Request for information re. GLA and The Air-Quality Initiative of the Regions

The request was partially successful.

Dear Greater London Authority,

I understand that the GLA has joinned The Air-Quality Initiative of the Regions which was publically launched in December 2011.

Please provide me with all correspondence and meeting notes with other parties about the The Air-Quality Initiative of the Regions or similar joint working, which have been held since 1 June 2011.

The Regions are shown in this memorandum: http://en.vleva.eu/sites/en.vleva.eu/fil...

I would prefer the requested items in electronic format if possible.

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Wood

Greater London Authority

    From: [FOI #99482 email]
    To: [Greater London Authority request email]
    Subject: Freedom of Information request - Request for information re.
GLA and The Air-Quality Initiative of the Regions

The Mayor would like to thank you for your interest in his work and he is
keen to answer your query as quickly and fully as possible. As you will
appreciate, he receives a very large amount of correspondence but he is
committed to responding to your query within 20 working days.

However, the Greater London Authority (GLA) will only respond to queries
that relate to its work and will refer relevant queries to the appropriate
functional body for them to reply. Transport related queries will be
referred to Transport for London (TfL).

Please note that the GLA does not accept unsolicited job applications or
CVs. Information on current vacancies is available on our website at:
[1]http://www.london.gov.uk/jobs

Thank you for taking the time to write to the Mayor of London, Boris
Johnson.

Yours truly

Public Liaison Unit

References

Visible links
1. http://www.london.gov.uk/jobs

Mayor of London, Greater London Authority

Dear Mr Wood,

Thank you for your request, which was received by the Greater London
Authority (GLA) on 6 January 2012.

The GLA does hold information, which is relevant to your request. I am
writing to inform you that it will be necessary to extend the deadline to
respond to your request as we are still in the process of considering the
public interest arguments relating to the application of possible
exemptions. The new deadline for a response is 5 March 2012, however we
expect to be able to finalise our decision before then and hope to provide
a response within the next 10 working days or sooner.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Robinson
Information Governance Officer.

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EMAIL NOTICE:
The information in this email may contain confidential or privileged
materials. Please read the full email notice at
 [3]http://www.london.gov.uk/email-notice

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2. http://www.london.gov.uk/teamlondon
3. http://www.london.gov.uk/email-notice

Mayor of London, Greater London Authority

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Wood,

Please find attached a response to your request for information of 6
January 2012. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding.

Yours sincerely

Paul Robinson
Information Governance Officer

GREATERLONDONAUTHORITY
EMAIL NOTICE:
The information in this email may contain confidential or privileged
materials. Please read the full email notice at
 [1]http://www.london.gov.uk/email-notice

References

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1. http://www.london.gov.uk/email-notice

Greater London Authority
City Hall
The Queen’s Walk
London
SE1 2AA

Dear Greater London Authority,

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

Thank-you for your letter of 29 March (your ref: MGLA090112-8725) regarding my request for information under the Environmental Information Regulations 'Request for information re. GLA and The Air-Quality Initiative of the Regions'. I note your refusal to disclose information by citing a number of exemptions. I would like you to undertake an internal review and reconsider your decision. I understand that this review must be completed within 20 working days.

I note that you claim the following EIR exemptions under the Act:


(4)(d) the request relates to material which is still in the course of completion, to unfinished documents or to incomplete data

(5)(a) For the purpose of paragraph (1)(a), a public authority may refuse to disclose information to the extent that’s its disclosure would adversely affect –

(a) international relations, 13(3) To the extent that the information requested includes personal data of which the applicant is not the data subject, the personal data shall not be disclosed otherwise in accordance with regulation 13.

However, 4(d) is not applicable. If we consider the finished document to be the Air-Quality Initiative of the Regions (AIR) memorandum then the withheld Information is in lieu of its completion. Given that the AIR memorandum is complete and published then the withheld information cannot be considered in the course of completion i.e. it is not a work in progress and incomplete. Furthermore, for the exemption to be applied then each of the documents must be unfinished, and I do not believe this is the case. Each document is complete in itself irrespective of being revised in subsequent drafts.

