Freedom of Information (FOI)

Find information already published by VOA

Introduction

HM Revenue & Customs (formerly the Inland Revenue) is responsible, under the overall direction of Treasury Ministers, for the Valuation Office Agency (VOA). The VOA is an Executive Agency of the Department and provides valuations for land and buildings to a variety of public sector customers. This work includes assessments for council tax and national non-domestic rates.

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 became law on 30 November 2000. The Act does 2 main things;

• It gives applicants a general right of access to all types of recorded information held by public authorities, although there are some exemptions from that right.
• Imposes an obligation on public authorities, including HM Revenue & Customs (and Valuation Office Agency), to produce and maintain a Publication Scheme that specifies the classes of information which they publish or intend to publish. The VOA, as an executive agency, is part of their scheme.

In May 2008 the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) issued guidance on new model publication schemes, which public authorities are being encouraged to adopt from 1 January 2009. Information on the categories, listed below (and much more besides), is already published on the VOA website.

Information on the Agency’s website, which is regularly updated, is freely available. Certain documents go back to 2001. The Agency’s policy is to publish and maintain information / documents on its website for a period of five years unless there is a need to keep it there longer or remove it sooner .

If we are asked to provide information in a different format from that available on the website, or to provide a specific item, a charge may apply. In those cases, we will tell you in advance what the charges would be.

Who we are and what we do

Organisational information, locations and contacts, constitutional and legal governance.

For more information about who we are and what we do take a look at the current documents listed below under Publications.

• Framework Document,
• Forward Plan,
• Annual Report and Accounts to Parliament

For example if you want to find out about our Management Board and who the Senior Management Team are take a look at the latest Forward Plan or Annual Report.

The legislative starting point for the work we undertake is set out in Section 10 of the Commissioners of Revenue and Customs Act 2005.

What we spend and how we spend it

Financial information relating to projected and actual income and expenditure, tendering, procurement and contracts.

Our targets are set out in the Agency’s Forward Plan and the results are set out in the Annual Report and Accounts for the respective financial years. These are available under publications. The Agency also publishes its Audit Committee terms of reference and reports under publications.

HM Revenue Customs generally undertake the formal tendering and drafting of contracts on behalf of the Agency.

What our priorities are and how we are doing

Strategy and performance information, plans, assessments, inspections and reviews.

Our strategy and priorities are identified in the Agency’s Forward Plan and the results are set out in the Annual Report and Accounts for the respective financial years which are available under publications.

Other documents of interest:

• The Framework Review of the Agency (PDF).
• Project evaluation report on the Non Domestic Revaluation 2005(PDF)
• Project evaluation report on the Council Tax revaluation 2005 (PDF)
• VOA Equality Schemes Progress Report.
• Summary of Management Board Minutes.
• VOA Responsible Business Reports published annually

How we make decisions, our policies and procedures

Policy proposals and decisions. Decision making processes, internal criteria and procedures, consultations.

Current written protocols for delivering our functions and responsibilities.

These are contained in our Forward Plan which is available under publications.

Lists and registers

Information held in registers required by law and other lists and registers relating to the functions of the authority.

The Agency publishes and maintains the council tax and rating lists for England and Wales which are available on our website.

Access and use of this information as published on the website is free. If paper copies are requested then a charge may be made but we will advise you of those charges before providing the information.

Information from the rating list can also be provided in electronic format on request but charges will apply – for further information please contact Datastrategy@voa.gsi.gov.uk. The council tax lists or information are not available in electronic format.

The services we offer

Advice and guidance, booklets and leaflets, transactions and media releases. A description of the services offered.

We publish a wide range of advice and guidance on our website in different forms take a look at publications. Information on the website is free of charge.

We sometimes make a charge, for example for providing our Rating Cost Guide. If charges apply, we will set out the costs before proceeding with your request and tell you how to go about making payment.

Our media releases are also published on the website and are available there free of charge.

As you see information relating to the bulleted categories, (and much more besides), is already published on our website. There will be occasions when we are not able to supply information, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, for example due to our duty of confidentiality to a ratepayer and or (council) taxpayer or because an exemption applies. We will tell you if this is the case. For more information on why we cannot release information take a look at Information we will not disclose under Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 .

Comments and Queries

If you have any comments or enquiries about our publication scheme please write to:-

Alternatively if you consider it more appropriate to approach HM Revenue & Customs, as they have overall responsibility for the publication scheme, write to:-

Copyright

The information made available by the Agency is Crown Copyright unless otherwise stated.

Authorisation to re-use copyright material not owned by the Crown should be sought from the copyright holders concerned. If in doubt, users should contact the Office of Public Sector Information in the first instance.

Information we will not disclose under Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000

Release of information under FOI is release to the world. Public authorities are not allowed to take account of the identity of the person making the request, or their motives, when deciding what information will be disclosed in response to an FOI request.

To carry out its functions the Valuation Office Agency (as part of HM Revenue and Customs HMRC) holds confidential customer information including information on properties. When HMRC was created in April 2005, Parliament decided that any information held for an HMRC function that identifies a 'person', (including legal entities such as limited companies), or which would enable their identity to be deduced, is exempt from disclosure under the FOI regime. The provision is set out in Section 23 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act (2005) and applies even if the requestor is an individual asking for information we hold about them, or a director asking for our information about their company.

District Valuer Services (DVS) is the commercial property services arm of the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), providing professional property advice right across the public sector, including private and third sector clients involved in delivering public services and functions of a public nature. In line with the Information Commissioner’s guidance the Agency will always consult with its client before considering whether it is in a position to release any information requested. It may be more appropriate to make a request direct to the respective client, rather than the Agency, when seeking information.

All other requests for confidential information held by the Agency should be made to the Agency, where we will consider whether we are able to release any information on a discretionary basis, under our normal business as usual arrangements. For example, outside the terms of FOI, we will supply information we hold about an individual, under the Data Protection Act, or to a taxpayer provided they can provide verifiable proof that they are the taxpayer at the time of the request. More information can be found on our Requesting Information page.

Information we have considered releasing in response to Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2000 requests (Disclosure log)

We receive FOI requests for a wide range of information. Listed in the disclosure log are those requests that we believe may be of wider public interest.

Please note that Valuation Office Agency has a strict legal duty to maintain the confidentiality of the information it holds about its customers and will not identify people or organisations (including property addresses) in response to a request made under the Act

Your rights under the FOI Act

Please see the Directgov website for further information.

Make a request for information

For More Information on how to make a request, please visit our requesting information page.