Dear Sir or Madam

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST

Please could you provide the following:

1) Database Schema(s) and/or Entity Relationship Diagram(s) for the
database(s) that contain details on types, locations, timings,
sequences, etc for traffic signals and traffic signal controllers
managed by TfL, including both UTC/SCOOT and those that operate
outside central control.

2) Details of the hardware and software used to run the database(s)

3) Technical details on any interfaces between this/these
database(s) and systems managed by 3rd parties (eg data suppliers
or external service providers).

Many thanks

Alex Skene

Our Ref: SM034431

Dear Alex Skene

Thank you for your request for information dated 28 May 2008 which was received by Transport for London on 28 May 2008 concerning database/schemas for traffic signals and traffic signal controllers managed by TfL. This request will be dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

We will aim to deal with your request promptly and provide you with a response by 26 June 2008.

If you are unhappy with the response you receive, you may wish to use our complaints procedure by writing to Beverley Hall, Head of Customer Services & Consultation, at the address above, stating your concerns.

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your request, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to contact us.

Yours sincerely

Gilmore Barrett
Correspondence Support Manager
London Streets
Customer Services
Email: [email address]

show quoted sections

[Subject only] Freedom of Information request - Traffic Signals databases - Ref: SM034431/1

show quoted sections

Dear Ms Mitchell

Your Ref: SM034431/1

Many thanks for your reply of 23 June to my FOI request on 27 May.

Before I ask for an internal review, please could you reconsider
your Section 17 refusal notice - you have applied 2 blanket
exemptions to all the information requested.

Each individual information request should have been considered on
its own merits. DCA Guidance states:

"If you refuse *any part* of a request for information in reliance
on a substantive exemption, you must explain which exemption you
are relying on and why."

<<http://www.dca.gov.uk/foi/guidance/progu...>> [my
emphasis added with *]

The Information Commissioner has issued Practice Notices to other
public authorities with similar warnings, for example to the Dept
of Health:

"The Department repeatedly applies blanket exemptions to requested
information with the effect of withholding entire documents from
release. This suggests that rather than considering requests on
their own merits, exemptions have been applied on a general
principle. The Commissioner is concerned that the application of
exemptions in this way may have the effect of suppressing
non-exempt information from release."
<<http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...>>
(p3)

I look forward to your earliest reply.

Regards

Alex Skene

[Subject only] FW: IRV020-0809

show quoted sections

Dear Mr Towey,

REF: IRV020-0809

Many thanks for your email. Please be aware that I specifically DID
NOT REQUEST an internal review of my FOI request. I quote from my
email of 23 June: "Before I ask for an internal review ..."

I wanted to offer you the chance to reconsider your non-standard
refusal notice informally, so that if an Internal Review was
requested by myself I would able to respond to each exemption as
applied to individual elements of my request if necessary. The FOI
Act only permits the requester to ask for an Internal Review, it
cannot be carried out unilaterally by the public authority.

If you need to carry this out as a formal review in order to follow
your own internal processes, that would be acceptable, but only if
you will then permit me to make a further request for an Internal
Review at a later date if required.

Yours sincerely,

Alex Skene

Dear Mr Skene

Thank you for your e-mail.

It may help if I explain that TfL's process for re-considering refusal
notices is by carrying out a formal internal review of the handling of
the request and any decision to apply an exemption. This is the most
effective way of reviewing requests as it enables an independent panel
to review TfL's handling of the request and determine whether the
request was handled in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act or
Environmental Information Regulations, as appropriate.

Under section 17(7)(a) of the Act any refusal notice issued by TfL must
contain particulars of any procedure provided by TfL for dealing with
complaints about the handling of requests for information. The
"Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs' Code of Practice on the
discharge of public authorities' functions under Part I of the Freedom
of Information Act 2000" states that any written reply from the
applicant expressing dissatisfaction with an authority's response to a
request for information should be treated as a complaint and handled in
accordance with the authority's complaints procedure. This Code of
Practice can be accessed via the link below

http://www.foi.gov.uk/reference/imprep/c...

In accordance with the approach outlined in the statutory Code of
Practice, TfL will consider whether it was appropriate to exempt the
information held in relation to your request and whether the refusal
notice was issued in accordance with the requirements of the Act. If you
are unhappy with this approach please contact

Richard Bevins
Head of Information Access & Compliance
Transport for London
6th floor, Windsor House
42-50 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0TL

I hope this information is of assistance.

Kind regards

Matthew Towey | Compliance Adviser
Information Access & Compliance Team | Corporate Governance | Transport
for London
6h Floor, Windsor House, 42-50 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0TL
T: 020 7126 3063/ auto 63063

show quoted sections

Dear Mr. Skene,

Internal Review (Our Ref IRV 020 0809)

Please find attached to this email the outcome of the Internal Review of
the actions and decisions taken in the handling of your recent requests
for information held by Transport for London.

<<2008.07.22_Refusal_Notice.pdf>>

Please don't hesitate to contact me should you wish to discuss or
clarify any aspect of the attached response.

Regards

Angela

Angela McKane
Senior Compliance Adviser
Transport for London
T: 0207 126 4070

show quoted sections