Request ID: FOI-1018-2425 Date published: 24 July 2024
You asked
As a freedom of information request please could you provide, for each financial year from 2019-20 to 2023-24:
• the name of contractors/companies you have contracts with to undertake pothole repair work.
• the value of the contract between you and each above contractor/company over last three years for pothole repair work, broken down by year.
• the number of instances where each contractor has repaired a pothole, or had a subcontractor repair a pothole
• the number of instances when you required above referenced contractors to remediate poor pothole repair work carried out by their contractors in the past three years.
• the amount of money you has claimed back from each above contractor/company over the last three years because of pothole remediation/poor quality repair work, broken down by year.
• the number of instances where above referenced contractors/companies have had to repair their own pothole repair work (or pothole repair work undertaken by another contractor/company ) within six months of the date of carrying out the original pothole repair work, for the past three years, broken down by year.
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-1018-2425 Thank you for your request received on 27 June 2024 asking for information about potholes. 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 hold some of the information you require. You asked for: Please could you provide, for each financial year from 2019-20 to 2023-24: • the name of contractors/companies you have contracts with to undertake pothole repair work TfL has three single supplier frameworks for highway maintenance, capital renewals, capital enhancements and associated works and services which represent different geographic areas as their “core area” across London. Pothole repair works form part of the scope under these frameworks. Ringway Infrastructure Services is responsible for Central London, Tarmac Kier Joint Venture is responsible for North London, and FM Conway is responsible for South London. • the value of the contract between you and each above contractor/company over last three years for pothole repair work, broken down by year Our budget for pothole repairs is included in our overall core maintenance service which is paid as a full lump sum to our three contractors so we are unable to provide specific data to substantiate monies that have been spent on potholes specifically. • the number of instances where each contractor has repaired a pothole, or had a subcontractor repair a pothole • the number of instances when you required above referenced contractors to remediate poor pothole repair work carried out by their contractors in the past three years. • the number of instances where above referenced contractors/companies have had to repair their own pothole repair work (or pothole repair work undertaken by another contractor/company ) within six months of the date of carrying out the original pothole repair work, for the past three years, broken down by year. 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 over £450 to provide a response to your current 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 do not hold a single record for all of our pothole repairs, or whether they are carried out to remedy a previous repair. In order to provide the requested information we would need to review the works order for every pothole repair we have carried out after collating the information from the three different areas. 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 FOI Act request in future, please bear in mind that the FOI 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. You might also consider limiting your request to a narrower period of time or smaller geographical area, such as a specific borough or section of road. 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. • the amount of money you has claimed back from each above contractor/company over the last three years because of pothole remediation/poor quality repair work, broken down by year. The frameworks operate a performance management regime where the contractor’s performance of the service is measured and recorded against various service levels. As part of this regime, there are performance measures associated with the rectification of defects across our network. An incentivisation mechanism is linked to these performance measures where payment may either be made to or deducted from the contractor on an annual basis. Whilst repair of potholes contributes to the overall performance achieved, this is not administered as a separate entity and therefore specific figures in relation to pothole repairs is not available. If this is not the information you are looking for 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
