Telephone and ltph

The authority would like to / has responded by postal mail to this request.

Dear Transport for London,

How many people in the ltph department are exclusively used for answering calls to this number 0343 222 4444 and to this number 0343 222 5555

Has the number of people employed to answer calls increased or decreased since the 0845 number (now 0343)was introduced or has no one been employed to answer phones.

If ringing these numbers where are you actually put through to? is it a call centre or is it the ltph department.

What was the premium you collected from the 0845 numbers? and the overall sum you collected from the use of these numbers also what company did you use

What is the average wait time for calls to be answered? and the average time "on hold"

What is the average time for call to be dealt with once answered?

Yours faithfully,

robert barber

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Mr Barber

 

TfL Ref: FOI-2047-1314

 

Thank you for your email which we received on 27 January 2014 asking for
information about telephone numbers.

 

Your request will be processed in accordance with the requirements of the
Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. 

 

A response will be provided to you by 24 February 2014.

 

In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Officer

 

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

 

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FOI, Transport for London

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Barber

 

TfL Ref: FOI-2047-1314

 

Thank you for your email which we received on 27 January 2014 asking for
information about telephone numbers and our call response times.

 

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can
confirm we hold some of  the information you require. You asked for:

 

How many people in the LTPH department are exclusively used for answering
calls to this number 0343 222 4444 and to this number 0343 222 5555

 

We currently have 24 members of staff in our Customer Support team, which
primarily handle customer calls. At busy periods we also use staff from
other teams where possible to help cover calls which includes covering
lunchtimes.

 

Has the number of people employed to answer calls  increased or decreased
since the 0845 number (now 0343) was introduced or has no one been
employed to answer phones.

 

The headcount of the team since the introduction of the new 0343 number
has not been altered.

 

If ringing these numbers where are you actually put through to? is it a
call centre or is it the LTPH department.

 

When you ring either 0845 602 7000 or 0343 222 4444 you are connected to
the same team at London Taxi and Private Hire.

 

When you ring 0343 222 5555 you are connected to our vehicle licensing
contact centre. This separate team is based at our service providers
premises in Oldham as the vehicle licensing service is outsourced They
currently employ 17 members of staff to answer calls.

 

What was the premium you collected from the 0845 numbers? and the overall
sum you collected from the use of these numbers also what company did you
use

 

Please note calls to our 0845 602 7000 vary in cost depending on your
network, but  Taxi and Private Hire (TPH) did not collect any premiums
from this 0845 number. The company we used was British Telecom.

 

What is the average wait time for calls to be answered? and the average
time "on hold"

 

Please see the table below;

 

2012-2013 2013-2014
06/01-02/02/13 03/02-02/03/13 03/03-31/03/13 01/04-27/04/13 28/04-25/05/13 26/05-22/06/13 23/06-20/07/13 21/07-17/08/13 18/08-14/09/13 15/09-12/10/13 13/10-09/11/13 10/11-07/12/13 08/12-04/01/14 05/01-01/02/14
Avg. Call
Answered
(minutes:seconds) 2 2.19 1.55 1.12 1.26 1.39 1.27 1.27 1.19 5.26 16.37 14.09 13.02 16.19

 

Our average call answering time has fluctuated in recent months. Prior to
September 2013 the average speed of answer (ASA) was 1 minute 47 seconds
which is well within our service level agreement (SLA) of 100% calls to
be answered in an average of 2 minutes.

 

Unfortunately, since September 2013 we have seen a significant increase in
calls to the contact centre for a number of reasons and this has affected
our ability to meet the service level agreement. Currently our average
speed of answer is over 16 minutes.

 

One of the primary reasons for the increase in calls and an increase in
our average handling time is due to the changes in the Disclosure and
Barring Service (DBS) (which was formed by the merging of the Criminal
Records Bureau (CRB) and Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA)) where
disclosures are now sent to applicants only. This has led to a change in
our processes where we have to wait for the disclosure to be submitted to
us by the applicant before we are able to ensure the applicant is ‘fit and
proper’ to become or remain a licensed taxi or private hire driver. This
affected a significant number of drivers at the time as the DBS often had
to make enquiries with the police about an applicant and this often caused
delays, generating high volumes of calls to our contact centre.

