KADOE selected Smart Parking Ltd contract details

The request was partially successful.

Dear Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency,

I write in looking for information relating to KADOE requests fulfilled in favour of Smart Parking Limited (also known as Town and Country Parking) for the land adjacent to 18 Wind Street, Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, SA18 3DN (commonly referred to as Shoppers World car park).

1) Per section B11.1.c.1. of KADOE contract, please provide a copy Smart Parking Ltd's site survey questionnaire.

2) Per section D11. of KADOE contract, please confirm the number and dates of inspections that the DVLA has made to ensure Smart Parking Ltd's compliance with the contract.

3) Per section C5. of KADOE contract, please confirm the number and dates of review meeting held with Smart Parking Ltd.

3) Per section C5.3.o of KADOE contract, please provide a copy of the landowner agreement (if one exists) between Smart Parking Ltd and the lawful owner/agent of land adjacent to 18 Wind Street, Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, SA18 3DN (commonly referred to as Shoppers World).

4) Please confirm the number of points on Smart Parking Ltd's ATA membership license as well as notification events that the DVLA has recorded.

5) Please provide a signed copy of the latest KADOE contract enacted by Smart Parking Ltd, including the complete Annex A Declaration.

Yours faithfully,

D Morris

FOI FOI, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Morris,

 

Thank you for your e-mail requesting information. The DVLA are dealing
with your request under the terms of the Freedom of information Act 2000.

 

Your request has been given reference: FOIR7845.

 

You should expect to receive a reply to your request by 17^th September
2019.

 

If you have any further questions or enquiries on this request please
quote the reference number.

 

Regards

 

Nathan James

Compliance Officer

Data Sharing Strategy & Compliance

Strategy, Policy & Communications Directorate | C2 East | DVLA | Swansea |
SA99 1DY

Twitter: [1]@dvlagovuk

 

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************************************************************************************
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automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for lawful purposes.

Please visit [7]www.gov.uk/browse/driving for government information on
all aspects of motoring, ranging from log books and driving licences to
driving tests and vehicle tax.
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Daniel Morris left an annotation ()

Sorry for unhelpful Subject title. I think cut & paste went wrong, it should have been "KADOE selected Smart Parking Ltd contract details". Not sure how to fix.

Matt Knight left an annotation ()

The request title has been changed from 'KADOE' to 'KADOE selected Smart Parking Ltd contract details' by a site administrator, following user request.

--
Matt
WhatDoTheyKnow.com Volunteer Admin Team

Dear FOI,

I am disappointed that the DVLA has chosen not to comply with its legal obligations defined in the Freedom of Information Act 2000/Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

I had expected that you would have supplied the information that I requested some time ago - the law requires that you provide the information promptly and in any event no later than 20 days after the request.

A complaint file has been opened with the Information Commissioner's Office.

I would also respectfully like to draw the DVLA's attention to paragraph 77 of the ICO's guidance 'Section 45 - Code Of Practice - request handling', which you may find linked at the Commissioner's site here:
https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisatio...

When do you expect that you will comply with the Act/Regulations and supply the information requested?

Yours sincerely,

D Morris

FOI FOI, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

Good Afternoon Mr Morris - we need clarification with regard to the first part of your request.

You have asked to be provided with a copy of Smart Parking Ltd's site survey questionnaire but are you looking for a questionnaire that relates to the site/land adjacent to 18 Wind St?

Regards
Ian

Ian Aubrey
Freedom of Information Team – C2/W
Data Sharing & Protection Group | Strategy, Policy and Communications Directorate | DVLA | Swansea | SA6 7JL

We can always spot an untaxed car. Tax it or lose it.
Go to www.gov.uk/vehicletax

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show quoted sections

Dear Mr Aubrey,

I had expected that Smart Parking Ltd's site survey questionnaire would relate to its own operating centre(s), but if you have one that specifically relates to the site/land adjacent to 18 Wind St. then I'll take that too.

Yours sincerely,

D Morris

Daniel Morris left an annotation ()

2019-10-24
ICO case officer confirms he will now write to the DVLA to compel them to disclose the information within a week.

FOI, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

3 Attachments

Good Afternoon Mr Morris

Further to your request dated 17 August, please accept my apologies for the oversight for not responding until now. However, please find attached a response.

Regards
Ian

Ian Aubrey
Freedom of Information Team – C2/W
Data Sharing & Protection Group | Strategy, Policy and Communications Directorate | DVLA | Swansea | SA6 7JL

We can always spot an untaxed car. Tax it or lose it.
Go to www.gov.uk/vehicletax

Twitter: @dvlagovuk | Facebook: dvlagovuk | Instagram: dvlagov

************************************************************************************
Correspondents should note that all communications to DVLA may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for lawful purposes.

