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UPDATE (25/1/23)
You may find it hard to believe... But after many months since they were going to investigate, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued a Decision Notice as below, which shows that they agreed with Bristol City Council that they can keep the identity SECRET of councillor or councillors who did not pay their council tax.
The ICO, in their Decision Notice have written to us to say the following. Therefore the people of Bristol will not know the names of councillors who did not pay up.
"The Commissioner does not require the Council to take any steps."
"The Commissioner considers that the complainant is pursuing a
legitimate interest and that disclosure of the requested information is necessary to meet that legitimate interest."
that the ICO decided:
"The Council explained its reasons to the Commissioner as to why the circumstances in this case are compelling enough that to disclose the information would be unfair and unlawful."
"The Commissioner has chosen not to put the council’s explanations in this decision notice, as to do so could, in itself, reveal personal data of the Councillor which could lead to their identity being revealed...
Having considered the Council’s explanations for this case, the
Commissioner has determined that there is insufficient legitimate
interest to outweigh the fundamental rights and freedoms of the
individual in this specific case and considers that there is no legal basis for the council to disclose the withheld information and to do so would be in breach of principle (a)...
The Commissioners decision is that the Council is entitled to rely on section 40(2) of FOIA to refuse to provide the information it has
withheld to this request."
We would also like to remind you that we asked local media outlets to cover this story. They did not.
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UPDATE (23/7/22)
The Regulator has confirmed today that our complaint about Bristol City Council is now eligible for investigation by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO).
We imagine that Bristol is used to this, as they have been reported, repeatedly, to have failed to meet their obligations under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (see below). Anecdotally, we know this from other concerned citizens such as Mike Owen (again, see below).
So we await the result of the investigation, which might be a long wait.
It confirms that we were right to go the ICO.
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So we have submitted another complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office about Bristol City Council's refusal to name councillors and give details of arrears.
Local campaigner Mike Owen told us:
"I was surprised how councillors could manage to ignore reminders, and offer the public excuses akin to the dog ate my coursework.
Marvin Rees promised to carry out checks on councillors' council tax arrears, can I assume that all is 'really' ship shape and Bristol fashion when no public update is provided?"
Our Leader Andrew Pope submitted a Freedom of Information (FoI) request to Bristol City Council in March 2022.
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| Andrew Pope Leader of Somerset Independents |
The FoI was ignored by Bristol City Council. So Andrew contacted the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), who ordered Bristol City Council to respond.
Eventually, they responded. And the FoI was refused by Bristol City Council.
Then Andrew asked the Council for an Internal Review. Despite taking an age for the internal review, Bristol City Council still refused to give out information on councillors in arrears.
Andrew has referred the case to the ICO in a complaint.
Why are you looking at Bristol?
Somerset Independents puts Somerset residents first. So why are we reporting on Bristol City Council, when it is not in Somerset? It is because:
- What happens in Bristol affects Somerset (e.g. on the resources for policing or on changes to governance such as the Mayor of Bristol being scrapped for a committee system - something which we are campaigning for in Somerset)
- Bristol City Council, like the district and county councils in Somerset, is mired in controversy and is lacking in even basic governance and accountability. Councillors in Bristol and Somerset must be held to account for this, in a democracy where citizens are concerned about the lack of representation.
- What happens in Somerset affects Bristol (e.g. the scrapping of the districts and county council which will have a knock-on effect on Bristol)
Our Victory In Somerset
Somerset Independents has claimed victory in its investigation of all district, county and unitary Councillors in Somerset on whether they paid their council tax or not. The results of our investigations are published on this website - link here.
Previous Investigations of Bristol Councillors
During our investigations in Somerset, we became aware from Bristol residents who contacted us that in 2017, the Bristol Post/BristolLive online published two stories on councillors at Bristol City Council that had been in arrears on their council tax.