 

Coupled with the changes to the DBS, towards the end of last year we
introduced a new end to end IT system to replace the disparate legacy and
heavily paper based systems that had been in place for many years. While
this new system is still settling into steady state and staff become used
to dealing with the new system in a live environment it is impacting our
ability to close calls down quickly. Towards the end of the year we also
received an increase in applications. All of these factors have led to a
backlog of applications which generates more calls to our contact centre
as applicants call to track the progress of their application.

 

We have a range of measures planned to address these issues including the
recruitment of more staff to process applications and the planned
introduction of a new self-service channel where applicants will have the
ability to apply and renew on-line and track the progress of their
application but we recognise it will take time for these measures to have
an impact and return our service to acceptable levels.

 

What is the average time for call to be dealt with once answered?

 

Between January and September 2013, prior to the increase in call volumes
for the reasons stated above, our average handling time was 5 minutes and
7 seconds. In January 2014 this has increased to 8 minutes and 47 seconds.

 

We acknowledge that the current service being provided is not acceptable.
However, as highlighted above we are working on a range of measures to
improve the overall service and hope to have it back to acceptable levels
in the near future.

 

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable
to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to
appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would
like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Officer

 

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,
Thank you for your reply. I would just like some clarification on a couple of points.

With regard to these questions and answers,

"Has the number of people employed to answer calls increased or decreased
since the 0845 number (now 0343) was introduced or has no one been
employed to answer phones.

The headcount of the team since the introduction of the new 0343 number
has not been altered"

The 0343 number has only recently changed my question was since the 0845 number was introduced please clarify as this has not answered my question.

"Please note calls to our 0845 602 7000 vary in cost depending on your
network, but Taxi and Private Hire (TPH) did not collect any premiums
from this 0845 number. The company we used was British Telecom"

Again for clarification You say tph did not collect any money, did anyone connected with this number (tfl outsourced companies etc) collect any premium. I believe that the caller pays 3.9p plus a set up fee per minute using BT.

"service level agreement (SLA) of 100% calls to
be answered in an average of 2 minutes"

What are the agreed penalties for failing the service level?

"We have a range of measures planned to address these issues including the
recruitment of more staff to process applications and the planned
introduction of a new self-service channel where applicants will have the
ability to apply and renew on-line and track the progress of their
application but we recognise it will take time for these measures to have
an impact and return our service to acceptable levels"

As you have stated it was 6 months ago that the problems started. Have any of these range of measures particularly recruitment of staff been implemented yet or are they still in planning stage?

Finally what is the name of your service provider in Oldham?

Yours sincerely,

robert barber

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Mr Barber

 

TfL Ref: FOI-2258-1314

 

Thank you for your email which we received on 18 February 2014 asking for
further information about TPH telephone numbers.

 

Your request will be processed in accordance with the requirements of the
Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. 

 

A response will be provided to you by 19 March 2014.

 

In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Officer

 

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

 

 

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FOI, Transport for London

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Barber

 

TfL Ref: FOI-2258-1314

 

Thank you for your email which we received on 18 February 2014 asking for
further information about TPH telephone numbers.

 

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.  I can
confirm we hold some of the information you require. You asked for:

 

The 0343 number has only recently changed my question was since the 0845
number was introduced please clarify as this has not answered my question.

 

The 0845 number was introduced with effect from 14 June 2004. There has
been a number of organisational changes since that time with different
strategies being implemented to answer calls depending on the demands.
Therefore the number of people taking calls has fluctuated depending on
the demand.

 

Again for clarification You say TPH did not collect any money, did anyone
connected with this number (tfl outsourced companies etc) collect any
premium. I believe that the caller pays 3.9p plus a set up fee per minute
using BT.

 

We have not been able to locate this information. However, rebates on 0845
stopped around the end 2009 and beginning of 2010. This is at the time BT
and TalkTalk started offering free calls to 0845 numbers. The cost of
calls to this number is set by the network provider and TfL have no
control over these charges.

 

Details of the cost of calls to each of our numbers is available on our
website:
[1]http://beta.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/terms-a...