Please visit www.gov.uk/browse/driving for government information on all aspects of motoring, ranging from log books and driving licences to driving tests and vehicle tax.
************************************************************************************

Dear Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency's handling of my FOI request 'KADOE selected Smart Parking Ltd contract details'.

Please conduct an internal review of elements of information that I requested relating to KADOE requests fulfilled in favour of Smart Parking Limited (also known as Town and Country Parking) for the land adjacent to 18 Wind Street, Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, SA18 3DN (commonly referred to as Shoppers World car park). Your own reference is FOI7845, which was provided on 5 November 2019. I would like you to review portions 1), 5) & 6), as detailed below.

I asked:
1) Per section B11.1.c.1. of KADOE contract, please provide a copy Smart Parking Ltd's site survey questionnaire.

The DVLA responded:
"While the DVLA holds a copy of the relevant site survey questionnaire, it is considered to be exempt from disclosure because to put that information into the public domain would be likely to prejudice the prevention or detection of crime. The DVLA relies on section 31(1)(a) of the FOIA."

The reasons put forward in Annex A to withhold the information are weak and cannot withstand critical rigour. "Security by obscurity" as a methodology was widely discredited in the 1980's and was dead in the water by the early 1990's. Previously the DVLA has (under FOI) published the mechanism that KADOE queries are run - in summary, an XML file is uploaded via Secure File Transfer Protocol (sftp) and later batch processed. The technical requirements have been well publicised.

The site survey questionnaire outlines the minimum operational threshold for a KADOE contract holder. I have not asked the DVLA to disclose client/site specific keys, nor any element that would compromise "cyber security". In the unlikely event that such information is recorded on Smart Parking Ltd's site survey questionnaire, then the DVLA could have intelligently redacted selected elements. With-holding the whole of the survey is not justified.

In this misguided attempt to engage the Section 31 exemption, the DVLA has failed to consider the value of disclosure in upholding law enforcement. It has not conducted the public-interest test correctly. The DVLA holds personal information covered by the 2018 Data Protection Act (enacting GDPR). The DVLA is bound by both legislation and an operational duty to treat personal information properly and in a lawful manner at all times. As Smart Parking Ltd makes (on average) more than a thousand requests for personal information each day, it is in the public interest to be certain that those profiting from this trade are suitably qualified, trained and operate correctly. By means of an example, should the site survey show that Smart Parking were using insecure and un-maintained revisions of software, then it would be in the public interest to know that the DVLA had flagged the issue and not allowed the KADOE service to commence.

I asked:
5) Please confirm the number of points on Smart Parking Ltd's ATA membership license as well as notification events that the DVLA has recorded.

The DVLA responded:
"This information is not held by the DVLA because sanction points are issued by the relevant Accredited Trade Association (ATA), not the DVLA. The DVLA believes that Smart Parking Ltd are members of the British Parking Association (the BPA) and you may wish to contact them for this information (see - https://www.britishparking.co.uk)"

This contradicts clause A7.2 of the KADOE contractual term for Smart Parking Ltd (the Customer) to notify immediately, as follows:

"A7.2.The Customer shall notify the DVLA immediately if the ATA finds any non-compliance issues, if any sanctions are applied or points placed on the Customer’s membership licence, or if its membership or approved operator status is suspended or ended. In these circumstances, the DVLA may suspend or terminate the KADOE Service without further notice."

I asked:
6) Please provide a signed copy of the latest KADOE contract enacted by Smart Parking Ltd, including the complete Annex A Declaration.

The DVLA responded:
"The contract signed by Smart Parking Ltd is held but is being withheld from disclosure under section 43 (2) of the FOIA because disclosure would be likely to prejudice commercial interests. Further details as to why the DVLA considers the public interest test to favour non-disclosure can be found attached at Annex B."

Excuses made in Annex B are laughable and I have to wonder if the person who answered understands the nature of the KADOE service. They appear to have the roles of supplier and customer jumbled up.

Referring to "Factors for disclosure": The DVLA does not have to worry about "getting value for money when purchasing goods and services" when the item under consideration is the DVLA selling the KADOE service to Customers (namely Smart Parking Ltd)!

