Request ID: FOI-4795-2324 Date published: 23 April 2024
You asked
Could you please send me copies of the full internal audit reports from the last 3 months?
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-4795-2324
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 24th March 2024 asking for copies of internal audit reports. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked:
“Could you please send me copies of the full internal audit reports from the last 3 months?”.
I can confirm that we hold the information you require. However, I am afraid that your request is being refused under section 14 of the Freedom of Information Act on the basis that to provide it would require a disproportionate use of our resource. The reports which fall within the scope of your request have up to 25 pages in each. To provide the requested information we would have to review each report separately and individually, alongside those staff associated with each of the reports, to consider whether any of the material is exempt from release (and it is almost certain that some of it will be) on a page by page basis. This would require the involvement of a number of different personnel from across TfL, including from the FOI team, the Internal Audit team and the teams to which the subject of the Internal Audits relate. Given the number of reports in question, this would be a lengthy process and we do not consider it a proportionate use of our limited and specialist resource, particularly where the request clearly lacks any specific focus or purpose.
In reaching this conclusion we have taken account of the Information Commissioner’s guidance on the use of section 14, available on the ICO website here. We believe the following aspects are particularly relevant in this case:
the key question to ask is whether the request is likely to cause a disproportionate or unjustified level of disruption, irritation or distress;
this will usually be a matter of objectively judging the evidence of the impact on the authority and weighing this against any evidence about the purpose and value of the request.
the Information Commissioner recognises that dealing with unreasonable requests can place a strain on resources and get in the way of delivering mainstream services
the request appears to be part of a completely random approach, lacks any clear focus, or seems to have been solely designed for the purpose of ‘fishing’ for information without any idea of what might be revealed.
Whilst fishing for information is not, in itself, enough to make a request vexatious, some requests may... create a burden by requiring the authority to spend a considerable amount of time considering any exemptions and redactions.
If you wish to submit a refined request asking for material on a specific topic or asking specific questions – as opposed to the current “catch all” request – then we will consider it accordingly. Before considering any such refined request you may wish to review the information and papers that we proactively publish about the work of our Audit and Assurance Committee which are available on our website here and here. This will hopefully provide you with some of the information you require and allow you to focus any future request on your specific area of interest.
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
