In which government, NGO or Private companies do universities receive funding’ for research

Response to this request is long overdue. By law, under all circumstances, Birmingham City University should have responded by now (details). You can complain by requesting an internal review.

Dear Birmingham City University,

I am writing you for a Request of information, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) on the following topics: “In which government, NGO or Private companies do universities receive funding’ for research?”, a research based on information of public interest, for journalism purposes.
Can you provide information to the following questions?

1) What is the total amount that the university received in funds for research, industrial consultancy fees and/or funded researches from government, NGO or private companies in the last five financial years (from 2013 till 2017)? The information should be broken down by organization or company name, year per year (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), in a CSV format, if possible.
2) A portfolio statement for the funds the university has investments in. If you do not have a copy of it, can you provide a list of funds and corresponding management companies? Details should be broken down year by year, for the last financial years (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), provided in a CSV format, if possible.
3) Can you provide details of research projects (such as executive summary and details of reports’ publication, university department and researchers’ names) of projects whose funds exceed £50,000, in the same period of time (2013-2017)?

Yours faithfully,

Santino Pani

Dear FOI Reviewer Team, Birmingham City University,

My name is Santino Pani. I am a journalist, and I am conducting a research about funds that universities receive from GOV, NGO, and/or private companies. This research is going to be published in a few months in a newspaper, therefore it is of public interest.

I made a request for information, under the FOIA 2000, to your university on the 30th of January, and your university had to respond within 20 working days, and not later than the 27 of February.

Till today I didn’t receive any information from you, not even a notice of acknowledge that you received the request, and now you are more than 12 days overdue in responding it, and you are not complying with the law obligations.

I am asking therefore to process your internal review, before I take a further step asking the Information Commissioner to start an investigation on your university.
I resume the questions I asked you, and at this stage I don’t accept any excuse or refusal, as your complete silence shows a complete negligence and lack of transparency, and your action (or to better say, un-action) is unacceptable.

Please answer to the following questions:

1) What is the total amount that the university received in funds for research, industrial consultancy fees and/or funded researches from government, NGO or private companies in the last five financial years (from 2013 till 2017)? The information should be broken down by organization or company name, year per year (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), in a xlsx spreadsheet format, or equivalent.

2) A portfolio statement for the funds the university has investments in. If you do not have a copy of it, can you provide a list of funds and corresponding management companies? Details should be broken down year by year, for the last financial years (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), provided in a xlsx spreadsheet format, or equivalent.
3) Can you provide details of research projects (such as executive summary and details of reports’ publication, university department and researchers’ names) of projects whose funds exceed £50,000, in the same period of time (2013-2017)?

Now by law you have to respond to this request within 20 days, and not later than the 11th of April.
After this date I will ask a formal request to the Information Commissioner.

Best regards,

Santino Pani

Freedom of Information Act, Birmingham City University

Dear Santino

 

RE: INFORMATION REQUEST DATED 30 JANUARY 2018

REF: FOI734

 

Thank you for your request for information about funding. Your request was
received on 30 January 2018 and we are dealing with it under the terms of
the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

 

Please accept our apologies for the delay in responding to you which has
been due to staff capacity issues. If we are unable to respond to the
request or if the University does not hold the information or if there is
a reason for it to be withheld we will write to you with the reasons why.

 

If you have any queries or concerns about the process, please do not
hesitate to contact us. Otherwise we will write to you as soon as a full
response is available.

 

 

Information Management Team

Birmingham City University

15 Bartholomew Row

Birmingham

B5 5JU

 

T: 0121 300 5288

E: [1][Birmingham City University request email]

 

 

References

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1. mailto:[Birmingham City University request email]

Dear Information Management Team,

I understand that you could had had problems with your personnel, but I made this request on the 30th of January, and by law you had to respond in 20 working days, and at not later than the 27th of February. I just received today a response of acknowledgement and apology from you, after almost three and half months (more than 50 days after my request)
This shows me not that you could have problems of staff, but merely that your university has a lack of communication, negligence, care, and you are not complying with law. I would had accepted if you had sent a letter of apology within a month, but now you are two and half month overdue. This is completely unacceptable.

You also claims that “if we are unable to provide, or we don’t hold such information, we would give you a notice.. “.

I just need to underline that by law, on art 37 of the FOIA 2000, you should provide a COGENT EVIDENCE on how you conducted this research, which would eventually lead you to a refusal.
For your reference, I am attaching here the text of art 37:

37.
It is useful if a public authority explains how it has calculated. It’s estimate by explaining:
• Its search strategy, for example:
- whether it has carried out any searches for the requested information;
- whether it has based its estimate on a random or representative sampling exercise;
- Which departments or members of staff have been contacted;
- the search terms used when querying electronic records;
• Why it needs to search the files/records it has referred to;
• How the information is stored, for example, whether the information is held in paper or electronic files;
• How many files, boxes, documents, records or emails need to be reviewed and
• How long it would take to determine whether the requested information is held or to locate, retrieve and extract it.
For example, it is useful to detail the size of the relevant files; the average length of time it would take to review each file and the number of staff required.

Therefore I don’t accept your apology at all, and my second letter was directed to your FOI Review team, and I expect your FOI REVIEW TEAM responded to it. They still are overdue on responding, so now I will just write to the Information Commissioner.

Best regards,

Santino Pani