Referring to "Factors for with-holding": "Private companies would be less likely to tender for contracts in the public sector if they are worried that commercially sensitive information will be released. This will have an adverse affect on competition for contracts and this would result in the less effective use of public money".

a) The DVLA isn't putting a contract out for tender to use the KADOE service - it is supplying the service

b) As a public sector organisation, if the DVLA were to put the service out for tender than it would need to follow public sector procurement and tender guidelines. Searches of public sector contract databases haven't revealed anything similar to the KADOE service (that the DVLA *offers* to Customers) that could substantiate this claim of an adverse effect on competition

c) The costs for using the KADOE service are defined and well publicised. For example, the UK Government's searchable FOI disclosure log shows the fixed price of making each KADOE request (£2.50) along with the setup, support and annual recurring costs. Here is a direct link to v4.0 June 2014, with FEES defined in SCHEDULE1 beginning on pg69:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk...

d) The DVLA has identified that Smart Parking Ltd (or any other private company) may use the manual form V888/3 (FOIR7846) instead of the electronic KADOE service. The fee is the same (stated on the form). Any firm "worried that commercially sensitive information will be released" already has the option of using the manual process (without recurring costs).

The claim that disclosure would "be likely to prejudice commercial interests" is nonsense and a cynical attempt to with-hold disclosure of the Contract.

The Commercial Interest test has being poorly and wrongly applied. Members of the public who've had their personal information traded by the DVLA have an overwhelming right to inspect the Contract under which their details have been disclosed. Given the issues that have already been uncovered with Smart Parking Ltd's operation, such as lack of planning consent, failure to register for business rates and anomalies with its registration as a data controller with the ICO, there is an over-riding public interest for the signed Contract to be released so it may be inspected to see if it is (or ever was) lawful.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/k...

I hope that the DVLA will conduct this review swiftly and properly - your performance to date has been woeful. I would also remind you that the ICO has an open complaint and a Case Officer has had to compel your organisation to respond.

Yours faithfully,

D Morris

FOI, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

Dear Mr Morris

Thank you for your request for an Internal Review in response to your original FOI request FOIR7845.
You should expect to receive a response by 31 January.

Regards

Debbie Leaker
Freedom Of Information
Strategy, Policy & Communications Directorate | C2W | DVLA | Swansea | SA6 7JL
Twitter: @dvlagovuk

We can always spot an untaxed car. Tax it or lose it.
Go to www.gov.uk/vehicletax
Twitter: @dvlagovuk  |  Facebook: dvlagovuk  |  YouTube: dvlagov

show quoted sections

FOI, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

Good Afternoon Mr Morris

Further to your request for a review of the response to FOIR7845, it was hoped that a response would be with you by today but I'm afraid we need additional time to consider the review. You will be aware that a public authority can have up to 40 working days to review their response.

With us being afforded an additional 20 working days to respond, you should now expect to receive a response no later than 28 February.

Regards
Ian

Ian Aubrey
Freedom of Information Team – C2/W
Data Sharing & Protection Group | Strategy, Policy and Communications Directorate | DVLA | Swansea | SA6 7JL

We can always spot an untaxed car. Tax it or lose it.
Go to www.gov.uk/vehicletax

Twitter: @dvlagovuk | Facebook: dvlagovuk | Instagram: dvlagov

************************************************************************************
Correspondents should note that all communications to DVLA may be automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for lawful purposes.

Please visit www.gov.uk/browse/driving for government information on all aspects of motoring, ranging from log books and driving licences to driving tests and vehicle tax.
************************************************************************************

Angus Gill left an annotation ()

"You will be aware that a public authority can have up to 40 working days to review their response".

.... They've been told in previous ICO investigations that 20 days is reasonable so you have the option to challenge the idea that "up to 40" is what they can take. It is all down to how long the *should* take - not how long they *can* take.

You may wish to remind them.

Dear FOI,

You took 56 working days to respond to the initial request, after an ICO case officer compelled you to, and even then you ignored the time-limit imposed by the case officer.

Your further delay, beyond a generous 20 working days to complete an internal review, is unreasonable. Such routine failures should ring alarm bells within your internal monitoring team.

Yours sincerely,

D Morris

Dear FOI,

Your "exceptional" 40 day long-stop expired on Friday 28th February 2020. Where is the disclosure and outcome of the Internal Review?

A further complaint file has been made opened with the ICO.

Yours sincerely,

D Morris

FOI, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Morris

 

Please find attached the response to your request for an internal review.

 

Regards

 

Freedom of Information

Strategy, Policy & Communications Directorate | C2 | DVLA | Swansea | SA6
7JL

 

[1]cid:image001.png@01CFCB6E.B7248A20

 

We can always spot an untaxed car. Tax it or lose it.

Go to [2]www.gov.uk/vehicletax

Twitter: [3]@dvlagovuk  |  Facebook: [4]dvlagovuk  |  YouTube: [5]dvlagov

 

 

************************************************************************************
Correspondents should note that all communications to DVLA may be
automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for lawful purposes.

