Our Ref:         FOI-0524-1920

Thank you for your request received on 21 May 2019 asking for information about Crossrail spending.

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

Transport for London (TfL) has not spent any money on renting portaloos on Crossrail sites, nor has TfL spent any money hiring any electricians for the Crossrail project.

Please note that Crossrail Limited has also not directly paid for portaloos or electricians. Welfare facilities on Crossrail sites, that may include portaloos, are provided by the Tier 1 contractors engaged by Crossrail Ltd. Electricians on the Crossrail project are employed by Crossrail’s Tier 1 contractors and their supply chains and are not directly employed by Crossrail Ltd.

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 of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

In order to provide detailed information on the cost of portaloos and electricians we estimate that this would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ because it is estimated that it would take over 18 working hours to retrieve and compile the information you have requested. We would have to identify and extract the information from each contractor’s records, some of whom are no longer working on the project.

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 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 Transport for London.

Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, TfL does 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.

If this is not the information you are looking for please feel free to contact me.

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]