TfL Ref: 2787-1819

Thank you for your email received by us on 22 January 2019 asking for information about Surface Transport's Compliance Policing and On-street Operations (CPOS) Directorate and a copy of the Operations 2020 plan.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy. We do hold the information you require. You asked for the following:

1.) Please provide me with a copy of the Ops 2020 plan. If the final version is not available, please supply the latest draft version.

Please find a copy of the Plan, which was made available to CPOS staff upon publication in March 2016.

2.) I understand that there will be a restructuring of managers managing operational staff (e.g. RPI, TPHC, RTEO), possibly changing their roles and responsibilities (e.g. "one manager"). Please provide me with the business case/project proposal and all relevant documents (e.g. meeting notes) giving detailed information about this restructuring.

3.) I understand that there will be a restructuring of operational staff and they will be offered a new contract of employment and the general roles and responsibilities of all operational staff will be similar (e.g. "one officer"). Please provide me with the business case/project proposal and all relevant documents (e.g. meeting notes) giving detailed information about this restructuring.

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’s commercial interests.

In this instance the exemption has been applied as disclosure of the information you have requested is likely to negatively affect the commercial interests of TfL. The information requested is in relation to the potential change proposal which is currently in development. When completed this will be consulted upon with trade unions accordingly.

Disclosure of the information you are seeking would prejudice our position by providing a potentially misleading impression of the proposal that is still in development, as well as given an insight into the considerations being made before we enter the formal consultation process with trade unions. We consider that this would inhibit our ability to obtain best value for public funds by weakening our ability to negotiate.

The use of this exemption subject to an assessment of the public interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned. We recognise the need for openness and transparency by public authorities, but in this instance we consider that the public interest lies in ensuring that we remain able to conduct productive and effective considerations leading into negotiations with trade unions which remain unhindered by disclosure of this information. This ensures that we remain able to provide the best value for public funds.

4.) Some managers have been on long term secondments for over 2 years (e.g. CPOS ops centre, TPHC). Some of these secondments have been curtailed or not extended, some of them have been extended for 3 months and some of them have been extended for 12 months. Please provide me with the rationale behind the decision on these secondments, especially in the case of staff being seconded to the same role (e.g. TPHC Assistant Compliance Manager) but being offered a different length of extension. If the decision was not purely based on performance but on other factors (e.g. business needs), please provide me with the business case and all relevant documents (e.g. meeting notes).

Secondments are offered in accordance with the TfL Resourcing Policy and operational need. When judging whether to extend or cease a secondment, the CPOS management team will consider the ongoing workload requirement in both the area into which the secondment has been placed and the area from which the secondee has been sourced. In doing so decisions will be made which balance resource across the wider CPOS operation, not solely within TPH, in order to maintain service.

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

Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
Information Governance
Transport For London

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