Please visit [6]www.gov.uk/browse/driving for government information on
all aspects of motoring, ranging from log books and driving licences to
driving tests and vehicle tax.
************************************************************************************

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5. http://www.twitter.com/dvlagovuk
6. http://www.gov.uk/browse/driving

Daniel Morris left an annotation ()

Our Ref: FOIR7845 – IR
Date: 13 March 2020
Dear Mr Morris
Freedom of Information – Internal Review
(KADOE selected Smart Parking Ltd contract details)
Thank you for your email of 4 January asking for a review of the response you received
dated 5 November (Ref: FOIR7845).
You asked specifically for a review of the response you received to questions 1, 5 & 6
and I will deal with each in turn.
Question 1
You had asked for a copy of the specific site survey questionnaire and while confirming
that a copy was held, we withheld it from disclosure and relied on section 31(1)(a) of
the FOI Act. We are grateful for your comments and observations but having reviewed
our response, we remain of the view that the exemption still applies.
The DVLA recognises that there is indeed a public interest in disclosing information
for reasons of transparency. However, and as you have observed, it is our duty to
comply with data protection legislation and treat personal data lawfully at all times. As
part of that duty, it is of the utmost importance that we protect the personal data that
we do hold and that is reason why it is considered appropriate to withhold from
disclosure the site survey questionnaire. You have suggested that the survey might
outline the minimum operational threshold for a KADOE contract holder and if that is
the case, then disclosing even that minimal level of information could lead to assisting
someone wishing to harm our IT systems and thereby gain unauthorised access to the
personal data we hold. You will be aware that a response to a FOI request is deemed
to be a response which is in the public domain for all to see.
Question 5
You asked for the number of points on Smart Parking Ltd’s ATA membership and we
advised you that the DVLA does not hold that information. Again, we are grateful for
your observations with regard to clause A7.2 of the KADOE.
Having reviewed our response to this question, it is accepted that perhaps it could
have been worded differently, but the fact remains that the DVLA does not hold

Page 2 of 3
recorded information with regard to the number of sanction points awarded by the BPA
against Smart Parking Ltd. While we are notified of sanction points being are awarded,
we do not hold details of why any points were awarded against Smart Parking.
Question 6
You asked to be provided with a signed copy of the latest KADOE contract enacted
by Smart Parking Ltd [with the DVLA] including the complete Annex A declaration.
As already mentioned, we are grateful for your considered observations with regard to
the arguments as to why you believe a copy of the actual signed contract should be
disclosed. Again, we agree that transparency and accountability of a public authority’s
actions are at the heart of the FOI Act. However, on this occasion we maintain that it
is in the much wider public interest to protect our position and maintain the exemption.
You will however be familiar with the generic contract.
Conclusion
To conclude, the DVLA maintains the exemptions applied with regard to Questions 1
and 6 while re-iterating that it does not hold information in scope of Question 5.
Therefore, the response you received dated 5 November 2019 remains unchanged.
If you remain unhappy about the outcome of the Internal Review that has been carried
out, you have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). A
reminder of the ICO’s contact details can be found below.
Yours sincerely
Paul Johnson
Data Protection Policy & Freedom of Information Team

Dear Mr Johnson,

Thanks for finally having a stab at an Internal Review.

I note that you've just slipped a response under the wire, the ICO having instructed the DVLA on 2 March to comply within 10 working days, the DVLA having already failed to complete the review within an "exceptional" 40 working days; compounding the 56 working days taken to not comply with the original request.

Given the substance of your response I don't understand why there's been such a protracted delay.

I'm also perplexed by your response to Question 5, you now confirm that Smart Parking had points on their license and yet claimed on 5 November 2019 that you held no record. Was the DVLA lying then or is the DVLA lying now?

I will follow up with ICO.

Yours sincerely,

D Morris

Edward Williams left an annotation ()

Ask the ICO to review the DVLA response, ask for a s50 Decision Notice.

Daniel Morris left an annotation ()

2020-03-13
Review requested, in addition to DN that was pending a response to IR.

Daniel Morris left an annotation ()

2020-07-06 case reference number changed
"We are writing to inform you that we have moved to a new case management system." Might explain the large number of "cases closed" in the Commissioner's recently published report.

2020-07-17 assigned to a Lead Case Officer

FOI, Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency

3 Attachments

Mr Morris

 

Please see attached a further reply in connection with the above request.

 

Regards

 

Freedom of Information Team

 

************************************************************************************
Correspondents should note that all communications to DVLA may be
automatically logged, monitored and/or recorded for lawful purposes.

Please visit [1]www.gov.uk/browse/driving for government information on
all aspects of motoring, ranging from log books and driving licences to
driving tests and vehicle tax.
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Daniel Morris left an annotation ()

Lead Case Officer has rattled some information loose but investigations into the contradictions are still ongoing, so no DN issued yet.