Cancellations at Barnet

The request was refused by Driving Standards Agency.

Dear Driving Standards Agency,

I would like to know the number of compulsory cancellations of car practical driving tests that were made by the DSA in relation to driving tests booked at Barnet driving test centre for the period April 2013 to September 2013.

Yours faithfully,

Thomas Slaughter

Driving Standards Agency

4 Attachments

[1]Driving Standards Agency Information Assurance The Axis Building 112
Upper Parliament Street NOTTINGHAM NG1 6LP direct line: (0115) 936 6034
e-mail: :[DSA request email] websites:
www..gov.uk                                                                          

                                                                            

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr T Slaughter

by email: [FOI #180337 email]

 

10 October 2013

 

our ref: IA/00585/13

 

Dear Mr Slaughter

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FoIA) REQUEST

 

Thank you for your email request of 8 October 2013, about car practical
driving test cancellations at Barnet test centre.

 

Before we are able to respond, I would like some clarification of the
information you have requested.  Please clarify what is meant by
‘compulsory cancellations’? e.g. is this less than 3 day notice

  

Please note that without clarification of your requirements we will be
unable to process your request.  If you do not respond within three months
from the date of this letter, then we will consider your request closed.

 

If you wish to discuss your request further then please contact me on the
details above.  Please remember to quote your case reference number in any
future communications.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

Driving Standards Agency  |  Information Assurance

DSA, The Axis Building, 112 Upper Parliament Street, Nottingham, NG1 6LP

 

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[5]twitter.com/dsagovuk

 

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Dear Driving Standards Agency,

To clarify, by compulsory cancellation, I mean situations where the DSA has compulsorily and unilaterally of its own accord cancelled candidate driving tests and reassigned them to a different date (ie I used the term "compulsory" because I am not looking for statistics on tests that were booked and then subsequently cancelled by the candidate).

An example of the type of situation that I am looking for statistics in relation is my own experience: several months ago I booked a driving test at Barnet for a date in October. However, a few days ago I unexpectedly received an email from the DSA informing me that my test had been cancelled and that I had been allocated a test on a different date. Essentially, I would like to be provided with details of the number of cancellations such as this, where the DSA took the decision of its own accord to cancel a driving test.

The cancellation of my test has caused me much irritation, because I cannot make the replacement date due to my commitments at work and there is a 10 week waiting time for tests at Barnet, so this is causing me a lot of delay an extra expense in terms of driving lessons. I am requesting statistics on such cancellations in order to allow me to assess whether how I have been treated is a common experience, and whether Barnet test centre is generally providing users with good customer service.

Thank you very much for your quick response, please let me know if you have any further queries regarding the nature of my request.

Yours faithfully,

Thomas Slaughter

Driving Standards Agency

2 Attachments

 

Driving Standards Agency

Knowledge and Information Management Team

The Axis Building

112 Upper Parliament Street

NOTTINGHAM NG1 6LP

 

switchboard: (0115) 936 6666

direct line: (0115) 936 6034

fax: (0115) 936 6580

email: [DSA request email]

website: www.gov.uk/dsa

 

 

 

 

                                                                          

                                                                           

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr Thomas Slaughter

by email: [FOI #180337 email]

 

our ref: IA/00585/13

 

15 October 2013

 

Dear Mr Slaughter

 

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST

 

Thank you for your email of 10 October clarifying your request for
information about car practical driving test cancellations at Barnet test
centre; we are dealing with your request under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

 

Your request was received by the Driving Standards Agency on 08 October
2013.  We will endeavour to provide you with a full response within 20
working days after receipt of your request.

 

If you have any queries about this letter, please do not hesitate to
contact me on the details as above.  Please remember to quote the
reference number above in any future communications.

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

 

Knowledge and Information Management Team

 

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

Driving Standards Agency

2 Attachments

 

Driving Standards Agency

Knowledge and Information Management Team

The Axis Building

112 Upper Parliament Street

NOTTINGHAM NG1 6LP

 

switchboard: (0115) 936 6666

direct line: (0115) 936 6785

fax: (0115) 936 6571

email: [DSA request email]

website: gov.uk/dsa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr Thomas Slaughter

by email:
[FOI #180337 email]                                                               

 

our ref: IA/00585/13

 

25 October 2013

 

Dear Mr Slaughter

 

Information requested under the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA)

 

Further to our email of 15 October 2013; I can confirm that we have
handled your request for information about car practical driving test
cancellations at Barnet test centre within the terms of the FoIA.

 

You asked for statistics about the number of car practical driving tests
that had been cancelled at Barnet driving test centre by DSA; you can find
information covering the period April to June 2013 on our website at:
[1]https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy....
This information is therefore exempt under section 21 (information
accessible by other means) of the FoIA. 

 

You also asked for this information for July to September 2013; this
information is due to be published on 5 December and will be available on
our website at the link above. This information is therefore exempt from
release under section 22 (information intended for future publication) of
the FoIA. This is a qualified exemption which is subject to the public
interest test as to whether the balance lies in favour of withholding or
disclosing the information.  All public interest tests begin with the
assumption that information should be disclosed unless there are
sufficient reasons why the information should be withheld.  In this case
the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public
interest in disclosing the information. A copy of this exemption and the
public interest test is attached at Annex A.

 

If you are unhappy with the way we have handled your request, you should
ask for an internal review by contacting the Information Compliance
Manager, at the above address.

 

 

 

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

 

 

 

 

Knowledge and Information Management Team

 

 

 

 Annex A                                          
                                                            our ref:
IA/00585/13

 

Section 22 exemption:  information intended for future publication

 

+---------------------------------------------------------------------+
|Exemption in Full |
| |
|Section 22 - Information intended for future publication |
| |
|(1) Information is exempt information if— |
| |
|(a) The information is held by the public authority with a view to |
|its publication, by the authority or any other person, at some future|
|date (whether determined or not), |
| |
|(b) The information was already held with a view to such publication |
|at the time when the request for information was made, and |
| |
|(c) It is reasonable in all the circumstances that the information |
|should be withheld from disclosure until the date referred to in |
|paragraph (a). |
| |
|(2) The duty to confirm or deny does not arise if, or to the extent |
|that, compliance with section 1(1) (a) would involve the disclosure |
|of any information (whether or not already recorded) which falls |
|within subsection (1). |
+---------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Factors for disclosure | Factors for withholding |
|------------------------------------+-----------------------------------|
|·     It would give transparency to |·        The number of tests |
|the information being held by the |cancelled by DSA by test centre is |
|DSA |intended for general release; the |
| |current proposed date for the July |
|  |to September figures is December |
| |2013. |
|·     There is a high public | |
|interest in practical driving test |·        Running of reports is |
|statistics. |included in a business timetable |
| |for which resource has already been|
|  |scheduled and time allocate.  To |
| |reschedule this now would take time|
|  |away allocated to other tasks. |
| | |
| |·        We need to have sufficient|
| |time to upload test reports and |
| |resolve any reports incorrectly |
| |uploaded. |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Reasons why public interest favours withholding information |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
|On the balance of the arguments for and against disclosure, we conclude |
|that releasing the information would be against the public interest.  We|
|have included the running of this report into business planning which |
|ensures that sufficient time has passed since the end of the reporting |
|period to capture accurate information.  To run and release this |
|information now would mean that time had to be taken from other |
|reporting duties and would impact on the agreed reporting and |
|statistical publication timetable. |
| |
|  |
| |
|We intend to publish this information in December 2013. |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

 

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Communications via the GSi may be automatically logged, monitored and/or
recorded for legal purposes.

References

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1. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy...