Minutes of Board Meetings

Dear Mr Cross,

Thank you for your request for information received on 10th November 2008,
which we are considering under the Freedom of Information Act. Under the
Act you should expect a reply from us to be sent by 08th December 2008[Due
Date], which is twenty working days from receipt of your request.

If for any reason we are unable to provide you with a full response within
that time, we will contact you explaining the reasons for this and giving a
revised date by which we will reply.

If in the mean time you have any questions or would like to contact us
about your request, please contact us by telephone 01252 806513 or
alternatively email or write to us at the address below. Please be assured
that we are giving this our attention and will get back to you shortly.

Yours sincerely

Roger Mence
[Royal Mail Group request email]
Freedom of Information Unit
PO Box 341, ALDERSHOT, GU11 1WW

Royal Mail is a trading name of Royal Mail Group Ltd. Registered in England
and Wales.
Registered number 4138203. Registered office at 148 Old Street, LONDON EC1V
9HQ

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19th November 2008

|
|
By Email: [FOI #4014 email] |Freedom of Information Unit
|PO Box 341
|Aldershot
|GU11 1WW
|
|Tel: 01252 806513
|[Royal Mail Group request email]
|www.royalmail.com
|

Dear Mr Cross

Re: Freedom of Information Request

I am writing in response to your email dated 10th November 2008, in which
you requested the following information:

“Minutes of all meetings of the board of directors of Royal Mail Group
Limited taking place on or after 1 January 2007.”

Royal Mail Group Ltd is an entity of Royal Mail Group that only meet for
limited statutory purposes and that the Holdings Board and Group Executive
Team are the main executive boards of RMG.

I can confirm that we do hold board minutes relevant to your request.
Unfortunately we are unable to provide copies of all such minutes. The
cost of retrieving and compiling the minutes will exceed the appropriate
cost limit set out under 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.
Much of the information included in the minutes is commercially sensitive
and for various reasons cannot be released into the public domain. It
would be necessary to redact large amounts of information where exemptions
under Freedom of Information Act are applicable. Due to the amount of
records involved it would take far more than 18 hours to process your
request as it stands. Consequently, Royal Mail Group is not obliged by the
Freedom of Information Act 2000 to respond to this request (see section
12(1) of the Act).

If you are able to narrow the scope of your request, it may be possible to
provide some information. For example, if you are interested in minutes of
a specific meeting or are able to identify topics that you are interested
in for a shorter period of time. Please let me know if there is anything
we could do to narrow this request down or if any other information may
meet your requirements. Any reformulated request we receive from you will
need to be treated as a fresh FOI request.

Please note however, that the information contained in the minutes may
still be considered exempt from disclosure under FOIA. This is because of
Royal Mail’s status as a limited company operating in a fully liberalised
commercial market. Board minutes refer to with commercially sensitive
information regarding Royal Mail's business strategy, corporate risks and
planned investments that, if disclosed to our competitors would seriously
prejudice our position in the market.

I apologise that your request cannot be met on this occasion but if you are
able to reformulate your request then please do contact me. If you are
dissatisfied with this response for any reason you do have a right to
request an internal review, in which case please write to the Head of
Information Compliance, Royal Mail House, Company Secretary's Office, 5th
Floor, 148 Old Street, LONDON, EC1V 9HQ. An internal panel will then
review the request, and you will be advised of the outcome.

If, having requested an internal review by Royal Mail, you are still not
satisfied with our response you also have a right of 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

Roger Mence
Freedom of Information Unit
Company Secretary's Office

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Dear Mr Cross,

Thank you for your request for information received on 20th November 2008,
which we are considering under the Freedom of Information Act. Under the
Act you should expect a reply from us to be sent by 18th December 2008,
which is twenty working days from receipt of your request.

If for any reason we are unable to provide you with a full response within
that time, we will contact you explaining the reasons for this and giving a
revised date by which we will reply.

If in the mean time you have any questions or would like to contact us
about your request, please contact us by telephone 01252 806513 or
alternatively email or write to us at the address below. Please be assured
that we are giving this our attention and will get back to you shortly.

Yours sincerely

Roger Mence
[Royal Mail Group request email]
Freedom of Information Unit
PO Box 341, ALDERSHOT, GU11 1WW

Royal Mail is a trading name of Royal Mail Group Ltd. Registered in England
and Wales.
Registered number 4138203. Registered office at 148 Old Street, LONDON EC1V
9HQ

John Cross
<request-4014-182c2815@whatdoth To: [Royal Mail Group request email]
eyknow.com> cc:
Sent by: John Cross Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Minutes of Board Meetings
<request-4014-182c2815@whatdoth
eyknow.com>

19/11/2008 19:37

Dear Sir or Madam, In that case please provide me all board minutes
for the period from 1 August 2008 to 1 November 2008 inclusive.

