Chris Campbell via e-mail
[FOI #4357 email]
4 December 2008
Dear Mr Campbell,
Freedom of Information Request - RFI20081331 Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”) received on 25
November 2008 seeking the following information:
‘…a breakdown of how many BBC employees, and in which BBC division, in the last 20 years have been
Oxford or Cambridge graduates?’
The BBC has not previously monitored information relating to the educational background of our staff.
However, we have recently begun to collect this information for successful job applicants (employed on
permanent or fixed-term contracts). Over the past 2 years 7,401 individuals have successfully applied for a
job through BBC HR Direct Recruitment. Of this number, 364 indicated they had attended either Oxford
or Cambridge universities; this constitutes 5% of the total number of successful applicants. The
recruitment system does not enable us to report on the division as well as educational background,
therefore we are unable to provide this information broken down by division.
For staff who joined prior to 2007, this information would only be available from individuals’ application
forms held by BBC HR Direct Recruitment, which are kept for three years from the date of application and
then destroyed. It is likely, therefore, that the educational details for many staff currently employed would
no longer be held. In the case of individuals for whom the information you requested is still held, we
anticipate that it would take BBC staff more than two and a half days to retrieve the information from
individuals’ application forms. Under section 12 of the Act, we are allowed to refuse to handle the request
if it would exceed the appropriate limit. The appropriate limit has been set by the Regulations (SI
2004/3244) as being £450 (equivalent to two and a half days work, at an hourly rate of £25).
Your Appeal Rights:
If you are not satisfied with this response you have the right to an internal review by a BBC senior
manager. Please contact us at the above address, explaining what you would like us to review and including
your reference number: If you are not satisfied with the internal review, you can appeal to the Information
Commissioner. The contact details are: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF, telephone 01625 545 700 or see http://www.ico.gov.uk/
Yours sincerely
Mary Geoghegan
BBC People
