FOI Spending review [Jan 2026]

Please could you provide a copy of the Mayor of London's spending review submission for the spending review 2025 (11 June 2025).

If you have this in the form of a pdf document, please provide it in this form. Alternatively, could you provide it in the form of a word document. If neither is possible, please provide it in whatever format you hold it in.

Response

I can confirm that the GLA holds information within the scope of your request (The Mayor of London’s submission to the government’s 2025 Spending Review).

A copy is attached.

Please note that some of the content is exempt from disclosure under the exemption for Commercial Interests at section 43(2) of the FOIA.

The redactions appear on pages 5, 6, 7, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27

Section 43(2) provides that information can be withheld from release if its release would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person. A commercial interest relates to a person’s ability to participate competitively in a commercial activity. In this instance, the GLA is withholding some of the information because the details redacted are commercially sensitive and release would prejudice the commercial interests of Transport for London (TfL) in future negotiations.

The GLA is satisfied that in this instance disclosure of this information would be likely to, prejudice or harm the commercial interests of TfL.

Section 43(2) constitutes a qualified exemption from our duty to disclose information under the FOIA and consideration has to be given as to whether the public interest favouring disclosure of the information covered by this exemption outweighs the public interest considerations favouring maintaining the exemption and withholding the information. In this instance the GLA recognises the legitimate public interest in the transparency regarding the public money.

In balancing the public interest in disclosure, we consider the greater good or benefit to the community if the information is released or not. The ‘right to know’ must be balanced against the need to enable effective government and serve the best interests of the public.

Although in many cases disclosure promotes competition, there is undoubtedly a public interest in allowing public authorities and their partners to withhold information which, if disclosed, would negatively affect their ability to negotiate or to compete in a commercial environment.

In this case, it is felt that the public interest would not be met by revealing information which would be likely to be detrimental to TfL’s negotiations and in turn detrimental to the savings can be made to the public purse when delivering projects.