Hello, I wish to apply for access to records held by your office under the Freedom of Information Act 2002. I request the annual cost of pest control (regarding vermin - rats and mice), specifically 2016/17, 2017/18, and 2018/19. I understand that the cost of 2015/16 was made available in a previous FOI request, as published on your website. https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transparency/freedom-of-information/foi-request-detail?referenceId=FOI-0460-1718 I also request the station locations that have had the most amount spent on them, in terms of pest control (specifically vermin) expenditure. I also request clarification regarding the proportion of pest control that was undertaken "in-house". (As seen in the previous FOI request. Could you clarify what this means? Finally, I request the financial breakdown of pest control activity. In the previous FOI request, there is reference made to "Removal of dead vermin", "Baiting for vermin", "Cleaning pigeon guano", and "Removal of droppings". Could you provide a financial breakdown of these services? I request access to the records in excel format. Thanks,

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TfL Ref: FOI-3258-1819

Thank you for your Freedom of Information request of 1^st March 2019 asking for information about pest control on the London Underground.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require. Specifically you asked:

“I request the annual cost of pest control (regarding vermin - rats and mice), specifically 2016/17, 2017/18, and 2018/19. I understand that the cost of 2015/16 was made available in a previous FOI request, as published on your website.

https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transparency/freedom-of-information/foi-request-detail?referenceId=FOI-0460-1718

I also request the station locations that have had the most amount spent on them, in terms of pest control (specifically vermin) expenditure.

I also request clarification regarding the proportion of pest control that was undertaken "in-house". (As seen in the previous FOI request). Could you clarify what this means?

Finally, I request the financial breakdown of pest control activity. In the previous FOI request, there is reference made to "Removal of dead vermin", "Baiting for vermin", "Cleaning pigeon guano", and "Removal of droppings". Could you provide a financial breakdown of these services?”

Unfortunately, to provide the information you have requested would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450 set by the Freedom of Information (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

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, and then locating, retrieving or extracting it from other information, would exceed the appropriate limit. This is calculated at £25 per hour for every hour spent on the activities described.

There is no single source for the information you have requested. London Underground is managed in different operational areas, organised around different groups of lines. Separate contracts are in place for those different groups of lines, and the method of apportioning pest control costs varies according to the contract type. For example, in some cases there is a specific contracted service for this and in others pest control is one element of a fee for a contract that is wider in scope. To provide the level of detail you have requested would require gathering information from across a number of contracts and a number of London Underground commercial teams for the three years in question, and even then it is unlikely that we would be able to answer all of your questions – such as in relation to actual spend at specific stations; in relation to specific activities; and in relation to rats and mice only – without a much more detailed analysis of the records held, and which may ultimately prove impossible to determine in any case. We estimate that to undertake this activity would cost well in excess of the specified threshold.

To help bring the cost of responding to your request within the £450 limit you may wish to consider narrowing its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking, bearing in mind the advice above.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely,

David Wells

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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