Empty public land
Dear Common Council of the City of London,
Could you please provide a list of the empty land spaces owned and managed by the council of the City of London?
Yours faithfully,
Anna
Dear Madam,
Thank you for your email of 18 January 2019 to the City of London (CoL).
Name of Applicant
Please note that section 8 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) states
as follows:
"8.—(1) In this Act any reference to a 'request for information' is a
Request for reference to such a request which— … (b) states the name of
the applicant …"
For further guidance, please see the guidance “Recognising a request made
under the Freedom of Information Act (Section 8)” (version 1.2, 2 Nov
2016), published on the website of the Information Commissioner’s Office
(ICO) at: [1]http://www.ico.org.uk/.
You will see that the ICO states that “the intention of the legislation is
for the requester to provide their real name”, and that “the absence of a
real name would make it technically invalid under Section 8(1)(b)” of the
FOIA.
The CoL does not consider that ‘Anna D A’ fulfils the requirements of the
guidance. Please would you provide your full, real name.
Please note that the ICO states in “The Guide to Freedom of Information”
(version 4.9, 14 Aug 2017), that “…you [the authority receiving the
request] may decide to check [an applicant’s] identity if it is clear they
are using a pseudonym”. We reserve the right to do this should we consider
that a pseudonym is being used.
Name of Agent
Please would you also confirm the name of any person or organisation on
whose behalf your request may be made. In considering this, please note
the above guidance states at paragraphs 42 and 43 of the guidance
“Recognising a request made under the Freedom of Information Act (Section
8)” (version 1.2, 2 Nov 2016) states that, to be a valid request, “the
request must state the real name of the party on whose behalf the agent is
acting … A request which only includes the real name of the agent will be
invalid”.
It is clear that the section 12 and section 14(1) provisions of the Act
could be circumvented where the party on whose behalf the agent is acting
is not stated.
Incidentally, in such circumstances, where the proper name of the
applicant or the agent are not provided, paragraph 19 would apply. In
other words, if someone were not providing their real name and/or
disclosing that they were acting as an 'agent', then the ICO would not
consider the request a valid request and therefore could not manage any
complaint about the response to it.
We look forward to receiving clarification as to your real name. We also
look forward to being informed as to whether you are acting on behalf of
any other party.
Yours sincerely,
Information Officer
Comptroller & City Solicitor’s Department
City of London
Tel: 020-7332 1209
[2]www.cityoflondon.gov.uk
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