 

What are the agreed penalties for failing the service level?

 

In accordance with the FOI Act, we are not obliged to supply this
information as it is subject to a statutory exemption to the right of
access to information under section 43.

 

Service Levels are in place relating to the telephony service providing by
our Service Provider, NSL when answering vehicle related calls. However,
disclosure of Service Level Agreement (SLA) penalties would prejudice our
commercial interests by adversely impacting on TfL’s bargaining position
during contractual negotiations with potential bidders/suppliers.

 

In this instance the exemption has been applied as disclosure of such
information could be used by competitors to gain a competitive advantage
during negotiations of future contracts, which could result in a less
effective use of public funds. It could also result in
companies/individuals being less willing to provide TfL with commercially
sensitive information in future. This would undermine our ability to
fulfil our role of delivering value for money services.

 

There are no penalties in place for the telephony services linked to
driver and operator licensing as this is an in-house service. However,
there are clear service level agreements in place and these have been
exceeded in recent years until the issues that have arisen in the past few
months which we are working hard to resolve to continue providing a
suitable service to taxi and private hire drivers and operators.

 

The use of this exemption is subject to an assessment of the public
interest in relation to the disclosure of the information concerned.  TfL
recognises the need for openness and transparency by public authorities,
but in this instance release of this information would undermine our
ability to fulfil our role of delivering the best value for public money
with regards to the services provided, outweighs the general public
interest in increasing transparency of TfL’s processes.

 

As you have stated it was 6 months ago that the problems started. Have any
of these range of measures particularly recruitment of staff been
implemented yet or are they still in planning stage?

 

A number of new staff joined TPH in mid-March and are quickly getting up
to speed on processing of applications which, in turn, will reduce
telephone calls. In addition, there are further temporary staff starting
in the next few days who will join the Customer Support team responsible
for answering phone calls. Training will take place over the remainder of
this week and we expect to start utilising this additional resource to
answer phones from end of March.

           

Finally what is the name of your service provider in Oldham?

 

Our sole service provider for vehicle licensing is NSL Ltd.

 

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable
to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to
appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would
like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Officer

 

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

Thank you for your reply

Just a couple of points again for clarification

"We have not been able to locate this information. However, rebates on 0845
stopped around the end 2009 and beginning of 2010. This is at the time BT
and TalkTalk started offering free calls to 0845 numbers. The cost of
calls to this number is set by the network provider and TfL have no
control over these charges"

Why have you not been able to locate this information would it not be in your audited accounts?

As you are not forthcoming with the question about agreed penalties, can I ask then if any penalties have
been introduced.

"A number of new staff joined TPH"

How many? how many temporary staff? Why has it taken 6 months and counting for these measures to be introduced
How many of the new staff will be directly answering phones

Thank you

Yours sincerely,

robert barber

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Mr Barber

 

TfL Ref: FOI-2531-1314

 

Thank you for your email which we received on 21 March 2014 asking for
further information about TPH phone calls.

 

Your request will be processed in accordance with the requirements of the
Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. 

 

A response will be provided to you by 22 April 2014.

 

In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Officer

 

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

 

show quoted sections

FOI, Transport for London

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Barber

 

TfL Ref: FOI-2531-1314

 

Thank you for your email which we received on 21 March 2014 asking for
further information about TPH phone calls.

 

Your request is being considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act and our information access policy.  I
can confirm we hold some of the information you require.

 

However, in accordance with Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act
this letter is a refusal notice as we are still considering the balance of
the public interest in relation to a qualified exemption that applies to
some of the information you have requested, and have not yet reached a
conclusion. The exemption under consideration is Section 43 (Commercial
Interests). It is estimated that a decision will be reached by 21 May 2014
and I will write again to inform you of that decision.

 

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to
appeal.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Officer

 

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

Why have you not supplied the relevant information I asked for that does not come under this "exemption" in the allotted time?

Please also explain which one of the 3 sub sections under section 43 are you basing this exemption on?

Yours sincerely,

robert barber

FOI, Transport for London

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Barber

 

TfL Ref: FOI-2531-1314

 

Thank you for your email which we received on 21 March 2014 asking for
further information about TPH phone calls.

