Dear Sir or Madam,

Under the Freedom of Information Act could you please tell me:

a) What grade of council employee is permitted to travel by First
Class Rail Travel on official council business?

b) How many First Class Rail tickets were purchased by the Council
for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007?

c) How many Standard Class rail tickets were purchased for the
years 2005, 2006 and 2007?

d) What was the total expenditure spent by the Council on First
Class Rail Travel in 2005, 2006 and 2007 ?

e) What was the total expenditure spent by the Council on Standard
Class Rail Travel in 2005, 2006 and 2007 ?

Yours faithfully,

I Hall

Dear I Hall
Thank you for your request for information in relation to rail travel
expenditure. Your request was received on 13th October 2008 and I am
dealing with it under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
In some circumstances a fee may be payable and if that is the case, I
will let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be
required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.
If you have any queries about this letter, please contact Sue Smith on
01254 585761. Also, our email address for contact is
[Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council request email]. Please remember to quote the
reference number above in any future communications.
Regards,
Kerri McFadden
Audit & Assurance Administrator
Audit & Assurance
Town Hall
King William Street
Blackburn
BB1 7DY

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Blackburn with Darwen
Borough Council's handling of my FOI request 'First / Standard
Class Rail Travel Expenditure 2005 - 2007'.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fi...

Yours sincerely,

I Hall

Dear Mr Hall,

Firstly I write to acknowledge your request for a formal review of your
enquiry (number 4988). This review is being carried out and I will be in
a position to respond to you in full very shortly.

Secondly can I take this opportunity to apologise for the delay in
responding, I do appreciate that we have passed the time limit set in
the Act and will be in a position to provide you with the information
you need shortly.

Many thanks,

Sue Smith

Information Manager

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Town Hall, Blackburn, Lancashire BB1 7DY

<http://www.blackburn.gov.uk>

mailto:[email address]

Tel : 01254 585761

fax 01254 668245

Dear Mr Hall,

We have reviewed our response ( below ) to your recent request to us and whilst we accept that the response is late, and we apologise for the inconvenience caused, we have been trying to gather the information for you. We have looked at all methods of gathering the information, including asking each manager to check the information they hold, but as we have 4800 staff this would not be possible within the time scales of the Act.

Our financial system will not allow a search for rail 'classes' of tickets used and despite attempting to get the information via other means we can only search each invoice for the period of your request. It is not possible to do this within the time scales and within the costs ( £450 or 18 hours ) set out in the Freedom of Information Act and we therefore cannot on this occasion provide you with all the information you require.

Your request asks :

Under the Freedom of Information Act could you please tell me:

a) What grade of council employee is permitted to travel by First

Class Rail Travel on official council business? All employees are required to travel by the most economical route possible.

b) How many First Class Rail tickets were purchased by the Council

for the years 2005, 2006 and 2007? We are unable to answer this question within the time limit

c) How many Standard Class rail tickets were purchased for the

years 2005, 2006 and 2007? We are unable to answer this within the time limit

d) What was the total expenditure spent by the Council on First

Class Rail Travel in 2005, 2006 and 2007 ? We are unable to answer this within the time limit

e) What was the total expenditure spent by the Council on Standard

Class Rail Travel in 2005, 2006 and 2007 ? We are unable to answer this within the time limit

If you could look at the questions again and amend them in any way, or if we can assist in getting you some of the information you require please contact us again using the details below.

As stated above we apologise for the delay in responding and have attached our ' have your say' document should you wish to use.

Many thanks,

Sue Smith

Information Manager

Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council

Town Hall, Blackburn, Lancashire BB1 7DY

<http://www.blackburn.gov.uk>

mailto:[email address]

Tel : 01254 585761

fax 01254 668245