Provision of tube map redesign information to the Mayor

From: [FOI #18472 email]
To: [Greater London Authority request email]
Subject: Freedom of Information request - Provision of tube map
redesign information to the Mayor

The Mayor would like to thank you for your interest in his work and he is
keen to answer your query as quickly and fully as possible. As you will
appreciate, he receives very large amount of correspondence but he is
committed to responding to your query within 20 working days.

However, the Greater London Authority (GLA) will only respond to queries
that relate to its work and will refer relevant queries to the appropriate
functional body for them to reply e.g. transport related queries will be
referred to Transport for London (TfL).

Please note that the GLA does not accept unsolicited job applications or
C.V's. Information on current vacancies is available on our website at:
[1]http://www.london.gov.uk/jobs.jsp

Thank you for taking the time to write to the Mayor of London, Boris
Johnson.

Yours truly

Public Liaison Unit

References

Visible links
1. http://www.london.gov.uk/jobs.jsp

Dear Mr Pack,

Re: Freedom of Information Request- London Underground Map September 2009

Thank you for your freedom of information request of 24 September 2009 about the information provided to the Mayor since February 2009 on the September 2009 edition of the London Underground Map. I have been asked to respond on behalf of the Mayor.

The Mayor was not advised in advance of the changes TfL made to the September 2009 edition, and once he was made aware of the changes, he instructed TfL to restore the river on the map. This communication was verbal and as such there is no written documentation on this matter.

Thank you again for writing.

Yours sincerely,

Victoria Hills
Relationships and Governance Manager - Transport

If you are unhappy with the way the GLA has handled your request, you may complain using the GLA's comments and complaints procedure, available at http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/comments/in...

Dear Sir or Madam,

Can you please provide me with a copy of all the information
provided to the Mayor of London since February 2009 regarding the
production of the September 2009 edition of the London Tube map.

Yours faithfully,

Mark Pack

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From: [FOI #18472 email]
To: [Greater London Authority request email]
Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Provision
of tube map redesign information to the Mayor

The Mayor would like to thank you for your interest in his work and he is
keen to answer your query as quickly and fully as possible. As you will
appreciate, he receives very large amount of correspondence but he is
committed to responding to your query within 20 working days.

However, the Greater London Authority (GLA) will only respond to queries
that relate to its work and will refer relevant queries to the appropriate
functional body for them to reply e.g. transport related queries will be
referred to Transport for London (TfL).

Please note that the GLA does not accept unsolicited job applications or
C.V's. Information on current vacancies is available on our website at:
[1]http://www.london.gov.uk/jobs.jsp

Thank you for taking the time to write to the Mayor of London, Boris
Johnson.

Yours truly

Public Liaison Unit

References

Visible links
1. http://www.london.gov.uk/jobs.jsp

To: Mark Pack ([FOI #18472 email])

Dear Mr Pack

Internal review of GLA response to request-18472-175ce77c

I refer to your email of 1 October 2009 requesting that the GLA conduct an internal review of our response to your FOI request for "all information provided to the Mayor regarding the production of the September 2009 edition of the London Tube map". In line with the GLA's procedures I have now conducted an investigation into the reply you received.

The GLA's response stated that the Mayor was not advised in advance of the changes TfL had made to the map, and that it held no written information about this as all communication on this matter was verbal.

Your email questions the GLA's statement that it holds no written information about the map because the Mayor sent a message via Twitter on 25 August stating: "Sneak peek at the new cover of the pocket Tube map by Turner Prize winner Richard Long for #TfL http://bit.ly/3awWhy".

You will note that the Twitter message refers to the artwork for the cover of the map, and includes a link to the artwork on the TfL website, but not to the map itself. It should not be assumed from the fact that the GLA sent a Twitter message linking to an image of the artwork on TfL's website that the Mayor was advised in advance of the changes to the map itself or that the GLA holds any information about the artwork for the cover of the map or about the map itself. The position is that a GLA officer sourced the information for this tweet and got the image of the artwork from TfL's website - it was featured in the news centre section. The GLA officer therefore found the publicly available image of the artwork only on the Web; not the map itself.

I can therefore confirm that the Mayor was not advised in advance of the changes to the map itself, and the GLA holds no written information about the artwork for the cover of the map or the map itself. The GLA's statements in reply to your FOI request are correct, and they are not contradicted by the Twitter message.

I hope this explanation resulting from my investigation clarifies any confusion the message on Twitter may have caused.

Yours sincerely,

Rosemary Cairns
Information Governance Manager
Greater London Authority

Dear Mayor of London,

Thank you for the reply to my Freedom of Information request from
Victoria Hills:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/pr...

Regrettably, the reply appears to be in breach of the law because
it has failed to disclose all relevant information.

You are on public record as having received information related to
the September Tube map design on or before 25th August because on
25th August you sent a message via Twitter stating:

"Sneak peek at the new cover of the pocket Tube map by Turner Prize
winner Richard Long for #TfL http://bit.ly/3awWhy" (Source:
http://twitter.com/MayorOfLondon/status/...)

My Freedom of Information request explicitly asked for, "a copy of
all the information provided to the Mayor of London since February
2009 regarding the production of the September 2009 edition of the
London Tube map". Any response should therefore clearly have
included the cover you were shown sight of on or before 25th
August.

However, the response from your staff wrongly claimed that, "The
Mayor was not advised in advance of the changes TfL made to the
September 2009 edition" and that "communication was verbal".

Both these statements are clearly contradicted by your own public
statement. You were advised in advance of, at least, the change in
cover and you saw a copy, which was non-verbal information.
Therefore your staff have failed to follow the law in responding to
my Freedom of Information Request.

Of course, I do not know what, if any other, information they have
also failed to disclose.

Please therefore take this message as a request for an internal
review into my Freedom of Information request.

I also look forward to receiving a full explanation for the failure
to disclose all the information required by law at first time of
asking.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

Mark Pack

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