Request ID: FOI-0660-2324 Date published: 26 June 2023
You asked
Dear Transport for London,
I would like to know the following information please..
1- How many Subject access requests have you received from April 2022- April 2023
2 - How long on average does it take to respond to each request?
3- How many requests are returned to the subject late? (either after 1 calendar month or an extension)
4- Where are the records for the SARs kept? Paper, storage systems? Please be specific
5- How large is your team which deal with subject access requests
6- Have you any plans to increase the size of your team?
7- How many employee SARs have you received (April 2022-23) and how many were responded to late?
8- Who holds the budget for this issue within your organisation?
9- What is the estimated cost to the business per SAR? (employee and end user)
10- What % increase or decrease were your SAR figures from April 2021-22 to April 22-23? Rough figure is fine.
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-0660-2324
Thank you for your request of 1st June 2023 asking for information about the handling of Subject Access Requests (SARs) at TfL.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
I can confirm that we hold the information you require. Your questions are answered in turn below:
Question 1 - How many Subject access requests have you received from April 2022- April 2023?
Answer: I am afraid it is not possible to answer this question, along with the other questions for data at Questions 2, 3, 7 and 10, within the costs limit for responding to cases 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 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.
In this instance the exemption applies because there is no single source for the data, and no quick or efficient way of finding and compiling it. At TfL there is no one team responsible for handling Subject Access Requests. Rather, they are passed to the most relevant business area to address. To obtain the data you have requested we would have to try and identify every team across the organisation that may have handled a SAR, and given the scale and complexity of TfL this would not be a quick or easy task. In turn, each of those teams would have to spend time compiling the data, and some of it - such as in relation to Question 2 - is unlikely to have been compiled before and would require bespoke analysis.
In order to bring you request within the costs limit you may wish to reframe it to narrow its scope. For example, if it were restricted to a single team - such as HR - it is unlikely the costs limit would be exceeded.
Question 2 - How long on average does it take to respond to each request?
Answer: Please see answer to Question 1 above.
Question 3 - How many requests are returned to the subject late? (either after 1 calendar month or an extension)?
Answer: Please see answer to Question 1 above.
Question 4- Where are the records for the SARs kept? Paper, storage systems? Please be specific
Answer: Records are generally held electronically by the team that addressed the request. This may include audio and video files which may be stored on DVD after disclosure.
Question 5 - How large is your team which deal with subject access requests?
Answer: As referenced above in answer to Question 1, there is no single team at TfL that deals with Subject Access Requests. That said, our central Privacy and Data Protection (which provides expert advice and assistance to the rest of the organisation on data protection matters, including the handling of SARs) has 10 employees. Only a small proportion of their time is spent on SARs.
Question 6- Have you any plans to increase the size of your team?
Answer: No.
Question 7- How many employee SARs have you received (April 2022-23) and how many were responded to late?
Answer: See answer to Question 1 above.
Question 8- Who holds the budget for this issue within your organisation?
Answer: There is not a single budget for the handling of SARs.
Question 9 - What is the estimated cost to the business per SAR? (employee and end user)?
Answer: TfL does not hold any such estimate.
Question 10 - What % increase or decrease were your SAR figures from April 2021-22 to April 22-23? Rough figure is fine.
Answer: See answer to Question 1 above.
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
