Dear Liverpool City Council,

I was reading the expenditure report you publish here http://liverpool.gov.uk/council/performa... for February 2015 and noticed that for a number of entries you put the supplier down as "redacted personal data".

Please note that section 15 of the Local Government Transparency Code https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy... states "The Data Protection Act 1998 does not restrict or inhibit information being published about councillors or senior local authority officers because of the legitimate public interest in the scrutiny of such senior individuals and decision makers. The Data Protection Act 1998 also does not automatically prohibit information being published naming the suppliers with whom the authority has contracts, including sole traders, because of the public interest in accountability and transparency in the spending of public money."

Please could you therefore provide details of which supplier was paid and what the payment was for (preferably with a copy of the invoice received by Liverpool City Council) for each of the following transactions listed on that spreadsheet:

Chief Executive General Legal Fees 5100748876 24/2/15 £2,850
Chief Executive General Legal Fees 5100748011 17/2/15 £2,616.67
Adult Services & Hea Counsel Fees 1902067680 19/2/15 £2,500
Children & Young Peo Counsel Fees 1902066779 13/2/15 £2,250
Community Services Counsel Fees 1902066880 16/2/15 £2,000
Adult Services & Hea Counsel Fees 1902075472 27/2/15 £1,650
Children & Young Peo Counsel Fees 1902057092 2/2/15 £1,425
Community Services Counsel Fees 1902073216 26/2/15 £1,250
Regeneration & Emplo Counsel Fees 1902059905 9/2/15 £1,200
Adult Services & Hea Counsel Fees 1902057104 2/2/15 £1,125
Adult Services & Hea Counsel Fees 1902075443 27/2/15 £1,125
Children & Young Peo Counsel Fees 1902057569 4/2/15 £950
Community Services Counsel Fees 1902062298 10/2/15 £875
Adult Services & Hea Counsel Fees 1902067956 20/2/15 £815
Adult Services & Hea Counsel Fees 1902057106 2/2/15 £750
Adult Services & Hea Counsel Fees 1902072024 25/2/15 £750
Adult Services & Hea Counsel Fees 1902066781 13/2/15 £675
Adult Services & Hea Counsel Fees 1902057111 2/2/15 £600
Adult Services & Hea Counsel Fees 1902066780 13/2/15 £600
Adult Services & Hea Counsel Fees 1902066811 13/2/15 £550
Regeneration & Emplo Counsel Fees 1902066875 16/2/15 £450
Community Services Counsel Fees 1902072021 25/2/15 £450

Yours faithfully,

John Brace

Dear Liverpool City Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Liverpool City Council's handling of my FOI request 'Details of payments to legal firms/barristers'.

For 7 of the invoices requested you stated that they were paid to an individual for "professional legal advice and counsel opinion", refusing to give out the names to those to whom a payment has been made claiming a s.40 exemption applied.

Although the invoices were requested for all 22 invoices, you did not supply any of these (presumably although not implicitly stated it is assumed you mean the s.40 exemption to apply to those too).

More specifically you claimed section 40(2)(b) and 40(3)(a)(i) applied to the information. This section 40 exemption needs to be read in conjunction with the Data Protection Act 1998.

S.34 of the Data Protection Act 1998 states:

"34 Information available to the public by or under enactment.

Personal data are exempt from—
(a) the subject information provisions,
(b) the fourth data protection principle and section 14(1) to (3), and
(c) the non-disclosure provisions,if the data consist of information which the data controller is obliged by or under any enactment [other than an enactment contained in the Freedom of Information Act 2000] to make available to the public, whether by publishing it, by making it available for inspection, or otherwise and whether gratuitously or on payment of a fee."

Article 2 of The Local Government (Transparency) (Descriptions of Information) (England) Order 2014, see http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/... s. 3(4) of the Local Government, Planning and Land Act 1980 apply to "information about any expenditure incurred by authorities".

At the time of the request regulation 2 of The Local Government (Transparency Requirements) (England) Regulations 2015 see http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2015/... required Liverpool City Council to publish the information specified in Part 2 of the Code (with the Code referring to the Local Government Transparency Code 2015).

