Parking Ticket Data
Dear Sir or Madam,
Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 I would like to request some information relating to the enforcement of parking restrictions, specifically penalty charge notices.
1. I would like to request the raw data set of parking tickets issued in the name of the council within the last five year period broken down by:
date, time, location, narrative of infraction, current status of case, next status of case, transaction details (ie. date, time and method of payments made), officer ID
2. I would also like to request any information regarding ‘reward’/bonus schemes/contracts in place for your parking enforcement officers. This is envisaged to cover the details of any systems, including (where bonuses are paid) the amount per officer per year, for the last five years.
Regarding part 1. ideally I would like the location unit to be 'street' but if this is not practical then under your section 16 duty to advise and assist I would expect you to contact me to discuss how you record this geospatial data so that I may narrow my request in a way that works for both of us.
As a supplementary, under section 16, I would also ask that you provide some detail about the recording processes of this parking information. E.g. What software is used? What data fields are recorded? What other data sets it links to, etc.
If this information is held by an outside contractor then it is your responsibility under the FOIA to obtain that information.
If it is held by another public body then please can you inform me of this and if possible transfer the request to that public body. My preferred format to receive this information is by electronic means. For both parts I would like the response to be in the form of a raw text file, tab delimited, with text qualifiers where required.
If you need any clarification of this request or if it is too broad in any way please feel free to email me. If some parts of this request
are more difficult to answer than others please release the answerable material as it is available rather than hold up the entire request for the contested data.
If FOI requests of a similar nature have already been asked could you please include your responses to those requests. I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request, and I look forward to hearing from you within the 20-working day statutory time period.
Yours faithfully,
Neil Houston
Dear Mr Houston,
REF: 2009/COR0489 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION - INFORMATION REQUEST
I acknowledge your request received on 10 August 2009.
Your request is being considered and you will receive the information requested within the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Freedom of Information Act 2000, subject to the information not being exempt or containing a reference to a third party.
If appropriate, the information may be provided in paper copy, normal font size, or electronically. If you require alternative formats, e.g. language, audio, large print, etc. then please let me know.
For your information, the Act defines a number of exemptions which may prevent release of the information you have requested. There will be an assessment and if any of the exemption categories apply then the information will not be released. You will be informed if this is the case, including your rights of appeal.
If the information you request contains reference to a third party then they may be consulted prior to a decision being taken on whether or not to release the information to you. You will be informed if this is the case.
There may a fee payable for this information. This will be considered and you will be informed if a fee is payable. In this event the fee must be paid before the information is processed and released. The 20 working day time limit for responses is suspended until receipt of the payment.
If you have any queries do not hesitate to contact me.
Further information is available from the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, Telephone: 01625 545 700, http://www.ico.gov.uk<http://www.ico.gov.uk/>
Yours sincerely,
Jon Hill
Senior Information Management Officer
Information Management Team
FCS Business Technology
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham
Tel: 020 8753 5865
Dear Mr Houston,
REF: 2009/COR0489 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION - INFORMATION REQUEST
Your request for information has now been considered and our response is as follows:
1. I would like to request the raw data set of parking tickets issued in the name of the council within the last five year period broken down by: date, time, location, narrative of infraction, current status of case, next status of case, transaction details (ie. date, time and method of payments made), officer ID
We can not provide the "raw data set" required because it would contain personal data of others.
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this part of your request. The exemption applied is Section 40 (personal information) and it is absolute. This exemption applies because this data would include personal information belonging to other people.
The only way we could possibly provide the information requested without including the personal information would be to request our IT provider to create a tailored report. The cost for doing this work would exceed the appropriate limit of £450. Section 12 of the Act recognises that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the process of compliance would exceed the appropriate limit - as set by the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees Charges) Regulations 2004 this is 18 hours. For requests which will exceed 18 hours to administer or the cost of £450, the authority may refuse the request.
In relation to your supplementary request, I can confirm that the software used is ICPS. However I am unable to confirm which data fields are used or what data sets it link to, because the software belongs to MTS Ltd.
In accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this part of your request. The exemption applied is Section 41, which refers to information provided in confidence. This exemption applies because this data would include commercial information belonging to a third party. We are only licensed to make use of MTS Ltd software and can not provide details of the software to third parties. Providing such information could result in legal action being taken against the Council for breach of contract.
2. I would also like to request any information regarding 'reward'/bonus schemes/contracts in place for your parking enforcement officers. This is envisaged to cover the details of any systems, including (where bonuses are paid) the amount per officer per year, for the last five years.
The attached table shows all the staff in parking enforcement including supervisors and managers who received an attendance allowance.
Year Number of Staff in Receipt Total paid out
2004-5
90 £33,445
2005-6
92 £33,736
2006-7
77 £34,599
2007-8 78 £37,115
2008-9 54 £22,173
The Council's view is that to provide further information requested regarding the amount paid per officer per year, for the last five years would put the Council in breach of the data protection principles and in the circumstances the information is exempt for disclosure under s.40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act.
If you are dissatisfied in any way you may write to the Information Manager, Business Technology, 2nd Floor, Hammersmith Town Hall Extension, London W6 9JU
Once you have exhausted the complaints procedure you may appeal to the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, Telephone: 01625 545 700, http://www.ico.gov.uk
Yours sincerely,
Jon Hill
Senior Information Management Officer
Information Management Team
FCS Business Technology
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham
Tel: 020 8753 5865
Hi,
Regard the raw-data: it was a selected field extract, and therefore I believe the fields requested did not contain any exempted data.
I would just like to clarify - is it possible that the IT/database administrator can produce the selected field extract from the database backend (In my experience, databases often sit on MySQL/MS SQL/Oracle backends - and the IT/database Administrator of the system can often extract out information that the systems 'reporting' options don't allow).
If the size of the data extract is too large for it to be compressed (zipped) and emailed, then I am happy to provide you with FTP details (the IT contact could transfer the files), or to receive the data on a CD/DVD. I understand that to produce some reports in a 'paper' format is not the best for either of us.
Sizewise, the physical number of records will be no issue for me; I cannot narrow down the request anymore than it already is. (That being a limited number of fields, by PCN issued, for the 5 year period).
Obviously if some of the information is not held in the database (perhaps regarding the payment status etc,) then I would not want to trouble you by having someone to review the actual case records (as I understand this would be above and beyond the £450/2.5 day limit)
Thanks,
Neil
Dear Mr Houston,
REF: 2009/COR0489 FREEDOM OF INFORMATION - APPEAL
I apologise for the delay in responding to your email of 27 August 2009.
This is now being treated as an appeal under the Freedom of Information Act and we hope to provide you with a full response by 25 September 2009.
If you have any queries do not hesitate to contact me.
Further information is available from the Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF, Telephone: 01625 545 700, http://www.ico.gov.uk
Yours sincerely
Alison Ross-Dow
Senior Information Management Officer
London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham
Information Management Team/Finance & Corporate Services
6th Floor, Hammersmith Town Hall Extension
King Street
London W6 9JU
DL: 020 8753 2455
Director of Finance & Corporate Services: Jane West
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