Flights taken by Gambling Commission staff

Request

This is an information request relating to flights taken by staff in your organisation.

Please include the following information for the following financial years 2022/23,2023/24 and 2024/25:

• A list of all flights taken by employees and board members, including the following details:
• The airline
• The class (e.g. economy, business, first)
• The departure airport and destination
• The cost
• The dates of travel
• The name of the hotels stayed at, if possible
• The cost of any other expenses

Response

Thank you for your request which has been processed under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

In your email you have requested the following information for financial years 2022/23, 2023/24 and 2024/25:

• A list of all flights taken by employees and board members, including the following details:
• The airline
• The class (e.g. economy, business, first)
• The departure airport and destination
• The cost
• The dates of travel
• The name of the hotels stayed at, if possible
• The cost of any other expenses

I can confirm that information falling within the scope of your request is held by the Gambling Commission. However, this information is stored in three separate areas; including the Commissions internal travel portal, our expenses recording platform, and company Credit Card statements.

Over the three years of data requested, on the travel portal alone, we would need to analyse between 5,000 - 10,000 transactions to determine and extract flight information.

Section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for public authorities, such as the Commission, is set at £450. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the department holds the information, locating, retrieving and extracting the information. We estimate, in order to identify, locate and retrieve the information relating to the above request, it would take in excess of 18 hours to determine appropriate material and locate, retrieve and extract any relevant information in reference to your request.

When a public authority applies the Section 12 exemption to a request, the FOIA guidance specifically states that a public authority should avoid providing any information found as a result of a search as it denies the requestor the right to express a preference as to which parts of the request they may wish to receive within the appropriate time limit. Guidance on the application of section 12 can be viewed here:

Requests where the cost of compliance exceeds the appropriate limit (opens in a new tab)

If you are able to refine your request, we may be able to narrow the number of records that we need to search.

Review of the decision

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your Freedom of Information request you are entitled to an internal review of our decision. You should write to FOI Team, Gambling Commission, 4th floor, Victoria Square House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B2 4BP or by reply to this email. 

Please note, internal review requests should be made within 40 working days of the initial response. Requests made outside this timeframe will not be processed.

If you are not content with the outcome of our review, you may then apply directly to the Information Commissioner (ICO) for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have already exhausted the review procedure provided by the Gambling Commission. 

It should be noted that if you wish to raise a complaint with the ICO about the Commission’s handling of your request for information, then you are required to do so within six weeks of receiving your final response or last substantive contact with us.

The ICO can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office (opens in a new tab), Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF.

Information Management Team
Gambling Commission