Request ID: FOI-4206-2324 Date published: 12 March 2024
You asked
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding adverts placed by TFL and on TFL property which relate to the incumbent Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. This should include underground, busses, TFL trains, overground, stations, all of it.
Please provide the following information covering the time period from 9 May 2016 to the present, broken down by year (either calendar, or financial year, according to what’s on your records).
1. Amount of money spent on printing, distributing, maintaining (and generally operating) of posters or other types of adverts on the tube which either mentioned Mr Khan ("Sadiq Khan" contained in the advertisement text) or included his photograph (if this is difficult to obtain, let's omit it).
2. Number of posters or other types of adverts placed by TFL that fit the above criteria
3. For both of the above, if relevant, break this down by adverts paid for by TFL or other entities.
We answered
Our ref: FOI-4206-2324
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 15 February 2024 asking for information about Advertising of Mr Sadiq Khan.
Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy.
I can confirm that we do hold some of the information you require. You asked:
I am writing to request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 regarding adverts placed by TFL and on TFL property which relate to the incumbent Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. This should include underground, busses, TFL trains, overground, stations, all of it.
Please provide the following information covering the time period from 9 May 2016 to the present, broken down by year (either calendar, or financial year, according to what’s on your records).
1. Amount of money spent on printing, distributing, maintaining (and generally operating) of posters or other types of adverts on the tube which either mentioned Mr Khan ("Sadiq Khan" contained in the advertisement text) or included his photograph (if this is difficult to obtain, let's omit it).
2. Number of posters or other types of adverts placed by TFL that fit the above criteria
3. For both of the above, if relevant, break this down by adverts paid for by TFL or other entities.
The Mayor of London’s name has appeared in TfL advertising since September 2016. We have kept records of the campaigns which have included the Mayor of London by name since 01 April 2019. We are unable to provide information prior to this date as it would exceed the FOI cost limit to source the information retrospectively, which is why we put in place a system to provide information from April 2019. Under section 12 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to comply with requests 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. In this instance, we estimate that the time required to answer your request would exceed 18 hours which, at £25 per hour (the rate stipulated by the Regulations), exceeds the ‘appropriate limit’. Information covering the 2019/20 financial year (as far back as we hold) can be found in the answer to a similar request published on the FOI pages of our website via the following link: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transparency/freedom-of-information/foi-request-detail?referenceId=FOI-3552-1920
No adverts on the Tube, published by TfL, contain photographs of Sadiq Khan however some adverts published by TfL have included reference to his name only. The information below refers to advertisements on the Tube network and the media on this network is posters, either print or digital screens. TfL does not hold information for other entities. Nor are there maintenance costs for the advertising being displayed. A message is displayed for a set period of time and then is replaced with a new message be it in a print or digital format. Please see the remainder of the information requested below:
Financial Year 2020/21 There were no mentions of the Mayor of London by name in either print or digital posters.
Financial Year 2021/22
There were 19 messages containing a reference to the Mayor by name in printed posters and 1 mention in digital screens.
The number of posters printed and displayed was 14,358. TfL did not pay for this media placement.
The number of digital screens where a message appeared was 14. TfL did not pay for this media placement.
For paid media there was a total of 498 printed posters and 469 digital screens.
The print costs for the posters where TfL did not pay for the media placement was £14,804.99.
The print and distribution costs for paid print and digital media sites was £20,876.
The public information message in the advertising explained improvements to the bus fleet to reduce emissions, step free access at Osterley, Wimbledon Park and Ickenham stations, the inner London ULEZ, and fares including the weekly fares cap.
Financial Year 2022/23
There was 1 message containing a reference to the Mayor by name in printed posters and 3 mentions in digital screens.
The number of posters printed and displayed was 1,064. TfL did not pay for this media placement.
The number of digital screens where a message was displayed was 531. TfL did not pay for this media placement.
The print costs for the posters where TfL did not pay for the media placement was £4,394.49.
The distribution costs for paid digital screens where a message was displayed was £1,485.
The media spend for the messages that ran in print including distribution was £189,263.
The messages covered public information on improvements to the bus fleet.
Financial Year April 2023/February 2024
There were 12 messages containing a reference to Mayor by name in printed posters.
The number of posters printed and displayed was 10,329. TfL did not pay for this media placement.
The number of digital screens was 531 and TfL did not pay for this media placement.
For paid media there was a total of 118 printed posters
The print costs for the posters where TfL did not pay for the media placement totalled £5,999.03.
The print and distribution costs for paid posters was £10,717.
The media spend on campaigns that required print and distribution was £212,031.
The messages covered public information on improvements to buses such as lower emissions, bus reliability, and step free access across the public transport network
If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely,
Tahsin Prima FOI Case Officer General Counsel Transport for London
