Dear National Highways Limited,

Please send me the Appraisal Summary Table (AST), which is part of the Full Business Case, for the following two schemes:
A57 Link Roads
A47 Blofield to North Burlingham

I wish to make this request under the Environmental Information Regulations (EIR).

Yours faithfully,
Anne Robinson

FOI Advice, National Highways Limited

Dear Anne Robinson,

Thank you for your request relating to Appraisal Summary Tables A57 and A47 received on 17 April 2024.

The due date for issuing a response is 16 May 2024.

Please feel free to contact our team if you have any queries quoting [FOI/10163] in any future communications.

Kind regards

FOI Advice
Web: http://www.nationalhighways.co.uk/

You can make new FOI requests and review published responses by visiting https://foiform.highwaysengland.co.uk/

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FOI Advice, National Highways Limited

Dear Anne Robinson

 

Appraisal Summary Tables A57 and A47

 

I am writing to advise you that the time limit for responding to your
request for information,  which we received on 17 April 2024, needs to be
extended under Regulation 7 of the Environmental Information Regulations
2004.

 

We must extend the time limit by approximately 20 working days because the
information requested is complex and it is impracticable to comply with
the request  or make a decision to refuse to do so, within the earlier
period.

 

The new deadline for our response to your request is 14 June 2024.

 

Please remember to quote reference number FOI 10163 in any future
communications about this response.

 

Kind regards

 

Rachel Keogh

Environmental information Regulations Officer

 

You can make new FOI requests and review published responses by visiting
[1]https://foiform.nationalhighways.co.uk/

 

This email may contain information which is confidential and is intended
only for use of the recipient/s named above. If you are not an intended
recipient, you are hereby notified that any copying, distribution,
disclosure, reliance upon or other use of the contents of this email is
strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender and destroy it.

National Highways Limited | General enquiries: 0300 123 5000 |National
Traffic Operations Centre, 3 Ridgeway, Quinton Business Park, Birmingham
B32 1AF | [2]https://nationalhighways.co.uk |
[3][email address]

Registered in England and Wales no 9346363 | Registered Office: Bridge
House, 1 Walnut Tree Close, Guildford, Surrey GU1 4LZ

Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really
need to.

References

Visible links
1. https://foiform.nationalhighways.co.uk/
2. https://nationalhighways.co.uk/
3. file:///tmp/[email address]

Dear FOI Advice,

By law National Highways should have responded promptly and by 16th May. I therefore object to a delay of a further 20 working days which is unacceptable.

Yours sincerely,

Anne Robinson

FOI Advice, National Highways Limited

Dear Anne Robinson

 

Appraisal Summary Tables A57 and A47

 

Thank you for your information request dated 17 April 2024

 

Unfortunately, we are still working on this request and will not be able
to provide you with a response within the 20 working day limit. 

 

Please accept my apologies for this delay. 

 

We plan to have a response with you by 12 July 2024 this being a delay of
20 working days to the Regulation 7 due date. 

 

Further information about your rights to information is available from the
Information Commissioner's Office at www.ico.org.uk

 

The Information Commissioner can be contacted
at [1]https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/ or via the address below.

 

            Information Commissioner’s Office

            Wycliffe House

            Water Lane

            Wilmslow

            Cheshire

            SK9 5AF

 

Please remember to quote reference number FOI 10163 in any future
communications about this response.

 

 

 

Kind regards

 

Rachel Keogh

Environmental Information Regulations Officer

 

This email may contain information which is confidential and is intended
only for use of the recipient/s named above. If you are not an intended
recipient, you are hereby notified that any copying, distribution,
disclosure, reliance upon or other use of the contents of this email is
strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender and destroy it.

National Highways Limited | General enquiries: 0300 123 5000 |National
Traffic Operations Centre, 3 Ridgeway, Quinton Business Park, Birmingham
B32 1AF | [2]https://nationalhighways.co.uk |
[3][email address]

Registered in England and Wales no 9346363 | Registered Office: Bridge
House, 1 Walnut Tree Close, Guildford, Surrey GU1 4LZ

Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really
need to.