- "Deputy mayor owed more than £5,000 in council tax arrears - and Labour group paid it - Councillor Asher Craig paid the arrears - thanks to loan from the Labour group", 28th March 2017, Ian Onions
- "The five Bristol city councillors who fell behind with their council tax payments revealed - All of the councillors have given reasons for their late payments", 17th March 2017, Esme Ashcroft
A concerned citizen named Mike Owen had earlier submitted an FoI in January 2017. Bristol City Council had covered up the names in that case too, saying (emphasis added):
"Shortly prior to your request, checks were carried out on all 70 councillors to check their position in relation to payment of council tax. Five were found to be in arrears of two months or more and were contacted in this regard. All five have now cleared their arrears. On the basis that these arrears have been cleared in advance of the budget meeting, we are of the view that the adverse consequences of releasing the names of those councillors would be unnecessary and unjustified."
Mr Owen then requested an Internal Review. We do not know whether the outcome of this Internal Review was how the names were revealed. And we do not know whether the Bristol Post used this information in their reports. The instigator of the FoI is not credited in the report.
So the battle that Mr Owen had suffered, has been repeated in our experience by Andrew Pope, too. And possibly by others who have tried to get the information out of Bristol City Council.
We approached Mr Owen for comment on our investigation. He told us:
"I was surprised how councillors could manage to ignore reminders, and offer the public excuses akin to the dog ate my coursework.
Marvin Rees promised to carry out checks on councillors' council tax arrears, can I assume that all is 'really' ship shape and Bristol fashion when no public update is provided?"
Private Eye had also published details of arrears of councillors from the 2016-17 year in a nationwide expose of councillors (see image). They had not been blocked or refused by Bristol City Council. But both Mr Owen and Mr Pope had been blocked.
Again, we do not know what relationship there was, if any, between the Private Eye investigation and the Bristol Post's reports. Then in 2018, Esme Ashcroft of BristolLive again reported:
For 2016/17, Ms Ashcroft named:
- Asher Craig (Labour) - again as named in the Ian Onions report,
- Sultan Khan (Labour)
- Harriet Clough (Lib Dem)
- Cleo Lake (Green)
- Stephen Clark (Green).
Then also in Bristol for 2018:
- Charlie Bolton (Green)
- Harriet Clough (Lib Dem) - AGAIN (also in 2016/17)
- Carole Johnson (Labour)
- Paul Goggin (Labour).
The report also named North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset councillors, but that is not relevant here. Somerset Independents has done separate investigations into those councils - please see elsewhere on this website.
It has been difficult to find any more recent reports than 2018, if they even exist.
Why Are Media Outlets Not Publishing On Bristol Councillors in Arrears since 2018?
We wondered why or whether local media outlets had not investigated councillors and the Mayor on council tax arrears.
It may have been that stories had been written and then had been squashed by editors not wanting to upset "powerful people" - as we know one Editor (outside Bristol) told a journalist recently when he wanted to report on an abusive and offensive MP.
Or it could have been that Bristol City Council refused Freedom of Information (FoI) requests for every year since 2018 when they did reveal the names of recalcitrant councillors to the Bristol Post? That would be true to form of Mr Owen's experience and ours too.
Since 2018 investigations by Bristol's media outlets seem to have dried up, or not made their way into the public realm.
However, the Bristol Post has reported on Bristol City Council's atrocious record in not responding to FoIs in time:
- "Bristol City Council regularly misses legal deadline for answering information requests - Deputy mayor Craig Cheney has admitted the council has a "problem" responding to Freedom of Information requests", 16th April 2021
- "Bristol City Council cuts Freedom of Information requests target so it can meet it - Authority says the change followed Information Commissioner's Office advice on 'realistic' goals", 2nd Nov 2021, Adam Postans
Somerset Independents has approached the Bristol Post on this story. It was not taken up by them. So as we have done with our other investigations, we are publishing it ourselves. And we have approached Pete Gavan, the Editor at the Bristol Post/BristolLive, to ask what has happened.
Somerset Independents will not be spending much more time on Bristol. We are volunteers that stand up for Somerset, not Bristol.
But we report this in the public interest in the hope that Bristol residents can pick up the baton and discover what is happening, and then do something about it.
Who Are Somerset Independents?
We help residents to stand up for themselves and challenge those in power.
Join Somerset's own campaign group and political party to celebrate Somerset's past, protect Somerset's present and prepare Somerset for the future.
We can be contacted at the link here and via Twitter @SomerInds, via Facebook at the Somerset Independents page and via email at somerinds [at] gmail.com.
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