Request ID: FOI-1850-2122 Date published: 02 December 2021
You asked
I am writing to make an open government request about information relating to cooperate parties held at The London Transport Museum, which I am entitled to under the Freedom of Information Act.
Please find an outline of my request below.
Specifically, I am looking for:
1. A breakdown of the companies that held corporate parties or events at the museum over the last five financial years
2. How many people attended
3. The cost of the hire of the museum
4. Costs incurred holding the event (such as insurance, purchasing of alcohol, etc) with a breakdown of spending showing itemised costs
5. Additional information about any damage/vandalism/anti-social behaviour which occurred to the building or artefacts
6. Any offers of sponsorship from the corporation involved
We answered
Our Ref: FOI-1850-2122
Thank you for your request received on 18 November 2021 asking for information about the London Transport Museum.
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 hold some of the information you require. You asked:
1. A breakdown of the companies that held corporate parties or events at the museum over the last five financial years 2. How many people attended
Please find the requested information attached. Please note that the attendance figures are the numbers expected and are provided to us by the companies before the event. We do not hold figures on the number of people who actually attended.
3. The cost of the hire of the museum
In accordance with the FOI Act, we are not obliged to supply this information as it is subject to a statutory exemption to the right of access to information under section 43(2) – prejudice to commercial interests.
In this instance we believe it would damage Transport for London’s (TfL) commercial interests to release the information, as to do so would undermine our ability to negotiate such fees in the future.
The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. TfL recognises the need for openness and transparency by public authorities but in this instance the public interest in ensuring that TfL is able to obtain the best value for public money outweighs the general public interest in increasing transparency of our processes. While we appreciate the need for transparency and accountability in the operation of our business, this is already achieved to a large extent by the fulfilment of statutory duties such as the publication of the London Transport Museum Annual Reports and Accounts. The figures for overall venue hire revenue can be found on page 39 of the 2020/21 report: https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/about-us/governance. Therefore we believe that the greater public interests lies in applying the exemption.
4. Costs incurred holding the event (such as insurance, purchasing of alcohol, etc) with a breakdown of spending showing itemised costs
We do not hold this information. The cost of insurance, food, drinks, entertainment etc is organised independently by the client with their chosen suppliers.
5. Additional information about any damage/vandalism/anti-social behaviour which occurred to the building or artefacts
We do not hold this information as we do not systematically record this data. We can however confirm that we are not aware of any damage/anti-social behaviour that took place at these events.
6. Any offers of sponsorship from the corporation involved
We have not received sponsorship off the back of event bookings, however we do of course book events off the back of those that have already entered into sponsorship deals with the Museum.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please feel free 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
