above.

All our Network computers operate virus-scanning but we make no guarantee
that any attachment to this email is free from computer viruses. You are
advised to check all attachments using your own virus-scanning software
before opening or executing them.

All written communications sent by and to Eastbourne Borough Council are
subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000. You should therefore be
aware that this email or the information contained in it may be disclosed
without notice to a third party making a request for information about the
subject matter of this email.

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]
3. http://www.lewes.gov.uk/
4. http://www.eastbourne.gov.uk/

Hello,

In response to your request for personal identification documents, I'd like to state that I am not on this occasion willing to send official documentation to the authority in support of my FOI request.

According to the document you attached, you may take my identity and motive into account if the authority "is considering refusing a request as vexatious or manifestly unreasonable".

However, my request is neither vexatious or unreasonable in its nature and has been responded to by numerous other local authorities. I would be interested to know why the decision was taken to respond to my correspondence in this manner.

As a starting point, I feel it is unusual for an authority to ask for passport, driving licence or utility bill details in relation to a standard FOI but as a proposed alternative to your request, I am happy to point you towards my LinkedIn profile and my work profile - I'm a reporter with Newsquest's Data Investigations Unit and you can see examples of my work below.

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/joanna-morris...

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/author...

I trust this will be enough information to allow this request to be processed. You can also reach me at The Northern Echo, where I am based, on 01325 505072.

Yours sincerely,

Joanna Morris

foi, Lewes District Council

Dear Ms. Morris,

Thank you for your email dated 24 April 2019.

I can appreciate your concern over releasing your personal documents but as my original email stated -

'....other formats will be considered as long as they demonstrate the genuine identity of the requestor.'

Having looked at the links you provided I am happy to accept them as evidence of your identity and will restart your FOI request forthwith.

I apologise for putting you to the additional trouble but, again as I mentioned in my email -the Council has concerns over the receipt of anonymous and, possibly,
pseudonymous requests - and we are taking extra measures at the moment.

I will be in touch with your reply as soon as I have the information to hand. I have also added you to our register of requestors who have provided proof of identity so you will not have to do so again in future.

Regards,

Kevin Rance
Information Governance Officer
Tel: +44(0)1273 471600
[email address]
Lewes and Eastbourne Legal Services acting on behalf of Lewes District Council and Eastbourne Borough Council

show quoted sections