Expenses of the Vice-Chancellor’s office

Dear Mr Richardson

I write in response to your e-mail of 14 April (reproduced below) in which you request details of the expenditure by the Vice-Chancellor’s office for the year ending 31st July 2008 and 31st July 2007. You wish to know: date of expenditure, amount of expenditure, description of expenditure and the University of Leeds expenditure code.

I can confirm that the University holds information that falls within the description specified in your request. In response to your request I attach 2 pdfs detailing the total expenditure for the Vice-Chancellor’s Office (which comprises The Vice-Chancellor, The Deputy Vice-Chancellor and support staff) under each of the University's cost elements (i.e. expenditure codes) as recorded in the University electronic financial system.

I appreciate that this may not provide you with the level of detail you were expecting. The reason why we cannot readily extract all the requested information is because meaningful descriptions of individual items of expenditure can only be extracted manually. In order to supply you with the information precisely as you have requested the University has estimated that it will cost more than the limit (of £450) specified in regulations for universities. This represents the estimated cost of one person spending 18 hours in determining whether the University holds the information, and locating, retrieving and extracting the information. Consequently, the University is not obliged by the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to respond to your request (see section 12(1)). However, we are still happy to do so if you pay the fee as set out in this notice. The estimated cost of processing your request is £1,000. This charge has been calculated in accordance with section 13 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Freedom of Information Fees Regulations.

If you wish the University to complete your request you should pay the estimated fee requested within 3 calendar months (by 14th August). If the University does not receive payment of the fee by this date, I shall take it that you do not wish to pursue this request and will consider the request closed.

In response to another (narrower) request we are currently retrieving information about expenses incurred by the Vice-Chancellor. This information is more readily extracted. If you wish to receive a copy of this information when it is released to the other requestor please let me know as I would be happy to forward it to you. The information will be redacted as appropriate and we anticipate it will be available towards the end of this month.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to Mr D Wardle, The University Complaints Officer, The University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the review/complaints procedure provided by the University. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner's Office Wycliffe House Water Lane, Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely

Janet R Jurica
Senior Assistant Registrar
Secretariat: Legal Affairs
The University of Leeds
Leeds LS2 9JT

tel +44(0)113 343 3625
fax +44(0)113 343 3925

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