 

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.  I can
confirm we hold some of the information you require.

 

Firstly, in response to your questions;

 

Why have you not supplied the relevant information I asked for that does
not come under this "exemption" in the allotted time?

 

We felt it was better to provide you with a full answer rather than
partial. 

 

Please also explain which one of the 3 sub sections under section 43 are
you basing this exemption on?

 

We were considering the balance of the public interest in relation to a
Section 43(2) exemption that applied to question 2. This is because detail
relating to the SLAs is potentially commercially sensitive.

 

You asked for:

 

Why have you not been able to locate this information would it not be in
your audited accounts?

 

We have checked with a number of business areas within TfL but
unfortunately this information was not held by them. Therefore, we have
not been able to locate this information.

 

As you are not forthcoming with the question about agreed penalties, can I
ask then if any penalties have been introduced.

 

We have not introduced any additional penalties for the telephony service
provided by our Service Provider, NSL when answering vehicle related
calls. There are no penalties in place for the telephony services linked
to driver and operator licensing as this is an in-house service.

 

How many? how many temporary staff? Why has it taken 6 months and counting
for these measures to be introduced How many of the new staff will be
directly answering phones

 

Approval has been given to recruit a further 20 staff to work within the
licensing team to help remove the backlog of applications and improve the
performance of the contact centre. Currently 10 of these resources are
allocated to work within the TPH contact centre to improve the delivery of
our telephone services. The remaining 10 staff have joined the
applications processing team to help reduce backlogs which, in turn, will
reduce the volumes of calls received. The placement of these resources
within the individual areas of the licensing team will be regularly
reviewed.

 

A number of factors need to be considered when recruiting additional staff
such as office space, IT equipment etc. When we identified the need to
recruit additional resources we immediately took steps to address all of
these factors so that everything was in place by the day the new staff
started.

 

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable
to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to
appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would
like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Officer

 

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,
Thank you for your reply I'm sorry to go on but some of the answers are a bit ambiguous.

"We have checked with a number of business areas within TfL but
unfortunately this information was not held by them. Therefore, we have
not been able to locate this information."

I asked for the check to be made in your accounts dept has this been done? what business areas? As it would come under the profit & loss ledger why is it not in your accounts. You have already stated that the 0845 number started in 2004 and the rebate ended in 2010 that is 6 years worth of data where the rebate would have been collecting profit.

"We have not introduced any additional penalties for the telephony service
provided by our Service Provider, NSL when answering vehicle related
calls."

This infers, with the use of the word additional, that you have issued penalties in regards to my question?.

I look forward to your reply, so we can close this particular request

Yours sincerely,

robert barber

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Mr Barber

 

Request for internal review

 

Thank you for your email which we logged as a request for internal review.

 

You have stated that you are dissatisfied with our response to your
request for information under the Freedom of Information Act.

 

The review will be conducted by an internal review panel in accordance
with our Internal Review Procedure, which is available via the following
URL:

 

[1]http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/f...

 

Every effort will be made to provide you with a response by 29 May 2014.
However, if the review will not be completed by this date, we will contact
you and notify you of the revised response date as soon as possible.

 

In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Officer

E-mail: [2][TfL request email]

 

 

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

I was wondering when you are going to reply? you state that you would provide a response by 29th May.

And in relation to one of my points is it correct that you made over £65000 on call charges for period 2012/13

Yours sincerely,

robert barber

FOI, Transport for London

Ref: IRV 013-1415

 

Date 01 July 2014

 

 

Dear  Mr Barber

 

Subject: Outcome of internal review

 

The internal review of our response to your request for information about
telephony services has been completed. The review was carried out by an
independent Review Panel (‘the Panel’) consisting of individuals who were
not involved in the handling of your request. I apologise for the delay in
providing this response.

 

You raised concerns about two aspects of our response to your request of
21 March 2014 (FOI-2531-1314), which was the third in a series of requests
about telephony which began on 26 January 2014 (FOI-2047-1314) with a
further request on 18 February 2014 (FOI-2258-1314).

