FOI request detail

ULEZ Expansion Consultation

Request ID: FOI-1574-2223
Date published: 27 October 2022

You asked

. Please confirm how many responses were received in total that used a template provided by Fair Fuel UK? To assist you in handling this request, I can advise you that the Fair Fuel UK template uses the subject line “I object to your plans to introduce London-wide road pricing and extended ULEZ charges.” Please also confirm how many responses using this template were: o Deemed to be ‘not genuine’ o Deemed to be ‘duplicates,’ o Excluded for other reasons. . Please confirm how many responses were received in total that used a template provided by Possible? To assist you in handling this request, I can advise you that the Possible template contains the phrase “It is important these are continued. I agree with the extension for disabled and disabled passenger tax class vehicles (until 24 October 2027), wheelchair accessible private hire vehicles (until 24 October 2027) and minibuses used for community transport (until 26 October 2025).” Please also confirm how many responses using this template were: o Deemed to be ‘not genuine’ o Deemed to be ‘duplicates,’ o Excluded for other reasons.

We answered

Our Ref:         FOI-1574-2223

Thank you for your request received on 3 October 2022 asking for information about the Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) expansion consultation.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy.

Public responses to our consultations are reviewed and analysed by either our in-house consultation team, or in cases where we have received, or expect to receive, a very large number of responses to a consultation, this work may be undertaken by an external supplier procured through our analysis framework. This analysis will take account of all consultation responses that have been submitted either via our online consultation survey hosted on: https://haveyoursay.tfl.gov.uk/ by email, phone, or Freepost.

The Report to the Mayor which will include reporting on consultation responses, our consultation methodology and TfL responses to issues raised is expected to be published by the end of the year which will be likely to address many of the areas of interest your requests cover.

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. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described. Regulation 5 of the FOI  and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees Regulations) 2004 provides that the total costs of complying with two or more requests received within any consecutive 60 working day period which relate, to any extent, to the same or similar information made by different people who appear to be acting in concert, or in pursuance of a campaign are to be considered together under Regulation 5.
 
We believe that Regulation 5 is engaged in respect of six open requests we have received which relate to the same or similar information. We have estimated that it would cost over £450 to provide a response to these requests. This is because it is estimated that it would take in excess of 18 working hours to retrieve and compile the information that has been requested. We are therefore refusing all of these outstanding requests under section 12 of the FOI Act. Please note any further requests that we receive within a 60 working day timeframe from you or the other requesters may also be subject to consideration under section 12 of FOI.

Three of the requests ask for ‘all documents’ or ‘correspondence’, without providing any timeframe. The process of locating, extracting and collating information that falls within this very broad scope can only be done by manually reviewing correspondence caught by a search and then extracting and collating any relevant emails or documentation one by one. Any searches for information would require very broad terms in order to satisfy ourselves that all information had been caught. Search terms such as ‘ULEZ’ and ‘Consultation’ would subsequently capture a significant volume of material much of which is likely to be irrelevant to your requests, however we would still be obligated to review and consider in order to fully determine whether they were or were not relevant to your request. Such a process would considerably exceed the cost limit.

Separately, it is also worth noting that, by their nature, emails contain a significant amount of personal data such as phone numbers and email addresses and so, whilst this process of redaction does not feature as part of our considerations on whether the cost limit might apply, the burden created by non-specific requests for emails is significant and this should be borne in mind before submitting requests of this nature, ensuring that requests are as targeted as possible towards specific information of interest.
 
To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit you may wish to prioritise the information you are most interested in, such as a focus on a specific document or policy, and make a single request on a topic, rather than several requests joined together, in order to make the best use of the processing time available to you under the FOI Act.
 
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

[email protected]

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