Dear Charles

Thank you for your request.

This will be considered under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and we
will respond as soon as we are able.  Please note, given the current
situation with the Coronavirus, this may be outside of the normal,
expected timeframe for a FOI response (20 working days).

Thank you for your patience,

With kind regards

Michelle Essiet

Information Access

London Fire Brigade

169 Union Street  London  SE1 0LL

T 0208555 1200

Hi Charles,

Thank you for your email regarding your freedom of information request for
Waltham Forest LTN/ETO impacts on response times.

I apologise for the delay in processing your request which is due to a
backlog which we are working hard to clear. 

I can confirm that the information you requested was provided to us on
30/03/21 and it is now being reviewed so that any third party personal
data can be redacted.  We are aiming to provide you the copies, within the
next 3 working days, the latest.

I apologise again for the delay in response.

Thank you for your continued patience.

With kind regards,

Lilian

Lilian Ogideh

Information Access

London Fire Brigade

169 Union Street  London  SE1 0LL

T 0208555 1200

M 07584150388

E [1][email address]

London Fire Brigade

For advice about how to stay safe from fire and other emergencies, please
go to [2]london-fire.gov.uk/Safety

The information in this email may contain confidential or privileged
materials. Please read the full email disclaimer notice at
[3]london-fire.gov.uk/EmailDisclaimer

The Brigade is committed to using personal data in a responsible and
transparent way. To find out more visit [4]london-fire.gov.uk/privacy

References

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For advice about how to stay safe from fire and other emergencies, please
go to [5]london-fire.gov.uk/Safety

The information in this email may contain confidential or privileged
materials. Please read the full email disclaimer notice at
[6]london-fire.gov.uk/EmailDisclaimer

The Brigade is committed to using personal data in a responsible and
transparent way. To find out more visit [7]london-fire.gov.uk/privacy

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  [1]Egress logo  
A file has been sent to you
securely using Egress

Click to [2]access the secure
file online.

This free service is provided by
London Fire Brigade and enables
you to communicate securely.

Regular user? [3]Download our
free desktop or mobile apps.

Having problems accessing the
file? [4]Click Here

 
Confidentiality Notice: This email and any files transmitted with it are
confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity
to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error
please notify the sender.
© Copyright 2007-2018 Egress Software Technologies Ltd.

London Fire Brigade

For advice about how to stay safe from fire and other emergencies, please
go to [5]london-fire.gov.uk/Safety

The information in this email may contain confidential or privileged
materials. Please read the full email disclaimer notice at
[6]london-fire.gov.uk/EmailDisclaimer

The Brigade is committed to using personal data in a responsible and
transparent way. To find out more visit [7]london-fire.gov.uk/privacy

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6. http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/EmailDiscl...
7. https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/privacy

Im on leave today back in the office on Thursday 20 August. Please note I
do not have access to my emails.

If you enquiry relates to Data Protection or Freedom of Information please
send an email to [email address]

London Fire Brigade

For advice about how to stay safe from fire and other emergencies, please
go to [1]london-fire.gov.uk/Safety

The information in this email may contain confidential or privileged
materials. Please read the full email disclaimer notice at
[2]london-fire.gov.uk/EmailDisclaimer

The Brigade is committed to using personal data in a responsible and
transparent way. To find out more visit [3]london-fire.gov.uk/privacy

References

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Hi Charles,

Permission granted.

With kind regards,

Lilian

Lilian Ogideh

Information Access

London Fire Brigade

169 Union Street  London  SE1 0LL

T 0208555 1200

M 07584150388

E [email address]

show quoted sections

Dear Charles,

I am sorry that our response did not meet your information needs.

As requested, this will passed to the Head of Information Management to
conduct an internal review into the handling of the request and our
response (ref FOIA 5663.1).

Whilst there is no official timeframe for conducting a review, good
practice from the ICO expects reviews to be completed within 20 working
days of receipt.

If you have any further questions during this time do let me know.