References

Visible links
1. https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
2. https://nationalhighways.co.uk/
3. file:///tmp/[email address]

FOI Advice, National Highways Limited

1 Attachment

Dear Anne Robinson

 

Appraisal Summary Tables A57 and A47

 

Thank you for your information request dated 17 April 2024 regarding the
Appraisal Summary Tables for the A57 and the A47. We have dealt with your
request under the provisions of the Environmental Information Regulations
2004.

 

This is because the information requested concerns measures and activities
affecting or likely to affect elements of the environment or affect
factors such as noise, pollution discharges and other releases into the
environment.

 

Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding to you.

 

You asked:

 

Please send me the Appraisal Summary Table (AST), which is part of the
Full Business Case, for the following two schemes:

 

A57 Link Roads

A47 Blofield to North Burlingham

 

I wish to make this request under the Environmental Information
Regulations (EIR).

 

 

Information withheld

 

A57 Link Roads

 

I can confirm that we hold the information you have requested however it
has been  withheld under exception in [1]Regulation 12(4)(d) - Material in
the course of completion, unfinished documents, and incomplete data of the
Environmental Information Regulations 2004 because the Appraisal Summary
Table (AST)  is part of the draft Full Business Case (FBC) . At this time
the FBC is material in the course of completion and therefore an
unfinished document. We are actively working on the FBC, revising and
updating it with new information where appropriate, to determine the
impact of the scheme. Releasing the information at this point will present
a misleading and incomplete picture of the scheme and the impact it will
have.

 

In applying this exception, we have had to balance the public interest in
withholding the information against the public interest in disclosure. The
key public interest factors for and against disclosure are attached.

 

 

Information not held

 

A47 Blofield to North Burlingham

 

I can confirm that National Highways does not hold this information, and
as such this part of your request has been refused under [2]Regulation
12(4)(a) of the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 as information
not held.

 

 

If you are not satisfied with our response you may ask for an internal
review within 40 working days of receiving the response, by replying to
this email. You can learn more about the internal review process
at [3]https://nationalhighways.co.uk/media/a14....

 

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 can be contacted
at [4]https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/ or via the address below.

 

            Information Commissioner’s Office

            Wycliffe House

            Water Lane

            Wilmslow

            Cheshire

            SK9 5AF

 

Please remember to quote reference number FOI 10163 in any future
communications about this response.

 

Kind regards

 

Rachel Keogh

Environmental Information Regulations Officer

 

 

 

 

This email may contain information which is confidential and is intended
only for use of the recipient/s named above. If you are not an intended
recipient, you are hereby notified that any copying, distribution,
disclosure, reliance upon or other use of the contents of this email is
strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please
notify the sender and destroy it.

National Highways Limited | General enquiries: 0300 123 5000 |National
Traffic Operations Centre, 3 Ridgeway, Quinton Business Park, Birmingham
B32 1AF | [5]https://nationalhighways.co.uk |
[6][email address]

Registered in England and Wales no 9346363 | Registered Office: Bridge
House, 1 Walnut Tree Close, Guildford, Surrey GU1 4LZ

Consider the environment. Please don't print this e-mail unless you really
need to.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004...
2. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2004...
3. https://nationalhighways.co.uk/media/a14...
4. https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/
5. https://nationalhighways.co.uk/
6. file:///tmp/[email address]

Dear FOI Advice,
I would like to request an internal review of my FoI request. FoI 10163

On 17th April 2024 under the EIR regs 2004 I requested the Appraisal Summary Table (AST) for the A57 Link Road and the AST for the A47 Blofield to North Burlingham scheme. These are one- or two-page summaries of the business case for the scheme. The date for issue was 16th May 2024

On 3rd May 2024 National Highways informed me there would be a time extension of 20days, to which I objected. It is unacceptable to claim an extension to provide a 2page document.

On 14th June National Highways extended the time for the response by a further 20 working days to 12 July 2024.

On 17th June I received a response that the AST for A57 Link Roads could not be released. The reason given under Regulation 12(4)(d) - Material in the course of completion, unfinished documents, and incomplete data was that the Full Business Case has yet to be completed. This is not an acceptable reason.

The AST is a summary of the business case. If the Full Business Case is now in preparation the Outline Business Case must be complete and available.

