We receive a number of requests under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 which relate to Business Rate accounts (non-domestic properties).

To address these requests, we publish a list of details of business rates properties within Falkirk Council. This list is published each month and contains the following information:

• Ratepayer name
• Rateable value
• Property description
• Liability start date
• Property address
• Occupation Status (Occupied or Empty)
• Exemption
• Mandatory relief
• Discretionary relief
• Small Business Bonus
• UPRN (Unique Property Reference Number)

We will not provide individual responses to FOI requests for information which can be found in the published document but will re-direct requests to our published list which can be accessed below:

The information is considered to be exempt from release under section 25 of the FOI legislation as it is reasonably obtainable by another means, namely via our monthly publication.

Limitation of data

The ratepayer is the person liable to pay the charge. Only the property address will be provided. The information is only available in the format provided.

Scottish Assessors Association Portal

The information which we publish is similar to that included on the Valuation Roll. This is a public document which contains an entry for all non domestic properties. You can find out more on the Scottish Assessors Association Portal.

We also receive a number of requests under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 which relate to Business Rate accounts (non-domestic properties) in credit.

To address these requests, we now publish a list below of accounts with credit balances.

We will refuse any requests made to us via the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 under section 25 (1) of the Act as it is "otherwise accessible" from this published list.

This list will be refreshed quarterly and any requests to us for monthly information will be refused under Section 14 (2) "repeated request" of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

We do not consider monthly requests for this information to be a reasonable period, and as a minimum that period should be quarterly.