RFI FOI Refusal - S40 - Personal Data

OFFICIAL

Dear Mr Metcalfe

Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Information Request

Your request for information, received 22 May 2015, has now been considered. Your request is outlined below with our responses added alongside.

Could you please supply me with the voting count statistics for all wards in the local elections 2015.

The Returning Officer is not subject to the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act but, although there is no statutory obligation to provide you with information or respond to your question, in the interests of transparency, Darlington’s response is detailed below.

All of the votes counted for the individual wards in the Borough are detailed at the following link:-

I require the figures from the "first" count BEFORE the block vote was added as I'm trying to educate myself and others on how the system works so that we can use our votes wisely.
Only one figure is recorded, that on the Declaration of Results as detailed above. There is no 'first count'. Voting at all local elections is for individual candidates - i.e. one vote for each candidate marked on the ballot paper. Every candidate's individual vote is recorded.

Block votes at the count is one method of counting the votes for multiple Member wards. Counting sheets are also used to record multiple votes in the ward. Both of these methods were used at the Darlington Local Elections Count.

Could you also please provide for me a copy of the original agreement for the David Mach train sculpture and in particular any documents relating to ownership of the maquette of said train sculpture.
The Council holds no recorded information that falls within the scope of your request.

Could you also please provide me copies of all correspondence either via letter, phone or email between DBC and Equita regarding their visits to both my home and work address.
Obviously you should be aware of these TWO addresses but if you need clarification I will be happy to oblige.

I can confirm that the Council holds information falling within the scope of this element of your request. The information is, however, exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) as it constitutes personal data about you. Your personal data is exempt under section 40(1) of the Act. Please refer to the refusal notice appended to this letter.

I also require the name of the DBC employee responsible for passing my information to Equita and their position within your organisation.

I can confirm that the Council holds information falling within the scope of this element of your request. The information is, however, exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) as it constitutes personal data about you. Your personal data is their personal data and isexempt under section 40(1) of the Act. Please refer to the refusal notices appended to this letter.

Where we have refused to disclose data under section 40(1) of the Act on the basis that it is your personal data, you have an alternative right of access to it under the subject access provisions of the Data Protection Act 1998. If you would like it to treat those elements of your request as a subject access request, please can you provide proof of identification and supply the fee of £10, which is chargeable for such requests. A full copy of our procedure can be found on our website at:

I also enclose our subject access request form, which you may find helpful in formulating your request.

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request or would like to request an internal review of our response, please write to:

Complaints and Information Governance Manager

Darlington Borough Council

Neighbourhood Services and Resources Group

Town Hall

Darlington

DL15QT

E-mail:

You can also obtain further information from theInformation Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel:01625 545 700
Website:

Yours sincerely

Freedom of Information Officer

Enc

Refusal Notice – Section 40(1) Freedom of Information Act 2000

Section 40(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the FOIA) provides that:

“(1) Any information to which a request for information relates is exempt information if it constitutes personal data of which the applicant is the data subject”.

In this case, it is clear that the information requested in the final two elements of your request is your personal data and, as a result, it falls within the scope of this exemption.

This exemption is not subject to the public interest test. As a result, we are refusing the two elements of your request under section 40(1) of the FOIA. You have the right to appeal against our decision to apply this exemption; details of how to do this can be found in the letter that accompanies this refusal notice.

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