Dear Mrs. Thompson,

Thank you for your request for information, which was received on 22nd January, 2016 and is being dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We are therefore required to provide a response within 20 working days, which will be on or before 19th February, 2016.

If we require clarification we will contact you as soon as possible – please note that the timescale for response specified above may be subject to change if this is the case.

In the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any queries, remembering to quote the reference number above in any communications.

Yours sincerely

John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data
Adran y Prif Weithredwr
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin

Information & Data Protection Officer
Chief Executive's Department
Carmarthenshire County Council
Mewnol/Internal: 4127
Allanol/External: 01267 224127

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Dear Mrs Thompson,

I refer to your request for information, which was received on 22nd January, 2016 and has been dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Please accept my apologies for the delay in providing this response.

The specific information you requested was as follows:

"Please could you provide the register of personal and business interests, gifts and hospitality, for all senior officers within Carmarthenshire Council from 1st January 2013 to date.

Please include the Chief Executive, Assistant Chief Executives, Directors and Heads of Service."

In response, please find attached a file containing the relevant information held by the Council.

Please note that we have withheld some information on the grounds set out below.

The information in question are declarations made regarding the friends and family members of officers.

Under Section 40 (2) of the Act, a public authority may refuse to release personal data if its disclosure would breach any of the data protection principles set out in Schedule 1 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA).

The legal definition of personal information contained in the DPA is information that relates to a living individual, who can be identified from the information, or from other information held or likely to come into the possession of the data controller (in this case the Council). This would include names, addresses as well as a very wide range of information about that would enable a person to be identified.

The information I am withholding clearly falls within the definition above and would therefore amount to personal data.

The first data protection principle states:

“1. Personal data shall be processed fairly and lawfully and, in particular, shall not be processed unless—
(a) at least one of the conditions in Schedule 2 is met, and
b) in the case of sensitive personal data, at least one of the conditions in Schedule 3 is also met.”

The term processing includes disclosure to third parties, which must therefore be fair, lawful and meet one of the relevant conditions set out in Schedule 2 of the DPA. If the information is classed as sensitive personal data, an additional condition found in Schedule 3 of the DPA must also be met before it can be disclosed.

Disclosure of information under the Freedom of Information Act has the effect of placing it in the public domain. I must therefore disregard who has asked for the information and am required to consider whether it would breach the first data protection principle by releasing it to the public at large.

I believe disclosing this information into the public domain would be contrary to the reasonable expectations of the individuals concerned. Disclosure would lead to distress an intrusion of privacy. I do not consider that there is any overriding public interest requiring the release of the information to the public at large in this case.

Therefore, as I am refusing to provide some the requested information, please consider this email as a formal notice of refusal under Section 17 of the Act.

If you are unhappy with the way in which your request has been handled, you can request a review by writing to:

The Head of Administration & Law
Carmarthenshire County Council
County Hall
Carmarthen
SA31 1JP

Email: [email address]

If you remain unhappy with the handling of your request or complaint, you have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

The Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Telephone: 0303 123 1113
Website: www.ico.gov.uk

There is no charge for making an appeal.

If I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

John Tillman
Swyddog Gwybodaeth a Diogelu Data
Adran y Prif Weithredwr
Cyngor Sir Gaerfyrddin

Information & Data Protection Officer
Chief Executive's Department
Carmarthenshire County Council

Mewnol/Internal: 4127
Allanol/External: 01267 224127

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[ WhatDoTheyKnow note: The above text was badly encoded, and has had strange characters removed. ]