Registration marks

Dear Mr Elibank,

Please see the attached response.

Regards.

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2010 16:58 >>>
Dear Sir/Madam,

Please treat this as a request under the Freedom of Information
Act
2000.

I am asking for a full and comprehensive list, in electronic
format
and preferably in alphabetical order, of every vehicle
registration
mark (aka. 'number plate' and 'registration plate') which has
been
issued since 1st January 1991.

Please note that since I am not requesting any details of
registration marks (I do not want to know the owners, addresses,
colours, makes, dates etc. of any cars), no personal or
identifying
data is involved.

Yours faithfully,
Steve Elibank

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Dear Mr Elibank,

Thank you for your follow-up email in response to FOIR1783/10.

As previously stated in DVLA's replies to you in FOIR1807/10 and
FOIR1783/10, to extract the data you are requesting would entail running
a bespoked scan of the DVLA vehicle database. The cost of the scan has
been explained to you in both letters, and would take the cost of
providing the requested information far in excess of the £600 limit set
by the Freedom of Information Act.

If you are unhappy with the decisions made by the DVLA in relation to
your request, you may ask for an internal review. If then, you are not
content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to
apply directly to the Information Commissioners for a decision. The
previously attached complaints procedure explains how to complain and
your right to complain to the Information Commissioner.

Yours sincerely,

Freedom of Information
DVLA

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2010 11:16 >>>
Dear Mr Information (or may I call you Freedom?),

Thank-you for your response. Please allow me to adjust it, to
provide for the cost-limit:

I am now asking for a full and comprehensive list, in electronic
format
and preferably in alphabetical order, of every vehicle
registration
mark (aka. 'number plate' and 'registration plate') which has
been
issued since 1st January 1991. If the cost-limit should come into
effect, then start with those plates issued most recently and go
back as far as you can before the threshold is met.

If you require any clarification, please contact me as soon as
possible.

Yours sincerely,
Steve Elibank

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Dear Mr Elibank,

DVLA acknowledges your email, in which you request and Internal Review
of FOIR1873/10.

Regards.

FOI - DVLA

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2010 13:50 >>>
Dear Mr Information,

I hereby request an internal review. I have specifically asked
for
all information, working chronologically backwards, UP TO the
cost-limit. There can be no valid reason to refuse this request.

Yours sincerely,
Steve Elibank

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Mr S Elibank
[email address]

Dear Mr Elibank

FOIR1873/10

Freedom of Information - Request for Internal Review

Thank you for your email of 16 March 2010 containing your application
for reconsideration of the decisions to withhold information in our
responses to your requests made under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

In line with the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Freedom of
Information (FOI) complaints handling guidance, I have conducted an
independent review of the decisions conveyed in the Driver and Vehicle
Licensing Agency’s (DVLA’s) responses to you. I have considered the
decision to withhold the details of every registration number issued
since 1 January 1991 as well as the refusal to release information to
you having subsequently refined your request.

Having reviewed your requests and the responses, I can conclude that
the Agency was correct in applying section 12 of the FOIA as the
estimated cost of complying with your request would exceed the statutory
£600 limit. It might help if I clarify the reasons for this decision:

· In order to determine the relevant information using a bespoke scan,
the scan parameters would first have to be designed - estimated time for
design 1 day. DVLA’s Information Technology (IT) provider has advised
that the 1 day design stage would ascertain exactly what type of
parameters, coding, software, and script type would be required to run
the scan against the relevant database.

· On completion of the design stage, development work would need to be
undertaken - estimated time for development 1 day. This stage is the
actual physical writing/coding of the scan script in the appropriate
software tool that would be used.

· Testing of the newly designed scan - estimated time for testing 1
day. The unit testing is the stage whereby the scan is run in a test
environment, and the output checked to make sure it delivers what it has
been designed to deliver. It is only following successful testing that
the scan is actually run.

· The time and expense to run such a scan for the information you have
requested would divert from the Agency’s core business activities.
Additionally, essential public funds utilised to operate DVLA would also
be diverted.

The above mentioned sequence of events would need to take place prior
to the ‘running’ of a bespoke scan and would already have taken 3
days to complete. As the Agency’s IT provider (who would perform the
bulk of the work) charges in excess of £600 per day for such activities
you will see that the costs limit is exceeded before the scan is run. As
such, I agree that the application of exemption to release information
under section 12 of the FOIA remains entirely appropriate. Also, I
believe that the neither the simplification or broadening of your
request would reduce the Agency’s IT provider costs.

Whilst I appreciate you may not be satisfied with this response, you do
have the right to complain directly to the Information Commissioner at
the following address should you not agree with it:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Freedom of Information Champion
Enforcement Directorate
DVLA

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2010 13:50 >>>
Dear Mr Information,

I hereby request an internal review. I have specifically asked
for
all information, working chronologically backwards, UP TO the
cost-limit. There can be no valid reason to refuse this request.

Yours sincerely,
Steve Elibank

show quoted sections

[email address]

Dear Mr Elibank

FOIR1873/10

Freedom of Information - Request for Internal Review

Thank you for your email of 16 March 2010 containing your application
for reconsideration of the decisions to withhold information in our
responses to your requests made under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

In line with the Department for Transport’s (DfT) Freedom of
Information (FOI) complaints handling guidance, I have conducted an
independent review of the decisions conveyed in the Driver and Vehicle
Licensing Agency’s (DVLA’s) responses to you. I have considered the
decision to withhold the details of every registration number issued
since 1 January 1991 as well as the refusal to release information to
you having subsequently refined your request.

Having reviewed your requests and the responses, I can conclude that
the Agency was correct in applying section 12 of the FOIA as the
estimated cost of complying with your request would exceed the statutory
£600 limit. It might help if I clarify the reasons for this decision:

· In order to determine the relevant information using a bespoke scan,
the scan parameters would first have to be designed - estimated time for
design 1 day. DVLA’s Information Technology (IT) provider has advised
that the 1 day design stage would ascertain exactly what type of
parameters, coding, software, and script type would be required to run
the scan against the relevant database.

· On completion of the design stage, development work would need to be
undertaken - estimated time for development 1 day. This stage is the
actual physical writing/coding of the scan script in the appropriate
software tool that would be used.

· Testing of the newly designed scan - estimated time for testing 1
day. The unit testing is the stage whereby the scan is run in a test
environment, and the output checked to make sure it delivers what it has
been designed to deliver. It is only following successful testing that
the scan is actually run.

· The time and expense to run such a scan for the information you have
requested would divert from the Agency’s core business activities.
Additionally, essential public funds utilised to operate DVLA would also
be diverted.

The above mentioned sequence of events would need to take place prior
to the ‘running’ of a bespoke scan and would already have taken 3
days to complete. As the Agency’s IT provider (who would perform the
bulk of the work) charges in excess of £600 per day for such activities
you will see that the costs limit is exceeded before the scan is run. As
such, I agree that the application of exemption to release information
under section 12 of the FOIA remains entirely appropriate. Also, I
believe that the neither the simplification or broadening of your
request would reduce the Agency’s IT provider costs.

Whilst I appreciate you may not be satisfied with this response, you do
have the right to complain directly to the Information Commissioner at
the following address should you not agree with it:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshir
SK9 5AF

Regards,

Enforcement Directorate
FOI Champion

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2010 13:50 >>>
Dear Mr Information,

I hereby request an internal review. I have specifically asked
for
all information, working chronologically backwards, UP TO the
cost-limit. There can be no valid reason to refuse this request.

Yours sincerely,
Steve Elibank

show quoted sections