British Broadcasting Corporation Room BC2 A4 Broadcast Centre White City Wood Lane London W12 7TP
Telephone 020 8008 2882 Email xxx@xxx.xx.xx
Information Rights
bbc.co.uk/foi
bbc.co.uk/privacy
Elliott Riley
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
20 May 2020
Dear Mr Riley,
Freedom of Information Request - RFI20200494
Thank you for your request to the BBC of 23 April seeking the following information under
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’):
‘Could a taxpayer request a breakdown of the your staffing levels by party affiliation, and if possible
the former political appointments/employment by political organisation of individuals?’
The BBC would only collect this information if it were declared as part of an individual’s Declaration
of Personal Interests in accordance with the Policy which can be found at the following link:
http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/foi/classes/policies_procedures/declaration_of_personal_interests_policy.p
df#zoom=100
It would take the BBC considerable time to check all DOPI forms held to ascertain whether a
declaration regarding political affiliation had been made. The Act does not require us to comply
with a request if to do so would exceed the appropriate limit as set out in the Freedom of
Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 (SI
2004/3244). The appropriate limit has been set at £450 (equivalent to two and a half days
work, at an hourly rate of £25). In order to respond in full to your request we estimate that
to carry out this search would take BBC Staff more than two and a half days. Therefore,
under section 12 of the Act, we are refusing to handle the request as it would exceed the
appropriate limit.
Furthermore, information regarding an individual’s political affiliations would be considered sensitive
personal data, and we would therefore withhold details of such information under section 40(2)
(personal information) of the FOI Act. Under section 40(2), personal information about
identifiable living individuals is exempt if disclosure to a third party would breach one or more
principles in the General Data Protection Regulation. The individual(s) concerned would not
expect their personal data to be disclosed to a third party. Therefore, disclosure would
breach the principle to only process personal data lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner.
Appeal Rights
If you are not satisfied that we have complied with the Act in responding to your request, you
have the right to an internal review by a BBC senior manager or legal adviser. Please contact
us at the address above, explaining what you would like us to review and including your
reference number. A request for an internal review must be made within 40 working days of
receiving the BBC’s response to your original request.
If you are not satisfied with the internal review, you can appeal to the Information
Commissioner. The contact details are: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, Tel: 0303 123 1113 or s
ee https://ico.org.uk/. Yours sincerely
Information Rights
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