Yours sincerely,

John Cross

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Dear Mr Cross

I am writing in response to your request for information dated 20th
November 2008. In your email previous to this, you had requested “the
minutes of all meetings of the board of directors of Royal Mail Group
Limited taking place on or after 1 January 2007.”

In our response to that request dated 19 November 2008, we explained that
it was not possible to answer that request within the cost-limit for
Freedom of Information Act requests. You have therefore requested “all
board minutes for the period from 1 August 2008 to 1 November 2008
inclusive. Information relevant to your request is considered to be
commercially sensitive under sections 22, 36 and 43 of the Freedom of
Information Act and in this instance we need more time to explore the
public interest in withholding or releasing the information.

We do, of course, aim to make all decisions within 20 working days. In this
case, however, we have not yet reached a decision on where the balance of
the public interest lies. We plan to respond in full to you by 06th January
2009. If it appears that it will take longer than this to reach a
conclusion, we will keep you informed.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request an review of our decision,
you should write to the Head of Information Compliance, Royal Mail House,
Company Secretary's Office, 5th Floor, 148 Old Street, LONDON, EC1V 9HQ.
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 of appeal to the Information Commissioner at:
Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF

Please contact me if you have any queries about this email.
Yours sincerely,

Colin Young
Freedom of Information Manager
[Royal Mail Group request email]

Royal Mail is a trading name of Royal Mail Group Ltd. Registered in England
and Wales.
Registered number 4138203. Registered office at 148 Old Street, LONDON EC1V
9HQ

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Dear Mr Cross

I am writing in response to your request for information dated 20th
November 2008. In your email previous to this, you had requested “the
minutes of all meetings of the board of directors of Royal Mail Group
Limited taking place on or after 1 January 2007.” After discussion, this
was then clarified on 20 November to refer to minutes of the Royal Mail
Group Board, the Royal Mail Holdings Board and the Group Executive Team for
the period from 1 August 2008 to 1 November 2008.

I have attached copies of the minutes relevant to your request. Please
note that it has been necessary to redact some sections where information
is exempt from disclosure under FOIA. As we explained previously, much of
the information included in the minutes is commercially sensitive and for
various reasons cannot be released into the public domain. In particular,
the following exemptions have been applied:

Section 22 – Information intended for future publication,
Section 43 – Prejudice to Commercial Interests, and;
Section 36 – Prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs.

Information intended for future publication is exempt from disclosure under
Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act - this exemption applies to
enable public authorities to publish information at the most appropriate
time and as part of an appropriate process. For example, financial reports
are published in the annual Reports & Accounts for Royal Mail Holdings Plc,
and other proposals currently under consideration by Royal Mail Group are
expected to be announced at a later date. This exemption is intended to
allow organisations such as Royal Mail to properly prepare for public
announcements of key information and ensure that such issues are managed
effectively. The exemption is subject to the ‘public interest test’;
however we don’t believe that there is sufficient public interest in the
information withheld under this exemption to justify early disclosure, and
override the public interest in maintaining Royal Mail’s ability to plan
for public announcements of this kind.

Section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act applies where disclosure of
the information would result in prejudice to the commercial interests of
Royal Mail Group. Redacted information includes analyses of Royal Mail’s
financial position, discussion of business strategies and reports on
operational risk. Clearly the release of financial and strategic
operational information would be damaging for Royal Mail’s commercial
position and give an unfair advantage to our competitors. We have
considered whether the public interest in maintaining the exemption
outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information and believe
that it does. Royal Mail is already subject to financial scrutiny from its
regulator and we believe that public interest in the public disclosure of
such information is therefore reduced. We also believe that there is very
strong public interest in maintaining fair competition in the postal market
and ensuring that Royal Mail is able to compete as far as possible on a
‘level playing field.’ Royal Mail does not consider that disclosing the
redacted information would justify the likely prejudice to its commercial
interests and therefore believes that the exemption under section 43 should
be applied.

Other information contained in the minutes is also considered to be exempt
from disclosure under section 36 of the Freedom of Information Act. The
minutes record the opinions and reports given from individuals present,
disclosure of which, in the opinion of the ‘qualified person’ for Royal
Mail Group, would be likely to inhibit the free and frank exchange of views
for the purposes of deliberation, and therefore prejudice the effective
conduct of public affairs. Other sections referring to the development of
business strategy and policy would also, we believe, prejudice the
effective conduct of Royal Mail’s affairs if disclosed and therefore are
covered by this exemption.

This exemption is again subject to the public interest test and we believe
that the balance of public interest is, in all circumstances of the case,
in favour of withholding the requested information. This is on the basis
that board members need to be able to undertake rigorous and candid
assessment of all information relevant to business operations, and to
consider in confidence the most effective business strategies for Royal
Mail. It is important that they feel able to provide information, consider
options and deliberate without restriction in order to ensure that the
board always considers all relevant information and opinion. We think that
these factors outweigh any public interest in disclosing the information.

