Dear Jack,

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, as detailed in your email below. Your request was
received on 2nd November. We will deal with your request as promptly as
possible, and at the latest within 20 working days. If you have any
queries about your request, please contact us at the address below.

The reference number for your request is RFI20111341.

Kind regards,

The Information Policy & Compliance Team
BBC Freedom of Information
Room 2252, BBC White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS
www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: [BBC request email]
Tel: 020 8008 2882
Fax: 020 8008 2398

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<<RFI20111341 - final response.pdf>>

Dear Mr Thurston,

I refer to your request for information dated 2nd November and now enclose
our response.

Kind regards
Yours sincerely

H Padley
Advisor - Information Policy & Compliance

BBC Freedom of Information
Room 2252, BBC White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS

[1]www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: [2][BBC request email]

Tel: 020 8008 2882
Fax: 020 8008 2398

P please consider the environment, think before you print.

 
[3]http://www.bbc.co.uk
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Dear Mr Thurston,

Thank you for your email of 17th November requesting and internal review
of our decision of the same day in relation to the daily, weekly and
monthly download and podcast figures for September 2011 for all BBC
audio podcasts.

You may be interested to note that the Information Commissioner's Office
considered a similar request about audience figures and in that case
agreed with the BBC that this type of information is not covered by the
Act. A copy of the Information Commissioner's Decision Notice
FS50074344 can be found here
http://www.ico.gov.uk/tools_and_resource...

The Commissioner accepted that audience figures have a role to play in
the creative process and may impact upon decisions taken by programme
makers and staff responsible for scheduling the BBC's broadcast output.
A key part of the BBC's work is obtaining feedback on its services,
reflecting on that feedback, and making informed decisions about the
quality of the services provided and how to improve those services.
Audience figure information is one way that the BBC measures an
audience's reaction and, whether alone or combined with other feedback,
this is then used to inform decisions about programme making. This may
include decisions about scheduling as well as future programme content.
The Commissioner therefore considers that audience figures are held by
the BBC for the purposes of journalism, art or literature, and that this
type of information is therefore not covered by the Act.

I trust that this provides some further explanation as to why the
information you request is out of scope of the Freedom of Information
Act. However, if you remain unhappy with this explanation, as set out
in the Appeal Rights section at the bottom of our decision letter of
17th November, we do not offer an internal review when the information
requested is out of scope of the Act. As agreed with the Information
Commissioner, when the information is out of scope, it is possible to
appeal the decision directly by making an application to the Information
Commissioner's Office. I am re-sending the last paragraph of the letter
so that you may contact the Information Commissioner.

Appeal Rights

The BBC does not offer an internal review when the information requested
is not covered by the Act. If you disagree with our decision you can
appeal to the Information Commissioner, whose contact details are:

Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow,
Cheshire, SK9 5AF
Telephone 01625 545 700.
Website: http://www.ico.gov.uk

Please note that should the Information Commissioner's Office decide
that the Act does cover this information, exemptions under the Act might
then apply.

Yours sincerely,

H Padley
Advisor - Information Policy & Compliance
BBC Freedom of Information
Room 2252, BBC White City
201 Wood Lane
London W12 7TS
www.bbc.co.uk/foi
Email: [BBC request email]
Tel: 020 8008 2882
Fax: 020 8008 2398

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