Date: 13 Sept 2018

Subject: Freedom Of Information Request – Whether All Active and Dormant Private Limited Companies are Declarable Pecuniary Interests

Dear North Hertfordshire District Council,

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I request the following information be provided to me within 20 working days (Thursday 11 October 2018).

Should you require any further information to answer this original request, please ask for it early enough to ensure that it does not delay the resolution of this original request, which is very urgent.

No further extension can be granted due to urgency.

The request is as follows:

Section 30 of the Localism Act 2011 provides that a member or co-opted members of a relevant authority (as defined in section 27(6) of the Localism Act 2011), on taking office and the circumstances set out in section 31, must notify the authority’s monitoring officer of any disclosable pecuniary interest which that person has at the time of notification.

The Relevant Authorities (Disclosable Pecuniary Interests) Regulations specify what a pecuniary interest is. Section 30 (3) of the Act sets out the circumstances in which such an interest is a disclosable interest.

The first of these to have relevance to this matter is “Any employment, office, trade, profession or vocation carried on for profit or gain.”

Question: In which of the following cases, would a member be legally required to declare their interest, and in which case would they not be legally required to declare an interest?

CASE ONE:
The member has a private limited company with a UK registration number.
The private limited company’s registration address is the same as the member’s private home address.
The private limited company has its registered office address as the member’s private home address plus the company’s registration address.
Both company registration address and office address are in the district where the member holds office.
The member is 100 per cent shareholder.
The member is sole director and owns all company shareholding.
The company was registered after the Localism Act 2011 had been brought into Law.
The directorship is active.
The company registration is active.
The company has made its annual tax filings.
The filed tax documents indicate no trading has occurred, at the time of the last annual tax return filing.

Is such a company’s “dormant status” factor enough, to allow for full dispensation or exemption from legally needing to declare such a company as a “disclosable pecuniary interest”?

CASE TWO:

The member has a private limited company with a UK registration number.
The private limited company’s registration address is the same as the member’s private home address.
The private limited company has its registered office address as the member’s private home address plus the company’s registration address.
Both company registration address and office address are in the district where the member holds office.
The member is 100 per cent shareholder.
The member is sole director and owns all company shareholding.
The company was registered after the Localism Act 2011 had been brought into Law.
The directorship is active.
The company registration is active.
The company has made its annual tax filings.
The filed tax documents indicate some trading has occurred, at the time of the last annual tax return filing.

Is such a company’s “active status” factor enough, to disallow for full dispensation or exemption from legally needing to declare such a company as a “disclosable pecuniary interest”?

Question’s Conclusion:

Are such private limited companies owned by members, outside of the Act’s definition of declarable pecuniary interest if dormant at the time of their registration up until the Company’s last tax filling?

Or, are such private limited companies owned by members, inside of the Act’s definition of declarable pecuniary interest even if dormant at the time of their registration up until the Company’s last tax filling?

Yours faithfully,

Mark Dimmock