OFFICIAL
Joe Hynes
Network Rail
By email: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Freedom of Information
The Quadrant
Elder Gate
Milton Keynes
MK9 1EN
E xxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx
12 November 2021
Dear Joe Hynes
Information request
Reference number: FOI2021/01503
Thank you for your email of 16 October 2021, in which you requested the following
information:
I would like to request a digital copy of the various COVID-19 Travel With Confidence
announcements that can be heard at your managed stations. Anything sent to me wil be
used only personally and wil not be distributed.
I have processed your request under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000
(FOIA).
I can confirm that we hold the COVID-19 Travel With Confidence station announcements
for our twenty managed stations, however this information is exempt from disclosure
because the cost of retrieving the information would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ that is
set out in section 12 of the FOIA. I will explain this below, and I am also including some
further advice and assistance for you at the end of this letter.
Section 12 of the FOIA
Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and sections 4(3) and 4(4) of the
‘Fees Regulations’ 2004 allow a public authority to refuse a request if the cost of
determining if the information is held, and then locating, retrieving and extracting that
information would exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ of £450. This figure is equivalent to 18
hours work, at a set rate of £25 an hour.1
1 Please see the Legal Annex at the end of this letter for the relevant sections of the FOIA and the ‘Fees
Regulations’.
Network Rail Infrastructure Limited Registered Office: Network Rail, One Eversholt Street, London, NW1 2DN Registered in England and Wales No. 2904587 www.networkrail.co.uk
OFFICIAL
The Information Commissioner’s guidance explains that when we refuse a request using
section 12 of the FOIA, we need to include ‘a reasonable estimate’ of the cost, and an
explanation of the process we would need to follow to retrieve the information2 I can
explain that Network Rail has twenty managed stations3 which use a Customer
Information System (CIS) provided by our supplier Worldline; 18 of these stations use
recordings which are also provided and licensed by Worldline.
For each station, the recorded Travel with Confidence announcements would need to be
extracted for us by Worldline. This is where a cost is incurred because this type of
extraction is not part of our service agreement with Worldline. Instead, this would be an
additional activity for which we would need to pay Worldline an additional fee.
We have consulted with Worldline and have had it confirmed that retrieval of these files
for just one station would attract a charge from Worldline in excess of £450. In addition
to this cost, we would also need to include the time that would be spent in arranging and
obtaining a new quote for Worldline to extract the announcements, and in raising
purchase orders and approvals for the required payments.
Next Steps When we refuse a request under section 12(1), we always look to give some advice and
assistance to the requester about how they could ‘narrow’ a large request. However, there
are some occasions when the only advice and assistance there can be is to explain that in
certain cases, it may not be possible to make a request for this information which would
not exceed the £450 limit. This is the situation for requests about station announcements
when they need to be extracted by Worldline, as even if only one station is asked for, the
retrieval charge would still exceed this limit.4
If you have any enquiries about this response, please contact me in the first instance at
xxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx. Details of your appeal rights are below.
Please remember to quote the reference number at the top of this letter in all future
communications.
Yours sincerely
2
https://ico.org.uk/media/for-
organisations/documents/1199/costs_of_compliance_exceeds_appropriate_limit.pdf
3 list of our managed stations and their facilities can be found at the fol owing link:
https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/passengers/our-stations/
4 I should also make you aware that, from our discussions with Worldline about similar requests, even if the
information could be retrieved, we would then consider whether this information would be exempt from
disclosure under s. 43(2) of the FOIA (prejudice to commercial interests). While we will look at each request
on its own merits, we are aware that Worldline’s view is that public disclosure of their licensed
announcement would be likely to prejudice their commercial interests and adversely affect their intellectual
property rights.
Network Rail Infrastructure Limited Registered Office: Network Rail, 2nd Floor, One Eversholt Street, London, NW1 2DN Registered in England and Wales No. 2904587 www.networkrail.co.uk
OFFICIAL
Tanya Saunders
Information Officer
The information supplied to you continues to be protected by copyright. You are free to
use it for your own purposes, including for private study and non-commercial research, and
for any other purpose authorised by an exception in current copyright law. Documents
(except photographs) can also be used in the UK without requiring permission for the
purposes of news reporting. Any other re-use, for example commercial publication, would
require the permission of the copyright holder. Please contact me if you wish to re-use the
information and need to seek the permission of the copyright holder.
Appeal rights
If you are unhappy with the way your request has been handled and wish to make a
complaint or request a review of our decision, please write to the Head of Freedom of
Information at Network Rail, Freedom of Information, The Quadrant, Elder Gate, Milton
Keynes, MK9 1EN, or by email at
xxx@xxxxxxxxxxx.xx.xx. Your request must be submitted
within 40 working days of receipt of this letter.
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner
(ICO) can be contacted at Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF or you can contact the ICO through the 'Make a
Complaint' section of their website on this link:
https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
The relevant section to select will be "Official or Public Information".
Legal Annex
Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act says:
12 (1) Section 1(1) does not oblige a public authority to comply with a request for
information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would
exceed the appropriate limit.
The Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees)
Regulations 2004 are known as the ‘Fees Regulations’ 2004. Section 4 of the Fees
Regulations says:
4 (3) In a case in which this regulation has effect, a public authority may, for the
purpose of its estimate, take account only of the costs it reasonably expects to incur in
relation to the request in–
(a)determining whether it holds the information,
Network Rail Infrastructure Limited Registered Office: Network Rail, 2nd Floor, One Eversholt Street, London, NW1 2DN Registered in England and Wales No. 2904587 www.networkrail.co.uk
OFFICIAL
(b)locating the information, or a document which may contain the information,
(c)retrieving the information, or a document which may contain the information, and
(d)extracting the information from a document containing it.
(4) To the extent to which any of the costs which a public authority takes into account
are attributable to the time which persons undertaking any of the activities mentioned in
paragraph (3) on behalf of the authority are expected to spend on those activities, those
costs are to be estimated at a rate of £25 per person per hour.
Network Rail Infrastructure Limited Registered Office: Network Rail, 2nd Floor, One Eversholt Street, London, NW1 2DN Registered in England and Wales No. 2904587 www.networkrail.co.uk
