Please take this email as a freedom of information request for ANY correspondence, either email, letter or old school internal memos between the following regarding Licensed London Taxis between 20/1/21 to current: Helen Chapman Sadiq Khan Heidi Alexander I hope this information is readily available and that the costs of supplying it won't exceed your rather low free £450 limit. We are only talking about a period of less than one month. Having looked through the www, it appears strange to me how many times FOI requests get thrown out by you because the effort and cost prohibits you from supplying what should be readily available information. If I get any type of knock back, again, I will bring the matter to the attention of my MP, Oliver Dowden, with supporting stats. I look forward to hearing from you confirming your ability to provide the above and a date by which I can expect to receive it.

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TfL Ref: FOI-2347-2021

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 16^th February 2021 asking for taxi related correspondence between Helen Chapman, Sadiq Khan and Heidi Alexander.

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

Specifically you asked:

“Please take this email as a freedom of information request for ANY correspondence, either email, letter or old school internal memos between the following regarding Licensed London Taxis between 20/1/21 to current:

Helen Chapman

Sadiq Khan

Heidi Alexander”.

I can confirm that we hold the information you require. Between 20^th January 2021 and 16^th February 2021 there were two instances of email exchanges between Helen Chapman and Heidi Alexander. TfL does not hold any other information that falls within the scope of your request. One of the emails is attached. Note that a number of redactions have been made under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act, the exemption that protects against the unfair release of personal information (in this case, this relates solely to direct contact details). Please note that the final version of the attachment to this email was published at https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/tph/in-vehicle-cctv/

In relation to the other email chain (which is on a separate subject to the one attached above), the information is exempt from release under section 31(1)(g) of the Freedom of Information Act, which applies where disclosure would or 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 subject of the emails relates to a live issue that was voluntarily brought to TfL’s attention by an external party not regulated by TfL but which relates to our responsibility for regulating the Taxi trade in London. Disclosure would likely prejudice our ability to engage with the taxi trade generally in relation to other investigations in the exercise of TfL’s statutory functions because it would inhibit the free flow of information, particularly where there is disclosure of information about confidential or sensitive information. Effective working between the trade and Transport for London relies on a safe space where information can be shared at a sufficiently early stage to avoid the need for formal enforcement action, and we consider there to be a real and significant risk that such information sharing would be undermined if a precedent was created by making it publicly available. Organisations are often encouraged to report problems they have had, and matters take less time to resolve when there is prompt and proactive engagement. There is clearly a public interest in not deterring the voluntary supply of information. This benefits the public as it enables greater oversight of taxis and better scrutiny of services and is to our benefit as proactive discussion can avoid costly enforcement activity and delayed access to information.

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 our regulatory activity, and whether concerns have been sufficiently addressed. It is important that the public have confidence in the public authorities responsible for enforcing the law. There is a general public interest in disclosing information that promotes accountability and transparency in order to maintain that confidence and trust. 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 trade. There is a very strong public interest in protecting the law enforcement capabilities of public authorities, and in ensuring the continued early, voluntary exchange of information between the taxi industry and regulators.

If you are considering submitting a further FOI request please think carefully about whether the request is essential at this current time, as answering FOI requests will require the use of limited resources and the attention of staff who could be supporting other essential activity. Where requests are made, please note that our response time may be impacted by the current situation.

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

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