Request
Details of all the records that have been subject to a decision to extend the closure period for each of the following years; 2023; 2022; and 2021. This should be provided in a spreadsheet format and include the following data:
- The catalogue reference for each record
- The catalogue title / description for each record
- The original scheduled opening date
- The revised opening date
- The lawful basis for imposing an extended closure period
- The origin of the request to extend the closure period
- Details of whether the extended closure period was authorised by the ACNRA
Outcome
Request refused
Response
We have determined that we will not be able to answer your request because to do so would exceed the cost limit provision under section 12 of the Act. Section 12(1) of the Act makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate limit, which for The National Archives (as a central government department) is set at £600. This equates to 24 hours staff time for determining whether the department holds the information and then locating, retrieving and extracting the information.
We estimate that it will take us in excess of this to identify the appropriate information, and locate, retrieve and extract it in response to your request. This is because the scope of your request is extremely broad, covering over thirty thousand records. The large volume of information requested is further broadened by the long date range specified in your request, a period of 3 years. The information is not held on a central, searchable database. To retrieve the information you have specified in accordance with your definitions, would require extensive manual collation to identify, locate, retrieve and extract information relevant to your request. This is not possible within the cost limit and, therefore, we will not be processing your request any further.
Under section 16 of the FOI Act, a public authority is obliged to offer advice and assistance concerning how a request refused under this exemption might be further refined, in order for it to be resolvable within the cost limit, or to otherwise formally state that it is not possible to provide such advice due to the nature of the request if that request cannot reasonably be further refined.
In this instance due to the nature of the request we are unable to provide you with advice and assistance as the request cannot reasonably be further refined. This is because it would not be possible to complete your request even by refining the date parameters to a single year, due to how the data is captured and stored, as explained above.
Exemptions applied
Section 12: Exemption where cost of compliance exceeds appropriate limit
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 an appropriate limit, which for central government departments like The National Archives, is set at £600. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending just over three working days determining whether the department holds the information, as well as locating, retrieving and extracting the information.
We estimate that it will take us in excess of this time to identify the appropriate information, and locate, retrieve and extract it as the scope of your request is so wide-ranging. Therefore, your request will not be processed further.
You may wish to consider refining your request, however please note that we are unable to guarantee that any refined requests would fall within the cost limit.
Further guidance on the application of this exemption can be found at: https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1199/costs_of_compliance_exceeds_appropriate_limit.pdf