Dear Mr Walker

Re: Freedom of Information Request

I am writing in response to your request for information which was submitted online on 10th October and received by Royal Mail on 12^th October 2009. We have considered your request under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I must apologise for the length of time taken to respond to you in this regard and for any inconvenience that this delay may have caused. You requested the following information:

“1.The names and ranks/grades of all employees in your organisation who are Common Purpose 'graduates'.

“2. The total expenditure by your organisation on Common Purpose courses for each of the years 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009 to date together with a copy of the invoice for each Common Purpose course paid for by your organisation.”

Royal Mail Group does not hold central records of Common Purpose training courses or details of those individuals that may have attended. These courses are not booked centrally as part of any business-wide training, but are instead booked and organised directly at a local level. Therefore, we have confirmed that no central records are held of the information you requested.

As no central records are held, to provide details of all Common Purpose graduates', together with the total expenditure for each year since 1997 and a copy of all invoices would require searching for records of Royal Mail Group's entire workforce of over 176,000 employees. To undertake this exercise would significantly exceed the appropriate cost limit set out under section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act. The appropriate limit for Royal Mail Group is set at £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether we hold the information, and in locating, retrieving and extracting the information. Consequently, Royal Mail Group is not obliged by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to respond to this particular request (see section 12(1) of the Act. It may however, be possible to retrieve information within the cost limit if you are able to narrow your request. For example, it may be possible to identify some individuals where local requisitions have been placed through central invoicing - although this would not be a definitive list. Any reformulated request we receive from you will need to be treated as a fresh FOI request.

I am sorry that we cannot provide the information you have requested on this occasion. If you are not satisfied with this response, you do have a right of appeal. If you wish to do so please set out in writing your grounds of appeal and send to The Head of Information Compliance, Royal Mail Group, Company Secretary's Office, 100 Victoria Embankment, LONDON, EC4Y 0HQ an internal panel will then review the decision, and you will be advised of the outcome.

If you decide to appeal and are still not satisfied with our response you also have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545 700

www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Cont…

4 December 2009