 

The first concern raised was about the checks that were carried out to
determine if information was held about anyone connected with the
operation of the 0845 number collecting a premium. We had previously
advised you in response to FOI-2047-1314 that:

“Taxi and Private Hire (TPH) did not collect any premiums from this 0845
number.”

 

In response to FOI-2258-1314 we told you that we were unable to locate
information about whether any of our suppliers collected a premium from
the use of the 0845 number, but that rebates on 0845 numbers ended around
2009/10.

 

You asked whether checks had been made in the accounts department. I can
confirm that checks were made with individuals in the following business
areas:

 

o Taxi and Private Hire
o Contact Centre Operations
o Marketing and Communications
o Procurement
o Accounts Payable
o Telephony
o Financial Services Centre
o Information Management
o Supplier Relationship Management

 

Despite these checks we were not able to locate recorded information that
would answer your question. The panel does not believe that it is likely
that payments received by a supplier directly from BT or another telecoms
provider would necessarily be recorded in our own accounts.

 

The panel also considered whether further efforts to determine whether the
information was held, and if so retrieve it, would have been likely to
exceed the appropriate limit of £450 defined by The Freedom of Information
and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulation 2004 SI 2004
No 3244. The panel considers that given the time already spent determining
what information is held in relation to your three requests, (and
subsequently locating, retrieving and extracting that information), it is
likely that further efforts to locate the requested information would be
likely to exceed the appropriate limit. However, the panel considers that
the checks made were reasonable and proportionate and that on the balance
of probabilities the information is not held.

 

You also queried our answer to your question about penalties. Our answer
stated:

"We have not introduced any additional penalties for the telephony service
provided by our Service Provider, NSL when answering vehicle related 
calls."

 

You made the following observation:

“This infers, with the use of the word additional, that you have issued
penalties in regards to my question?”

 

The question that you asked in FOI-2531-1314 was:

“As you are not forthcoming with the question about agreed penalties, can
I ask then if any penalties have been introduced.”

 

Your question asks about the introduction of penalties, which would either
mean the introduction of an entirely new penalty or the modification of an
existing penalty. This is the basis on which your question was answered.
Your question did nor refer to the issuing of penalties and no such
inference should be drawn from our response.

 

I hope this information is of assistance. If you are dissatisfied with the
outcome of this internal review, you can refer the matter to the
independent authority responsible for enforcing the Freedom of Information
Act at the following address.

 

Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire SK9 5AF

 

A complaint form is available on the ICO’s website ([1]www.ico.gov.uk).

 

Finally, on 17 June 2014 you asked “...in relation to one of my points is
it correct that you made over £65000 on call charges for period 2012/13.”

 

This question has not been considered as part of the internal review as it
is a new request for information. This will be answered separately, but
before we can answer that question we need to know which part of TfL you
are referring to. Can you please confirm either the telephone number or
the TfL function that you are referring to and we will investigate and
report back to you.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Simon Guild

Information Access Manager

[2][TfL request email]

 

 

 

 

show quoted sections

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.gov.uk/
2. mailto:[TfL request email]
3. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/

Dear FOI,

Thank you for your reply I am referring to:

Total amount of revenue received by TfL through the use of the 0345/0843
number for the last fiscal or billing year.

Total expenditure by TfL for the last fiscal or billing year to operate
the contact center telephone system (To include maintenance costs, line
costs, hardware costs etc but NOT human agent staffing costs)

As per table below -

Telephony charges for 2012/13
£

BT Global Services Annual Support 197,613
BT Eckoh charges 389,868
AIC Call Distribution 30,500
IP Telephony Support (Information Management
Support) 243,500
Telephony Rent Calls 69,853

931,334

Telecoms World Credit for 2012/13 £

Rebate for 0843 222 1234 -65,622

-65,622

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Please tell me if these figures are incorrect? where were these figures found? when you state in one of your replies

" However, rebates on 0845
stopped around the end 2009 and beginning of 2010"

This appears to contradict the rebate figures above.

Yours sincerely,

robert barber

Dear FOI,

I was wondering why you have not sent an acknowledgement to my reply dated 2nd July?

I enclose the last correspondence apologies if you have already received it.

