Inquiry into the History of Eugenics at UCL - committee documents

The request was partially successful.

Dear University College London,

I hereby submit a request under Freedom of Information.

UCL Department:
“Inquiry into the History of Eugenics at UCL,” informally called the “Eugenics Inquiry” and the “Commission of Inquiry”
The Inquiry is associated with UCL Office of the Provost and President.
The Inquiry is being serviced by UCL Library Services via its Director of Operations

Date that Information refers to:
2018 to 2020 inclusive. The first committee meeting was in Autumn 2018.
I believe a “final report” was submitted to the Provost in Feb 2020.

Class of Information in Publication Scheme:
I do not know.

Details of Information required:
Committee records
1. Original terms of reference, and all amendments to those terms
2. All external communications, such as press releases. URLs will be sufficient for digital-only communications
3. Agendas from all Inquiry meetings, committee meetings and meetings to receive testimony, with any appended papers submitted for the group’s consideration
4. Minutes from all Inquiry meetings, committee meetings and meetings to receive testimony, with any appended papers submitted as a record of those meetings
5. All testimony submitted to the Inquiry as evidence (I do not request copies of materials submitted that was published externally, e.g., no published journal articles or books.)
6. All minutes serving as a formal record for all Town Hall meetings

Records of proposed recommendations
7. Reports submitted to the committee by research fellows not otherwise included above
8. Reports received as accounts by departments or individuals of their teaching and learning related to eugenics, and any syllabi appended in support of those reports
9. Reports submitted to the committee regarding financial instruments associated with donations by Francis Galton. I seek those financial records only up to 1990

Culmination of the committee’s work
10. All materials submitted to university executives as being an interim or final product of this committee’s work. Please include any minority or dissenting reports formally submitted as a record of disagreement.

month-to-month operations of this committee
I request a summary record of spending, clearly showing:
11. overall spending on travel and accommodation
12. overall incidental spending
13. total honoraria provided to members of the committee for their participation
14. overall spending on salaries for research staff associated with the Inquiry’s work
15. -catering expenses for committee meetings and events
16. expenses associated with social events for committee members, such as team-building exercises, parties, etc.
17. expenses to accommodate access needs, such as BSL interpreters, audio assistance for the blind, etc
18. expenses on external communications, if specifically contracted or purchased for this committee’s work
19. payments to external consultants
20. payments for engagement activities, such as special purpose videos, podcasts, exhibitions, or work-with-the public events branded as part of the Inquiry’s work

Name and Contact Address of enquirer:
Mr Joe Cain
[Address withheld as this is a public document. I will support to UCL on request.]

Date Request made: 19 February 2020

Finance.FOI Requests, University College London

If you have submitted a Freedom of Information request please accept this
email as acknowledgement that your request has been received. You should
expect a response from us within 20 working days. 
For details on how we use your personal information, please see UCL's
general privacy
notice: [1]www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/privacy/general-privacy-notice
Data Protection & FOI
Legal Services
UCL

References

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1. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/pri...

Dear University College London,
Can you please provide me with a timeline for the delivery of this long-delayed request?
Many thanks.

Yours faithfully,

Joe Cain

Finance.FOI Requests, University College London

If you have submitted a Freedom of Information request please accept this
email as acknowledgement that your request has been received. You should
expect a response from us within 20 working days. 

“You will appreciate that all information requests place some degree of
demand on a public authority’s resources in terms of costs and staff time
and that UCL may need to prioritise resources to other areas, or adapt its
usual approach to information compliance work, in order to meet the
unprecedented challenges we are all facing during the Coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic.

 

Therefore, we need to advise you may experience delays in receiving
responses to information rights requests during the Coronavirus (COVID-19)
pandemic.”

 

For details on how we use your personal information, please see UCL's
general privacy
notice: [1]www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/privacy/general-privacy-notice
Data Protection & FOI
Legal Services
UCL

References

Visible links
1. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/pri...

