Software Supplier - Council Tax / Rates 2021-2022

126

01/02/2022

FOI

Please may you kindly supply the following information: 1. Which software supplier do you use for the administration of
a) Council Tax
b) Business Rates
c) Council Tax Support

In relation to each of the following, please provide the information for current date and January 2021

2. Number of Council Tax accounts paying by direct debit?
b. Where possible, please provide the number of accounts split by council tax band.
3. If known, please provide % paying by direct debit split by benefit and non-benefit cases
4. How many business rates payers pay by direct debit?

1 - The Council is unable to release this information into the public domain. Section 35 (1) (a) exempts information if its disclosure is likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime. Section 35 is a qualified exemption and we are required to conduct a public interest test when applying any qualified exemption. This means that after it has been decided that the exemption is engaged, the public interest in releasing the information must be considered. If the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in withholding it then the exemption does not apply and the information must be released. In FOISA there is a presumption that information should be released unless there are compelling reasons to withhold it. The public interest has now concluded and the balance of the public interest has found in favour of withholding information covered by the section 35(1) (a) exemption. Considerations in favour of the releasing the information included consideration of public interest in transparency and accountability and disclosure of information about Scottish Borders Council procedures and commercial outsourcing contracts. However, release of this information would make Scottish Borders Council more vulnerable to crime; namely, a malicious attack on Scottish Borders Council computer systems. As such release of this information would be seen to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime, by making Scottish Borders Council computer systems more vulnerable to hacking, therefore facilitating the possibility of a criminal offence being carried out. There is an overwhelming public interest in keeping Scottish Borders Council computer systems secure which would be served by non-disclosure. This would outweigh any benefits of information release. It has therefore been decided that the balance of the public interest lies clearly in favour of withholding the information on this occasion. Please note that this decision does not imply that you intend to engage in any criminal or malicious activities. However as the Freedom of Information Scotland Act is an open access regime, this exemption has been applied to protect Scottish Borders Council systems.

2 – 42,584
2b - A 9103 B 9031 C 5358 D 4896 E 5621 F 4298 G 3906 H 371

3 – 8.2% Direct Debit Payers have a current Council Tax Reduction Entitlement, 91.8% do not have a current Council Tax Reduction entitlement.

4 - 564

Software Supplier - Council Tax / Rates 2021-2022 - Freedom of information requests