The Government website on business case development https://www.gov.uk/government/publicatio...
is clear that ‘the elements that should be completed at Outline Business Case stage are
• uncertainty analysis – analyse to understand how changes in different factors affect the value for money of the investment: this should show how likely it is that these changes may happen. The DfT Uncertainty Toolkit can help with this type of analysis
• appraisal summary table – see TAG for detailed guidance

All completed elements should then be revisited and, subject to further scrutiny at OBC and FBC stage, updated with new evidence and analysis as required.’

It should therefore be possible to provide me with the AST for the A57 Link Roads as completed for the OBC. That it may be subject to further scrutiny is irrelevant – the OBC should be publicly available with all documentation.

With respect to the AST for the A47 Blofield to North Burlingham I was told that National Highways does not hold that information. This appears an extraordinary reason as National Highways is the developer of the scheme and must hold all relevant information, as it needs to develop the Full Business Case in order to proceed with scheme which has been consented by the Secretary of State.

I look forward to hearing the outcome of the internal review.

Yours sincerely,

Anne Robinson

FOI Advice, National Highways Limited

Dear Anne Robinson

Response: Internal Review in relation to request FOI 10163

Further to your e-mail, which was received on 27 June 2024 I have been
asked to undertake a review of the response to your request for
information under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (FOI
10163).

You were dissatisfied with the response to your request because the
Appraisal Summary Table (AST) for the A57 Link Road scheme was withheld
under Regulation 12 4(d) for material in the course of completion,
unfinished documents, and incomplete data and you were told that the AST
for the A47 Blofield to North Burlingham scheme was not held.

How I have reviewed your request:

I have now had the opportunity to review the request and the response
provided, and also discuss this with the colleagues involved in the
original request, and I can confirm that National Highways response to
your request is correct and compliant with the Environmental Information
Regulations in respect to the final response. However, I do find that
National Highways was in breach of Regulation 5 and 7 of the legislation
whereby it exceeded the statutory timescale to provide the response to
you. Please accept my apologies for this and any inconvenience this may
have caused.

To explain further with regards to my findings on the ASTs, on the 17
April 2024 you requested “the Appraisal Summary Table (AST), which is part
of the Full Business Case, for the following two schemes: A57 Link Roads
and A47 Blofield to North Burlingham”. I have added emphasis on the Full
Business Case aspect of the request as this determines the AST that is
being requested.

With regards to the A57 Link Road scheme the full business case is not yet
complete and as the AST is part of the this incomplete document it in
itself is not yet complete and as such engages the exception in Regulation
12(4)(d) for material in the course of completion, unfinished documents,
and incomplete data. This in turn has been engaged by the Public Interest
Test that was completed and provided with National Highways response. I
note that you refer to the AST for the Outline Business Case (OBC) in your
request for review but, as highlighted above, this was not requested but
instead it was the AST for the full business case and this is still being
completed.

With regards to the A47 Blofield to North Burlingham scheme, again it was
the full business case AST that was requested, however this scheme is not
yet at Stage Gate Assessment Review (SGAR) 5 which is when the full
business case is written and therefore the full business case is yet to be
written for this scheme. Therefore, as no full business case is held at
this time the AST that is part of it is not held either and explains why
National Highways provided an information not held response to this aspect
of your request.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I can confirm that I am satisfied that National Highways
response to your request was compliant with the Environmental Information
Regulations 2004 with respects to its engagement of the exception of
Regulation 12(4)(d) for the A57 scheme information and its confirmation
that the A47 Blofield to North Burlingham scheme information was not held,
however as noted above I do find that it breached the legislation with
regards to the response timescales, which I apologise for again. However,
as I have found there is no further information to provide for this
request on this occasion, there no further action is required on this
case.

If you remain unhappy with the outcome of this internal review, you are
entitled to refer your complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office
(ICO) for a decision.

The ICO can be contacted at [1]https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/ or via
the address below -

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

[2]http://www.ico.org.uk

Jonathan Drysdale

Freedom of Information Manager

Legal Services

National Highways | Piccadilly Gate | Store Street | Manchester | M1 2WD

Web: [3]https://nationalhighways.co.uk/ 

You can make new FOI requests and review published responses by visiting
[4]https://foirequest.nationalhighways.co.u...

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