Freedom of information response

(1) How much is paid to hire a room at magistrates court to conduct council tax hearings/Business £0

(2) How much is paid to the police organisation each year and where we collect the Council Tax on their behalf - £12.128m

(3) To whom is in receipt of community care funding Community care funding is used to provide care and support to adults and older people who meet the agreed thresholds as set out in Care Act 2014.

(4) How many properties are paying council tax in the borough

The total property base for 2023/24 was 69,696. Of this, 1,222 are exempt. For Council Tax setting purposes this is based on a Band D equivalent, which is 51,953.

(5) How much is held within council tax surplus account

The Thurrock share of the Council Tax surplus for 2023/24 is £2,567,085

(6) Are there plans or arrangements to house or accommodate

1a) Asylum seekers

The local authority do not have the duty to provide accommodation or subsistence to adult asylum seekers and their families, this is the duty of the home office. The local authority is responsible for providing care and accommodation for unaccompanied asylum seeking children which is managed by the Children Looked after Team.

(2a) Migrants

The term “migrants” is too broad as it could include any person choosing, either legally, or illegally, to enter the UK for the purposes of settling here. Given this, it would not be possible to accurately respond to this question regarding any plans to accommodate such people, as each individual or household would be dealt with on a case by case basis, in line with the relevant legislation.

(3a) illegal immigrants

The local Authority is currently providing accommodation and subsistence support for small number of families who are overstaying in the UK and have no recourse to public funds, this support is provided under the children act section 17.

Our duties are to support families with children who are assessed as being destitute by the local authority. This information is restricted.

And if so, How many and where are they to be Accommodated.

We are unable to provide this information based on the numbers being under 5 and potentially identifying individuals.

(7) What is the cost to residents and how is it to be collected, - Unable to provide the above

(8) How many children and/or foster children cannot be located from records - information as of today’s date - restricted based on number and potentially identifying children

You are free to use any information supplied to you for your own use, including non-commercial research purposes. However, any other type of re-use, for example, by publishing the information or issuing copies to the public will require the permission of the copyright owner.

Where the copyright is owned by Thurrock Council, you must apply to the Council to re-use the information. Please email information.matters@thurrock.gov.uk if you wish to re-use the information you have been supplied. For information where the copyright is owned by another person or organisation, you must apply to the copyright owner to obtain their permission.

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which the council have managed your FOI request you can pursue an Internal Review by contacting us using the above email address. An internal review must be submitted within 40 working days of your original reply. Your request will be considered by a senior member of the Information Management Team who will update you with the outcome of the review.

If you remain unhappy following the outcome of your Internal Review you may wish to refer your case to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) and details of this organisation can be found at www.ico.org.uk . Please be advised that the ICO will not consider your case until they have confirmation that you have already been through the Internal Review stage with the council.