With kind regards,

Lilian

Lilian Ogideh

Information Access

London Fire Brigade

169 Union Street  London  SE1 0LL

T 0208555 1200

M 07584150388

E [1][email address]

London Fire Brigade

For advice about how to stay safe from fire and other emergencies, please
go to [2]london-fire.gov.uk/Safety

The information in this email may contain confidential or privileged
materials. Please read the full email disclaimer notice at
[3]london-fire.gov.uk/EmailDisclaimer

The Brigade is committed to using personal data in a responsible and
transparent way. To find out more visit [4]london-fire.gov.uk/privacy

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/safety
3. http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/EmailDiscl...
4. https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/privacy

OGIDEH, LILIAN would like to recall the message, "RE: Freedom of information - Ref- 5663.1".

London Fire Brigade
For advice about how to stay safe from fire and other emergencies, please go to london-fire.gov.uk/Safety <https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/safety>
The information in this email may contain confidential or privileged materials. Please read the full email disclaimer notice at london-fire.gov.uk/EmailDisclaimer <http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/EmailDiscl...>
The Brigade is committed to using personal data in a responsible and transparent way. To find out more visit london-fire.gov.uk/privacy <https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/privacy>

OGIDEH, LILIAN would like to recall the message, "RE: Freedom of information - Ref- 5663.1".

London Fire Brigade
For advice about how to stay safe from fire and other emergencies, please go to london-fire.gov.uk/Safety <https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/safety>
The information in this email may contain confidential or privileged materials. Please read the full email disclaimer notice at london-fire.gov.uk/EmailDisclaimer <http://www.london-fire.gov.uk/EmailDiscl...>
The Brigade is committed to using personal data in a responsible and transparent way. To find out more visit london-fire.gov.uk/privacy <https://www.london-fire.gov.uk/privacy>

Charles Edwards

Your request for an internal review, as set out in your email of the 10
April 2020, has been passed to me by Jo Fox.

I am the Brigade’s Head of Information Management (and Data Protection
Officer) and I am responsible for the management of requests under data
protection and freedom of information law. It is my role to undertake
reviews of the handling of requests when the requestor is not satisfied
with the Brigade’s initial response.

I would like to apologise for the delay in responding to your request. The
Brigade was and is currently taking longer to deal with requests, and
because of the Covid-19 pandemic and staff working from home, we have been
struggling to deal with all requests as quickly as we would like. We now
have a recovery plan, including extra resources in place, to help get back
to a normal service.

In your email requesting the review you make two points which I will
answer in turn.

1) “I know for a fact that at least one email have past between the LFB
and WFCouncil as I have a copy of one on my desk in front of me dated 25th
August 2020 from the Station Commander of F30 Leytonstone and F29 Leyton
to WFCouncil. I'll kindly ask again, please provide me with copies of
correspondence with Waltham Forest Council since March 2020 relating to
'low traffic neighbourhood' (LTN) or Emergency Traffic Orders (ETO)
schemes in the borough.”

In Ms Ogideh’s initial response she provided you with over 150 pages of
correspondence that we hold as part of the consultation process that was
undertaken between Waltham Forest Council and the Brigade on the planned
implementation of the low traffic neighbourhood scheme. To locate the
information we contacted the current LFB Station Commander for Waltham
Forest. As there have been staff changes over the last few months, we also
contacted the previous Station Commander (who had moved to another
position in the Brigade) to ensure we covered the whole of the period
covered by your initial request.

All the information the Brigade held has been shared with you in our
initial response. However, the previous Station Commander confirmed that
he no longer held any information in relation to the LTN consultation for
Waltham Forest, as he had deleted the correspondence. We do not dispute
that you may hold a copy of an LFB email that obtained from another
source. However, the Freedom of Information Act gives rights to access
information which is held by the public authorities and it appears, as
explained above, that we no longer hold this email. You may wish to ask
the London Borough of Waltham Forest for any correspondence with the
Brigade that they may hold.

2) “Please also provide copies of any co-respondence and requests,
specifically relating to potential impact on service response times. Also
any delays crews have experienced since March 2020 due to LTNs/ETOs.”

Turning to your second point on correspondence and requests around delays
due to LTNs, we did provide data about the Brigade’s response times and
this includes the data on the number of times that crews have recorded a
delay due to “traffic calming measures” when an appliance failed to meet
the attendance standard. To add some context to this data, the delays are
recorded under a generic heading of “traffic calming measures” it is not
possible to identify where LTNs are the specific cause. I have reviewed
the information disclosed as part of your request and contacted the
current and former Borough Commanders to ask them if they held any other
correspondence, and they have confirmed that they do not hold any further
information.

