21 December 2022
Your request
This Freedom of Information request is for the attention of the department that oversees the private rented sector and enforcement.
The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Rt Hon Michael Gove has written to all councils in England following the tragic death of Awaab Ishak to enquire about activity taken over the last three years to address damp and mould hazards in the private rented sector. This includes specific activity covering the amount and nature of remediation and enforcement activity, civil penalty notices and prosecutions. The full letter can be found here:
We understand that a further correspondence was sent out by the Department dated 25th November, requesting an initial response to be sent to them by 30th November 2022 from all local authorities.
The NRLA therefore requests a copy of this initial response sent by this local authority to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Our response
Please see the attached letter and note that a telephone number has been redacted.
This is because although Lambeth Council can provide details at the Strategic Level, we are unable to give out individual phone numbers as we consider disclosure would breach the Data Protection Act 2018 and therefore engage Section 40(2): Personal Data to this request.
The definition of personal data is set out in provision 3 of the Data Protection Act 2018 as follows:-
(2)“Personal data” means any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual
(3)“Identifiable living individual” means a living individual who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to—
(a)an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data or an online identifier, or
(b)one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of the individual.
I have considered whether it would be fair to disclose the telephone number including whether disclosure would cause any unnecessary or unjustified damage or distress to the individual concerned; the individual’s reasonable expectations of what would happen to their information; and balancing the rights and freedoms of the data subject with legitimate interests.
In this case, I can confirm that it would not be fair to the individuals to disclose information about their mobile number as it could cause distress to the individuals.
I do not consider that the individuals would expect the Council to disclose any information which may allow them to be identified. Although I acknowledge the legitimate interest in disclosing general information relating to this request, I do not consider the legitimate interest overrides the rights and freedoms of the individual on this occasion.