Dear FOI,

Thank you for your reply I am referring to:

Total amount of revenue received by TfL through the use of the
0345/0843
number for the last fiscal or billing year.

Total expenditure by TfL for the last fiscal or billing year to
operate
the contact center telephone system (To include maintenance costs,
line
costs, hardware costs etc but NOT human agent staffing costs)

As per table below -

Telephony charges for 2012/13
£

BT Global Services Annual Support 197,613
BT Eckoh charges 389,868
AIC Call Distribution 30,500
IP Telephony Support (Information Management
Support) 243,500
Telephony Rent Calls 69,853

931,334

Telecoms World Credit for 2012/13 £

Rebate for 0843 222 1234 -65,622

-65,622

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Please tell me if these figures are incorrect? where were these
figures found? when you state in one of your replies

" However, rebates on 0845
stopped around the end 2009 and beginning of 2010"

This appears to contradict the rebate figures above.

Yours sincerely,

robert barber

Yours sincerely,

robert barber

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Mr Barber

 

Thank you for your email which we received on 2 July 2014.  Your email
will be processed in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of
Information Act and our information access policy.

 

Firstly, please accept my apologies for the delay in responding.

 

I would like to point out that the response to your internal review, dated
1 July 2014, was the final response in relation to your FOI request
(FOI-0531-1415) which is now closed. If you are dissatisfied with the 
outcome of the internal review, you can refer the matter to the
Information Commissioner as stated in the response.

 

Further to your email of 2 July, it has been logged as a new request.
Unfortunately, it is unclear what information you require. You say you
refer to: “Total amount of revenue received by TfL through the use of the
0345/0843 number for the last fiscal or billing year”. Can you please
clarify which numbers you are referring to? You then say: “Total
expenditure by TfL for the last fiscal or billing year to  operate  the
contact centre telephone system (To include maintenance costs,  line 
costs, hardware costs etc but NOT human agent staffing costs)”. Again it
is not clear which area of TfL you are referring to.

 

The figures you have quoted in your email are not considered to be a
request for information under the FOI Act. The FOI Act gives the right to
access recorded information which we hold. We do not know where these
figures originate from.

 

Regarding the rebate figure of £65,622, does it relate to your previous
query about the £65,000 being made on call charges for period 2012/13?
Again, we are unclear where this figure comes from. Also, I would refer
you to the response to your internal review, where Simon Guild asked you
which part of TfL you were referring to. Can you please confirm either the
telephone number or the TfL function?

 

Finally, the link you have included does not appear to be relevant to any
of your requests.

 

To enable us to assist with your request, please provide a more detailed
description of the information you’re seeking together with any other
details you think might help us locate the information you require.

 

Please note that the 20 working day deadline for responding to your
request will depend on when we receive satisfactory additional
information to help clarify your request.  

 

If we hear nothing further from you by 31 July 2014 your response will be
treated as a new request.

 

In the meantime, if you have any queries or would like to discuss your
request, please do not hesitate to contact me.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Officer

 

 

 

 

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Dear FOI,
Thank you for you reply

The reason for the inclusion of the link https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Was as an example of how you can find the information for one tfl number but can’t find the information when it comes to t&ph.

You say t&ph did not receive any rebates from the premium numbers and rebates for all premium numbers finished 2009/10, yet in the linked example for year 2012/13 there is a rebate for £65622.

So again I ask the question if rebates stopped in 2009/10 why do you have a rebate dated from 2012/13.

Also as my first request dated back in January, your reply in March stated that average holding time was 16mins, can you tell me what it is currently with all your new implementations.

Yours sincerely,

robert barber

Dear FOI,
Again there appears to be a breakdown in communication. I again await a reply please can you tell me the problem as I don't want to be discourteous.

Here it is again just in case you have not received it.

16 July 2014

Dear FOI,
Thank you for you reply

The reason for the inclusion of the link
https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Was as an example of how you can find the information for one tfl
number but can’t find the information when it comes to t&ph.

You say t&ph did not receive any rebates from the premium numbers
and rebates for all premium numbers finished 2009/10, yet in the
linked example for year 2012/13 there is a rebate for £65622.

