Freedom of Information Internal Review Decision
Internal Reviewer Simon Pickard
Information and Compliance Manager
Reference
IR2008027
Date:
25 August 2008
Original Request: 1. Has Mark Thompson, Director-General of the BBC ever attended a
Common Purpose training course? If so, please list the courses they have
attended, their dates, their cost and details of who paid for them.
2.Is Mark Thompson, Director-General of the BBC a Common Purpose
“graduate”?
Issues on review: The BBC responded confirming that Mark Thompson, Director-General of
the BBC has not attended a Common Purpose training course during his
employment at the BBC, nor has he become a ‘Common Purpose
graduate’.
The requester believes that the BBC’s reply does not answer the
questions and believes that as Mr Thompson’s employment has not been
continuous at the BBC he may have undertaken Common Purpose
training whilst employed elsewhere. The requester continues that as Mr
Thompson is a public servant and has spent the greater part of his
working life at the BBC (being paid for by the BBC Licence fee
payer….and that it is ‘perfectly reasonable’ for the licence fee payer to
know details of the level of qualifications held by employees of the BBC.
Findings
Under section I ( I ) of the Freedom of Information Act,
( I ) Any person making a request for information to a public authority is entitled –
(a) to be informed in writing by the public authority whether it holds information of the
description specified in the request, and
(b) if that is the case, to have the information communicated to them.
The BBC’s response to the original request was dated 15 July 2008, and explicitly stated;
The Director-General’s Office searched through relevant information and determined that
there was no recorded information about whether Mr Thompson attended a training course
with Common Purpose, and that had he done so there would be a record of such an
attendance occurring. They also undertook a search of Mr Thompson’s work diary and
determined that he spoke at a Common Purpose anniversary event. This information was
volunteered to the requester although it was not covered by the remit of the original request.
The BBC applied the FOI Act and advised that Mark Thompson hadn’t attended any
Common Purpose training, or had become a ‘Common Purpose graduate’ while he was
employed at the BBC, as the Act only applies to information that the BBC holds. To confirm
further aspects of Mark Thompson’s life outside the BBC encroaches further on his personal
information under the Data Protection Act 1998. Mr Thompson’s attendance or otherwise of
Common Purpose training would not have had any bearing on his appointment as Director-
General of the BBC, nor on his ongoing capability in this role.
As the BBC has no record of Mark Thompson having undertaken Common Purpose training
whilst employed at the BBC, the BBC would need to verbally confirm with Mr Thompson
whether he had taken part in Common Purpose training whilst not employed at the BBC. This
is clearly not a requirement of the BBC under the remit of the Freedom of Information Act
2000.
The BBC has decided not to volunteer the additional information as this could set a
precedent where they would have to ask individuals similar questions in the future to answer
requests where the BBC didn’t actually hold the information.
Decision
I uphold the BBC’s original findings and believe that the BBC’s response was written in good
faith and a fair interpretation at the time of the original request.
Appeal Rights
If you are not satisfied with this 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
www.ico.gov.uk.