In relation to (5)(a)(a) then I maintain that the information cannot be consider pertinent to international relations. The information which I am requesting is that between a local authority and a lobbying organisation. The information is therefore about the relationship between the GLA (a local authority) and a lobby organisation rather than another body which is and/or represents any single Government authority (i.e. AIR is not a Government authority). Therefore, this cannot be considered ‘international relations’ as the EIR should reasonably be interpreted.

In relation to 13(3) then the information cannot be considered personal data as it relates to emissions, and it is not of a personal nature. Where there is personal data then it may be redacted.

Please reconsider your decision to withhold the information requested. I look forward to your response. Please respond to me by email using the www.whatdo theyknow.com website. A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/re...

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Wood

Greater London Authority

    From: [FOI #99482 email]
    To: [Greater London Authority request email]
    Subject: Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Request
for information re. GLA and The Air-Quality Initiative of the Regions

The Mayor would like to thank you for your interest in his work and he is
keen to answer your query as quickly and fully as possible. As you will
appreciate, he receives a very large amount of correspondence but he is
committed to responding to your query within 20 working days.

However, the Greater London Authority (GLA) will only respond to queries
that relate to its work and will refer relevant queries to the appropriate
functional body for them to reply. Transport related queries will be
referred to Transport for London (TfL).

Please note that the GLA does not accept unsolicited job applications or
CVs. Information on current vacancies is available on our website at:
[1]http://www.london.gov.uk/jobs

Thank you for taking the time to write to the Mayor of London, Boris
Johnson.

Yours truly

Public Liaison Unit

References

Visible links
1. http://www.london.gov.uk/jobs

Mayor of London, Greater London Authority

Dear Mr Wood

This is a holding response to let you know that an internal review is
being conducted with regards to your request for information under the
Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) - responded to under reference
MGLA090112-8725. 

Under the EIR, authorities must consider each complaint, decide whether
they have complied with their requirements and respond to the complainant
within 40 working days from the time when the complaint was received (not
20 working days as you have stated in your email).

The deadline for a response is therefore 15 June, however we hope to be
able to respond before then.

Yours sincerely

Albert Chan
Information Governance Manager
Greater London Authority

GREATERLONDONAUTHORITY
EMAIL NOTICE:
The information in this email may contain confidential or privileged
materials. Please read the full email notice at
 [1]http://www.london.gov.uk/email-notice

References

Visible links
1. http://www.london.gov.uk/email-notice

Mayor of London, Greater London Authority

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Wood

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

Yours sincerely

Greater London Authority

----------------------------------------
Greater London Authority
City Hall
The Queen's Walk
London
SE1 2AA

Dear Greater London Authority,

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

Thank-you for your letter of 29 March (your ref: MGLA090112-8725)
regarding my request for information under the Environmental
Information Regulations 'Request for information re. GLA and The
Air-Quality Initiative of the Regions'. I note your refusal to
disclose information by citing a number of exemptions. I would like
you to undertake an internal review and reconsider your decision. I
understand that this review must be completed within 20 working
days.

I note that you claim the following EIR exemptions under the Act:

'
(4)(d) the request relates to material which is still in the course
of completion, to unfinished documents or to incomplete data

(5)(a) For the purpose of paragraph (1)(a), a public authority may
refuse to disclose information to the extent that's its disclosure
would adversely affect -

(a) international relations, 13(3) To the extent that the
information requested includes personal data of which the applicant
is not the data subject, the personal data shall not be disclosed
otherwise in accordance with regulation 13.
'

However, 4(d) is not applicable. If we consider the finished
document to be the Air-Quality Initiative of the Regions (AIR)
memorandum then the withheld Information is in lieu of its
completion. Given that the AIR memorandum is complete and published
then the withheld information cannot be considered in the course of
completion i.e. it is not a work in progress and incomplete.
Furthermore, for the exemption to be applied then each of the
documents must be unfinished, and I do not believe this is the
case. Each document is complete in itself irrespective of being
revised in subsequent drafts.

