1st February 2010
Adrian Rutherford
Freedom of Information Unit
2nd Floor
Royal Mail Sheffield
[FOI #25294 email]
Pond Street
Sheffield
S98 6HR
[Royal Mail Group request email]
www.royalmail.com
Dear Mr. Rutherford
Re: Freedom of Information Request
I am writing in response to your request for information dated 1st January 2010. We have
considered your request under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. You
requested the following information:
“Please provide details of all thefts by Royal Mail employees in Northern Ireland in each of
the last three years. Please provide the date, location of the theft, details of the
incident/what was taken (especially if mail was stolen), whether these items were
recovered, and what punishment or disciplinary action followed.
I can confirm that this information is held by Royal Mail in electronic format. However, this
information is considered to be commercial y sensitive and exempt from disclosure under
section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act. This information is likely to be utilised by
Royal Mail’s competitors and presented out of context resulting in unfair damage to
customer confidence. This would place Royal Mail at a significant disadvantage to other
postal operators who offer their own products in direct competition with Royal Mail but are
not required to publish or disclose equivalent information themselves.
This exemption is subject to the public interest test. Although there is public interest in the
performance of Royal Mail, we believe this interest is satisfied through reporting to
Postcomm and Consumer Focus. Royal Mail publishes details of our overall performance
against national y agreed targets on its website
www.royalmailgroup.com.
Royal Mail Group Ltd is registered in England and Wales. Registered number 4138203. Registered office: 100 Victoria Embankment, London, EC4Y 0HQ.
© Royal Mail Group Ltd 2010– Page 1 of 2
Cont…
Information relating to Royal Mail alone, without equivalent information from competitor’s,
would not enable customers to make an informed choice about the postal operator or
service they wish to use. Further, Royal Mail Group is a publicly owned company and there
is a real and direct public interest in its commercial performance and ability to operate on a
level playing field with competitors in a highly competitive market. Therefore in our view
the overriding public interest lies in maintaining this exemption.
Royal Mail constantly reviews security to ensure the continuing integrity of the mail
operation and we have a zero tolerance approach to any dishonesty. The overwhelming
majority of all letters posted arrive safely at the correct destination but we remain vigilant
to any risk to the operation. It remains the case that the huge majority of our people are
scrupulously honest and take huge care over the mail entrusted to them by our customers.
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 wil then review the decision, and you wil be advised
of the outcome.
If you decide to appeal and are stil 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
Yours sincerely
Daniel Tulp
Freedom of Information Case Officer
[Royal Mail Group request email]
Royal Mail Group Ltd is registered in England and Wales. Registered number 4138203. Registered office: 100 Victoria Embankment, London, EC4Y 0HQ.
© Royal Mail Group Ltd 2010– Page 2 of 2
