North West Regional Director's office
PO Box 4237
Manchester Civil Justice Centre
1 Bridge Street West
Manchester
M60 1TE
DX : 724780 Manchester 44
T : 0161 240 5903
F : 08707 395 929
E
Minicom VII 020 7210 2231
(Helpline for the deaf)
Dave Renwick
Our Reference: / FOI/78197 / Date: 23rd November 12
Freedom of Information Request
Dear Mr Renwick
Thank you for your email of 29th October, in which you asked for the following information from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ):
“ I am asking for how many complaints were issued by Allerdale
Borough Council with regards to unpaid council tax to the West
Cumbria Magistrates court {Hall Park, Ramsey Brow, Workington}
during the dates 1st September 2010 and 19th October 2012
inclusive.
Question 2
The actual dates and details of the complaints being made to the
court by the council and issue of the summon(s) on the 22nd
September 2010 for a hearing on 20th October 2010 and 5th July 2011
for a hearing on 21st July 2011.
Question 3
The actual date of complaint and application for a Warrant by
Allerdale Borough Council to West Cumbria Magistrates court {Hall
Park, Ramsey Brow, Workington} for the summons related to the 22nd
November 2012.
Please also provide the following:
1. The precise section of the law upon which you rely that
evidences that West Cumbria Magistrates Court is not required
issuing a properly constituted signed & sealed summons court
stamped order.
2. Provide the court procedure rules and section of the law upon
which you rely in your statement that confirms that the Magistrates
Court and the council are indeed following due process of law.
3. Confirm that P Wells is actually a Clerk to the Justices in West
Cumbria Magistrates Court Workington.
4. Provide the precise section of the law upon which you rely that
states that judicial public servants do not have to sign and print
their name alongside their job title on a nonpayment of council tax
liability order (Liability Order in respect of Council Tax )
5. From where does West Cumbria Magistrates Court obtain the
authority to delegate its judicial authority to allow Allerdale
Borough Council to create and apply a facsimile signature of a
court official on a summons and issue summons and liability orders
for nonpayment of council on behalf of the court?
6. From where does Allerdale Borough Council obtain its judicial
authority to create and print a signature on summons and issue
summons and liability orders for nonpayment of council tax if not
from the West Cumbria Magistrates Court, provide the precise
section of the law? Please answer fully.”
Your request has been passed to me because I have responsibility for answering requests relating to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please see my responses below, which I have numbered for ease of reference to correspond with your questions. Some of the information you have requested is personal data, rather than information that would be released under the Freedom of Information Act, so I have provided advice where this is the case.
Question 1
There were 6429 complaints issued by Allerda Borough Council with regards to unpaid council tax to the WestCumbria Magistrates court (Hall Park, Ramsey Brow, Workington) during the dates 1st September 2010 and 19th October 2012 inclusive.
Question 2
With regards to your request for the actual dates and details of the complaints being made to the court by the council and issue of the summon(s), I can advise the following:
For the hearing on 19th October 2010 there were 695 complaints, and 454 liability orders for non payment of council tax made.
For the hearing on 21st July 2011 there were 1032 complaints and 906 liability orders for non payment of council tax made.
Question 3
I assume you are referring specifically to your summons regarding the 22nd November 2012 hearing? I can confirm that the department holds the information that you have asked for, but under section 40(1) of Freedom of Information Act we are not obliged to provide this to you as it constitutes your own personal information.
The terms of this exemption in the Freedom of Information Act mean that we do not have to consider whether or not it would be in the public interest for you to have the information.
However in the interest of providng assistance to you I will, outside of the Freedom of Information Act, ask the court to provide you with a copy of the individual summons relating to your hearing of the 22nd November 2012, which should provide you with the information you are seeking.
If you feel the court holds more personal information relevant to your enquiry you are entitled to make a Subject Access Request (SAR) under the Data Protection Act. To do this, please contact the Data Access and Compliance Unit, address details can be found in the ‘How to Appeal’ section of this letter.
In order to process the request you will need to provide the following:
· Proof of your identity: This should include a photocopy of the identification pages of your current passport or of a current photo driving license; and the original of a current utilities bill (for example, gas or electricity), or credit card or bank statement, which includes your name and current address. This can be returned to you if required.
· A £10 cheque made payable to ‘Her Majesty’s Paymaster General’ or ‘HMPG’
You can find out more about Section 40(1) by reading the extract from the Act and some guidance points we consider when applying the exemption, attached at the end of this letter.
In answer to your numbered questions, in line with the Freedom of information Act, are as follows:
1. There is no requirement in law to have a court seal or a wet signature on this summons. Summons are signed by the Justice Clerk for Cumbria and Lancashire providing a proper record of the Order made in Court.
2. See my response after Question 6.
3. Mr P Wells was a Clerk to the Justices in West Cumbria Magistrates’ Court Workington, but he has since left this post and been replaced by Mr D.Greensmith with effect from the 1st October 2012.
4. There is no requirement expressed in any legislation requiring signatures on court orders (where they are still required) to be printed or have a job title alongside.
5. See my response after Question 6.
6.See my response below.
You can gain access to the information you have requested in Questions 2, 5 and 6, by going to the following address: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2010/60/part/7/made
This is an extract from the Criminal Procedure Rules 201. Under the FOIA (Section 21(1)), we are not obliged to provide information if this is reasonably accessible to you by other means of the Act. This means we are not obliged to explain this extract but, in order to be helpful, and outside the scope of the FOIA, I have provided further information below.
