1.3.20 clarification: Please could you advise how many London Underground staff have reported rough sleepers on TfL property through the workplace iPad app referred to by your colleague Eva Hoxtall on 17th/1/2020, 'London Underground staff have access to reporting services via their iPads and bus drivers are able to report rough sleepers using a pre-loaded SMS text service option on iBus.'? Could you also advise how many bus staff have reported per same previous advice? Could you also please tell me how many rough sleepers have been helped by Thames Reach through the TfL Outreach scheme, how many reports by staff have been made through the app and whether the report information goes from the app directly to Thames Reach or whether a member of TfL staff disseminates it? Is the same procedure in place for bus staff?

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TfL Ref: 3564-1920

Thank you for your clarification of your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 1 March 2020 asking for information about how many rough sleepers have been helped by Thames Reach through the TfL Outreach scheme, how many reports by staff have been made through the app.

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.

Through Thames Reach, TfL funds a dedicated homeless outreach team which works directly on our services, including buses and the Tube. Although the Thames Reach Night Team is unique because they work on public transport, the team operate in a similar way to other outreach services – targeting locations via referrals from Streetlink (plus the intelligence passed via staff reports) and then trying to locate the rough sleepers, engage with them to understand their circumstances and then work with existing homeless services in London to connect the person with the most appropriate provision available.

The WAASB (Workplace Aggression and Anti-Social Behaviour) app is a system for reporting incidents and intelligence by London Underground staff. It is not exclusively related to reporting rough sleeping, and can be used to report a number of incidents (e.g. fare evasion etc).

Bus drivers can report rough sleeping via iBus SMS reports, which is a TfL system for bus drivers to report non-emergency concerns; it has a category specific to rough sleepers, which was introduced in June 2019.

For London Underground, in 2019, there were 2,915 WAASB reports made by 645 London Underground staff which reference rough sleepers or homelessness.

On our buses, the iBus category specific to report rough sleeping was introduced in June 2019. Between June and December 2019, there were 1,452 reports of rough sleeping.

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any 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

Sara Thomas

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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