I am working on a study regarding possible adverse impact owing to cognitive selection tests. As such I am collecting data. I read that TFL Assessment Centre gives Psychometric Ability Tests. I was writing to see if you could provide numerical and verbal scores for 2017-18 & 2018-19 by ethnic group. I would need the sample sizes, means, and standard deviations (the groups standard deviation would also do).

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Our Ref:         FOI-0240-2021

Thank you for your request received on 19 May 2020 asking for information about TfL Assessment Centre scores.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we do hold the information you require.

Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with a request if we estimate that the cost of determining whether we hold the information, locating and retrieving it and extracting it from other information would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.

We have estimated that it would cost in excess of £450 to provide a response to your current request. This is because it is estimated that it would take over 18 working hours to retrieve and compile the information you have requested.

TfL use verbal and numerical tests for a wide range of different recruitment campaigns for multiple role types with a number of campaigns run several times over the course of a year.

The information you have requested is not recorded centrally and we are unable to produce an aggregated report containing the data you have requested. We would need to collate data from different platforms for a significant number of different recruitment exercises in order to provide the data you have requested. We also do not calculate standard deviation as we use standard test publisher norm groups and standard deviation would have been considered by the test publisher when producing norm groups.

To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you were to request data for the most recent campaign for one role type then we would be able to provide anonymised test scores in format of a percentile score.

If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by us. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for.

Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, we do not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.

Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please note, the Government has announced a series of measures to tackle the coronavirus. It is essential for London, that we continue to provide a safe transport network for essential journeys.
 
In current circumstances, we are not able to answer FOI requests readily and we ask that you please do not make a request to us at present.
 
Answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. In any event, please note that our response time will be affected by the current situation.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Gemma Jacob
Senior FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London

[email protected]

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