List of Eligable businesses not Getting Small Business Rates Relief

The request was refused by Enfield Council.

Dear Enfield Council,

Dear Sir or Madam

Re: List of commercial properties not receiving small business rate
relief

Please can you provide me with the following information under the
Freedom Of Information Act 2000:-

(a) addresses and rateable values of Commercial properties that are
within your District Council up to a rateable value of £12,000 who
are eligible for, but not currently receiving small business rate
relief; and

(b) the names of the owners of those properties referred to in (a)

Yours faithfully,

Paul Newman

[1]Enfield Logo

 
 Response
Dear Sir / Madam

We acknowledge your request for information received on 11/06/2014 09.41
AM

Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate team or service holding
the information and that team will respond to your request and contact you
where required.

If the information you are seeking exists, and we are not prevented from
releasing it by an exemption, the Council aim to provide you with the
information within 20 working days from receipt of your request.

Yours Sincerely
Enfield Council

Dear Sir / Madam

We acknowledge your request for information received on 11/06/2014 09.41
AM

Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate team or service holding
the information and that team will respond to your request and contact you
where required.

If the information you are seeking exists, and we are not prevented from
releasing it by an exemption, the Council aim to provide you with the
information within 20 working days from receipt of your request.

Yours Sincerely
Enfield Council

Thank you for your question. Please take a look at these Answers from our
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[2]How do I make a request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000?
[3]Will I be able to obtain personal information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000?
[4]What are my rights under the Freedom of Information Act 2000?
[5]Does the Freedom of Information Act 2000 apply only to information
created from January 1st 2005?
[6]Will I get all the information I have asked for from the Council under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000?

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 Discussion Thread
 Customer (Paul Newman) 11/06/2014 09.41 AM
Dear Enfield Council,

Dear Sir or Madam

Re: List of commercial properties not receiving small business rate
relief

Please can you provide me with the following information under the
Freedom Of Information Act 2000:-

(a) addresses and rateable values of Commercial properties that are
within your District Council up to a rateable value of £12,000 who
are eligible for, but not currently receiving small business rate
relief; and

(b) the names of the owners of those properties referred to in (a)

Yours faithfully,

Paul Newman

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 Question Reference No140611-000030
Subject :  Your Council (Benefit,Registrars)
Subject Level 2:  Freedom of Information
Date Created:  11/06/2014 09.41 AM
Last Updated:  11/06/2014 09.41 AM
Status:  Correspondence team
 

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Simon Ranyard, Enfield Council

Classification: PROTECT - Private and Confidential

Dear Mr Newman

 

In reply to your freedom of information request below dated 11/06/14.  All
occupied properties under £12,000 receive small business rates but to save
another request I assume you mean the additional discount.

 

However I must ask you to treat this email as a refusal notice. I am
refusing under Section 40,  Section 41 and Section 12 of the Freedom of
Information.

 

Our records are for the purposes of collecting a tax, there is no
obligation on us to publish information concerning ratepayers in this
Borough.  Until this changes the following exemptions will continue to
apply.  Any information collected and given to us, is given in
confidence.  Businesses are on the whole public by their very nature and
will put themselves in the public domain if they so choose, it is not for
us to do this on their behalf.

 

You are asking for names of owners, this may be bad wording as I would and
could not provide owner details of properties as it would not be correct,
mainly as I do not hold this data the land registry does.

 

I assume you mean occupiers though.  I can confirm that the London Borough
of Enfield holds this information, but some of this information is exempt
under section 40 (personal information) of the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA), as the information constitutes third party data. Section 40(2)
provides that personal data about third parties is exempt information if
one of the conditions set out in section 40(3) is satisfied. Under the FOI
Act disclosure of this information would breach the fair processing
principle contained in the Data Protection Act (DPA), where it would be
unfair to that person  I will not provide this data as this is exempt
under the data protection and as such is an absolute exemption under act
under Section 40.    

 

You are also asking for specific information about accounts that are not
receiving any reliefs.  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.  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.

 

Rating agents 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. 

 

Whether or not a ratepayer is eligible rests on certain factors, this is
why it is an application process which is decided on a case by case basis,
this is not something that could be quantified through an FOI request.   I
am also refusing under Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act a
public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information
if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request
would exceed the “appropriate limit” prescribed in the regulations.   We
continual seek to maximise small business rates relief take up through
various methods however.  I would be happy to provide statistics on
numbers of awards made.

 

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:  [1][email address]

 

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: [2][email address]

 

Regards

 

Simon Ranyard

Ndr Team Leader

Revenues and Benefits

Enfield Council

Silver Street

Enfield

EN1 3XY

 

Tel: + 44 (0)20 8379 2398

[3][email address]

 

 

  

 

Reference # Freedom of Information request - List of Eligable businesses not Getting
140611-000030 Small Business Rates Relief
Status Discussion Thread
Correspondence team Response 11/06/2014 09.41 AM
Assigned To Dear Sir / Madam
Not specified
Service We acknowledge your request for information received on 11/06/2014 09.41
Your Council AM
(Benefit,Registrars)
Freedom of Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate team or service
Information holding the information and that team will respond to your request and
Category contact you where required.
PID 722 - Freedom of
Information Act If the information you are seeking exists, and we are not prevented from
SLA releasing it by an exemption the Council aim to provide you with the
Not specified information within 20 working days from receipt of your request.
Queue
Freedom of Yours Sincerely
Information Enfield Council
Date Created
11/06/2014 09.41 AM Dear Sir / Madam
Initial Response
None We acknowledge your request for information received on 11/06/2014 09.41
Last Updated AM
11/06/2014 09.41 AM
Customer SmartSense Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate team or service
+1 on -3 to +3 scale holding the information and that team will respond to your request and
Staff SmartSense contact you where required.
0 on -3 to +3 scale
If the information you are seeking exists, and we are not prevented from
releasing it by an exemption the Council aim to provide you with the
information within 20 working days from receipt of your request.

Yours Sincerely
Enfield Council

Please take a look at these Answers from our knowledge base that might
answer your question.

If no Answers are shown this means we do not currently have any
information regarding this subject matter within our knowledge base.
Customer (Paul Newman) 11/06/2014 09.41 AM
Dear Enfield Council,

Dear Sir or Madam

Re: List of commercial properties not receiving small business rate
relief

Please can you provide me with the following information under the
Freedom Of Information Act 2000:-

(a) addresses and rateable values of Commercial properties that are
within your District Council up to a rateable value of £12,000 who
are eligible for, but not currently receiving small business rate
relief; and

(b) the names of the owners of those properties referred to in (a)

Yours faithfully,

Paul Newman

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[4][FOI #215995 email]

Is [5][Enfield Council request email] the wrong address for Freedom of
Information requests to Enfield Council? If so, please contact us using
this form:
[6]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/change_re...

Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[7]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/offi...

If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web
manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page.

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