PMI2

Dear University of Salford,

The Prime Minister's Initiative for International Education (PMI2)
has funded 235 Higher Education international partnerships. I would
like to know the following:

1. How many projects at the University of Salford have received
PMI2 funding?

2. How much funding has the University of Salford received from
PMI2?

3. Please also provide summary information on all expenditure to
date related to PMI2, incurred and funded by the University. This
should include staff salaries, funding of events, travel expenses
(including flights, hotels, subsistence etc), all other
administration and publicity expenses, and all other expenditure on
any activities or initiatives in any way related to the PMI2
project(s).

Yours faithfully,

Li Na

Dear University of Salford,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of University of
Salford's handling of my FOI request 'PMI2'. I am dissatisfied by
your response.

You have refused this request as vexatious under section 14(1) of
the Act. However, you have provided no basis for your assertion
that the request is vexatious.

The five following points from the ICO's guide to vexatious or
repeated requests
http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...
should be used by authorities in determining if a request is to be
treated as vexatious under 14(1).

- Could the request fairly be seen as obsessive?
- Is the request harassing the authority or causing distress to
staff?
- Would complying with the request impose a significant burden?
- Is the request designed to cause disruption or annoyance?
- Does the request lack any serious purpose or value?

To judge a request vexatious, you should usually be able to make
relatively strong arguments under more than one of these headings.
You have made no arguments at all under any of them.

The fact that disclosure of certain information would be
embarrassing or distressing cannot make a request vexatious.

This request is clear and has a serious purpose and value, and it
is neither obsessive nor designed to cause annoyance. Nor would not
impose a significant burden. I cannot see how it can be deemed
harassing or causing distress. Indeed, it appears that you have
done very little apart from issuing identical blanket refusal
notices to a disparate range of valid FoI requests. (Incidentally,
in his guidance the Commissioner reminds authorities that each
request must be considered by the public authority on a case by
case basis.)

I agree with the view expressed elsewhere on the whatdotheyknow.com
site that it is the University of Salford's apparent contempt for
the Freedom of Information Act that is vexatious (particularly its
frequent breaches of s1, s10, s14, s16, s17, s19 & s20).

Finally, I believe that your identical blanket refusals are likely
to annoy ordinary people and convince them that the University, who
are after all funded through our taxes and students' fees, are
hiding something. If you could simply answer the questions put to
you, it would surely provide the public with some confidence in
your university.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/pmi2

Yours faithfully,

Li Na