Access control systems
Dear Sparsholt College,
I am getting in touch to ask which company supplies the door access card readers on buildings around Sparsholt College (used for contact-less access on student/staff ID cards).
Please give all information relating to:
- The make and model of readers used
- The company which manufactures/distributes the readers
- Any third-party installers/channel partners used to purchase the readers
- The software used to manage the door controllers and readers.
- Approximate quantity of access control readers on site
- Name of the individual(s) responsible for these systems at the college
Additionally, if the college uses readers from multiple suppliers, please give a list of all suppliers.
Thank you in advance.
Yours faithfully,
K York
Dear K York
I decline to disclose any of the information requested for reasons of College security, commercial confidentiality, and because I fail to see a public interest angle on any of the questions raised.
Yours sincerely
Scott Hermiston
Director of Information and Funding | Sparsholt College Hampshire (incorporating Andover College Campus)
Sparsholt | Winchester | Hampshire | SO21 2NF
Direct line: 01962 673288 | Mobile:
Sparsholt Reception: 01962 776441 | Andover Reception: 01264 360000
email: [email address] | web: http://www.sparsholt.ac.uk/ and http://www.andover.ac.uk/
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Dear Sparsholt College,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of Sparsholt College's handling of my FOI request 'Access control systems'.
My recent FOI request has been denied by a Scott Hermiston at your organisation, but unfortunately they failed to quote a specific exemption as grounds for refusal. Under the Freedom of Information Act Section 17 (1) and 17 (3) - in order to refuse a Freedom of Information request, a specific exemption must be quoted.
However, the response did mention the following reasons:
- College Security
- Commercial Confidentiality
- Lack of public interest
Whilst I would challenge these reasons as being grounds for exemption, I can understand the want to protect the security and commercial interests of the college. There is however significant public interest in understanding the security measures put in place at FE colleges, particularly when considering the duty of care that the college has to its students and the recent vulnerabilities that have been highlighted within certain security systems. I will therefore simplify my request so that it does not potentially breach grounds for exemption under the Freedom of Information Act:
- What brand of access control readers are used on site? (this should not be considered sensitive information as the company logo is printed on the reader itself which is publicly accessible)
- How many access control readers are there on site?
- Who is responsible for these systems?
Thank you in advance.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/a...
Yours faithfully,
K York
Dear K York
The information requested was withheld from disclosure under Section 14 of the Act. Although I accept that the public interest test could be met for a question of whether or not we employ access control (we do), and whether or not students are safe on our campuses (we consider that they are, and Ofsted agreed with us in their inspection report in autumn 2023), I do not accept that the public interest test is met in requesting of details and volumes of kit deployed. If you disagree with this, please give a clear reason why you consider publication through FOI is in the public interest as opposed to a commercial purpose . Please be mindful that public interest does not mean "curiosity or desire" for the information nor the private interests of the requestor. Its meaning here is the "public good", therefore before we proceed with your request, we will need to determine there is some purpose which benefits the general public in releasing the information you have requested.
However, in response to the whole query, the officer responsible for access control is our Director of Estates, James Payne, and he has given me the following text to include in our response to your questions:
"Security and Safety Systems will go out to tender early in the New Year, so details of the kit currently in use would be time limited even if we were to supply them. Any parties interested in tendering would be welcome to supply their details for notification as and when the tender goes live, most likely in January 2025."
Kind regards
Scott Hermiston
Director of Information and Funding | Sparsholt College Hampshire (incorporating Andover College Campus)
Sparsholt | Winchester | Hampshire | SO21 2NF
Direct line: 01962 673288 | Mobile:
Sparsholt Reception: 01962 776441 | Andover Reception: 01264 360000
email: [email address] | web: http://www.sparsholt.ac.uk/ and http://www.andover.ac.uk/
Please think of the environment before printing this
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