Dear Ms Coates

Thank you for making a request for information to the London Borough of
Enfield.

We are aiming to respond to your request within 20 working days and will
let you know if we hold the information you requested and whether or not
we can release it under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We are now making an initial assessment of your request and we will
contact you if any clarification is needed.

If you have any queries regarding your request, please contact us at
[1][Enfield Council request email] quoting your reference CRM FOI
7908

PLEASE NOTE: As most staff are working from home, please email all
correspondence to us at [2][Enfield Council request email], rather
than posting  it, as there is likely to be delay in responding to
correspondence arriving by post

Kind regards

Theresa Willard

Complaints and Information Coordinator

Complaints and Information Team

Chief Executive Department

Enfield Council

Silver Street

Enfield

EN1 3XY

Email: [3][email address]

‘Enfield Council is committed to serving the whole borough fairly,
delivering excellent services and building strong communities.’

[4]Signature

[5]Campaign

[6]Follow us on Facebook [7]Twitter [8]www.enfield.gov.uk

show quoted sections

This email has been scanned for viruses but we cannot guarantee that it
will be free of viruses or malware. The recipient should perform their own
virus checks.

Disclaimer

The information contained in this communication from the sender is
confidential. It is intended solely for use by the recipient and others
authorized to receive it. If you are not the recipient, you are hereby
notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking action in
relation of the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and
may be unlawful.

This email has been scanned for viruses and malware, and may have been
automatically archived by Mimecast Ltd, an innovator in Software as a
Service (SaaS) for business. Providing a safer and more useful place for
your human generated data. Specializing in; Security, archiving and
compliance. To find out more [9]Click Here.

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Enfield Council request email]
2. mailto:[Enfield Council request email]
3. mailto:[email address]
5. https://enfield-council.msgfocus.com/k/E...
6. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Enfield-C...
7. https://twitter.com/EnfieldCouncil
8. http://www.enfield.gov.uk/
9. http://www.mimecast.com/products/

Classification: OFFICIAL

Dear Ms Coates

Thank you for you freedom of Information request below.  The delay in this
reply is due to the National pandemic that has meant Council priorities
are focused on those in desperate need and the payment of grants so that
Businesses in Enfield can survive.

Please treat this email as a refusal notice under the act.

Your request is refused under Section 21, 40, and Section 41 of the Act. I
have not used Section 31 at this time.

As part of the Councils Publication scheme we already publish a list of
companies in the borough and this includes most of the information you
have requested.  We publish this information so we are clear as to what we
will put in the public domain and what we will not.  You can also get
information from the Valuation office Agency Website

You can find our list of Companies (and Charities) here,  it is updated on
a quarterly basis and the next update will be in the coming weeks .

[1]https://new.enfield.gov.uk/contact-us/as...

in terms of your specific request

• Property Reference – Provided

• Liable Party Name – Section 21 & Section 40

• Property Address - Provided

• Rateable Value - Provided

• Property Description - Provided

 • Billing or Correspondence address -  Provided in part

• Liability Start Date  - Account start date provided in part

• Current entitlement to any Reliefs or Discounts (do not include details
of any empty property reliefs)   -  Exempt

• Start date of the entitlement to any current reliefs or discounts  -
  Exempt

In terms of Liable Party name,  we refuse to supply the name of the
ratepayer except that which is already published above, as you have asked
for the names of the ratepayers these properties and such information
would be exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000
Section 40 (2). Specifically, it would breach the second data protection
principle [GDPR Article 5 1(b)] as this processing would not be compatible
with the purposes for which the data was collected (council tax
collection). The data subject would also have an expectation that this
information would not be publicly disclosed, and therefore any disclosure
would be unfair and in breach of the first data protection principle [GDPR
Article 5 1(a)].

The identity of these individuals is therefore exempt from disclosure
under the Freedom of Information Act Section 40 (2). This is an absolute
exemption and there is no requirement to consider the public interest.

Any other information is considered personal to that company we will not
release information relating to reliefs in line with previous requests.   
 

Our records are solely for the purposes of collecting a tax and any
information collected and given to us is given in confidence.  You are
also asking for specific information about accounts, such information is
personal to the ratepayers in question and I am refusing under Section 41
(Information provided in Confidence) because the release of information
would constitute a breach of confidence.  The ratepayers have agents who
deal with their accounts.  Tax payer confidentiality is of the upmost
importance.

Information relating to billing and collection of Business Rate is
provided to us by organisations expressly for that purpose and is
commercially sensitive.   Companies provide information in confidence to
Enfield and it follows that such information should be protected.  The
view is that the Council could be subject to an actionable breach of
confidence if it were to disclose information relating to companies to
third parties without their authorisation.

As a rating agent you work for many different Companies and have authority
to act on their behalf.  In this situation the Council would accept you
have good reason to request the information in this FOI where your clients
are the ratepayer.

We would only provide details to rating agents if we know they act for a
client.  I am sure you will understand if another Company obtained details
relating to your clients that may result in a loss of commission to your
Company, which in itself may be actionable if it became apparent it was
due to information Enfield had released.  If we do not already know a
rating agent is acting on behalf of a company we would need "an authority
to act" from each of their clients before giving them any information
about specific Business Rate accounts.  It is usual for an agent to quote
the account number, who they are acting for and the context of why they
are contacting us.