I hope that what has been provided meets your requirements. If you have
any questions about this or further requests then please do contact me in
the first instance. If you are dissatisfied with this response or the
decision to withhold some information you do have a right to request an
internal review, in which case please write to the Head of Information
Compliance, Royal Mail House, Company Secretary's Office, 5th Floor, 148
Old Street, LONDON, EC1V 9HQ. An internal panel will then review the
request, and you will be advised of the outcome.

If, having requested an internal review by Royal Mail, you are still not
satisfied with our response you also have a right of 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

Colin Young
Freedom of Information Officer
[Royal Mail Group request email]

(See attached file: Minutes 11 Sept 08 Redacted version .pdf)(See attached
file: GET minutes November 2008 Redacted version.pdf)(See attached file:
GET minutes October 2008 Redacted version.pdf)(See attached file: GET
minutes September 2008 Redacted version.pdf)(See attached file: Minutes 05
Nov 08 Redacted version.pdf)
(See attached file: Minutes 08 Oct 08 Redacted version.pdf)

Royal Mail is a trading name of Royal Mail Group Ltd. Registered in England
and Wales.
Registered number 4138203. Registered office at 148 Old Street, LONDON EC1V
9HQ

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Dear Mr Cross,

Re: Internal Review under the Freedom of Information Act

Thank you for your email received dated 9th February 2009 requesting an
internal review of Royal Mail Group’s reply to your request for information
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This is receiving our attention
and I will write to you again once the internal review has been concluded.

In accordance with guidelines from the Information Commissioner’s Office,
Royal Mail will answer all appeals and requests for internal review of FOI
requests as soon as it reasonably can. This will usually be within 20
working days and in any case no later than 40 days from receipt of the
appeal.

While you do of course have a right to request an internal review for any
reason, it would help us considerably if you could highlight any particular
points of concern or dissatisfaction about the reply sent to you. This
will allow us to make sure these points are addressed in the review, and to
provide you with a more comprehensive response that directly addresses you
concerns. Please be assured that our review will examine all aspects of
the request and compliance with the Freedom of Information Act. However,
if you are able to provide any further comments about our response or to
explain further the reasons for your dissatisfaction then please let me
know .

I look forward to hearing from you. In the mean time if you have any
questions then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely,

Martin Rush
Head of Information Compliance
[email address]

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Dear Mr Cross

I am writing in response to your request for an internal review, under the
terms of the Freedom of Information Act of your request for information
from Royal Mail Group. Our internal review panel have completed a review
of your request and I am writing to advise you of their decision.

In your request for information, dated 09th November 2008, you requested
“all board minutes for the period from 1 August 2008 to 1 November 2008
inclusive”. We wrote to you on the 18th December to advise information
recorded in the minutes was considered to be exempt from disclosure under
sections 22, 36 and 43 of the Freedom of Information Act and that more time
was needed to consider the ‘public interest test’. In our reply dated 06th
January 2009 we provided copies of the relevant minutes of meetings of the
Royal Mail Group Board, the Royal Mail Holdings Board and the Group
Executive Team in the period from 1 August 2008 to 1 November 2008.
However, some information recorded in those minutes was withheld under the
following exemptions:

Section 22 – Information intended for future publication,
Section 43 – Prejudice to Commercial Interests, and;
Section 36 – Prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs.

On the 09th February 2009 you asked for an internal review of your request
to be carried out. You did not highlight any particular points of concern
or dissatisfaction about our response to you. However, our internal review
panel has considered whether or not your request has been answered
correctly and specifically, whether the exemptions listed above were
correctly applied in this case.

Your request was for “all board minutes” for the period from 1 August 2008
to 1 November 2008. In our response we provided copies of all minutes of
the Royal Mail Group Board, the Royal Mail Holdings Board and the Group
Executive Team within the period you specified. The internal review panel
was satisfied that your request was therefore met in the respect that Royal
Mail Group confirmed it held minutes within the scope of your request and
provided copies of those minutes.

Some information recorded in the minutes was of course withheld under three
different ‘exemptions’ from disclosure under the Freedom of Information
Act. The panel considered whether each of these exemptions was correctly
applied.

Section 22 – Information intended for future publication
The exemption under section 22 is applicable if the information requested
by an applicant is intended for future publication. The panel was
satisfied that information included in the relevant minutes was, at the
time of your request, intended for publication at a later date. This
includes specific financial information and details of Quality of Service
performance.

The exemption under section 22 can only be applied where it is reasonable
in all the circumstances that the information should be withheld under the
later publication date. The exemption is also subject to the public
interest test and the appeal panel also considered therefore whether the
circumstances of the case, including the public interest, would warrant
earlier disclosure.

