Flights taken by employees (FOI2519)

We received your request on 11 April 2025.

We have handled your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) 2000.

A copy of your request is set out in the extract below:

“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:

1. The airline
2. The class (e.g. economy, business, first)
3. The departure airport and destination
4. The cost
5. The dates of travel
6. The name of the hotels stayed at, if possible
7. The cost of any other expenses.

If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request.” 

I confirm that Ordnance Survey does hold some of the information you have requested.

However, we are unable to comply with your request without exceeding the appropriate cost limit under section 12(1) of the FOIA. Section 12(1) of the FOIA makes provision for public authorities to refuse requests for information where the cost of dealing with them would exceed the appropriate cost limit, which is set at £450.00. This represents the estimated cost of spending 18 hours in determining whether the requested information in held, locating, retrieving and extracting the information.

ADVICE AND ASSISTANCE

OS may be able to provide you with some of the information in scope of your request if you refine your request in order to bring it within the cost of compliance:

• I confirm that OS holds the information for the financial years 2022/23, 2023/2024 and 2024/2025, other than the airline, which is not held. OS would be able to provide this information within the cost limit.
• Where you have asked for the cost of other expenses (the final part of your request) we would have to take each flight, identify the individual who took the flight, then go into a different system to locate the expenses they claimed during the duration of the trip, line by line, and collate this information separately for all the flights taken in the three-year scope of your request. This information is therefore not readily available, and the time spent dealing with this part of your request to determine what information is held and then locating and extracting it would exceed the cost limit.

You may wish to refine your request by narrowing its scope and being more specific about what information you particularly wish to obtain, including any dates or period of time relevant to the information required. We will treat a refined request as a new request for information.

Other Information

Please note that Ordnance Survey is a limited company incorporated in England and Wales. Our shares are 100% owned by the Secretary of State for the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). We are a public corporation – a trading body controlled by central government that has substantial day to day operating independence. Further information can be found in our Governance section in our Annual Report (pages 56-61) and on our website here: OS Governance | Home | OS.