5Live Transport/Accommodation costs for Stephen Nolan

Scott Ryan made this Freedom of Information request to British Broadcasting Corporation

The request was refused by British Broadcasting Corporation.

From: Scott Ryan

23 January 2010

Dear British Broadcasting Corporation,

Please provide the total expenditure in 2009 in each of the
categories shown below, in relation to Mr Stephen Nolan and his
duties as a BBC Five Live radio host.

(a) Total expenditure on accommodation in Manchester, England by
the BBC for Mr Stephen Nolan.
(b) Total expenditure on transportation by the BBC for Mr Stephen
Nolan (by land and air, including flights to/from Manchester and
Northern Ireland and taxis and hire cars in Manchester).
(c) Total expenditure on dispersements, including food, for Mr
Stephen Nolan.

Yours faithfully,

Mr Ryan

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From: FOI Enquiries
British Broadcasting Corporation

25 January 2010

Dear Mr Ryan,

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, as detailed in your email below. Your request was
received on 23rd January, 2010. We will deal with your request as
promptly as possible, and at the latest within 20 working days. If you
have any queries about your request, please contact us at the address
below.

The reference number for your request is RFI20100107.

Kind regards

The Information Policy & Compliance Team

BBC Freedom of Information
Room 2252, BBC White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS

www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: [BBC request email]

Tel: 020 8008 2882
Fax: 020 8008 2398

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From: Data Protection Enquiries
British Broadcasting Corporation

18 February 2010

Attachment RFI20100107 final response.pdf
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Please find attached the response to your request considered under the
terms of the Freedom of Information Act.

Kind regards,

Fern Kersey
Adviser, Information Policy and Compliance

BBC Freedom of Information
Room 2252
BBC White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS, UK

Website: www.bbc.co.uk/foi/
Email: mailto:[BBC request email]
Tel: 020 8008 2883
Fax: 020 8008 2398

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From: Scott Ryan

18 February 2010

Dear Ms Harris

This is a totally unsatisfactory response.

You state "The information you have requested is excluded from the
Act because it is held for the purposes of ‘journalism, art or
literature.’" and "Part VI of Schedule 1 to FOIA provides that
information held by the BBC and the other public service
broadcasters is only covered by the Act if it is held for ‘purposes
other than those of journalism, art or literature”"

Can you please explain what ‘journalism, art or literature.’ value
the cost of transport and accommodation for Mr Stephen Nolan has?

I will be raising this matter with the Information Commissioner as
a matter of public interest. It is entirely within the FoI
guidelines.

I look forward to a prompt reply and appreciate your attention to
this matter.

Yours sincerely,

Scott Ryan

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British Broadcasting Corporation

18 February 2010

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Attachment Internal review of Freedom of Information request 5Live Transport Accommodation costs for Stephen Nolan.txt
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This is an automatically generated Delivery Status Notification.

Delivery to the following recipients failed.

[email address]

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28 February 2010

Sent a follow up to British Broadcasting Corporation again.

From: FOI Enquiries
British Broadcasting Corporation

1 March 2010

Dear Mr Ryan

Thank you for your email, repeated below.

I am sorry you are unhappy with our response, but I can only reiterate
that we consider this information is not covered by the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 ("the Act"). This is because the information is held
for the purposes of 'journalism, art or literature'. Part VI of Schedule
1 to the Act (also referred to as "the derogation") provides that
information held by the BBC and the other public service broadcasters is
only covered by the Act if it is held for 'purposes other than journalism
art or literature'.

As an aside, you may be interested to know that the scope of the
derogation has been considered by two High Court cases by Mr Justice Irwin
in 2009. These cases are BBC vs. Steven Sugar and The Information
Commissioner (EW2349) and the BBC vs. The Information Commissioner
(EW2348). In both decisions Justice Irwin found that some information
held by the BBC, including details of BBC programme costs, was held for
the purposes of journalism, art or literature and that therefore the BBC
did not have to disclose the requested information.

As we explained in our letter to you of 18 February the BBC does not offer
an internal review when the information is not covered by the Act. If you
disagree with our decision you can appeal to the Information Commissioner

[1]http://www.ico.gov.uk

Once again, we are sorry we cannot help you further on this occasion.

Kind regards,

Fern Kersey
Adviser, Information Policy and Compliance

BBC Freedom of Information
Room 2252
BBC White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS, UK

Website: [2]www.bbc.co.uk/foi/
Email: [3]mailto:[BBC request email]
Tel: 020 8008 2883
Fax: 020 8008 2398

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