Dear Ms Janssen

Oxford City Council – Reference: 10620

Thank you for your email. Your request was received on 26/11/ 2021 and you will be sent a response within 20 working days (of receipt) in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000/ Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR), subject to the information not being exempt or containing reference to a third party.

Due to an unprecedented volume of Freedom of Information Requests currently, it is likely that some requests may go beyond the 20 working days, we are working as hard as possible to respond in a timely manner, but we feel it is better to keep requestors informed in advance.

Yours sincerely

Sal Bartlett | Information Governance Administrator| Law & Governance | SA1.2B | Oxford City Council | St Aldates Chambers | St Aldates | Oxford | OX1 1DS |
For any Data Protection queries please send the email directly to the [email address] mailbox

Stop the virus from spreading. Keep Oxford safe.
Follow the guidance: Clean hands. Wear a face mask. Keep your distance. Get tested if you have symptoms.

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Dear Ms Janssen,

Further to the email below, I can respond to your Freedom of Information
Act 2000 request received on 27^th November 2021 as follows:

We feel that this request is subject to Exemption 43(2) for the details of
the specific businesses assisted by grants; and general information has
already been published elsewhere so those details fall under a section 21
exemption

Those businesses in receipt of a grant payment have not been identified.

The exemption under Section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act
(information likely to prejudice commercial interests) is applicable.
 This, too, is a qualified exemption under the Act and, as such, is
subject to the public interest test.  

Disclosure of information about a grant payment may indicate the viability
of the businesses concerned and, therefore, risks putting those businesses
at a financial disadvantage.  

It is also in the wider public interest of general commercial stability to
protect information on grant payments.  In the circumstances, the public
interest in maintaining the exemption is considered to be greater than the
public interest in the information being disclosed.

Statistics on the number of Grants payments sent and the total amounts
sent, for the various types of Grants are already published on the HM
Government website at:

[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...

If you disagree with any part of the response to your request, you are
entitled to ask the Council for an internal review of the decision(s)
made.  You may do this by writing to the Monitoring Officer, by either
email – [2][email address] – or by post to Monitoring Officer, Oxford
City Council, St Aldate’s Chambers, St Aldate’s, Oxford, OX1 1DS.  After
the result of the internal review, if you remain dissatisfied, you may ask
the Information Commissioner to intervene on your behalf.  You may do this
by writing to the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Yours sincerely

Joyce Fagan

Information Governance Requests Officer

Joyce Fagan | Information Governance Requests Officer | Oxford City
Council | Law and Governance | St. Aldate's Chambers | Oxford | OX1 1DS |
 

Stop the virus from spreading. Keep Oxford safe.

Follow the guidance: Clean hands. Wear a face mask. Keep your distance.
Get tested if you have symptoms

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Dear Ms Janssen,

Thank you for your email below. Please be advised that this has been passed on to the person who handles Internal reviews for Freedom of Information requests.

Yours sincerely,

Joyce Fagan
Information Governance Requests Officer

Joyce Fagan | Information Governance Requests Officer | Oxford City Council | Law and Governance | St. Aldate's Chambers | Oxford | OX1 1DS |  

Stop the virus from spreading. Keep Oxford safe.
Follow the guidance: Clean hands. Wear a face mask. Keep your distance. Get tested if you have symptoms.

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Dear Ms Janssen

Please accept my sincere apologies for the lack of response to your
request for an internal review and please be assured that we are working
on sending you a response as soon as possible.

In order to progress your request we have the following queries regarding
the information you require:

1.       We may now be able to provide some of the information you
requested, specifically: the type of grant, amount paid and date of
payment. However, as details on a number of recipients are exempt from
disclosure under Section 40 (personal data) of the Freedom of Information
Act, the time required to extract the information we are able to disclose
on recipients of the 10,126 separate grants the council has paid out as
part of this scheme would exceed 18.5 hours and therefore would be subject
to exemption from disclosure under Section 12 (time/cost limit) of the
Freedom of Information Act. Could you confirm if you would like us to
provide you with details of type of grant, amount paid and date of payment
only?

2.       Given that since your original Freedom of Information request in
November 2021 there have been subsequent Covid-19 grants and schemes
issued can I check the timeframe for which you are requesting this
information and whether you would also like information we have for the
remainder of 2021 and 2022?

I would be grateful if you could provide clarification on the above so
that we can progress with our response to you as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information Team | Law and Governance | Oxford City Council |
St Aldates Chambers | 109-113 St. Aldate's | Oxford | OX1 1DS 

Website: [1]www.oxford.gov.uk | Follow us on Twitter:
[2]www.twitter.com/OxfordCity | Like us on Facebook:
[3]www.facebook.com/OxfordCityCouncil

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Dear Carrie Janssen

Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to your query.

Having reviewed this case, it is my view that Section 40 is a more
appropriate exemption than Section 43(2) due to the number of sole traders
having been awarded grants, and the government now having published some
of the data relating to businesses receiving Covid-19 grants.

Under the Data Protection Act 2018 names and addresses of sole traders are
classed as personal data and therefore are exempt from disclosure under
S40 of the FOIA. Further guidance on this is as follows:

What about information about companies?

Information concerning a ‘legal’ rather than a ‘natural’ person is not
personal data. Consequently, information about a limited company or
another legal entity, which might have a legal personality separate to its
owners or directors, does not constitute personal data and does not fall
within the scope of the UK GDPR. Similarly, information about a public
authority is not personal data.

However, the UK GDPR does apply to personal data relating to individuals
acting as sole traders, employees, partners, and company directors
wherever they are individually identifiable and the information relates to
them as an individual rather than as the representative of a legal person.
A name and a corporate email address clearly relates to a particular
individual and is therefore personal data. However, the content of any
email using those details will not automatically be personal data unless
it includes information which reveals something about that individual, or
has an impact on them

(ICO guidance :
https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/gui...)

As explained in my previous response, as a consequence the time required
to extract the information on businesses that we are able to disclose
would exceed time/cost limits and therefore S12 exemption also applies.

If you would like us to provide you with the information we are able to,
as set out below in Q1 and Q2, please could you advise and I will action
accordingly.

Yours sincerely

Information Governance Officer

Freedom of Information Team | Law and Governance | Oxford City Council |
Town Hall | St Aldates | Oxford | OX1 1BX 

Website: www.oxford.gov.uk | Follow us on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/OxfordCity | Like us on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/OxfordCityCouncil

Dear Freedom Of Information,

Thank you for your response of 07 November 2022.

Could you please provide an explanation as to why you have changed your
stance regarding this FOI request. In your response of 29 December 2021
you claimed this request is subject to Exemption 43(2) of FOI act?

In your response of 07 November 2022 you said "However, as details on a
number of recipients are exempt from disclosure under Section 40 (personal
data) of the Freedom of Information Act". Could you please provide
clarification as to why only some recipients are exempt and provide
details of the exemption criteria.

Yours sincerely,

Carrie Janssen

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Dear Carrie Janssen

Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to you. Our response, and data requested, is attached.

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information Team | Law and Governance | Oxford City Council | Town Hall | St Aldate’s | Oxford | OX1 1BX 
Website: www.oxford.gov.uk | Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/OxfordCity | Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/OxfordCityCouncil

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