Request ID: FOI-0023-2223 Date published: 28 April 2022
You asked
I would like to ascertain the following information for the years between 2018 and 2022:
Amount spent and number of staff trained each year by Transport for London for the aforementioned period
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0023-2223
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 4th April 2022 asking for information about staff training at TfL.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked:
“I would like to ascertain the following information for the years between 2018 and 2022:
Amount spent and number of staff trained each year by Transport for London for the aforementioned period”.
I am afraid that it is not possible to source the information to answer your questions within the appropriate limit for responding to requests as set out under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act. Under section 12, TfL is not obliged to provide information if it would cost more than £450 to determine if the requested information is held, and to then locate, retrieve or extract it from elsewhere. This is calculated at a rate of £25 per hour, equivalent to 18 hours work.
The costs exemption applies in this instance as comprehensive information to answer your questions is not held centrally, it has not been collated before, and because there is no quick of efficient way of doing so (due to the size of TfL and the segmented nature and range of our training activity across the entire staff group). Note that TfL is responsible for a large number of services and activities, as explained on our website here (https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/what-we-do#:~:text=We%20are%20the%20integrated%20transport,and%20manage%20London's%20main%20roads). As well as employing operational staff TfL also employs a large number of administrative staff in support, with a total staff group of about 25,000 people. “Training” within the organisation covers a vast range of different activities, from the training of new London Underground drivers over many months to - at the other end of the scale - a suite of more routine, online training courses (such as the “Freedom of Information” course, where staff can learn about the requirements of the FOI Act) which can be completed in a matter of minutes. Further, TfL is now encouraging staff towards more self-led learning which includes bite-sized training interventions and informal learning which is not tracked on a formal basis. For these reasons it is not possible to source answers to your questions within the £450 limit.
In order to bring your request within the costs limit you may wish to narrow its scope to focus on the information that is of most importance to you - for example, by restricting the request to a specific training activity rather than “training” wholesale across the organisation.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely,
David Wells FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
