-----Original Message----- From: Buggey Simon (TPH) Sent: 04 June 2014 09:58 To: 'request-209107-882cae8a@whatdotheyknow.com' Subject: RE: Freedom of Information request - Positive Action / London Suburban Taxis - Jackson FOI - 0169-1415 Dear Mr Jackson Thank you for your latest email. In our earlier reply we provided you with two datasets: One was for newly licensed drivers in each of the past two years, broken down by sector and ethnicity; the other was the current breakdown of all licensed drivers. If this remains unclear please let me know. I am afraid that we cannot provide similar data for new drivers licensed in the years prior to 2012/13, however we did monitor the change in the ethnic breakdown of the total population of licensed drivers, new drivers and new applicants as a whole in the preceding years. If you require this information please let me know. Regards Simon Buggey Driver and Operator Policy Manager London Taxi and Private Hire Transport for London 4th Floor - Yellow Zone Palestra 197 Blackfriars Road London SE1 8NJ 020 3054 2927 (Auto 82927) 07590 600281 [http://source.tfl/images/yotb_master_logosvcopy_280x100.jpg] Visit www.tfl.gov.uk/yearofthebus<http://www.tfl.gov.uk/yearofthebus> for information about Year of the Bus.
From: C Jackson [mailto:request-209107-882cae8a@whatdotheyknow.com] Sent: 02 June 2014 00:19 To: FOI Subject: Re: Freedom of Information request - Positive Action / London Suburban Taxis Dear FOI, Thank you for your reply. However the information provided falls well short of that requested, and I request that you reconsider your reply. I would urge you to take into account the following points. 1. This is a very serious issue, and one which could see TfL bogged down in dealing with thousands of no-win-no-fee solicitors for years to come. And with average claims exceeding 100k given the future impact over their expected working lifetimes, if comprehensive action is not taken to remedy the situation. 2. Contray to your assertion, TfL does not have the right to carry out 'positive-action' willy-nilly just as it pleases. There are legal restrictions, and legal safeguards to prevent precisely the sort of devastating 'positive-action'-gone-wrong outcomes that we see in parts of the London Taxi suburbs. Postive-action is illegal were there's no under-representation, and where there is, the action must be proportionate. It also needs to consider the impact on others. 3. 'Postive action' applied to licenced drivers is something that requires particular sensitivity, and careful monitoriting. Because unlike most other workers, licenced taxi drivers do not have any labour market mobility. Their qualifications (knowledge) tie them to specific
geographical locations. And hence oversupply problems can easily arise where any 'positive action' is disproportionate. 4. Your reply states that "We did not collate this information prior to 2012/13" suggesting that you may not have been monitoring the impact of your 'positive ation'. That would be grossly negligent, and is something that needs to be clarified. 5. Your reply also states that you did not target any specific licenced areas. That was not the concern there. Quite the contrary, the concern was that it was too indiscriminate, and that it affected licenced areas without any under-repsentation, and failed to incorporate measures to prevent the sort of 'positive action'-gone wrong outcomes that we see in many suburban sectors where there have been huge and comparatively sudden influxes of 'BAMEs', and with them - massive oversupply problems. And this into licenced areas which didn't have any underresentation. 6. I belive that the requested information is held on your databases, and could be extracted with a few lines of code from an IT technician. It will look like a cover-up if the information is withheld. On a more specific point, the year or period to which the first dataset relates seems to be absent. Finally, for clarification, the issue is not with the racial composition of drivers - it is with the oversupply consequences of 'positive action', and with the illegality of the 'positive action'. The racial composition statistics are just a means of demonstrating that illegality. There are thousands of suburban taxi drivers in desperate financial circumstances, who know that your 'positive action' failed to comply with the law, and who are looking for information and answers. They deserve a better response. And I hope you can proved one. Yours sincerely, C Jackson
-----Original Message----- Dear C. Jackson Our ref: 0169-1415 Thank you for your email received by us on 30 April asking for information about the ethnic breakdown of taxi drivers by sector. 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. Please find attached a breakdown of the ethnicity of new licensees per sector for the past two years. We did not collate this information prior to 2012/13. Also attached is a breakdown of the ethnicity of currently licensed taxi drivers by licence area. Please note that those drivers licensed for more than one sector or area will be counted more than once. We do not hold this information on an historic basis.
In 2005 the Mayor launched a campaign to ensure that the London s taxi trade was more representative of London s diverse communities. At that time one in 20 existing taxi drivers was from Black, Asian and other ethnic minorities, compared to nearly a third of London s population, however no targets were set. The Mayor s strategy to improve the diversity of licensed taxi drivers was not specific to any licence areas. Furthermore the programme of assisting and supporting females and members of ethnic minorities while they learnt the Knowledge of London was delivered by the London Development Agency, not TfL. 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. If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal. Yours sincerely Graham Hurt FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team Transport for London Windsor House, 42-50 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0TL [1][TfL request email] ------------------------------------------------------------------- Please use this email address for all replies to this request: request-209107-882cae8a@whatdotheyknow.com<mailto:request-209107-882cae8a@whatdotheyknow.com> Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/help/officers If you find this service useful as an FOI officer, please ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's FOI page. ------------------------------------------------------------------- << File: sb - active licensed drivers per sector with ethnicity.pdf >> << File: New suburban taxi drivers ethnicity.pdf >>