This document was classified as: OFFICIAL
COMPLAINTS AND INFORMATION
GOVERNANCE TEAM
Town Hall, Darlington DL1 5QT
DX 69280 Darlington 6
Web site: http://www.darlington.gov.uk
Mr Richard Roberts
Date
: 27th May 2021
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Please ask for
: Rachel Seddon
Direct Line
: (01325) 406777
Your Reference :
-
Our Reference
: DBC-0379-21
Document Name :
Dear Mr Roberts
Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Information Request
Your request for information, received 5th May 2021, has now been considered.
You requested
Required Information;- A list of all live business rates accounts with a 2017 list
Rateable Value.
•
Property Reference Number (also known as Billing Authority Reference
Number) of the property on which the charge is made. Please note that this is
not the Rate Demand or Rate Account Number.
•
Current rateable value
•
Account holder name
•
Property address
•
The billing address (where different to the property address), the contact
telephone number and email address
•
The date the current ratepayer became liable for the business rates – we
do not require any historical account liability dates only the current ratepayers
liability start date
•
whether a property is empty or occupied
•
Where a property is currently empty please provide the date the
ratepayer became liable for empty rates
This document was classified as: OFFICIAL
•
Where there is an exemption on the account please provide the start and
end date and type of exemption applied (e.g. listed building)
•
Where there is a relief on the account please provide the date it was
applied and the type of relief (e.g. Retail Discount)
•
We do not require any personal information or sole traders.
Our response:
Please refer to attached Excel spreadsheet. In some cases, we have not provided
details of the liable party as they are an individual, not a business, as such, we
believe that this information is personal data as defined by the Data Protection Act
2018 and that its disclosure would be in breach of the first data protection principle.
As a result, we are refusing this element of your request under section 40(2) of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. A full refusal notice is appended to this letter.
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request or would like to request an
internal review of our response, please write to:
Complaints and Information Governance Manager
Darlington Borough Council
Neighbourhood Services and Resources Group
Town Hall
Darlington
DL1 5QT
E-mail:
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx.xx
You can also obtain further information from the Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113
Website:
www.ico.org.uk
Yours sincerely
Rachel Seddon
Complaints & Information Governance Assistant
This document was classified as: OFFICIAL
Refusal Notice – Section 40(2) Freedom of Information Act 2000
Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the FOIA) provides that:
(2)
Any information to which a request for information relates is also
exempt information if—
(a) it constitutes personal data which does not fall within subsection (1),
and
(b) the first, second or third condition below is satisfied.
(3A) The first condition is that the disclosure of the information to a member
of the public otherwise than under this Act—
(a) would contravene any of the data protection principles…”
Is the information ‘personal data’?
Section 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 (the DPA) states:
(2)
““Personal data” means any information relating to an identified or
identifiable living individual (subject to subsection (14)(c)).
(3)
“Identifiable living individual” means a living individual who can be
identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to—
(a) an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data
or an online identifier, or
(b) one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic,
mental, economic, cultural or social identity of the individual.”
In this case the data relates to the liability of an individual for National Non-Domestic
Rates.
Accordingly, we believe that the information does constitute personal data.
Would disclosure breach any of the data protection principles?
The second test under section 40(2) is whether the disclosure of the information
would breach any of the data protection principles. The first data protection principle
states:
(1)
“Personal data shall be:
(a) processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to
the data subject (‘lawfulness, fairness and transparency)”
In this context, ‘processing’ is construed broadly and includes disclosure of the
information requested. As the information withheld meets the definition of personal
This document was classified as: OFFICIAL
data, it can only be disclosed if to do so would be lawful, fair and transparent in
relation to the data subject and in accordance with the conditions set out in Article 6
of the GDPR.
Article 6 conditions
In this instance, the sixth condition is the only potentially relevant condition from
Article 6. The condition states:
“processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued
by the by the controller or by a third party, except where such interests are
overridden by the interests of fundamental rights and freedoms of the data
subject which require protection of personal data, in particular where the data
subject is a child.”
To ensure that this condition is met, we are required to balance your interests in
having access to the information against the privacy interests of the third party. In
this case, we believe that information provided by the ratepayer is provided for the
purposes of collection of taxation and there is a reasonable expectation that the
information will not be placed in the public domain, as such, disclosure of this
information would not be considered fair.
As we have determined that disclosure of the information withheld does not satisfy
the sixth condition, we believe that the Council would be in breach of the first data
protection principle if the information were to be disclosed.
As a result of the above, we have determined that the information you have
requested is exempt from disclosure under section 40(2) of the FOIA. You have the
right to appeal against this decision. Details of how to do this are provided in the
letter that accompanies this refusal notice.
