Costs per unit of minting each British coin?
Dear Royal Mint,
What are the costs per unit of minting each British coin denomination e.g. 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, 50p, £1 and £2?
And on a side note as feedback I would like to suggest getting rid of the worthless 1p and 2p coins, replacing the 5p with something that isn't so small, pesky and easy to lose, and introducing a £5 coin into general circulation.
Sincerely,
John: Knox
Hello
Thank you for your e-mail
Your query has been forwarded to the relevant department and will be answered as soon as possible.
Regards
Customer Services
Dear Mr Knox
I am writing in replying to your Freedom of Information request of 8 February concerning the cost of producing British circulating coins.
The Royal Mint does not release details of the cost of producing individual denominations and we are withholding this information under Section 43 of the Freedom of Information Act because its release would prejudice the commercial interests of the Royal Mint. Section 43 is a qualified exemption and as a result the Royal Mint is required to weigh the public interest in disclosing the information against the public interest in maintaining the exemption. The Royal Mint recognises there is a public interest in openness and transparency but, having taken all the circumstances into consideration, we consider that this general interest is outweighed by the public interest.
The Royal Mint and HM Treasury keep the denominational structure of the coinage under regular review and there are no plans at present to withdraw the 1p and 2p coin from circulation. In the financial year 2011-12, the Royal Mint issued 434.8 million 1p coins and 150.6 million 2p coins which suggest there is still a strong demand for these denominations.
In accordance with the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act you have the right to appeal against this decision. If you should wish to do so, please address your appeal to Vin Wijeratne, Director of Finance, The Royal Mint, Llantrisant, Pontyclun, CF72 8YT, stating the grounds on which you consider the decision should be changed.
Yours sincerely
Chris Barker
Assistant Curator
[email address]
............................................................................
The Royal Mint Museum
Llantrisant, Pontyclun
CF72 8YT
United Kingdom
............................................................................
Tel: +44 (0) 1443 623004 (Direct)
Tel: +44 (0) 1443 222111 (Switchboard)
http://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk
Vin Wijeratne
Director of Finance,
The Royal Mint,
Llantrisant,
Pontyclun,
CF72 8YT,
Dear Vin Wijeratne,
I wish this freedom of information request that was declined by the Royal Mint for dubious reasons to be reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Royal Mint's handling of my FOI request 'Costs per unit of minting each British coin?'.
[ Costs per unit of minting each British coin? ]
This request is very much in the public interest. Similar western democratic countries have released details for their coinage production costs.
Canada is one such country and as a result of this they took their 1 penny coin out of circulation as it cost more to mint the coin than to keep it in circulation, and it had very little value.
It is very much in taxpayers interests (the public) to know the production costs for our coinage and whether we are getting good value for money.
The response I received to my requests didn't make any sense and contradicts itself. The information shouldn't be that difficult to provide.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/co...
Sincerely,
John: Knox (no title)
Dear Mr Knox
I am replying in response to your email of 20 February requesting an
internal review of our decision to withhold information relating to the
cost per denomination of producing British coins.
Further to your request for a review of our response, we have now
conducted such a review and the original decision has been upheld as
information relating to the cost of producing individual denominations is
commercially sensitive and releasing such information would prejudice the
Royal Mint's commercial interests. We are therefore withholding the
information under section 43 of the Act.
Yours sincerely
Chris Barker
Assistant Curator
............................................................................
The Royal Mint Museum
Llantrisant, Pontyclun
CF72 8YT
United Kingdom
............................................................................
Tel: +44 (0) 1443 623004 (Direct)
Tel: +44 (0) 1443 222111 (Switchboard)
http://www.royalmintmuseum.org.uk
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Ron H-W left an annotation ()
If the Royal Mint produced coins ONLY for the U.K., then the grounds for refusal would (as requester suggested) be dubious. However, the Royal Mint is also a commercial enterprise, making coins (etc!) under contract for numerous other countries, and it is becasue of this that the 'commecial sensitivity' is very relevant - both customers and competitors might benefit from this information, to the detriment of the Royal Mint. One other point: The cost per unit is heavily dependent on the number produced, because of the significant design and set-up costs. Of course, it might be generally helpful and perhaps without the adverse effect, to give a ballpark figure (or range) for the unit costs.