However, they agreed that public interest in disclosing this information
early does not outweigh the interest in maintaining Royal Mail’s ability to
manage the release of this information as originally planned in line with
Royal Mail’s normal operations as a commercial organisation.

Section 43 – Prejudice to Commercial Interests
Section 43 applies where disclosure of the requested information would
result in prejudice to the commercial interests of an individual,
organisation or legal entity. The panel was in agreement that information
recorded in the minutes, if disclosed, would be likely to prejudice the
commercial interests of Royal Mail Group.

As we explained in our original reply, the information redacted from the
minutes includes analyses of Royal Mail’s financial position, discussion of
business strategies and reports and commentary on operational risks. It
would be damaging to release this information into the public domain and
provide an unfair advantage to Royal Mail’s competitors. It is important
to understand the commercial nature of the market Royal Mail operates in.
Since January 2006, the UK mail market has been fully liberalised.
Competitors are now able to offer customers full end-to-end service for
collection, sorting and delivery of their mail. These companies compete
directly with Royal Mail to provide services to customers.

Section 43 is subject to the public interest test and the appeal panel also
considered whether, despite the application of the exemption, the public
interest test favours disclosing the information. The panel agreed that,
given the regulatory environment which Royal Mail Group operates within,
the highly competitive nature of postal services, and all relevant
considerations, the information should be withheld. Therefore, allowing
Royal Mail to operate on an equal basis to its competitors.

Section 36 – Prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs
Section 36 applies if the release of information would inhibit the free and
frank provision of advice, the free and frank exchange of views for the
purposes of deliberation, or would otherwise prejudice the effective
conduct of public affairs. After reviewing your request, the appeal panel
agreed that information redacted from the relevant minutes is covered by
the exemption, for the reasons set out in our original reply. The minutes
record the opinions and reports given from individuals present, disclosure
of which, in the opinion of the ‘qualified person’ for Royal Mail Group,
would be likely to inhibit the free and frank exchange of views for the
purposes of deliberation, and therefore prejudice the effective conduct of
public affairs. Other sections referring to the development of business
strategy and policy would also, prejudice the effective conduct of Royal
Mail’s affairs if disclosed.

The use of section 36 is also subject to the ‘public interest test’. The
appeal panel again considered therefore whether, despite the application of
the exemption, the public interest test favours disclosing the previously
redacted information. The appeal panel agreed with the original assessment
that the balance of public interest is in favour of withholding the
requested information. This was on the basis that board members need to be
able to undertake rigorous and candid assessment of all information
relevant to business operations, and to consider in confidence the most
effective business strategies for Royal Mail without being inhibited by the
potential disclosure of information recorded in the minutes at a later
date. It is important that they feel able to provide information, consider
options and deliberate without restriction in order to ensure that the
board always considers all relevant information and opinion. Further, of
particular importance in reaching this decision is recognition of the very
strong public interest in ensuring that Royal Mail Group can operate
effectively as a limited company without unfair prejudice. We think that
these factors outweigh any public interest in disclosing the information.

I hope that this suitably explains our reasons for withholding some
information from the minutes you requested. Please contact me directly if
you would like any clarification or if there is anything further I can do
to help. In the event that you are not satisfied with this response, you
do also have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner who can be
contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545 700
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Martin Rush
Head of Information Compliance
[Royal Mail Group request email]

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Dear Mr Cross,

As you may be aware, the Information Commissioner's Office has asked Royal
Mail to consider whether it is willing to disclose any further information,
in view of the lapse of time since your original request. Although this is
not required under the Freedom of Information Act, and Royal Mail remains
of the view that the exemptions were correctly applied, Royal Mail has
considered the position and is willing to release certain additional
information on the basis suggested by the ICO. I attach a document in
which the further information which Royal Mail has agreed to disclose,
since our initial response to your request, is shown in italics.
(See attached file: Minutes with further material to be disclosed.pdf)
Kind regards,

Colin Young
Freedom of Information Manager
[Royal Mail Group request email]

Royal Mail is a trading name of Royal Mail Group Ltd. Registered in England
and Wales.
Registered number 4138203. Registered office at 100 Victoria Embankment,
LONDON, EC4Y 0HQ

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Dear Mr Cross

Please find attached a letter concerning your request for information from
Royal Mail Group.
(See attached file: Cross 06092010.pdf)(See attached file: Holdings Minutes
11 Sept 08.pdf)(See attached file: Holdings minutes 8 Oct 08.pdf)

Yours sincerely

Colin Young
Freedom of Information Manager
[Royal Mail Group request email]

Royal Mail is a trading name of Royal Mail Group Ltd. Registered in England
and Wales.
Registered number 4138203. Registered office at 100 Victoria Embankment,
LONDON, EC4Y 0HQ

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