Potts, Alexandra, University College London

Dear Professor Cain,

We very much apologise for the delay in responding to your request, which has in part been due to the pressures on staff time during the coronavirus pandemic. We are working on it and hope to release the information to you soon, although unfortunately we are unable to give you an expected date of release at this time.

Best wishes

Alexandra

Alexandra Potts
Data Protection and Freedom of Information Officer
Legal Services UCL

Office phone: 020 3108 7676 (internal ext 57676)
[mobile number]
[email address]

Office hours: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday & Friday

show quoted sections

Dear University College London,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of University College London's handling of my FOI request 'Inquiry into the History of Eugenics at UCL - committee documents'.

This request was submitted in February 2020 and I've had no reply since July 2020. Whilst the pandemic can account for some of this delay - let us be generous - surely it cannot be the sole cause.

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

Yours faithfully,

Joe Cain

Finance.FOI Requests, University College London

If you have submitted a Freedom of Information request please accept this
email as acknowledgement that your request has been received. You should
expect a response from us within 20 working days. 

“You will appreciate that all information requests place some degree of
demand on a public authority’s resources in terms of costs and staff time
and that UCL may need to prioritise resources to other areas, or adapt its
usual approach to information compliance work, in order to meet the
unprecedented challenges we are all facing during the Coronavirus
(COVID-19) pandemic.

 

Therefore, we need to advise you may experience delays in receiving
responses to information rights requests during the Coronavirus (COVID-19)
pandemic.”

 

For details on how we use your personal information, please see UCL's
general privacy
notice: [1]www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/privacy/general-privacy-notice
Data Protection & FOI
Legal Services
UCL

References

Visible links
1. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/legal-services/pri...

Ryland, Fiona, University College London

2 Attachments

Dear Mr Cain

 

Please find attached the response to your request.

 

Best wishes,

 

Fiona Ryland

Chief Operating Officer - UCL

Tel: +44 (0)20 3108 8897

UCL internal: x 58897

 

Executive Assistant: Louise Moore, [1][email address]

Diary Manager: Maria Lewis, [2][email address]

 

 

[3]Support badge

 

 

 

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[email address]

Joe Cain left an annotation ()

In February 2021, I filed a complaint with ICO about the excessive delay in action. I received a reply from ICO with a case number on 25 February 2021 in which they told me:
"I have contacted UCL and asked it to respond to your request within 10 working days. If it fails to do this, a decision notice will be issued requiring it to respond to your request."

Finance.FOI Requests, University College London

Dear Professor Cain

Thank you for your request of 19 February 2020. I apologise for the delay
in responding to your request.

The text of your request is set out below and our response follows the
same numbering as in your request. You will shortly receive a link to the
documents via drop box.

We will send you our response to your second request early next week.

Your Request

You asked for information relating to the Inquiry into the History of
Eugenics at UCL from the period of 2018 to 2020 inclusive. You
specifically asked for:

Committee records
1. Original terms of reference, and all amendments to those terms

2. All external communications, such as press releases. URLs will be
sufficient for digital-only communications

3. Agendas from all Inquiry meetings, committee meetings and meetings to
receive testimony, with any appended papers submitted for the group's
consideration

4. Minutes from all Inquiry meetings, committee meetings and meetings to
receive testimony, with any appended papers submitted as a record of those
meetings

5. All testimony submitted to the Inquiry as evidence (I do not request
copies of materials submitted that was published externally, e.g., no
published journal articles or books.)

6. All minutes serving as a formal record for all Town Hall meetings

Records of proposed recommendations
7. Reports submitted to the committee by research fellows not otherwise
included above

8. Reports received as accounts by departments or individuals of their
teaching and learning related to eugenics, and any syllabi appended in
support of those reports

9. Reports submitted to the committee regarding financial instruments
associated with donations by Francis Galton. I seek those financial
records only up to 1990

Culmination of the committee's work
10. All materials submitted to university executives as being an interim
or final product of this committee's work. Please include any minority or
dissenting reports formally submitted as a record of disagreement.

month-to-month operations of this committee I request a summary record of
spending, clearly showing:
11. overall spending on travel and accommodation

