Dear Ms Aspinall,

Ref: CALS-8Y5D25

Thank you for your request for information received on 14 September 2012,
which we are considering under the Freedom of Information Act. Under the
Act you should expect a reply from us to be sent by 12 October 2012, which
is twenty working days from receipt of your request.

If for any reason we are unable to provide you with a full response within
that time, we will contact you explaining the reasons for this and giving
a revised date by which we will reply.  

If in the meantime you have any questions or would like to contact us
about your request, please contact us by telephone 0207 250 2647 or
alternatively email or write to us at the address below.  Please be
assured that we are giving this our attention and will get back to you
shortly.

Yours sincerely

Cory Alexis

Freedom of Information Support
1^st Floor, Bunhill Row Wing
148 Old Street
London
EC1V 9HQ

Post Office Ltd is registered in England and Wales. Registered No.
2154540. Registered Office 148 Old Street, London, EC1V 9HQ. Post Office
and the Post Office logo are registered trademarks of Post Office Ltd.

Dear Ms Aspinall,

 

Ref: Freedom of Information Request - CALS-8Y5D25

 

I am writing in response to your email received by Post Office Limited on
13 September which I am dealing with under the terms of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

 

In your email, you have requested information in three parts for the
year’s 2009 to 2012 in respect of payments made to the National Federation
of Subpostmasters (NFSP):

 

What payments if any, have been made to George Thomson general secretary
National Federation of SubPostmasters.

 

I can advise that Post Office Ltd does not make payments to any individual
member of the NFSP, and as such has made no payments to George Thomson.

 

What payments if any, have been made to Mervyn Jones Commercial Director
National Federation of SubPostmasters.

 

I can advise that Post Office Ltd does not make payments to any individual
staff member of the NFSP, and as such has made no payments to Mervyn
Jones.

 

What payments if any, have been made to National Federation of
Subpostmasters.

 

I can advise that Post Office Ltd does hold the information you have
requested, I have provided you with information in financial year format,
which runs from April to March. As such I can advise that Post Office Ltd
make a facilities payment to the NFSP on a quarterly basis to the value of
£175k per annum, which would be reported within the NFSP annual accounts.

 

I have set out the payments made within each year you have requested;
£250.7k for 2009/2010, £175k for 2010/2011, £131.k for 2011/2012 and
£87.5k for 2012/2013 to date. The increased payment in financial year
2009/2010 represented some payments to the NFSP that were due for the
previous year and were catch-up payments to bring the payments up to date.

 

In addition Post Office Ltd has made payments of £11.9k, for 2009/2010,
£6.5k for 2010/2011, £7.5k for 2011/2012 and £2.3k for 2012/2013 to the
NFSP for attendance and sponsorship at the NFSP Annual Conference. The
payments cover the cost of Post Office employees attending, exhibition
space and our annual sponsorship of a conference dinner.

 

Lastly Post Office Ltd has made payments of £341.8K for Network
Transformation and support activities to the NFSP for 2012/2013. These
payments are to cover items such as the expenses and costs of the NFSP
attending the 32 national road shows held for subpostmasters, the cost of
NFSP Special Executive Committee meetings, workshops and extraordinary
NFSP member communication costs related to the Network Transformation
Programme.

 

Post Office Ltd also purchases advertising space within the Subpostmaster
magazine. However, Post Office Ltd believes that this information is
exempt from disclosure under Section 43 (2) (commercial interests) of the
Freedom of Information Act.

 

Commercial Interests

Post Office Limited believes that disclosure of information relating to
financial spend to another party for the purposes of purchasing
advertising space is likely to prejudice the commercial interests of Post
Office, which could be used by other parties in negotiations with Post
Office Ltd and the NFSP.

Public Interest

Section 43(2) is a qualified exemption and therefore the public interest
test must be applied. This involves weighing the balance of public
interest in maintaining the exemption or releasing the information. Post
Office Ltd understands that there is public interest in promoting the
transparency and understanding of matters which are of interest to the
public. However, there is also public interest in allowing the normal
course of commercial activity to take place and would not be served by
placing Post Office Ltd at a commercial disadvantage in the marketing
market. On balance in our view, the greater public interest lies with
maintaining the exemption.

 

I hope the information I have provided on this occasion is useful. If you
are dissatisfied with the handling of this response, you do have a right
to request an internal review. You can do this by writing to the address
below stating your reasons for your internal review request.

 

Senior Engagement & Involvement Manager

Post Office Ltd

1^st Floor

Old Street Wing

148 Old Street

London

EC1V 9HQ

[1][email address]  

 

If, having requested an internal review by Post Office Limited, you are
still not satisfied with our response you also have a right of appeal to
the Information Commissioner at:

 

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Telephone: 01625 545 700

[2]www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

 

Yours sincerely

 

Kerry Moodie

Information Rights Team Leader

Post Office Ltd

1^st Floor

Old Street Wing

148 Old Street

London

EC1V 9HQ

Post Office Ltd is registered in England and Wales. Registered No.
2154540. Registered Office 148 Old Street, London, EC1V 9HQ. Post Office
and the Post Office logo are registered trademarks of Post Office Ltd.

 

 

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