Councillors and Council Tax Arrears

The request was successful.

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 West, Cheshire West and Chester Council

RE: Your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000

Case Reference: RFI 1011

Dear Joanna Morris

Thank you for your email.

It will be treated as a request within the meaning of the Act: this means that we will send you a full response within 20 working days, either supplying you with the information which you want, or explaining to you why we cannot supply it.

If we need any further clarification or there is any problem we will be in touch.

Disclosures Team
Cheshire West and Chester Council
Tel: 0300 123 8 123
Email: [email address]
Location: Cheshire West and Chester Council, 4 Civic Way, Ellesmere Port CH65 0BE
Visit: cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

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FOI West, Cheshire West and Chester Council

1 Attachment

Dear Ms Morris,

 

Thank you for your request for information of 12^th April 2019 which has
been logged as RFI 1011 and has been dealt with under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000. We confirm that Cheshire West and Chester Council
holds information relating to your request.

 

For the purpose of clarity your request has been reproduced below with
responses:

 

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.

 

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?,

 

2015/16 data to answer questions 1-3 has previously been provided under a
Freedom of Information request. As the Councillors listed for that period
are no longer elected they would have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
However in this case historical data has previously been released and I
enclose a copy of that previous response in PDF format attached.

 

2016-2018 data has been provided for each question below:

 

For 2016/17 - 0
For 2017/18 - 0

 

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

 

For 2016/17 - 0
For 2017/18 - 0

 

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

 

For 2016/17 - 0
For 2017/18 - 0

 

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.

 

For financial year 2015-16 please see attached previous response. For
financial years 2016-17 and 2017-18 the answer is not applicable as there
were no councillors in arrears.

 

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.
 

 

No

 

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

 

 

We trust this answers your queries.

 

The Council considers that your request has been answered in full by
either confirming that information is not held, providing you with the
information requested, or explaining why any information has been withheld
and the reasons for any redaction. Where applicable, the Council has also
told you the reasons for the delay in responding to your request.

 

If you are unhappy with the way your request for information has been
handled you can request a review by writing to the Disclosures Team within
40 working days from the date of the Council’s response.

 

You are entitled to a review by the Council if:

•             You are dissatisfied with the Council’s explanation of why
the application was not dealt with within the 20 working day time limit.

•             All the information requested is not being disclosed and you
have not received an explanation why some information is not being
disclosed.

•             A reason for the disclosures under the request being refused
is not received.

•             You consider that exemptions have been wrongly applied,
and/or

•             You consider that a fee has been wrongly applied.

 

Please set out your grounds for seeking a review together with what
specific part of your request those grounds apply to and the outcome you
are seeking. The Council reserves the right to ask you for clarification
of the grounds for your review request if the grounds are not clear, and
to delay commencing the review if such grounds are not provided.

 

The Disclosures Team can be contacted by email via:
[1][Cheshire West and Chester Council request email] or at the following address:

 

Disclosures Team

Cheshire West and Chester Council

4 Civic Way

Ellesmere Port

CH64 0BE

 

The Disclosures Team will acknowledge a request for an internal review
within 5 working days and complete the review as soon as possible and no
later than 40 working days from receipt of the request.

 

More information about the Council’s internal review process can be found
via:

 

[2]http://www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk...

 

If you remain dissatisfied following the outcome of your review, you have
a right of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

 

The Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

 

Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45

Website: [3]www.ico.org.uk

 

There is no charge for making an appeal.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

Disclosures Team – Customer Relations and Information

Cheshire West and Chester Council

Tel: 0300 123 8 123

Email: [4][email address]

Location: Cheshire West and Chester Council, 4 Civic Way, Ellesmere Port
CH65 0BE

Visit: cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

 

 

 

FD

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