12. overall incidental spending

13. total honoraria provided to members of the committee for their
participation

14. overall spending on salaries for research staff associated with the
Inquiry's work

15. -catering expenses for committee meetings and events

16. expenses associated with social events for committee members, such as
team-building exercises, parties, etc.
17. expenses to accommodate access needs, such as BSL interpreters, audio
assistance for the blind, etc

18. expenses on external communications, if specifically contracted or
purchased for this committee's work

19. payments to external consultants

20. payments for engagement activities, such as special purpose videos,
podcasts, exhibitions, or work-with-the public events branded as part of
the Inquiry's work"

We confirm we hold some of the information you requested, and our response
is set out below using the same numbering as in your request.

You will see that some information has been redacted because this is
personal data of third parties. We considered whether the release of the
information would breach any of the principles of the GDPR, in particular
whether disclosure of this information to the public would be fair or if
it has a legal basis.  Where we took the view that there was likely to be
a breach, we made contact with the relevant third parties to ask if they
were content for their personal data to be disclosed where release might
otherwise be in breach of data protection law. Where no consent was given,
or no response received, the information has been withheld.

Where personal data has been redacted, it has been withheld under Section
40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act by virtue of Section 40(3)(a)(i).
Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act allows a public authority
to withhold information where (i) the requested information is personal
data relating to someone other than the requester and (ii) its disclosure
would breach any of the Data Protection Principles.

This is an absolute exemption and there is no need to conduct a public
interest test.

You will also see that some information, in relation to the value of the
Galton funds, has been redacted because it is information UCL plans to
make available online in the near future. Section 22 of the Freedom of
Information Act exempts us from providing you with this information on the
basis that UCL has firm plans in place for publication of this
information. Section 22 is a qualified exemption under the Freedom of
Information Act and so a public interest test is required, which is set
out below.

Public interest test

Factors in favour of disclosure

o UCL is committed to transparency and it is recognised that there is an
inherent public interest in understanding how UCL acquires and use
their funds

Factors against disclosure

o The information being requested is due for publication in the near
future. Diverting attention to supplying the information for an FOI
request would disrupt the process of intended publication.
o UCL believes that in order to meet its obligations of transparency,
that it should focus on publishing full and complete information on
this subject matter. Providing the information requested now, and
additional information at a later date would lead to less complete
information being released into the public domain initially,  and it
would not be released in a manner which would be fully accessible to
the public in the way it would be when published on UCL's website.

Outcome of the public interest test

On account of more complete information on this subject being planned for
publication within the near future, it is considered that the public
interest arguments against disclosure outweigh those for disclosure in
this instance.

UCL RESPONSE

1. Please see the document "1. Terms of reference".

2. This information is reasonably accessible through other means. Section
21 of the Freedom of Information Act exempts us from providing you with
information on the basis that this is publicly available elsewhere.
However, we have provided links below to assist you in locating the
information via other means.

[1]https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/feb/ucl-...
https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2018/dec/inqu...

 

3. Please see the document "3. Agendas, minutes and papers".

4 and 5. Please see the document "4. and 5. Submissions to the inquiry"
and the following links:

[2]http://thomashoskynsleonardblog.blogspot...

[3]http://thomashoskynsleonardblog.blogspot...

[4]https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...

[5]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRFqdXcN...

Please note that since submitting his submission Professor Weiss has since
changed his opinion and the submission no longer accurately reflect his
view of the situation, owing to the overall findings of the Eugenics
Inquiry.

6. This information is reasonably accessible through other means. Section
21 of the Freedom of Information Act exempts us from providing you with
this information on the basis that this is publicly available elsewhere.
However we have provided links below to assist you in locating the
information via other means.

[6]https://www.ucl.ac.uk/provost/reports/fu...

7. please see the document "7. Research projects".

8. Please see the document "8. UCL modules".

9. Please see the document "9. Financial Information".

10.  This information is reasonably accessible through other means.
Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act exempts us from providing you
with this information on the basis that this is publicly available
elsewhere. However we have provided links below to assist you in locating
the information via other means.

