Council/Goverment uses the Data Protection 2018 Act to avoid answering any questions at all about Housing
Remember Houses contain people so all questions about housing can be refused on the basis they are an invasion of privacy. Even if you ask a generic question about a set of houses.
Dear Mr Miller
I write further to my letter of 7 September 2018 regarding this matter.
I have carefully considered your request for information contained in
the letter you received from the London borough of Lambeth (the Council)
dated 24 August 2018 (attached).
I am satisfied that the Council was entitled to deny your request on the
basis of the exemption at section 40(5) of the Freedom of Information
Act 2000 (FOIA) largely for the reasons explained to you by the Council
in that letter of 24 August and upheld by the Council following an
internal review (attached).
Technically, given that the request relates to possible construction or
repair work on a property, it is likely that it should have been handled
under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) and not the
FOIA.
However, this would not have made any material difference to the outcome
because there is an equivalent exception (to section 40(5) of the FOIA)
in regulation 13(5) of the EIR.
The information requested relates to an identifiable
living individual(s). Confirming or denying whether the requested
information is held inevitably reveals something about (properties enquired about) which is clearly linked to the occupants of
either property.
Such information defined as personal data in the Data Protection
Act 2018 (DPA) is exempt under the FOIA or the EIR. Information released
under the FOIA or the EIR is effectively released to the world at large
regardless of whether only one individual has requested the
information.
In the circumstances of this case, I cannot see that there is a lawful
basis for confirming or denying to the whole world whether the
information requested in relation to the two properties in question is
held. Clearly, there may be legitimate reasons for releasing this
information to you or to others. However, that is not the same as
releasing it to everyone else.
The Commissioner's position in relation to such requests for information
is now established. You can find published decisions in relation to
section 40(5) and regulation 13(5) on our website here: https://icosearch.ico.org.uk/s/search.html?collection=ico-meta&profile=decisions&query
You say that you re-submitted your requests in a generic form not
relating to the properties and that these were also denied by the
Council.
However, this complaint is about the response from the Council to your
request which according to the Council was received in June 2018. If you
wish to complain about the fresh request you submitted, you may do so
through the following page on our website: https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
What happens next?
You may request a decision notice if you would like to appeal my
decision to the First-Tier Information Rights Tribunal. Please note that
it may take up to 2-3 months before I can issue the decision notice
which will not differ materially from the explanation above.
Please contact me by Friday 14 December 2018 if you have any questions and/or would like to appeal my decision.
I shall assume you have withdrawn your complaint and close the case if I have not heard from you by 14 December.
Yours Sincerely
Terna Waya
Senior Case Officer
03304146366
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