[wdmmg-discuss] HMRC are at their option exempt from Freedom of Information

[Francis Irving]

Alex Skene adds this last week:

> Just to add this recent ICO decision published this week which is well
> worth reading as it covers s44 & CRCA and what's covered:
> <<http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/decisionnotices/2010/fs_50218468.pdf>>
>
> It looks like there was a fairly recent addition to CRCA which I
> missed (section 19(4) of the Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Act
> 2009) which "softens" the absoluteness of the prohibition of
> disclosure.  Internal HMRC stuff can now be disclosed, but anything
> relating to the affairs of a "person" (or company) is still verboten.
>
> [things are not disclosable if they]
> "(a) would specify the identity of the person to whom the information
> relates, or
> (b) would enable the identity of such a person to be deduced."

So it looks like the s.44 exemption can't be used by HMRC for many
cases - e.g. general info internal IT systems.

As far as I can see, the only cases not covered anyway by Data
Protection, are those applying to other public authorities,
such as the bank accounts in my request.

Francis

On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 04:29:17PM +0100, Francis Irving wrote:
> For a while the idea has been in my mind that the statements of
> Government bank accounts would, ultimately, be an excellent way to get
> detailed public sector spending information (for WDMMG etc.)
> 
> (I think it probably came from Julian Todd originally)
> 
> Recently I heard about the Government Banking Service, and so made an
> FOI request from HMRC for the most basic of information - a list of
> which bodies hold accounts using it.
> 
> This is the response I got:
> http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/36547/response/96992/attach/html/2/1699%2010%20response.pdf.html
> 
> They give several exemptions that only apply to some accounts, but one
> odd exemption that applies to all the information that I requested.
> 
> This is section 18(1) of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act
> 2005 (CRCA) (via section 44 (another act prohibits disclosure) of the
> FOI act)
> 
>     "Revenue and Customs officials may not disclose information which
>     is held by the Revenue and Customs in connection with a function
>     of the Revenue and Customs."
> 
> http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2005/ukpga_20050011_en_2#pb4-l1g18
> 
> According to Alex Skene (a WhatDoTheyKnow volunteer), this is exactly
> as it appears. A "nuclear option" which lets HMRC refuse any FOI
> request it feels like.
> 
> No ICO complaint has ever won on this one - here's a list of them that
> Alex and other WhatDoTheyKnow volunteers have been keeping.
> 
> http://foiwiki.com/foiwiki/index.php/FOIA_Section_44_Exemption#Commissioners_for_Revenue_and_Customs_Act_2005+_-_sections_18-20
> 
> Alex also says:
> 
>     CRCA Section 20 does allow for limited public interest disclosure
>     to various bodies (e.g. police, intelligence bodies, health &
>     safety etc), but to get it published for any other reason you have
>     to get the Treasury to issue a relevant Statutory Instrument...
> 
> This is problematic, as it means FOI potentially provides no scrutiny
> of how our tax is collected.
> 
> Francis