Request ID: FOI-0547-2324 Date published: 21 June 2023
You asked
Can you please send me all correspondence between TfL and Keir Starmer's office since May 2015?
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-0547-2324
Thank you for your request received on 24 May 2023 asking for correspondence between TfL and Keir Starmer’s office.
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 that 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.
When requests for email correspondence are received the FOI Case Management are able to conduct company-wide email searches using keywords, dates and email addresses. The more specific a requester can be as to what they are looking for, the more we can narrow the search and therefore stand a better chance of a more relevant or focused result. A search will then return an amount of ‘hits’ which potentially contain information relating to the search terms used. Each ‘hit’ is a single email, although that email will often consist of a chain of emails containing the search term at least once.
We have estimated that it would cost over £450 to provide a response to your request. This is because it is estimated that it would take in excess of 18 working hours to retrieve and compile the information you have requested.
We have done an initial search for all emails between TfL and Keir Starmer’s office, this has returned around 3,000 hits. This number will likely include duplicates, as well as emails not caught by the request. However, we would still need to manually review all of the emails identified by the search in order to extract and collate the relevant emails.
To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit, you may wish to narrow its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can. You may wish to specify any keywords you are interested in, and also consider limiting your request to a narrower period of time.
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 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