So again I ask the question if rebates stopped in 2009/10 why do
you have a rebate dated from 2012/13.

Also as my first request dated back in January, your reply in March
stated that average holding time was 16mins, can you tell me what
it is currently with all your new implementations.

Yours sincerely,

robert barber

Yours sincerely,

robert barber

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Mr Barber

 

We have received your clarification email. A response to your request will
be provided by 31 July 2014.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Officer

 

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FOI, Transport for London

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Barber

Thank you for your clarification which we received on 16 July 2014.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of
the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.  I can
confirm we do hold the information you require. You asked for:

The reason for the inclusion of the link
[1]https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

 

Was as an example of how you can find the information for one tfl number
but can’t find the information when it comes to t&ph.

 

This has been addressed in your internal review. If you are dissatisfied
with the  outcome of the internal review, you can refer the matter to the
Information Commissioner as stated in our previous response.

 

You say t&ph did not receive any rebates from the premium numbers and
rebates for all premium numbers finished 2009/10, yet in the linked
example for year 2012/13 there is a rebate for £65622.  So again I ask the
question if rebates stopped in 2009/10 why do you have a rebate dated from
2012/13.

 

While we may receive a rebate on any of the 0845 numbers that we have, we
do not receive a rebate on the 0843 line. This line is nearing the end of
its life.

We expect the 0843 number will be completely disconnected in the next six
months. This is dependant on the call volumes dropping significantly.
Currently a message is playing on the line advising there is a new number
to call.

Also as my first request dated back in January, your reply in March stated
that  average holding time was 16mins, can you tell me what it is
currently with all your new implementations.

 

We have continued to see ongoing improvements in our average speed of
answer since your last request. For week commencing 14 July 2014 it was 1
minute and 45 seconds which is comparable with performance earlier in
2013.

 

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable
to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to
appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would
like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Eva Hextall

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

 

show quoted sections

Dear FOI,

Thank you for your reply

You state that my example given has been addressed In the internal review. The internal review dated 1st July did not address this question as you logged it as a new request on 2nd July

You then go on to state that "While we may receive a rebate on any of the 0845 numbers that we have"
Yet in previous correspondence you say that rebates finished in 2009/10.

This appears to be a contradiction. And this question has not been answered definitively (by using the word "may" in a foi request.)

Can you also supply me with all internal email and any correspondence not published on "what do they know" website with regards to the enquiry "telephone and ltph"

Yours sincerely,

robert barber

Dear FOI,

Again we have the problem of you not acknowledging my request. Can you tell me the problem regarding this issue.

Yours sincerely,

robert barber

FOI, Transport for London

Dear Mr Barber
 
TfL Ref: FOI-0738-1415
 
Thank you for your email which we received on 29 July 2014 asking for all
internal emails and correspondence, not published on "what do they know"
website, regarding your FOI requests about Taxi and Private Hire’s phone
number.
 
Your request will be processed as a “meta request” in accordance with the
requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access
policy, which is the term used for an FOI request about the handling of a
previous request.  Please note a response to your meta request might
encompass elements of your personal data. Therefore, if you would prefer
to receive our response directly, rather than posted publicly on the
internet, please provide me with your email address. Our contact details
can be found on our website at
[1]http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transpar.... I should also clarify
that information that constitutes the personal data of the person making
an FOI request is exempt from disclosure under section 40(1) of the FOI
Act, so it is possible that such data might be redacted if it were
considered inappropriate to make it available to the general public.
 
Regarding the remainder of our email, it is clear you are not happy with
some elements of our previous responses, and in particular apparent
contradiction that you refer to and the use of “may” in the response.
Before we log your email as a new request for internal review,  I would
recommend you wait for a response to your meta request, as this may
provide some clarification. If you are still not happy with the response,
you can then submit a new internal review request. However, if you would
prefer not to wait, we can proceed with the internal review now, though I
would note that it is quite possible that you might receive an answer to
your meta request before the internal review is completed.
 
A response to your new request will be provided to you by 28 August 2014.
 
In the meantime, if you would like to discuss this matter further, please
do not hesitate to contact me.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Eva Hextall
FOI Case Officer
 
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
 
 

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