F/O from 3338-1920 Thank you for you reply. I am sorry to say that again this is not the information that I am requesting, as that information was already provided to a different question. I offer further clarification and ask that you kindly again reconsider your response. I am seeking the total number of buskers eligible to operate on the system each year. For example you stated that in 2018 a total of 255 buskers were active. Some of these presumably were accredited the previous wear in the 2017 intake, and some will have been accredited in previous years. From the information you have provided, the number must be at least as large as the maximum number of buskers active in a single year, which you stated was 290 in 2019. I would also expect the number for 2017 to be approximately 79 larger than in 2016.

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TfL Ref: 3595-1920

Thank you for your clarification of the further request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 21 February 2020 asking for the total number of buskers eligible to operate as buskers year on year on the London Underground.

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

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, locating and retrieving it and 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.

We have estimated that it would significantly exceed the cost limit to provide a response to your current request.

To explain further, from 2016 we have used a new computerised booking system for busker bookings. All our current active buskers have to have an account / login for this system in order to book a pitch. This booking system is our primary way of tracking the number of active buskers we have at any one time. The figure of active buskers for 2019 is 290 as advised in our previous response. Any inactive buskers would not appear on that ‘list’ if they haven’t made a booking within the past year.

In 2015 we added 80 new buskers and in 2017 we added a further 79 new buskers, however over the same period and the years in between when we didn’t hold any auditions, a number of buskers were also removed from our register for a variety of reasons for example due to death, illness or moving away. We are essentially unable to identify how many of our active buskers for each of these years are long term registered buskers or are new accreditations from the auditions we held in 2015 and 2017 without looking at every record we hold to see when each individual busker was added, when each individual busker was removed as this would be a significant task. Some of the data of pre 2016 active buskers is not held due to the move to the computerised system in 2016 and inactive buskers are also removed from the system as needed.

The number of active buskers may increase year on year due to inactive buskers coming back to the scheme , for example returning to London, or following an illness, or delays in qualified buskers becoming active on the system.

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. If you want to refine your request or make a Freedom of Information Act request in future, please bear in mind that the Freedom of Information Act allows you to request recorded information held by us. You should identify the information that you want as clearly and concisely as you can, specifying the types of document that you are looking for. You might also consider limiting your request to a particular period of time, geographical area or specific departments of the organisation.

Although your request can take the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, we do not have to answer your question if it would require the creation of new information or the provision of a judgement, explanation, advice or opinion that was not already recorded at the time of your request.

Please note that we will not be taking further action until we receive your revised request.

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, 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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