INFORMATION COMPLIANCE TEAM
University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JD
Ref. FOI/20200502/2
02 June 2020
Reply to request for information under the Freedom of Information Act
Your ref
Email of 2 May 2020
Request
I was hoping to enquire as to the statistics of offers made in each subject for Merton College.
_
Dear Grace Dinsdale,
I write in reply to your email of Sunday 2 May, requesting the above information.
Please find the information requested, up to the 2018 UCAS cycle, on our website here:
https://public.tableau.com/views/UniversityofOxford-
CollegeSuccessRates2018/CollegeSuccessRates?:embed=y&:display_count=yes&:showTabs=y&:showVizHom
e=no
The website will be updated to include data for the 2019 UCAS cycle by the end of June, and therefore we are
withholding the equivalent information for 2019 under section 22 of the FOIA. Section 22 provides that
information is exempt from disclosure where there is an intention on the part of the public authority or another
body to publish it at a future date, and where it is reasonable in all the circumstances to maintain the publication
schedule.
The information requested will be published on the University website later in the year. In our view, this is not
an excessive delay, and we would consider it to be reasonable therefore to withhold the information until its
publication.
The exemption in section 22 is a qualified exemption that would require the University to weigh the public
interest in disclosing the information requested, which is presumed from FOIA, against the public interest in
maintaining the exemption.
We recognise that there is a public interest in the disclosure of information relating to undergraduate admissions.
Immediate disclosure of the information would contribute to that interest. However, the question to be decided
is whether the public interest will be better served by disclosing the information now, or later, in accordance
with the publication schedule. Our view is that the public interest would be better served by adhering to the
publication schedule. Disclosing the information prematurely, and in isolation from other information relating to
the 2019 cycle that would be published at the same time, would undermine the purpose of the University’s
publication scheme. This scheme provides for the publication of a wide range of information relating to each
admissions cycle, which presents a more complete and accurate picture than the piecemeal disclosure of
separate items of admissions data.
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
2
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
