Council Tax data sharing with Regisitered Providers
Hi All
Reducing the number of Empty Homes in Allerdale has recently become one of the key priorities within the Council Plan. I have been given Council Tax data on empty homes in the area which is fantastic and we are currently working through the lists to get a true picture of the actual number of empties.
I have had initial discussions with various Registered Providers in the area and we are all committed to working together to reduce empties and provide affordable homes, however I have been told due to Data Protection I am unable to provide the Registered Providers with Council Tax Empty Homes data including the actual address of the empty. Please can anyone advise on how they get round this or whether this is indeed the case.
I am unsure whether I can give them the empty home addresses once I have physically identified them as empty from the Council tax lists. This will enable them to make their own enquiries. This is obviously not ideal but better than nothing at all. One of the Registered Providers suggested I should write to them and say that if they don't respond to my letter I will forward their details onto the Registered Providers in the area. Sounds great in practice but I am unsure if I can actually do this. I do intend on writing to all empty home owners asking permission to pass their details on but this potentially could take time and may not be that successful.
Any help would be greatly received.
Thank you
Emma Bundock
Environmental Health Officer
Allerdale Borough Council
It all depends....
Hi Emma
Councils can use third parties to do with data what they can do themselves. Otherwise they woiuld never be able to outsource things like Housing Benefit. So the question I think is whether or not the council itself can do whatever you want to see done with the data.
Under the DP Act 1998, someone who processes data for someone else is a "Data Processor": the council is the "Data Controller". The Data Controller needs to ensure as far as possible that the Data Processor handles, secures etc the data to an adequate standard. So if you do proceed with working with the RP and passing data on you should pay very careful attention to how they handle the data and make sure that the scope of processing and the way the data is secured are nailed down.
The second question (although very important in Data Protection terms) is whether the processing of the data is fair. This normally comes down to the question of transparency - could the person who supplied their personal data reasonably expected it to be processed in the way it is being processed?
It would be good practice to tell people when they are submitting their council tax data (eg on the council tax form) that it may be used for the purposes of the local empty homes strategy. I can see no need to ask their permission as it is clearly lawful to use it for those purposes courtesy of s85. . If they have not previously been told that it might be used for "empty homes" purposes, I see no reason in principle why they should not be told subsequently, preferably in a first letter, that the data is going to be used in that way. As far as I am aware the liable person has no option but to submit their personal data to the council for council tax purposes. If they did not have a choice in the matter, it does not seem to me that they needed to be told in advance (even if it is good practice to do so): it would not have affected any decision about giving their data to the council which is really the nub of the matter.
I have seen legal opinion that says the S85 should never have been enacted because it simply muddies the water: the QC in question believed that there was already a right to use the data for empty homes purposes provided the "fair processing" angle (ie transparency) was taken care of. The change in legal opinion is why the ICO has changed its tune about processing council tax data.
It is a complicated area and there is no case law around S85 / council tax / empty homes that I am aware of other than the Bexleyheath FOI decison - but that related to disclosure outside the council and its agents ie effectively into the public realm: a different situation.
Good luck!
David Gibbens (EHN Policy and Support)