As you will appreciate, all sorts of issues external to the Brigade and
outside its control, will delay crews arriving at the incident scene. We
understand the national and local interest that the LTN schemes have
generated and are aware of reports.  Whilst there are accounts of these
delays, and we liaise regularly with local councils to resolve any issues,
we do not hold a detailed record of all delays other than the delays
caused by all types of ‘traffic calming measures’.

The data provided to you in our initial response show that we continue to
be well within our target for the attendance times. It also shows the
number of attendances that fell outside our attendance target and were
delayed due to ‘traffic calming’ and ‘traffic, roadworks, etc.’ It is
interesting to note that these delays in 2020 were generally lower than in
earlier years. This suggests that the introduction of the COVID traffic
measures overall has not had an unacceptable impact on our ability to
attend incidents within our target response times to date. Some delayed
attendances may have been impacted by road layout changes but in most
cases, we cannot say with certainty what might have caused a delay because
there are many varying factors. 

You may be interested to see an independent piece of research based on LFB
data provided in response to another FOIA request last year – “The Impact
of Introducing a Low Traffic Neighbourhood on Fire Service Emergency
Response Times, in Waltham Forest London” – which available on the web
[1]here. The findings of this research were: “There is sometimes concern
that low traffic neighbourhoods slow emergency vehicles. We test this
using London Fire Brigade data (2012-2020) in Waltham Forest, where from
2015 low traffic neighbourhoods have been implemented. We find no evidence
that response times were affected inside low traffic neighbourhoods, and
some evidence that they improved slightly on boundary roads. However,
while the proportion of delays was unchanged, the reasons given for delays
initially showed some shift from ‘no specific delay cause identified’ to
‘traffic calming measures’. Our findings indicate that low traffic
neighbourhoods do not adversely affect emergency response times, although
while LTNs are novel this perception may exist among some crews.”

This concludes my review of your request FOIA 5663.2

We have dealt with your original request under the Freedom of Information
Act 2000.  For more information about this process please see the guidance
we publish about making a request on our website.

Further information about your information rights (including how to raise
a concern or make a complaint) is available from the Information
Commissioner’s Office on their website at www.ico.org.uk or by writing to
them at Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire.

David Wyatt

Data Protection Officer

and Head of Information Management

London Fire Brigade

169 Union Street, London SE1 0LL

T: 020 8555 1200 x30352

M: 07775 826 404

E: [2][email address]

[3]london-fire.gov.uk

[4][IMG][5][IMG][6][IMG]

show quoted sections

Charles Edwards

Many thanks for your further email of 11 May 2021. You asked two further
questions:

1)  Which organisation was advising on the wording for LFB to use on pages
88/89 of the document bundle supplied

In answer to your specific question, the suggested wording appears to be
from LB Waltham Forest. Our need to redact emails does sometimes make it
difficult to determine the sender and recipient, so I attach pages 88/89
with amended redactions.  The email exchange on page 88 was between
Nicholas Newman (LFB Borough Commander for Waltham Forest) and Ian Smith
(Station Commander for Leytonstone and Leyton fire stations).  The
exchange on page 89 was an email from Stephen Jones (a project officer at
LB Waltham Forest) to Ian Smith and Nicholas Newman at LFB.

2)  LFB records retention policy (0879)

As requested, I attach a copy of policy 0879 "Records Management Strategy
5: Records Retention guidance".  I can confirm that the deletion of email,
as outlined in my last email to you, was not in accordance with the
Brigade's records management strategy/policy. As I also have
responsibility for records management in the Brigade, I have already this
matter with senior officers in the department concerned and written to the
head of department. My team will be working with the department to ensure
that Brigade records management policies are properly applied. 

I hope you find this additional information helpful. 

Lilian Ogideh

Information Access

London Fire Brigade

169 Union Street  London  SE1 0LL

T 020 8555 1200

M 07584150388

E [1][email address]

[2]london-fire.gov.uk

[3][IMG][4][IMG][5][IMG]

show quoted sections