Dear Mr Osborne
Request for information
Ordnance Survey reference: 71746
Thank you for your email dated 3rd August 2009 requesting:
• the original emails or letters from the Ordnance Survey to the two public
bodies who have not been named here. If you cannot provide evidence that
the responses were solicited in confidence, then I request that their
responses be published.
• I also request the names of the public bodies who have replied to the OS
Business Consultation and contact details so that they may be contacted.
When Ordnance Survey published details of its new Business Strategy and asked for
comment via the Interactive Business Strategy, the aim was to receive as many
comments as possible. It was recognised that some people or organisations might
wish to respond in confidence, rather than have their comments published for all to
see. Accordingly, as is normal practice when seeking comments or feedback, we
provided an opportunity for people to provide comments privately to an Ordnance
Survey email address, as follows:
CONTACT US
If you do not feel able to comment publicly on this document please feel free to
email us.
We anticipated that any information that we gathered through this route would only
be used /disclosed in accordance with the wishes of the provider.
One submission provided through this route was subject to the following email
correspondence:
Dear Sir/Madam,
**** aims to submit its response to OS's strategy consultation later this afternoon. In order
to highlight certain issues, we intend to illustrate these with references to some of our
licensees. It is necessarily a commercial in confidence document.
We wanted to seek assurance from yourselves that all responses submitted in confidence will
stay in confidence.
As the deadline is today, a swift response would be appreciated!
Best wishes,
***** *****
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Data Licensing and IPR Adviser
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*******
Dear **********,
Thank you for your email. I understand, and that is absolutely fine. If you could mark up your
response as ‘in confidence’ or ‘confidential’ then we will of course honour this. To assist in
keeping your response separate from others we have received please could you email it
directly to myself at *******************************
Kind regards,
*****
***********
****************** Ordnance Survey
*********, Romsey Road, SOUTHAMPTON, United Kingdom, SO16 4GU
Phone: +44 (0) 23 8030 **** | Fax: +44 (0) 23 8079 2230
** Confidential **
Dear *****,
I attach ***** response to OS's business strategy consultation. As
highlighted previously, it is a commercial-in confidence document.
We would like to invite ************** to visit us at **** to discuss
the issues in our response.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
***********
******************
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The submission was also marked as ‘Commercial in confidence’.
In light of the nature of the information provided and the explicit conditions attached
to its submission regarding its subsequent use and disclosure, Ordnance Survey was
satisfied that an obligation of confidence had arisen.
We have subsequently contacted the provider of this submission to seek their
consent to disclosure. However, they have advised us that they still wish, and expect,
us to treat this submission as confidential due to the commercially sensitive nature of
their comments. Accordingly, we regret we are unable to disclose this submission to
you.
In terms of the other response received in this way – following further review and
consultation with the public sector body concerned, it has been agreed that their
response is eligible for publication under the Freedom of Information Act. As such,
we attach the response submitted by Transport for London.
Please note that your enquiry has been processed to Freedom of Information
guidelines. If you are unhappy with our response, you may raise an appeal to our
Appeals Officer at:
Complaints Team
Customer Service Centre
Ordnance Survey
Romsey Road
SOUTHAMPTON
SO16 4GU
Please include the reference number above. The Appeals Officer will ensure that the
process has been followed correctly, questioning any decisions taken regarding the
original response and recommending disclosure of additional information if
appropriate.
Thank you for your enquiry.
Yours sincerely
Tony Gray Information Access Manager (Freedom of Information/Data Protection/Records) Ordnance Survey Rm C363, Romsey Road, SOUTHAMPTON, United Kingdom, SO16 4GU
Phone: +44 (0) 23 8079 2540| Mobile: +44 (0) 7789 617648| Fax: +44 (0) 23 8079 2572
http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/ | [email address]
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