British Broadcasting Corporation Room BC2 A4 Broadcast Centre White City Wood Lane London W12 7TP
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Information Rights
bbc.co.uk/foi
bbc.co.uk/privacy
Paul Jones
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
26 October 2021
Dear Paul,
Freedom of Information request – RFI20211490
Thank you for your request to the BBC of 30 September 2021 seeking the fol owing
information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (‘the Act’):
Have any staff working on Newsnight been asked by “management” to delete previously
published tweets; if so why; and what if any sanctions were taken if the original tweets were
deemed to run contrary to the BBCs guidance on social media.
The Act does not require us to comply with a request if to do so would exceed the
appropriate limit as set out in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate
Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004 (SI 2004/3244). The appropriate limit has been set at £450
(equivalent to two and a half days work, at an hourly rate of £25). In order to respond in full
to your request we estimate that to carry out this search would take BBC Staff more than
two and a half days.
This is because we don’t hold a central record of instances where staff have been reminded of
the guidelines. If held, this information would be held at a local level and with individual
managers. Therefore, under section 12 of the Act, we are refusing to handle the request as it
would exceed the appropriate limit.
We are mindful of our duty under section 16 of the Act to provide reasonable advice and
assistance to you, and specifical y to advise how you might narrow your request so that it
complies with the time limit. However, due to the nature of your request and the records not
being held in a readily accessible and extractable format, we are unable to suggest a way in
which to refine your request in order to obtain the information you are interested in within
the cost limit.
As set out in section 6(1)(b)(ii) of the Act, our subsidiaries (including BBC Studioworks
Limited, UKTV, BBC Global News Ltd and BBC Studios Ltd), as well as the charities BBC
Media Action and BBC Children in Need, are not subject to the Act. As such, information
relating to these entities is not considered in the above response.
Appeal Rights
If you are not satisfied that we have complied with the Act in responding to your request, you
have the right to an internal review by a BBC senior manager or legal adviser. Please contact
us at the address above, explaining what you would like us to review and including your
reference number. A request for an internal review must be made within 40 working days of
receiving the BBC’s response to your original request.
If you are not satisfied with the internal review, you can appeal to the Information
Commissioner. The contact details are: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House,
Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, Tel: 0303 123 1113 or see
https://ico.org.uk/. Yours sincerely,
BBC HR
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