Press Office Statement to The Surrey Comet

The request was successful.

Dear Ms Laughlan,

Please consider this as my formal request under the Freedom of Information Act for the following information held by the University:-

1. Press Statement sent via email by the University Press Office to the Surrey Comet on or about 1 July 2008 concerning matters related to allegations that in 2004, an External Examiner in the then School of Music was pressurized to change her report. It is my understanding that this statement reflects the University's position at that time with respect to these allegations.

To aid further in your location of this information, I am told by the Comet that this email was sent to Ms Alita Howe, who was at the time employed by the Comet, in connection with an article that appeared in the Comet on 2 July 2008.

It is, indeed, possible, however, that the email was sent by the University Press Office shortly before 1 July 2008, but in all likelihood, it was not more than about a week before that date.

I look forward to receiving your reply in short order, and at most, within 20 working days. Given, however, the limited nature of my request and the specificity of the relevant document's location within the University, I would expect, however, that providing this information would take considerably less than 20 working days.

Thank you very much for your assistance.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Howard Fredrics

Laughlan, Gail A, Kingston University

Dear Mr Fredrics,

Thank you for your recent request for information relating to Kingston
University. Your request was received on 21^st July and is now being dealt
with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Please note that in some circumstances a fee may be payable prior to
information being supplied.  If a charge is applicable in this case I
will contact you to request payment before proceeding further.  Details
of the University’s charging policy can be found in section 3 of its
Freedom of Information Policy, available at the link below:

[1]http://www.kingston.ac.uk/aboutkingstonu...

I will be in touch again in due course and in any event not later than
19^th August this being twenty working days following receipt of your
request. In the meantime, please feel free to contact me if I can be of
any further assistance.

Kind regards

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Laughlan, Gail A, Kingston University

1 Attachment

Dear Dr Fredrics,

Further to my recent email I am pleased to provide the attached information in response to your request.

This completes the University's response to your information request. If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision please contact:

Head of Secretariat, Kingston University, River House, 53-57 High Street, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, KT1 2EE. Email: [Kingston University request email]

In the event that you are not content with the outcome of your complaint you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by Kingston University.

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

Kind regards

Tel: +44 (0)20 8417 2090 (Ext. 62090)

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Dear Ms Laughlan,

Thank you very much for your prompt reply of 30 July 2009 with attachment of the relevant press statements.
The information contained in this document raises one other question at this time, which I hope and trust you can assist with.

In the first statement, dated 27 June 2008, there is a reference to a set of written questions submitted to the Press Office by the Surrey Comet, to which the Press Office apparently replied in its second statement of 30 June 2008.

I would be most appreciative if you could forward a copy of that set of questions, so that I could have a more complete and clearer understanding of the context of the University's statement.

Thank you again for your kind assistance.

Yours sincerely,

Dr Howard Fredrics

Dear Ms Laughlan,

I write following up my letter of 31 July to which I have not yet received a reply.

Given that you've tended to respond fairly quickly to previous correspondence with, at least, an acknowledgment of receipt, I thought I'd write again to confirm that you received my latest email, which requests further information following upon my most recent FOI request. Perhaps you've been on annual leave?

In any event, can you please confirm that you received my previous email of 31 July and when I might expect to receive the requested additional information?

Thank you again.

Yours faithfully,

Dr Howard Fredrics

Laughlan, Gail A, Kingston University

Dear Mr Fredrics,

Thank you for your email.

I am sorry for the delay in responding to your email of the 31st July - I have been away from the University on annual leave. I can confirm that your correspondence has been received and is receiving attention.

Kind regards

Gail Laughlan

Tel: +44 (0)20 8417 2090 (Ext. 62090)

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Laughlan, Gail A, Kingston University

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Fredrics,

Further to my recent correspondence I am please to provide the attached information in response to your request. Provision of this document completes the University's response to your information request.

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request, and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision please contact:

Head of Secretariat, Kingston University, River House, 53-57 High Street, Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, KT1 1LQ.

In the event that you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally the Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless the applicant has exhausted the internal complaints procedure provided by Kingston University. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

The Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

I hope that you now have all the information you require.

Kind regards

Tel: +44 (0)20 8417 2090 (Ext. 62090)

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