See answers to previous information requests

This is a request for information, filed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. We wish to obtain information, from the Council, relating to unclaimed credits for non-domestic ratepayers.

1. We therefore request a list of both credit balances and credit balance write ons accrued since your earliest records, for the amounts owing to all “incorporated” companies within the authorities billing area, including:
• The name of each ratepayer for which the credit or credit write on relates to.
• The value of overpayment in each case.
• The year(s) in which overpayment was made.
• The hereditament address.
Please note that no personal data (as defined under the Data Protection Act 1998) is requested and any personal data contained within files concerning Non-Domestic Rates is exempted from this request.
The Council are currently reviewing the information that it publishes as part of its Business Rates datasets following decision notices published by the Information Commissioner and other Councils responses to Freedom of Information requests.

We are applying the following exemptions in relation to this request; Section 40 (personal details), Section 31(1)(a), Section 41(1) (information provided in confidence) and Section 21 (accessible by other means).

The information used for Business Rates is provided by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) and the expectation of using that data is in relation to Business Rates and not disclosed. This information was provided to the Council with an expectation of confidence for the purposes of calculating rates or reliefs to arrive at an amount payable. We consider that the withheld information is more than trivial in nature and is not accessible to the public by other means. This exemption is not subject to the public interest test, but section 41(b) has an assumption that the public interest in maintaining the duty of confidence will prevail unless the public interest in disclosure outweighs maintaining that duty. Certain information can already be accessed by contacting the Valuation Office.

The main concern that is being raised around the country now relating to credit information is in relation to the increased risk of fraud that could occur. The provision of a list of empty properties would make it easier for criminals to identify targets for property crimes. Disclosure of credit balances, write offs, and write ons, also exposes both the Council and businesses to the risk of fraud. As a result, we consider that disclosure of this information would be likely to prejudice the prevention of crime.

The Council recognises the public interest in openness and transparency however, we consider this does not outweigh the stronger case against disclosure of these exemptions.