Hello Kirsty
May be of interest.....

A recent request to use non personal data from Council Tax records for
research into a housing market restructuring project by a research company
working on behalf of a joint local autority initiative, eventually led to
Legal Services seeking advice from the Lord Chancellors department  dealing
with the review of the law appertaining to data sharing.

LCD were advised precisely the information that was being requested from
Council Tax records and the purposes for which it was to be used. (General
Stock info including  full address, postcode, ward, council tax band,
unique property identifier, vacant identifier, tenure identifier. Housing
Benefit Data:  beneift recipient or not,  Social/private.  Local Authority
Stock Information.)

The project contributors had got as far as setting up an information
sharing protocol restricitng how and why etc the information would be used.
The project was funded by a government grant.  It was suggested that S33
exemption may be used to allow the use of the Council Tax data for this
research.

LCD confirmed that this type of data sharing was still stymied by the
Information Commissioners pronouncements on the interpretation of the law.
(The Local Government Finance Act 1992 covering use of Council Tax data and
the guidance on the IC's website) The ODPM had been looking into whether an
exception could be justified in relation to the "empty homes initiative"
but  the LCD did not think that this has got any where. Apparently the ODPM
is likely to await permissive legislation but that legislation is not
anticipated until 2004 or 2005.

LCD confirmed that until new legislation is passed it would be very
difficult to fend off any challenge from the Information Commissioner.

The outcome was that the sharing of this information from the Council Tax
records, knowing that it would be unlikely to resist any challenge based on
its illegality, was not permitted.

Joan Field
Information Security Officer
HBS Service Middlesbrough

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MIddlesbrough  or  Middlesbrough  Council, however, HBS and the Council has
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