As I said we have published certain information but when connected with
other information we consider other specific details about a company would
be likely to attract a higher degree of sensitivity.  For example, in the
area of procurement, the identify of an unsuccessful bidder may be
withheld in certain circumstances.  Therefore we consider that to the
extent that the supplementary data account concerning ratepayer is exempt
under Section 41 of the Freedom of Information Act.   

Section 41 of the FOIA states:

1) Information is exempt information if-

a) it was obtained by the public authority from any other person
(including another public authority), and

b) the disclosure of the information to the public (otherwise than under
this Act) by the public authority holding it would constitute a breach of
confidence actionable by that or any other person.

2) The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent that,
the confirmation or denial that would have to be given to comply with
section 1(1)(a) would (apart from this Act) constitute an actionable
breach of confidence.

Section 41(1) (a) requires that the information in question was obtained
from any other person. Guidance issued by the Information Commissioner
(regarding Information provided in confidence) states: A person may be an
individual, a company, a local authority or any other “legal entity”. 
Individuals and companies supplied information to the Council regarding
the account holder’s details which then activated the account number. 
This part of the exemption is therefore satisfied.

Section 41(1) (b) requires the disclosure by the Council to constitute an
actionable breach of confidence by that person. The information must
therefore have the necessary quality of confidence.  In our opinion the
information does have the necessary quality of confidence.  It is
recognised in English law that an important duty of confidentiality is
owed to taxpayers. This is what is known as “taxpayer confidentiality”.
This is a long established principle of common law, protecting taxpayers’
affairs against disclosure to the public, and has been recognised to be of
the utmost importance when dealing with the administration of tax and
rates.  We were satisfied that the requested information is not trivial,
nor is it available by any other means.  It is our assessment that
companies or individuals would be able to establish that disclosure would
expose the Council to the risk of a breach of confidence claim which, on a
balance of probabilities, would succeed.  This includes considering
whether the Council would have a defence to the claim.  This latter point
is expanded upon below.

The duty of confidence is not absolute, and the courts recognise three
circumstances under which confidential information may be disclosed:

•             Where the person to whom the duty of confidentiality is owed
consents to the disclosure.

•             Where the disclosure is required by law.

•             Where there is an overriding public interest in disclosure.

In the context of this request, no consent has been obtained from the
individual taxpayers (and it would be impractical to do so); nor is the
disclosure required by law.  Of more relevance is whether there is an
overriding public interest. Guidance issued by the Information
Commissioner states that “the courts have taken the view that the grounds
for breaching confidentiality must be valid and very strong. A duty of
confidence should not be overridden lightly.” Further guidance from the
Information Commissioner states that the “the public interest test within
the duty of confidence assumes that information should be withheld unless
the public interest in disclosure outweighs the public interest in
maintaining the duty of confidence.”

It is appreciated that there may be a public interest in scrutinising how
the Council administers its business rates; however this interest is not,
in our view, sufficient to override the duty of confidence, and apart from
your own private interest in disclosure we have no evidence of a wider
public interest in this matter.   It is also the case that we have a
fiduciary duty to our residents and businesses and we have to take the
interests of our Council Tax payers as central,  

Ratepayers provide information to the Council and have a legitimate
expectation that the information will be treated in confidence. 
Furthermore, there is a public interest in maintaining trust and
preserving a free flow of information to the Council where this is
necessary for the Council to perform its statutory functions relating to
the administration of business rates and council tax. Such functions are
undertaken for the benefit of the public.  We therefore consider that it
would be excessive to override the duty of taxpayer confidentiality and
disclose information relating to the affairs  of business ratepayers. 
Your request for disclosure is therefore refused under section 41 of the
FOIA.

Furthermore and perhaps even more importantly,  this is also to done to
protect our ratepayers from unscrupulous rating agents, we have a duty to
our business community that exceeds merely the collection of taxes, this
has been recognised by Central Government recently and making information
available to you effectively makes it available to all.   We have
supported Businesses by automatically applying the retail discount to
those that meet the eligibility  rules and work tirelessly to ensure that
SBRR uptake is maximised.  Work continues to ensure that no business has
been missed, as it is the Governments view that we should ensure that
there is no unnecessary  diversion of business rate relief that is
intended for businesses ending up in the pockets of others.   I am sure
you will agree that this is worthwhile and as I stated making it available
to you effectively makes it available to all.  All reliefs are awarded in
line with the criteria and this is subject to post assurance and
government validation as well as Audit checks.   Business Rates is a
property tax and the turnover is not relevant in this instance, what is
relevant is the Governments directives. 

In general terms I am happy to provide the quantum in terms of
hereditaments receiving the rates holiday and value therein.

However I do accept that there is a perceived dichotomy between rates
mitigation that the Courts have decided is tax avoidance and legal,
 despite often the very nature of the such tactics being a sham and only
existing to take advantage of outdated legislation which is frequently
used by numerous companies some of whom will have been awarded rates
holidays where others who have not conducted such questionable behaviour
have not been able to access the Rates Holiday.    As a Council we will
continue to push for change in this area.   

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision,
you should email:  [2][email address] or
 [3][Enfield Council request email]

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints
procedure provided by the Authority. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.  Or Email: [4][email address]

Kind regards

Simon Ranyard

Business Rates & Inspection Manager

Revenues and Benefits

Enfield Council

Silver Street

Enfield

EN1 3XY

Tel: + 44 (0)20 3821 1946

[5][email address]

[6]https://new.enfield.gov.uk/services/busi...

 [7]https://www.gov.uk/coronavirus

"Enfield Council is committed to serving the whole borough fairly,
delivering excellent services and building strong communities."

show quoted sections