Emails between 1 September 2017 to 16 October 2017 that contained both the words “Uber” and “Sadiq” sent between any of: Sadiq Khan, Val Shawcross, Joanne McCartney, James Murray, Jules Pipe, Justine Simons, Matthew Ryder, Rajesh Agrawal, Shirley Rodrigues, Sophie Linden (City Hall staff); Mike Brown, Howard Carter, Leon Daniels, Vernon Everitt, Simon Kilonback (TFL staff)

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TfL Ref: FOI-2704-1718

Thank you for your email received by us on 21 December 2017 asking for correspondence. Please accept my apologies for the delay in our response.

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.

Please see the information you have requested attached. Please note that in accordance with TfL’s obligations under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) some personal data has been removed, as required by section 40(2) of the FOI Act. This is because disclosure of this personal data would be a breach of the DPA, specifically the first principle of the DPA which requires all processing of personal data to be fair and lawful. It would not be fair to disclose this personal information when the individuals have no expectation it would be disclosed and TfL has not satisfied one of the conditions of Schedule 2 of the Data Protection Act which would make the processing ‘fair’.

However, please be aware that your request also incorporated emails in which a report is circulated detailing the FOI requests received by TfL. This was because we have received a number of FOI requests which refer to Uber or the Mayor. We have not provided these, in accordance with section 21 of the FOI Act, as the information contained within the report is available to you elsewhere. As you may know, we publish all of our responses to FOI requests on our website and this also contains the request detail. You can find this information at the following link: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transparency/freedom-of-information

Where requests have not yet been published, we consider that this information is exempt in accordance with section 22 of the FOI Act as there is a pre-existing intention to publish this information at the link above. This exemption is subject to a public interest test, which requires us to assess whether the public interest in applying the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure. In this instance, it is considered that the public interest favours the publication of this information, in context and according to the pre-determined schedule, rather than in response to your request, to ensure the information is provided accurately and in an accessible manner at the appropriate time.

Lastly, we are not obliged to provide some of the information covered by your request at it is subject to one of the statutory exemptions to the right of access to information under Section 42 which relates to information covered by Legal Professional Privilege (LPP). LPP is a common law concept that protects the confidentiality of communications between a legally qualified adviser and client for the purpose of the provision of advice or in connection with litigation.

There is a very strong element of public interest inbuilt into the concept of LPP and this has long been recognised, by the Information Commissioner, the Information Tribunal and the courts, and it reflects the importance of legal advice being sought, and given, in confidence as a fundamental condition on which the administration of justice rests. There is an inherent public interest in TfL being able to obtain full and frank legal advice, and this is consistent with TfL’s responsibility to analyse and address legal risks and issues.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

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

Lee Hill

Senior FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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