Information and written charge
7.2 (1) A prosecutor who wants the court to issue a summons must
(a) serve an information in writing on the court officer
Summons, warrant and requisition
7.4(4) A summons may be contained in the same document as the information
This means that a prosecutor can prepare a summons, but the issuing of the summons to the individual is authorised by the court, not the council, even if the council send it.
You can find more information about the Freedom Of Information Act 2000 by reading the full text of the Act (available at http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2000/36/section/40) and further guidance http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-guidance-for-practitioners/exemptions-guidance. The Data Protection Act can be found at the following link: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/29/contents
You have the right to appeal our decision if you think it is incorrect. Details can be found in the ‘How to Appeal’ section attached at the end of this letter.
Disclosure Log
You can also view information that the Ministry of Justice has disclosed in response to previous Freedom of Information requests. Responses are anonymised and published on our on-line disclosure log which can be found on the MoJ website:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/information-access-rights/foi-requests/latest-moj-disclosure-log
The published information is categorised by subject area and in alphabetical order.
Yours sincerely
G. P. Demange (Mrs)
Knowledge Information Liaison Team
North West Regional Support Unit
HM Courts & Tribunals Service.
How to Appeal
Internal Review
If you are not satisfied with this response, you have the right to an internal review. The handling of your request will be looked at by someone who was not responsible for the original case, and they will make a decision as to whether we answered your request correctly.
If you would like to request a review, please write or send an email to the Data Access and Compliance Unit within two months of the date of this letter, at the
following address:
Data Access and Compliance Unit (10.34),
Information & Communications Directorate,
Ministry of Justice,
102 Petty France,
London
SW1H 9AJ
E-mail:
Information Commissioner’s Office
If you remain dissatisfied after an internal review decision, you have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner’s Office. The Commissioner is an independent regulator who has the power to direct us to respond to your request differently, if he considers that we have handled it incorrectly.
You can contact the Information Commissioner’s Office at the following address:
Information Commissioner’s Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Internet address: https://www.ico.gov.uk/Global/contact_us.aspx
EXPLANATION OF FOIA - SECTION 40(1) – INFORMATION RELATING TO THE REQUESTER
We have provided below additional information about Section 40(1) of the Freedom of Information Act. We have included some extracts from the legislation, as well as some of the guidance we use when applying it. We hope you find this information useful.
The legislation
Section 1: Right of Access to information held by public authorities
(1) Any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled—
(a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information of the description specified in the request, and
(b) if that is the case, to have that information communicated to him.
Section 40: Personal Information.
(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.
(2) Any information to which a request for information relates is also exempt information if—
(a) it constitutes personal data which do not fall within subsection (1), and
(b) either the first or the second condition below is satisfied.
(3)The first condition is—
(a) in a case where the information falls within any of paragraphs (a) to (d) of the definition of “data” in section 1(1) of the M1Data Protection Act 1998, that the disclosure of the information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act would contravene—
(i) any of the data protection principles, or
(ii) section 10 of that Act (right to prevent processing likely to cause damage or distress), and
(b) in any other case, that the disclosure of the information to a member of the public otherwise than under this Act would contravene any of the data protection principles if the exemptions in section 33A(1) of the M2Data Protection Act 1998 (which relate to manual data held by public authorities) were disregarded.
(4) The second condition is that by virtue of any provision of Part IV of the M3Data Protection Act 1998 the information is exempt from section 7(1)(c) of that Act (data subject’s right of access to personal data).
(5)The duty to confirm or deny—
(a) does not arise in relation to information which is (or if it were held by the public authority would be) exempt information by virtue of subsection (1), and
(b) does not arise in relation to other information if or to the extent that either—
(i) the giving to a member of the public of the confirmation or denial that would have to be given to comply with section 1(1)(a) would (apart from this Act) contravene any of the data protection principles or section 10 of the M4Data Protection Act 1998 or would do so if the exemptions in section 33A(1) of that Act were disregarded, or
(ii) by virtue of any provision of Part IV of the M5Data Protection Act 1998 the information is exempt from section 7(1)(a) of that Act (data subject’s right to be informed whether personal data being processed).
(6) In determining for the purposes of this section whether anything done before 24th October 2007 would contravene any of the data protection principles, the exemptions in Part III of Schedule 8 to the M6Data Protection Act 1998 shall be disregarded.
(7)In this section—
“the data protection principles” means the principles set out in Part I of Schedule 1 to the M7Data Protection Act 1998, as read subject to Part II of that Schedule and section 27(1) of that Act;
“data subject” has the same meaning as in section 1(1) of that Act;
“personal data” has the same meaning as in section 1(1) of that Act.
Guidance
Section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act applies to:
· requests for the personal data of the applicant him or herself
· requests for the personal data of someone else (a third party)
When an individual asks for his or her own personal data under the Freedom of Information Act, this should be treated as a subject access request under the Data Protection Act 1998. This is because requests for one’s own data are exempt under section 40(1) of the Freedom of Information Act. This is an absolute exemption. The applicant should be advised of the procedure for making a subject access request.
If it is unclear who is seeking the personal data, the public authority should consider taking further steps to confirm whether or not the applicant is the subject of the information (the ‘data subject’).
A public authority may often need to deal with requests for both the applicant’s own personal data and that of a third party. They will need to ensure that the correct part of section 40 is applied to the data.