Dear Transport for London, The current licence conditions placed on private hire operator Uber London ltd contains a requirement; 8. Transparency during investigations ULL shall, to the extent permitted by law, provide written notification to the licensing authority of the outcome of: b. all investigations concerning any regulatory breaches or infringements of law by an Uber Company, to the extent that any Relevant Person has been implicated in such conduct or found to be personally culpable for such breach or infringement. Under the freedom of information act, I would be grateful if you could inform me of the following information. (1) Have ULL provided notification of any such regulatory breaches during the time of their current licence. (2) can you supply me with copies of any such notifications, I would like to add I do not wish to be be provided with any personal details of any individuals, please redact any such information

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Our Ref: FOI-1459-1920

Thank you for your request received on 15 August 2019 asking for information about licensing conditions.

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.

However, in accordance with the FOI Act, we are not obliged to supply the information you have requested as it is subject to a statutory exemption to the right of access to information under section 31(1)(g), which relates to information where disclosure would be likely to prejudice the exercise by any public authority of its functions for any of the purposes listed in subsection 31(2) of the FOI Act, specifically, ‘(2)(c)the purpose of ascertaining whether circumstances which would justify regulatory action in pursuance of any enactment exist or may arise’.

In this instance the exemption has been applied as the information is held only for the purposes of ascertaining whether a Private Hire operator is complying with the regulations, in accordance with our responsibility for regulating the private hire trade in London. This information contains details which otherwise would not have been made available to us and the exemption applies to protect our ability to clarify and confirm details on specific issues regarding general licensing concerns. The prejudice would be caused by disclosure because it would affect our ability to engage with the taxi and private hire trade and would inhibit the free flow of information, particularly where there is disclosure of information about confidential and commercially sensitive data. Effective working between the trade and the regulator relies on a safe space where information can be shared at a sufficiently early stage to avoid the need for formal enforcement action.

This benefits the public as it enables greater oversight of private hire operators and better scrutiny of services by the regulator and our benefit because proactive discussion avoids costly enforcement activity, delayed access to information and increased bureaucracy.

The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. We recognise that there is a public interest in understanding the scope of regulatory activity, and whether concerns have been sufficiently addressed.

However we feel the balance of the public interest supports the exemption in order to enable the effective and timely sharing of information between ourselves and the taxi and private hire trade.

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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