Student Deposits

Prof. I.T. Swide made this Freedom of Information request to Christ’s College, Cambridge

The request was successful.

From: Prof. I.T. Swide

18 February 2010

Dear Christ's College, Cambridge,

All students are required to give the College a deposit, for their
duration at Cambridge. Please can you tell me the current value of
the deposits you hold.

Also, please can you tell me the profit you made in the last
financial year on these deposits. This includes profit from
investments and interest. If these deposits were not handled as a
separate investment, an approximate estimate will be sufficient.

Yours faithfully,

Prof. I.T. Swide

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From: Mary Wicken

8 March 2010

Dear Professor Swide

Thank you for your email of 18 February 2010. Unfortunately the College
is not satisfied as to your identity and therefore does not propose to
make any substantive response.

Yours sincerely

Dr R K Hinkley

Bursar

Christ's College

Tel: 01223 334935

Fax: 01223 766711

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From: Prof. I.T. Swide

8 March 2010

Dear Dr Hinkley,

Thank-you for your email. I am slightly surprised by your response.
Most other colleges have already provided the information, so I
really don't understand your concerns.

You might be interested to read the guidance from the Ministry of
Justice - "As well as hard copy written correspondence, requests
that are transmitted electronically (for example, in emails) are
acceptable ... If a request is received by email and no postal
address is given, the email address should be treated as the return
address."

Also, the Information Commissioner says "Any correspondence could
include a request for information. If it is written (this includes
e-mail), legible, gives the name of the applicant, an address for
reply (which could be electronic), and includes a description of
the information required, then it will fall within the scope of the
legislation."

Please will you respond to my Freedom of Information request.

Yours sincerely,

Prof. I.T. Swide

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From: Mary Wicken

8 March 2010

Dear Prof.I.T.Swide,

Thank you for your e mail. I am advised, in the light of guidance from the
Information Commissioner, that 'where a public authority receives a request
from a person using an obvious pseudonym, there is no obligation to comply
with the request.' The guidance also states that I should advise the
applicant that the Act requires their real name to be provided, which I am
now doing. If you are able to confirm that 'Prof.I.T.Swide' is your real
name, I would be pleased to provide the information that has been requested,
to the best of my ability. Alternatively, if you are not able to do so, but
wish to provide additional reason why I should respond to your request, I
would be very pleased to consider it.

With kind regards

R K Hinkley

Dr R K Hinkley
Bursar
Christ's College
Tel: 01223 334935
Fax: 01223 766711

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From: Prof. I.T. Swide

8 March 2010

Dear Dr Hinkey,

Again, thank-you for your swift reply.

If you do believe a pseudonym is being used, the guidance I have
from the Information Commissioner is
"Where a public authority knows that a pseudonym has been used, as
a matter of good practice it should still consider the request, for
example where identity is not relevant and it is content to
disclose the information requested,"
(source:http://www.ico.gov.uk/upload/documents/l...)

If you do not wish to respond to the original request, please can
you say why you believe this is a pseudonym, and why it is so
important my identity is confirmed.

Yours sincerely,

Prof. I.T. Swide

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From: Mary Wicken

8 March 2010

Dear Prof.I.T.Swide,

Thank you for your swift response also.

I am aware of the Information Commissioner's guidance. It is a principle of
normal courtesy that someone requesting information of another should
provide their real name, and the Act clearly intends that also. Since the
point at issue is one of freedom of information, I would have thought that
you would also wish to operate in the spirit of openness. Perhaps you
disagree? 'Prof.I.T.Swide' looks an obvious pseudonym, a view reinforced by
your seeming reluctance to confirm that it is not.

With kind regards,

R K Hinkley

Dr R K Hinkley
Bursar
Christ's College
Tel: 01223 334935
Fax: 01223 766711

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From: Prof. I.T. Swide

8 March 2010

Dear Dr Hinkley,

Please can you confirm, is it the college's FOI policy to only
provide information to persons who have confirmed their identity?

I fully agree you are well within your rights to act as your see
best. All other colleges have freely provided the information, so I
will leave the decision with you.

Yours sincerely,

Prof. I.T. Swide

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From: Mary Wicken

10 March 2010

Dear Prof.I.T.Swide,

Thank you for your further e mail.

In that I do not normally receive requests for information from
correspondents using pseudonyms, I do not have a general policy, but would
expect to judge each request on its merits. I presume from your response
that:

· Prof.I.T.Swide is a pseudonym, and

· For reasons that you prefer not to convey to me, you are not willing
to provide me with a real name.

Please forgive me if my presumption is incorrect, but I trust you will
appreciate my disappointment at receiving a request in this manner.

Nevertheless, in the spirit of openness which the regulator encourages, I
would reply to your original questions as follows:

The current value of deposits held is £16656. We hold such deposits as
surety for possible damage and similar contingencies, not to create income
for the College. We do not invest the proceeds separately, but would hold
them as part of normal cash deposits. For this reason I am not able to give
you a precise answer to your second question. I estimate that the interest
earned in 2008-09, when the deposit was lower, was around £100. After
taking into account associated costs, any profit would have been negligible.

With kind regards

R K Hinkley

DR R K HINKLEY
Bursar
Christ's College
Tel: 01223 334935
Fax: 01223 766711

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