Request ID: FOI-4781-2324 Date published: 22 April 2024
You asked
Dear Sir or Madam,
I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information relating to your property maintenance and servicing spend.
1. Can you please provide your spend for the last full available year (stating which one) on asbestos surveying and associated services (e.g. inspection, monitoring and testing, but excluding removal)
2. Could you provide the number of buildings that you manage and the percentage of buildings containing asbestos?
3. Could you please provide your spend on the following surveying areas for the last full available year (if no spend in the last full year, please provide the most recent year of spend):
a. Fire assessments (e.g. Fire risk assessments, external fire wall surveys, compartmentation surveys – if available)
b. EPC / DEC assessments
i. Please state the number of properties that fall under this remit
c. Stock condition surveys
d. Damp and mould surveys
4. For each of the survey types, please provide the number of properties receiving the survey in the last full year
If contract information is available online, please would you be able to attach a copy / link to the information.
If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to your response.
We answered
Our ref: FOI-4781-2324/GH
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 25 March 2024 asking for information about Property Surveying Services.
Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold the information you require.
However, given the extent of the information you are looking for, we are applying Regulation 12(4)(b) as we believe that the request is ‘manifestly unreasonable’ because providing the information you have requested would impose unreasonable costs on us and require an unreasonable diversion of resources.
Locating and compiling the requested information for all of our properties (stations, offices, rental properties etc) would take a significant amount of time and resources. The use of this exception is subject to a public interest test, which requires us to consider whether the public interest in applying the exception outweighs the public interest in disclosure. We recognise that the release of information would promote accountability and transparency in public services and also help address your particular concerns about this issue. However, the time it would take to provide the information you have requested would divert a disproportionate amount of our resources from its core functions and on balance we consider that the public interest currently favours the use of the exception.
Additionally, we are in the process of re-tendering for asbestos and other hazardous materials related services. Therefore, were we able to collate the requested information within reasonable timeframes, it is likely that we would refuse the financial information requested under Regulation 12(5)(e)
We will consider your request again, if you are able to narrow its scope so that we can more easily locate, retrieve and extract the information you are seeking. If you have specific questions we will be happy to consider those.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Graham Hurt FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London