FOI release

Business Rates Data

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 FOI2024/00186

Received 8 February 2024

Published 4 October 2024

Request

I have recently downloaded business rates data from your website: https://www.oxford.gov.uk/downloads/file/912/business-rates-data-4-april-2023 However, the extract appears to be from April 2023. Please could you let me know when new data will be published? Thank you 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.

Please see our business information webpage:

Access published business rates data | Oxford City Council

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.

You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.