Names of any sitting elected councillors who have been sent a summons for non or late payment of council tax
Copy of letter sent in response to a request made on 30th October 2023 asking for the names of any sitting elected councillor in Liverpool who has received a court summons regarding the non-payment or late payment of Council Tax for the financial years of: 2019/2020, 2020/2021, 2021/2022, 2022/2023, 2023/2024.
The City Council can confirm for the financial years stated in your request two sitting Councillors have received a court summons regarding the non-payment or late payment of Council Tax.
However, the City Council will not release the names of the councillors for the reasons set out in the remainder of this response.
Rationale for the reason
When handling a request under the Freedom of Information Act for information that may include personal data, the City Council must first establish whether the information constitutes personal data within the meaning of the Data Protection Act 2018. If the information constitutes the personal data of third parties, the City Council must consider whether disclosing it would breach the first data protection principle. Personal data can only be disclosed if to do so would be fair, lawful and meet one of the conditions in Schedule 2 of the Data Protection Act 2018. Assessing whether disclosure is fair involves considering:
1. Whether the information is sensitive personal data.
2. The possible consequences of disclosure on the individual(s) concerned.
3. The reasonable expectations of the individual, taking into account their expectations both at the time the information was collected and at the time of the request; the nature of the information itself; the circumstances in which the information was obtained; whether the information has been or remains in the public domain.
4. Whether there is a legitimate interest in the public or requester having access to the information and the balance between this and the rights and freedoms of the data subjects.
In assessing your request, the City Council consider points 2 and 3, as detailed above, would potentially breach principles 5(1)(a) of the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR). To release the names of the two sitting elected Councillors is unfair and otherwise unlawful.
When considering whether the disclosure of personal information would be lawful or not, the City Council must consider whether there is a legitimate interest in disclosing the information, whether disclosure of the information is necessary and whether these interests override the rights and freedoms of the individuals whose personal information it is.
It is necessary to balance the legitimate interests in disclosure against the fundamental rights and freedoms of the data subjects. In doing so, it is necessary to consider the impact of disclosure. The key issue when considering the balancing test is whether the individuals concerned have a reasonable expectation that their information will not be disclosed. It is also important to consider whether disclosure would be likely to result in unwarranted damage or distress to the individuals and whether or not they have consented to its disclosure.
The City Council is under no obligation to seek consent to publish personal information. There is an expectation of those individuals that information provided for the purposes of the City Council’s Council Tax procedures remains confidential and is not placed in the public domain.
The City Council recognises that there is public interest in creating transparency and accountability around issues pertaining to the non-payment or late payment of Council Tax by sitting elected Councillors.
In this case the City Council has concluded that the disclosure of the names of sitting elected Councillors would be unfair and otherwise unlawful and, accordingly, that disclosure would fall within the scope of section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act. The City Council has determined that there is insufficient legitimate interest to outweigh the fundamental rights and freedoms of the sitting Councillors in this specific case and considers that there is no legal basis for the City Council to disclose the names of the two sitting elected Councillors and to do so would be in breach of Article 5(1)(a) of the UK GDPR.
This concludes our response
The City Council will consider appeals, referrals or complaints in respect of your Freedom of Information Act 2000 and you must submit these in writing to Informationrequests@liverpool.gov.uk within 28 days of receiving your response.
The matter will be dealt with by an officer who was not previously involved with the response and we will look to provide a response within 40 days.
If you remain dissatisfied you may also apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision about whether the request for information has been dealt with in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
The Information Commissioner’s website is ico.org.uk and the postal address and telephone numbers are: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK95AF. Fax number 01625 524 510, DX 20819, Telephone 01625 545745. Email mail@ico.gsi.gov.uk - they advise that their email is not secure.
I trust this information satisfies your enquiry.
Yours sincerely,
Information Team