Contact:Chris Guy
Phone:01483 444072
Fax:01483 444996
Email:
DX:2472 Guildford 1
Our ref:CJG / DG/002666
Your ref:
6 October 2015
Dear Mr James,
Request for Internal Review
Freedom of Information Request FoI 2170 (“FoI Request”)
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“FoI”)
Re Provision of Council/Local Authority Housing on Northway
I refer to your email dated 16 September 2015, which we have treated as seeking an Internal Review of the Council’s response to your FoI Request.
You are seeking such a Review on the grounds that:
“I do not believe that the request requires any personal information to be divulged (i.e. any information that can be used to identify the individuals).
Instead I simply wish to know if the tenancy has been assigned to another party recently, as the occupants have changed and I wish to find out if this is lawful”
This must be read in the context of your FoI Request which was as follows:-
“How long the current residents of the local authority/ council housing at 49 Northway have had tenancy of the property
How many people are living in the property
If the tenancy allows occupancy to be transferred to other people.”
I would comment as follows:-
“I do not believe that the request requires any personal information to be divulged (i.e. any information that can be used to identify the individuals)”
Personal Data: s40(2) of FoI
FoI provides that certain information may be exempt from production.
In this case, the relevant exemption is s40(2) – Data Protection
The first two paragraphs of your FoI Request involve the personal data of third parties; and to release this information would be unfair to the individuals concerned as they have not consented to the release of this information and/or its public disclosure is likely to cause damage and distress.
Even if the names of those concerned are not revealed, in my opinion the information you are seeking still amounts to the personal data of third parties.
Prohibitions on Disclosure: s44 FoI
Another exemption under the FoI is where complying with a FoI request is not allowed under law.
If the Council responded to your FoI request, it runs the risk of breaching the Human Rights Act 1998 by interfering with the household’s home, family and private life (with no legitimate grounds for such interference). This would therefore, in my view, engage s44.
“Instead I simply wish to know if the tenancy has been assigned to another party recently, as the occupants have changed and I wish to find out if this is lawful”
For the reasons already given, it is my opinion that even such generalised information about identifiable individuals living at a particular address amounts to personal data and is thus exempt under FoI; similarly, my argument about s44 and the Human Rights Act also applies.
In terms of a more broad-brush response to your FoI Request, I am aware that you have already been provided with general information about tenants’ rights under council tenancies; and that your comments about a change of occupants has been passed for investigation.
In Conclusion
I am satisfied that the relevant information has been supplied to you; I also consider that the FoI exemptions described above have been correctly applied.
If you remain dissatisfied with the outcome of this Internal Review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:
Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
If you have any queries about this letter please contact me.
Yours sincerely
Chris Guy
Interim Governance Lawyer
on behalf of Satish Mistry, Monitoring Officer & Director of Corporate Services