25 January 2010

Mr M Price

Via email ([email address])

Our ref: CS/09/0145/146/147/HJP

(Please quote our reference when contacting us)

If telephoning contact Hilary Pook on 020 7217 4734

or if using email send to: [email address]

Dear Mr Price

Request for information

You sent three requests - 25136 (our ref CS/09/145), 25141 (our ref CS/09/146), and 25142 (our ref CS/09/147) on 27 and 28 December. I am sending a single response to these three requests.

The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 state that two or more requests can be aggregated for the purposes of calculating costs if they are by one person, for the same or similar information, and subsequent requests are received within 60 working days of the previous request. Your requests fit these requirements and have therefore been dealt with together.

All three requests were about expenses claimed by Tony Redmond, some covering a period right back to when Mr Redmond was appointed in 2001. Getting the information to comply with these requests would involve recalling archive boxes from off-site storage. We have estimated that all the work involved in researching which boxes we need to recall, requesting the boxes, going through the boxes and extracting the required information and compiling the information to provide to you would take at least 22 hours. The Fees Regulations have set the appropriate limit for `other public bodies' at £450, based on £25 per hour. This equates to 18 hours. Therefore, responding to your requests would take the cost of doing so above the appropriate fees limit and we do not have to comply with them.

That concludes my response. If you feel I have not dealt properly with your request, you have the right to appeal and, should you wish to do so, I can supply a copy our internal complaints procedure. If you do request an internal review - can you please indicate why you are unhappy with my response. You also have the right to apply to the Information Commissioner to determine

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whether your request has been properly dealt with. You should note however that the Commissioner will not consider any complaint where you have not first exhausted our internal complaints process or where there has been undue delay in contacting him. You will be able to obtain further details of the Information Commissioner's role from the website on www.ico.gov.uk.

Yours sincerely

Hilary Pook

Hilary Pook (Ms)

Communications and Records Manager

LGO 01 (03/08)