Automated Acknowledgement

Thank you for your information request. As a Scottish University, we
comply with our country’s own legislation: either the Freedom of
Information (Scotland) Act 2002 or the Environmental Information
(Scotland) Regulations 2004.

We are continuing to receive a high volume of information requests and so
we aim to respond within the statutory deadline, taking into account any
Scottish Bank Holidays.

If you are contacting the University in respect of your own personal
information or data, please redirect your request to
[1][email address]

Scottish Information Commissioner Guidelines

Further information about timescales for responding to requests for
information and your rights under Scottish legislation can be found on the
Scottish Information Commissioner's website:

[2]http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...

or by contacting the Scottish Information Commissioner's Office at the
following address:

Scottish Information Commissioner,
Kinburn Castle,
Doubledykes Road, St Andrews,
Fife KY16 9DS
Telephone: 01334 464610
Fax: 01334 464611
E-mail: [email address]
Website: www.itspublicknowledge.info

Information Governance Team
Governance and Legal Services
Heriot-Watt University
Edinburgh Campus
Riccarton
Edinburgh EH14 4AS

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Dear applicant

Thank you for your information request dated the 6^th August 2019.  Your
request has been handled under our Country’s own legislation: the Freedom
of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA).  Firstly, I should like to
apologise for the delay in responding and we hope this has not
inconvenienced you. We are presently experiencing a very high caseload
level spanning all aspects of information governance and our limited
resources are stretched.

In response to your first question, we have no business need to generate
the minimum, maximum and average price for beds and so this information is
exempt from release under Section 17 of FOISA. We also do not break down
the occupancy levels by room type (Section 17) but we can provide you with
total occupancy levels which we hope is useful. The information we do hold
is as follows:

+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Room type| Nos of |2016/17 (£s)*|2017/18 (£s)*| 2018/19 ( |
| | rooms | | | £s)* |
|------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+-------------|
| Standard shared| 163 | 105.84 | 108 | 112 |
|------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+-------------|
| traditional| 1,090 | 127.75 | 131 | 136 |
| ensuite| | | | |
|------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+-------------|
| contemporary| 44 | 150.85 | 155 | 160 |
| corridor| | | | |
|------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+-------------|
| contemporary| 649 | 159.74 | 165 | 169 |
| ensuite| | | | |
|------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+-------------|
| studios| 30 | 168.7 | 175 | 189 |
|------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+-------------|
| Occupancy levels|   | 96% | 98% | 92%** |
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+

* These rents are per/week and they include utilities (gas/electric),
cleaning of the common areas e.g. kitchens, and internet access.  All
accommodation is self-catered. Our normal contract with undergraduates is
for 40 weeks; postgraduate contracts are for 50 weeks. Further information
regarding rents can be found on our [1]website.

** the occupancy rate for 2018-19 was slightly down as we had an
additional 100 rooms outwith our campuses which reduced the occupancy
rate.

Prices for 2019-20 are as indicated on our website (see link above) and so
this falls under Section 25: Information otherwise accessible.  We cannot
however, provide you with occupancy figures for the 2019-20 academic year
as the students have not moved into their accommodation and so the figures
are exempt from release under Section 17 of FOISA.

We hope you find the above useful as part of your research.  Apologies
once again for the delay.

Your right to seek review of our decision

If you are not satisfied with our response or our reasoning set-out above,
you have forty working days from today in which to request a review of our
decision.  Any request should be put in writing and should be sent to Ann
Jones, Head of Heritage and Information Governance, at the address
detailed at the bottom of this email. The request should:

(a) detail your request for a review of our decision to be undertaken;

(b) describe the nature of your original request; and

(c) explain the reasons why you are dissatisfied with our response.

If you remain dissatisfied with how your request for information has been
dealt with, you also have the right to apply to the Scottish Information
Commissioner for a decision as to whether we have handled your request
properly.

Information relating to your right to seek review is available from the
Scottish Information Commissioner's web page at:

[2]http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/YourR...
  

or by contacting the Scottish Information Commissioner's Office at the
following address:

Scottish Information Commissioner,

Kinburn Castle,

Doubledykes Road,

St Andrews,

Fife KY16 9DS

Telephone: 01334 464610

Fax: 01334 464611

E-mail: [3][email address]  

Website:
[4]http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/home/...
 

Contact us

Finally, should you wish to discuss the contents of this email, please do
not hesitate to contact us via [5][Heriot-Watt University request email]

Information Governance Team

Governance and Legal Services

Heriot-Watt University

Edinburgh Campus

Riccarton

Edinburgh EH14 4AS

[6]cid:image003.jpg@01D4B199.2E9471A0

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