Ownership of Corporate Property, Facilities, Estates and Asset Information
Dear Vale of White Horse District Council,
I would be most grateful if you would provide me, under the Freedom of Information Act, the following information regarding your facilities management approach:
A tiered hierarchy of people within your organisation that are responsible for Estates, Property, CAFM, Finance and Facilities for your organisation. Please provide their name, job title and email address where possible. i.e. Estates Directors, Facilities Managers, Operations Directors etc.
Thank you for your help.
Yours faithfully,
Nicola Pomroy
Dear Nicola Pomroy
Thank you for your Freedom of Information request, which was received by
Vale of White Horse District Council on 27 November 2023.
Please accept this email as confirmation that your request has been
received and is being considered by the relevant department and that a
response will be sent to you within 20 working days, subject to the
information not being exempt and subject to any need for clarification.
The deadline for this will be 28 December 2023
The reference number for this request is Vale 23/790
I trust that this email is sufficient to assure you that your request is
being dealt with. However, should you have any queries in the meantime,
please do not hesitate to contact the FOI team at
[1][Vale of White Horse District Council request email]
Kind regards
Information Governance Team
Legal & Democratic Services
Vale of White Horse District Council
[2]www.whitehorsedc.gov.uk
We’ve moved – our address is now:
Abbey House
Abbey Close
Abingdon
OX14 3JE
Please update your records.
To find out more about how the council holds, uses and stores your
personal data, please click on the link below
[3]Vale of White Horse District Council
Dear Nicola Pomroy
Thank you for your Freedom of Information requests, which were received by
both South Oxfordshire District Council and Vale of White Horse District
Council, logged under FOI 23/932 South and 23/790 Vale. Please note that
the two councils operate as a shared service hence this joint response.
Under Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the 2000 Act) you
are entitled to be informed in writing whether the council holds the
information specified in your request and, if that is the case, to have
that information communicated to you unless any of the statutory
exemptions apply. I have considered your request and can confirm we do
hold some of the information asked. However, I believe one of the
statutory exemptions applies to your request.
I would be most grateful if you would provide me, under the Freedom of
Information Act, the following information regarding your facilities
management approach:
A tiered hierarchy of people within your organisation that are responsible
for Estates, Property, CAFM, Finance and Facilities for your organisation.
Please provide their name, job title and email address where possible.
i.e. Estates Directors, Facilities Managers, Operations Directors etc.
Some of the information you have requested constitutes the personal data
of council officers. Section 40(2) of the 2000 Act provides that
information is exempt from disclosure if it is the personal data of an
individual other than the requester and where one of the conditions listed
in section 40(3A)(3B) or 40(4A) is satisfied.
In this case the relevant condition is section 40(3A)(a)1 because release
of the information to the world at large would contravene the data
protection principles as set out in Article 5 of the UK GDPR. Section 3(2)
of the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA) defines personal data as: “any
information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual”.
An identifiable living individual is one who can be identified, directly
or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name,
an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or
more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental,
economic, cultural or social identity of the individual.” Furthermore,
“information will relate to a person if it is about them, linked to them,
has biographical significance for them, is used to inform decisions
affecting them or has them as its main focus.”
The requested information consists of the names of officers along with
their, job title and email address. Therefore, the information requested
relates to living people and meets the definition of ‘personal data’ in
section 3(2) of the DPA.
Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) states that:
“Personal data shall be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent
manner in relation to the data subject”. In order to be lawful, one of the
lawful bases listed in Article 6(1) of the GDPR must apply to the
processing. In this case the lawful basis most applicable is basis 6(1)(f)
which states: “processing is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate
interests pursued by the controller or by a third party except where such
interests are overridden by the interests or fundamental rights and
freedoms of the data subject which require protection of personal data, in
particular where the data subject is a child”. In considering the
application of Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR in the context of a request for
information under the 2000 Act, it is necessary to consider the:
• Legitimate interest test: Whether a legitimate interest is being
pursued in the request for information;
• Necessity test: Whether disclosure of the information is necessary to
meet the legitimate interest in question
• Balancing test: Whether the above interests override the legitimate
interest(s) or fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subject.
Legitimate interest
In considering any legitimate interests the councils recognises that
interests can include broad general principles of accountability and
transparency, as well as case-specific interests. Furthermore, a wide
range of interests may be legitimate interests. They can be the
requester’s own interests or the interests of third parties, and
commercial interests as well as wider societal benefits. However, the more
personal or more trivial the interest, the less likely it is that such an
interest will outweigh the rights of the data subject in the balancing
test.
The councils are of the opinion that if the requester is pursuing a purely
private concern which is unrelated to any broader public interest, then
disclosure is unlikely to be proportionate.
Necessity test
‘Necessary’ means more than desirable but less than indispensable or
absolute necessity. Accordingly, the test is one of reasonable necessity
and involves consideration of alternative measures which may make
disclosure of the requested information unnecessary. Disclosure under the
2000 Act must therefore be the least intrusive means of achieving the
legitimate aim in question.
The councils are satisfied that there is a less intrusive way to meet the
legitimate interests.
Balancing test
Based on the above factors, the councils have determined that there is
insufficient legitimate interest to outweigh the data subjects’
fundamental rights and freedoms. However, it will not be possible to
disclose the information in an anonymised way.
Furthermore, the councils consider that there is no Article 6 basis for
processing and so the disclosure of the specific information would not be
lawful.
A list of service managers and their responsibilities can be found on the
councils websites [1]here for South Oxfordshire District Council and
[2]here for Vale of White Horse District Council. The district councils’
general telephone number can be found on our website [3]here for South
Oxfordshire District Council and [4]here for Vale of White Horse District
Council and the councils preferred method of contact in terms of
facilities management is [5][email address].
If you are an organisation or sole trader that intends to use this
information for marketing purposes, you must ensure you comply with the
Privacy Electronic and Communications Regulations (PECR) which restricts
unsolicited marketing by phone, fax, email, text, or other electronic
message. For more information regarding PECR, please visit the
[6]Information Commissioner Website.
Please note, the provision of names and contact details provided on our
website does not give consent to receive direct marketing and does not
constitute a 'soft opt-in' under PECR.
Please treat this as the councils’ formal response under the 2000 Act. If
you are not satisfied with the decision I have made in response to your
request, you can make a request for an internal review by emailing
[7][email address] and [8][Vale of White Horse District Council request email] within 40 working
days from the date we issued our response. If you remain dissatisfied
after following that procedure, you have the right under Section 50 of the
2000 Act to complain to the Information Commissioner if you feel the
council has not dealt with your request properly. You can contact the
Commissioner at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF
(telephone number: 0303 123 1113). You can also find further information
at [9]www.ico.org.uk.
Kind regards
Information Governance Team
Legal & Democratic Services
South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Horse District Councils
01235 422400
We’ve moved – our address is now:
Abbey House
Abbey Close
Abingdon
OX14 3JE
Please update your records.
To find out more about how the councils hold, use and store your personal
data, please click on the appropriate link:
South Oxfordshire District Council Vale of White Horse District Council
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