As this relates to information published relating to February 2015 and the requirements of the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 came into effect on the 1st April 2015, I'll point out a nearly identically worded Regulation 2 the Local Government (Transparency Requirements) (England) Regulations 2014, see http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/... that relates to the Local Government Transparency Code 2014.

The Local Government Transparency Code 2014 can be read here https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy... and the Local Government Transparency Code 2015 can be read here https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy....

From the 2014 Code there is a table A summarising all information which must be published in which it states:

"Quarterly publication
Publish details of each individual item of expenditure that
exceeds £500, including items of expenditure, consistent with
Local Government Association guidance, such as:
individual invoices
grant payments
expense payments
payments for goods and services
grants
grant in aid
rent
credit notes over £500
transactions with other public bodies."

The 2015 code also states:

"Quarterly publication
Publish details of each individual item of expenditure that
exceeds £500, including items of expenditure, consistent with
Local Government Association guidance, such as:
individual invoices
grant payments
expense payments
payments for goods and services
grants
grant in aid
rent
credit notes over £500
transactions with other public bodies."

In section 13 of the 2014 Transparency Code it states "The Data Protection Act 1998 also does not automatically prohibit information being published naming the suppliers with whom the authority has contracts, including sole traders, because of the public interest in accountability and transparency in the spending of public money."

Section 15 of the 2014 Transparency Code states "The Data Protection Act 1998 also does not automatically prohibit information being published naming the suppliers with whom the authority has contracts, including sole traders, because of the public interest in accountability and transparency in the spending of public money."

Therefore the above argument is that a s.40 exemption doesn't apply to the information as due to the 2014 & 2015 Transparency Codes s.34 of the Data Protection Act http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998... states that such information is exempt from the non-disclosure provisions.

As it states in s.40(7) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000

(7)In this section—
“the data protection principles” means the principles set out in Part I of Schedule 1 to the Data Protection Act 1998, as read subject to Part II of that Schedule and section 27(1) of that Act;

S.27(1) of the Act (which is part of Part IV (exemptions) and I will point out that Part IV of the Data Protection Act includes section 34 which was referred to above) states:

"27 Preliminary.

(1)References in any of the data protection principles or any provision of Parts II and III to personal data or to the processing of personal data do not include references to data or processing which by virtue of this Part are exempt from that principle or other provision.

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Secondly, a s.40 exemption is subject to a public interest test.

You state that the amounts paid are for "professional legal advice and counsel opinion". The provision of legal advice is regulated by the Legal Services Act 2007. "Professional legal advice and counsel opinion" falls within the definition of "legal activity" within the Legal Services Act 2007. This Act includes a criminal offence for those who engage in legal activity but are not authorised or exempt persons.

Without providing the names of the individuals that Liverpool City Council is receiving "professional legal advice and counsel opinion" from, it is impossible to check whether these people are either authorised persons for example by checking here on the Law Society's website http://solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/ or exempt persons? There is therefore a public interest in knowing that Liverpool City Council is receiving legal advice and counsel opinion from those who are not committing a criminal offence in doing so.

I will point out that I would make an educated guess that the individuals are barristers (who work on a self-employed basis).

As referred to above, Liverpool City Council is already under a legal requirement to publish details of payment information such as individual invoices (which would have the names of these individuals on).

I therefore hope with the consideration of this further information as well as the other public interest argument about the openness and accountability of public expenditure that you will disagree that a s.40 exemption applies and supply the individual's names and accompanying invoices.

Yours sincerely,

John Brace

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d...

Yours faithfully,

John Brace

Dear Liverpool City Council,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Liverpool City Council's handling of my FOI request 'Details of payments to legal firms/barristers'.

Page 19 of your response (Request for Payment) contains the question "Does an invoice accompany this request?" to which the answer written is "Yes".

However no copy of this invoice was supplied by Liverpool City Council in response to this FOI request.

This is the part of the request to which that payment relates:

"Community Services Counsel Fees 1902066880 16/2/15 £2,000"

Paragraph 3 of decision notice FS50591795 states:

"3. The Commissioner requires the council to take the following steps to ensure compliance with the legislation.

 Issue a fresh response under the terms of the FOIA to the part of the complainant’s request that seeks copies of relevant invoices. "

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/d...

Yours faithfully,

John Brace