Freedom of Information Act 2000
Request for Information: Information Provided
Please quote our reference: E18017
Subject: Signed Bailiff Contracts/Recovery of Council Debts
We write with regard to your recent enquiry for information held by the Council under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
We trust that the information provided is satisfactory. You are free to use the information for your personal use only. Any other type of re-use, for example, publishing the information or issuing copies to the public will require permission of the copyright owner. If the Council is the copyright owner, a licence can be applied for under the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2005. For future reference we publish information on our website, including the Freedom of Information Publication Scheme and summary of Freedom of Information requests and responses that may be of help to you in searching for information. Our website is mentioned above.
It is important to note that under the Privacy and Electronic Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 the Council asks not to receive unsolicited marketing communication.
Request
1) Please provide a copy of all signed bailiff contracts/service level agreements for recovery
of council debts that cover 1st April 2012 to 31st December 2013.
A Standard contract is attached which covers the recovery of debts for Council Tax debts, business rates, commercial rent, sundry and road traffic.2) Please provide the dates and locations of all Bailiff ANPR 'Special Operations' with the Police from 1st April 2012 31st December 2013 this should also disclose which bailiff contractor was in attendance.
The Council does not hold this information. It is the police who carryout ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Recognition) operations. Please re-direct this question to them.3) Please provide the total income recovered by bailiffs for parking debts for the 1st April
2012 to 31st December 2013.
This Information is available from our online annual report http://www.newham.gov.uk/Pages/Category/Parking.aspx4) Please supply all bailiff contract monitoring reports for 1st April 2012 to 31st December 2013
Response:
We consider the information relating to monitoring reports for this agreement to be commercially sensitive and therefore it is withheld under section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Under Section 43, information is exempt from disclosure if releasing it would, or would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority holding it). We acknowledge that the public interest is served by promoting transparency in the accountability of public funds, ensuring that public money is being used effectively and that the local authority is getting value for money when entering into commercial transactions with companies. However, we recognise and consider that there is a greater public interest in maintaining confidentiality and protecting commercially sensitive information, release of which could damage either the Council’s or third parties’ commercial positions in future negotiations. As such, we consider that maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure.If you require any further information or are not happy with our response please do not hesitate to contact a member of our team on (020) 8430 2000 or email us at information.governance@newham.gov.uk.
Yours sincerely,
Complaints, Members Enquiries and Information Governance
Newham Council
