FOI Requests received by Network Rail

Waiting for an internal review by Network Rail Limited of their handling of this request.

Dear Network Rail Limited,

Please provide copies of all FOI requests received since you became covered by the FOI Act.

Yours faithfully,

Michael Pollock

Network Rail Limited

Reference number: FOI2015/00887

Dear Michael Pollock

Information request

Your correspondence was received by Network Rail on 20th September 2015. I
can confirm that your request is being processed under the terms of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. I will endeavour to respond to you as
soon as possible and in any event by 16th October.

On occasion we may need to consult with third parties about requests, in
line with the recommendations in the Code of Practice issued by the then
Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please remember to quote your reference number in all future
communications.

Yours sincerely

Alison Amatsah

Information Officer
Freedom of Information Team
The Quadrant
Elder Gate
Milton Keynes
MK9 1EN

Telephone: 01908 782405
Email: [Network Rail request email]
Web: www.networkrail.co.uk/foi

FOI, Network Rail Limited

2 Attachments

Reference number: FOI2015/00887

Dear Mr Pollock

Please find attached our response to your Freedom of Information request.

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Alison Amatsah
Information Officer

Freedom of Information Team
The Quadrant
Elder Gate
Milton Keynes
MK9 1EN

Telephone: 01908 782405
Email: [Network Rail request email]
Web: http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi/

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Dear FOI,

I'd like to say thank you to Miss Amatsah for such a thorough response. I know it must have taken some time and I'm grateful for the professionalism and dedication. Also I'd like to thank the polite young man who spoke to me on the telephone. He answered my questions very clearly.

May I make a further request. Please could you provide me with all of the replies you have sent to FOI or European legislation requests from the time at which you became subject to the act to now.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Pollock

FOI, Network Rail Limited

Reference number: FOI2015/01072

 

Dear Mr Pollock,

 

Information request

 

Your correspondence was received by Network Rail on 27 October 2015. I can
confirm that your request is being processed under the terms of the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). I will endeavour to respond to you as
soon as possible and in any event by 24 November 2015.

 

On occasion we may need to consult with third parties about requests, in
line with the recommendations in the Code of Practice issued by the then
Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs.

 

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Please remember to quote your reference number in all future
communications.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Petra Wiltshire

Information Officer

 

Freedom of Information Team

The Quadrant

Elder Gate

Milton Keynes

MK9 1EN

 

Telephone: 01908 782405

Email: [1][Network Rail request email]

Web: [2]www.networkrail.co.uk/foi

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Network Rail request email]
2. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi

FOI, Network Rail Limited

1 Attachment

Reference number: FOI2015/01072

 

Dear Mr Pollock

 

Please find attached our response to your Freedom of Information request.

 

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Petra Wiltshire

Information Officer

 

Freedom of Information Team

The Quadrant

Elder Gate

Milton Keynes

MK9 1EN

 

Telephone: 01908 782405

Email: [1][Network Rail request email]

Web: [2]http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi/

 

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Network Rail request email]
2. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi/

Dear Petra

Thank you for your response - I did not realise the burden that my request entailed and I am grateful for the consideration that you have afforded to me.

I have had a look through the website and I see that their are a number of requests where the details of your response are already available. So, thank you for the suggestion.

As regards to the ones which have not been published on this website could I ask that you provide the responses to the first 200 requests that you received? Taking your estimate of two minutes per request, I think that works out at 400 minutes (or 6 hours and 20 minutes) meaning that there should be sufficient time to deal with the more complex cases as well.

Yours faithfully,

Michael Pollock

FOI, Network Rail Limited

Reference number: FOI2015/01210

 

Dear Mr Pollock

 

Information request

 

Your correspondence was received by Network Rail on 24 November 2015. I
can confirm that your request is being processed under the terms of the
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).  I will endeavour to respond to you as
soon as possible and in any event by 23 December 2015.

 

On occasion we may need to consult with third parties about requests, in
line with the recommendations in the Code of Practice issued by the then
Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs.

 

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Please remember to quote your reference number in all future
communications.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Petra Wiltshire

Information Officer

 

Freedom of Information Team

The Quadrant

Elder Gate

Milton Keynes

MK9 1EN

 

Telephone: 01908 782405

Email: [1][Network Rail request email]

Web: [2]www.networkrail.co.uk/foi

 

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Network Rail request email]
2. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi

FOI, Network Rail Limited

Reference number: FOI2015/01210

 

Dear Mr Pollock

 

I am writing to you to inform you that we are in the process of preparing
the response to your request. However, as it will consist of 200 response
letters, many with multiple and sometimes large attachments, it is our
view that it is not reasonably practicable for us to comply by uploading
all of this information to the whatdotheyknow.com website, as it would
consist of several hundred attachments. In order to comply with your
request we will need you to provide a physical address, so that we can
either send you a CD or hard copies of the information. We would not want
you to publish your address on the whatdotheyknow.com website,  but you
can contact us using the email address “FOI[at]networkrail.co.uk”
(replacing the [at] with @).

 

Section 11 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) requires us to
comply with a request for information to be communicated in a form
acceptable to the applicant, but only insofar as it is reasonably
practicable to do so. It is our view that, for the reasons given above, it
is not reasonably practicable to comply with your request by communicating
the information on whatdotheyknow.com.                              

If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours sincerely

 

Petra Wiltshire

Information Officer

 

Freedom of Information Team

The Quadrant

Elder Gate

Milton Keynes

MK9 1EN

 

Telephone: 01908 782405

Email: [1][Network Rail request email]

Web: [2]www.networkrail.co.uk/foi

 

 

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References

Visible links
1. mailto:[Network Rail request email]
2. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/foi

Dear Mr Wilshere

Thank you for your response. I am surprised that uploading 200 letters and attachments would not be reasonably practicable. The Information Commissioner is very informative. He provides this guidance for authorities to ascertain whether s.11 of the FOI is relevant...
- How the information is held. For example, the information may be held in a document that is particularly old or fragile, and to provide a copy may damage the document. THIS SEEMS UNLIKELY TO BE THE CASE.
- The cost of complying with the requester’s preference. The public authority can take into account the cost in assessing whether it is reasonably practicable to comply, but the work that would be involved in complying with
preference does not count towards the appropriate limit in section 12. This is because the activities that a public authority can take into account in calculating whether the limit would be exceeded do not include communicating he information. The activities are listed in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.
- The available resources of the public authority.
IF YOU CAN'T SUMMON THE 18 HOUR RULE TO YOUR AID THEN ONE NEEDS TO LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THE PUBLIC AUTHORITY. I CAN SEE HOW A RURAL SCHOOL OR GP PRACTICE MAY NOT HAVE THE RESOURCES FOR A MEMBER OF STAFF TO SPEND A FEW HOURS UPLOADING DOCUMENTS. YOU HOWEVER ARE A HUGE ORGANISATION. A LITTLE RESEARCH SUGGESTS YOU HAVE MORE THAN 35000 EMPLOYEES AND BILLIONS OF POUNDS OF TURNOVER EVERY YEAR. LET ME ASSURE YOU THAT RESPONDING TO THIS REQUEST IS REASONABLY PRACTICABLE IN LIGHT OF YOUR RESOURCES.
Whether there are issues, such as security restrictions or difficulties of physical access to records stores, which would prevent members of the public from entering the public authority’s premises to inspect records. SEEMS UNLIKELY TO BE THE CASE.

In light of the above please reconsider your decision. I would like all communication regarding this and my other requests to henceforth be directed to michaeljacksonpollock (at) gmx. com. I don't log into this site as often as I ought.

Yours sincerely,

Michael Pollock