[7]https://www.ucl.ac.uk/provost/reports/re...

11. - 12. and 14. - 20. Please see the document "11.-12 and 14. - 20.
Inquiry Costs".

Please note that information in relation to the costs of social/dinners of
the Commission members is not held.

13. The Chair of the Inquiry was paid a fee of £10,000 for her role as
Chair.

Kind regards

 

Rosie Lucas

Data Protection and Freedom of Information Adviser

University College London

Legal Services

FOI: [8][UCL request email]

 

 

References

Visible links
1. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2020/feb/ucl-...
2. https://protect-eu.mimecast.com/s/OpUDCk...
3. https://protect-eu.mimecast.com/s/sFEZCl...
4. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL...
5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRFqdXcN...
6. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/provost/reports/fu...
7. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/provost/reports/re...
8. mailto:[UCL request email]

UCL Dropbox, University College London

Rose Lucas ([email address]) has dropped off one or more files for you:

1. 1. Terms of Reference.PDF:

2. 3. Agendas, minutes and papers.PDF:

3. 4. and 5. Submissions to the inquiry.PDF:

4. 7. Research Projects.PDF:

5. 8. UCL Modules.PDF:

You will need the claim passcode '353951f1'
to retrieve the file(s).

It is up to you to scan the downloaded file(s) for viruses. Most anti-virus
applications will do this automatically, but you should check.

The file(s) will be available for 10 days.

*** Details for retrieval: ***

pick-up URL: https://wwwapps-live.ucl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/d...
claim id: 431a92e7
file basename: 1. Terms of Reference.PDF
file length: 89554
file content_type: application/pdf
description:

pick-up URL: https://wwwapps-live.ucl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/d...
claim id: 4f61f887
file basename: 3. Agendas, minutes and papers.PDF
file length: 7182798
file content_type: application/pdf
description:

pick-up URL: https://wwwapps-live.ucl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/d...
claim id: 40e769a4
file basename: 4. and 5. Submissions to the inquiry.PDF
file length: 9468482
file content_type: application/pdf
description:

pick-up URL: https://wwwapps-live.ucl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/d...
claim id: 5ff01b96
file basename: 7. Research Projects.PDF
file length: 10058940
file content_type: application/pdf
description:

pick-up URL: https://wwwapps-live.ucl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/d...
claim id: 7791cfb8
file basename: 8. UCL Modules.PDF
file length: 124406
file content_type: application/pdf
description:

*** Additional info: ***
claim passcode for all files: 353951f1
drop date 2021.03.10 11:45:01
from name: Rose Lucas
from org: University College London
from email: [email address]
from ip: 10.55.0.20
to name: Joe Cain
to email: [FOI #647959 email]
to extras: [email address]

UCL Dropbox, University College London

Rose Lucas ([email address]) has dropped off one or more files for you:

1. 9. Financial information.PDF:

2. 11. - 12. and 14. - 18. Inquiry Costs.PDF:

You will need the claim passcode '34787f88'
to retrieve the file(s).

It is up to you to scan the downloaded file(s) for viruses. Most anti-virus
applications will do this automatically, but you should check.

The file(s) will be available for 10 days.

*** Details for retrieval: ***

pick-up URL: https://wwwapps-live.ucl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/d...
claim id: 2d2aa632
file basename: 9. Financial information.PDF
file length: 1795650
file content_type: application/pdf
description:

pick-up URL: https://wwwapps-live.ucl.ac.uk/cgi-bin/d...
claim id: 3cb39176
file basename: 11. - 12. and 14. - 18. Inquiry Costs.PDF
file length: 96765
file content_type: application/pdf
description:

*** Additional info: ***
claim passcode for all files: 34787f88
drop date 2021.03.10 11:46:40
from name: Rose Lucas
from org: University College London
from email: [email address]
from ip: 10.55.0.20
to name: Joe Cain
to email: [FOI #647959 email]
to extras: [email address]

Richard Taylor left an annotation ()

The files released have been made available at:

https://files.whatdotheyknow.com/request...

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Richard - WhatDoTheyKnow.com volunteer