In relation to (5)(a)(a) then I maintain that the information
cannot be consider pertinent to international relations. The
information which I am requesting is that between a local authority
and a lobbying organisation. The information is therefore about the
relationship between the GLA (a local authority) and a lobby
organisation rather than another body which is and/or represents
any single Government authority (i.e. AIR is not a Government
authority). Therefore, this cannot be considered 'international
relations' as the EIR should reasonably be interpreted.

In relation to 13(3) then the information cannot be considered
personal data as it relates to emissions, and it is not of a
personal nature. Where there is personal data then it may be
redacted.

Please reconsider your decision to withhold the information
requested. I look forward to your response. Please respond to me by
email using the www.whatdo theyknow.com website. A full history of
my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet
at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/re...

Yours faithfully,

Andrew Wood

-------------------------------------------------------------------
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[FOI #99482 email]

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GREATERLONDONAUTHORITY
EMAIL NOTICE:
The information in this email may contain confidential or privileged
materials. Please read the full email notice at
 [2]http://www.london.gov.uk/email-notice

References

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2. http://www.london.gov.uk/email-notice

Andrew Wood left an annotation ()

The refusal by the GLA to release the information requested has been referred to the Information Commissioner's Office, and on 29 August 2012, a case reference number was allocated to the complainant.

Andrew Wood left an annotation ()

Following the intervention of the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) then the following email was received from the Greater London Authority by me.

Date: 10/12/2012

From: Albert Chan, Information Governance Manager Greater London Authority

Subject: ICO case FER0461287

Dear Mr Wood,

The GLA has responded to the Information Commissioner's enquiries regarding your complaint about your request for correspondence and meeting notes relating to the Air Quality Initiative of the Regions (reference number in subject line).

As part of our response, the GLA has accepted that, on balance, some of the information can be disclosed to you. There are 6 large attachments, with the largest attachment being 12MB in size.

In order to facilitate this, please could you provide a suitable email address that we can send this information to, bearing in mind any size restrictions for incoming mail?

Alternatively, I can send the information to you on a CD-ROM in the post if you can give me your postal address.

Yours sincerely,

Albert Chan, Information Governance Manager Greater London Authority

Andrew Wood left an annotation ()

FINANCIAL PAYMENTS TO The Air-Quality Initiative of the Regions.

Please note that another request to the GLA was made regarding payments to the the Air-Quality Initiative of the Regions. Details and reply are here: to “Request for information re. GLA and The Air-Quality Initiative of the Regions. See link below or on this website.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/fi...

Andrew Wood left an annotation ()

FILES RELEASED BY THE GREATER LONDON AUTHORITY (GLA)

The files below were released by the GLA on 11 December 2012.

The following files are PDF files and you will need a PDF viewer to read them. They have been redacted (information crossed out) by the GLA to remove information including personal information e.g. names of people.

The largest file is 12 MBytes and it may take some time to download.

RELEASED FILES

Letter from GLA re. released files: http://goo.gl/SRuo3

File attachment 1 (6.8 MB) http://goo.gl/aV3CP
File attachment 2 (7.8 MB) http://goo.gl/Jpwyb
File attachment 3 (9.2 MB) http://goo.gl/O87kO
File attachment 4 (6.4 MB) http://goo.gl/1rpHt
File attachment 5 (4.6 MB) http://goo.gl/KvjMN
File attachment 6 (425.4 KB) http://goo.gl/4r8sP

Andrew Wood left an annotation ()

FURTHER INFORMATION

Article about GLA joining the EU air quality lobby group called Air-Quality Initiative of the Regions from EurActiv (DECEMBER 2011): http://goo.gl/DZ4iG

Website of Air-Quality Initiative of the Regions: http://en.vleva.eu/AIR-page

Clean Air London: www.cleanairlondon.org

Andrew Wood left an annotation ()

Correction ... the largest file is not 12 Mbytes!

Andrew Wood left an annotation ()

Correction ... the above URL for the Campaign for Clean Air in London is not correct.

Relevant pages from their website are:

December 18, 2012: Mayor releases 750 pages of details about his lobbying to weaken air pollution laws

http://cleanairinlondon.org/legal/mayor-...

December 9, 2012 : Mayor caught lobbying to weaken international air pollution laws

http://cleanairinlondon.org/legal/mayor-...