Knowledge Exchange

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Dear University of Leicester,

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information from the University regarding Knowledge Exchange activities for the years 2018/19 and 2019/20:

1. What is the expenditure on KEF Staff salaries?
2. How many staff members' role is directly linked to KEF? Has this number been increasing/decreasing?
3. What type of activities do you report to KEF?
4. What is the 'impact' of KEF activities? How do you quantify their 'impact'?
5. What is the annual expenditure on tracking/reporting Knowledge Exchange activities?
6. What is the annual expenditure on IT software relating to REF, TEF and KEF?

I look forward to your response within 20 working days, as stipulated by the Act.
If you have any further queries please don’t hesitate to contact me, and I will be happy to clarify what I am asking for.

Yours faithfully,

Natalie Campion

Dear Natalie

I write on behalf of the University of Leicester in response to your request, dated 25th January 2021 made under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your request and Our response
1. What is the expenditure on KEF Staff salaries?
On the HEIF Annual Monitoring Return for 2019-20 the University is reporting expenditure of £2,471k against dedicated KE staff. Please note that this figure is based on KE broadly since expenditure against KEF metrics is not held in a way that allows us provide a more accurate figure.

2. How many staff members' role is directly linked to KEF? Has this number been increasing/decreasing?
In 2019-20 there were 74 University staff members funded or partially funded by HEIF (the Higher Education Innovation Fund)

3. What type of activities do you report to KEF?
The University reports activities in line with the Research England guidance. https://re.ukri.org/knowledge-exchange/k...

4. What is the 'impact' of KEF activities? How do you quantify their 'impact'?
KEF is a new initiative by which Research England are using the KEF metrics to measure Universities by benchmarking them. They intend to publish the first KEF metrics of all providers in receipt of Knowledge Exchange Funding in Spring 2021 based on the Higher Education Business & Community Impact Survey (HEBCI) , to which the University has responded. You will be able to access this information when it is published.

Information from previous HEBCI surveys is already published by HESA. This information is available to you by using https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis... and therefore the University relies on the s21 exemption in the FOI Act to withhold this information.

5. What is the annual expenditure on tracking/reporting Knowledge Exchange activities?
The costs of tracking KE activities in 19-20 was £31,376. The budgeted expenditure for 20-21 is £42,932.

6. What is the annual expenditure on IT software relating to REF, TEF and KEF?
There is no IT software used specifically or solely for TEF and KEF. The University uses the IRIS software for the purposes of REF, amongst others, which has an annual subscription cost of £75k.

If you have any concerns or wish to complain or appeal about any aspect of this response then in the first instance please contact the University's Data Protection Officer Elisabeth Taoudi by telephoning 0116 229 7640, or by email [email address].

Please be aware that it is also your legal right under Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act, to apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision whether a request for information made to the University has been dealt with in accordance with the provisions of the Act. It should be noted that there is a requirement that there will be no undue delay in making the application and there is an expectation that the complainant will have exhausted the University's internal complaints procedure.

Complaints to the Information Commissioner should be addressed to:

FoI Compliance Team (Complaints)
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Alternatively, you can submit your complaint online on the following link https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/

I hope you find this response helpful. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any queries regarding the above."

Regards,

Christine Taylor
Senior Information Assurance Officer

Legal and Information Assurance Services,
University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 7RH, UK

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