INFORMATION COMPLIANCE TEAM
University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JD
Ref. FOI/20200222/3
20 March 2020
Reply to request for information under the Freedom of Information Act
Your ref
Your email of 22 February 2020
_
Could you please provide the following data for Oxford undergraduate Mathematics
candidates who were shortlisted for interview during the 2019-2020 for entry in October
2020 admissions process. I request anonymised data for each shortlisted candidate
containing the following information:
Request
1. Oxford college applied to through UCAS
2. Number of 8/9s (or legacy A*s) at GCSE
3. Number of A*s predicted at A level
4. MAT score
5. Interview score (by individual interview)
6. Admissions status (offer or no offer)
Dear Mr Middleton,
I write in reply to your email requesting the above information, which is attached.
Your request is for detailed individual level data. We consider that disclosure of this information in the form
requested might enable those with access to other information or knowledge (e.g. those associated with
individuals who are known to have applied) to identify individuals and learn new information about those
individuals. For this reason, we have taken the following measures to reduce the risk of individuals being
identified:
We have provided information on shortlisting and offers in an aggregated form rather than as
individual level data.
We have divided up the information between separate tabs, and we have sorted each tab
independently of the others so that the rows are not standardised across the tabs.
We have withheld some offer data where there are fewer than 3 individuals. This is shown as an
asterisk (*).
In taking these measures, we are applying the exemption in section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act
(FOIA). Section 40(2) provides an exemption from disclosure for information that is the personal data of an
individual other than the requester, where disclosure would breach any of the data protection principles in
Article 5 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). We consider that disclosure of the information
requested in the exact form requested would breach the first data protection principle, which requires that
personal data is processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner. Disclosure would be unfair to the
individuals concerned, as it would be contrary to their reasonable and legitimate expectations. They would
2
not reasonably expect that information relating to their application would be made public under the FOIA
without their consent.
For the disclosure of personal data to be lawful, it must have a lawful basis under Article 6 of the GDPR.
There are six possible lawful bases in Article 6; we do not consider that any of them would be satisfied in
respect of the disclosure.
The exemption in section 40(2) is an absolute exemption and is not subject to the public interest test
provided for in section 2(2)(b) of the FOIA. To the extent that the public interest is relevant in this case, the
University considers it is satisfied by the attached information.
INTERNAL REVIEW
If you are dissatisfied with this reply, you may ask the University to review it, by writing to the Head of
Information Compliance at the following address:
University Offices
Wellington Square
Oxford
OX1 2JD
Alternatively, you may request a review by e-mailing
xxx@xxxxx.xx.xx.xx. A request for internal review should
be submitted no later than 40 working days from the date of this letter.
THE INFORMATION COMMISSIONER
If, after the internal review, you are still dissatisfied, you have the right under FOIA to apply to the Information
Commissioner for a decision as to whether your request has been dealt with in accordance with the FOIA. You
can do this online using the
Information Commissioner’s complaints portal.
If you choose to do this by post, the Information Commissioner’s address is:
Information Commissioner
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123113
Yours sincerely
Information Compliance Team