FOI release

FOI Business Rates

This request was refused in full, so we didn't provide the information the requester asked for. This may include information where we can neither confirm nor deny that we hold it.

Case reference FOI2024/00983

Received 2 September 2024

Published 4 October 2024

Request

Dear Sir or Madam I request the following information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 about Business Rates Accounts held by your Council: * Account Name * Account Start Date * Billing Authority Reference * Current 2023 List Rateable Value * Details of any reliefs where applied, including a further breakdown if possible of: o Type of relief applied o Date the relief was applied o Value of the relief * Full Address of the rated assessment * Billing Address * Occupied/Empty Status * Description I am aware that the Account Name may be considered personal in some instances so I ask that in these cases you supply the rest of the information provided with the Account name redacted. Also, if there are any aspects of our request you cannot disclose information for, could you please identify them with a reason. I thank you very much for your help,

Response

In response to your request, we can confirm that Oxford City Council holds this information but that we consider that the exemption under section 31(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 applies to it.The exemption in Section 31(1) is designed to cover all aspects of the prevention and detection of crime. This information is exempt from disclosure as it is likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime, the apprehension or prosecution of offenders or the administration of justice.Section 31 is a qualified exemption which means we must undertake a public interest test which is set out below in addition to explanations behind our engagement of this exemption.We acknowledge the public interest in openness and transparency.However, there has been a rise in fraudulent attempts to claim credits by third parties, thus this information is no longer published as this can be used to try to claim refunds fraudulently.

Thus, while we strive to be transparent, we must also consider the importance of our duty to provide the public with quality and value for money services. As a result of this duty, and the risk of potential prejudice of mishandling the data published online, we believe the interest in withholding this information outweighs that for disclosure.

Documents

There are no documents for this release.

This is Oxford City Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.

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