INFORMATION COMPLIANCE TEAM
University Offices, Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JD
Ref. FOI/20201115/1
10 December 2020
Reply to request for information under the Freedom of Information Act
Your ref
Email of 15 November 2020
Request
I'd like to request the following information: the University's internal handbook/manual for
admissions to Law (Jurisprudence) for 2021 entry.
Dear Mr Dunn
I write in reply to your email of 15 November requesting the above information. Please find the information
requested at the annex to this letter. We have applied the following redactions to the admissions manual.
Section 43(2) – prejudice to commercial interests
We have redacted sections of the admissions manual which, if disclosed, would be likely to prejudice the
commercial interests of the University, and are therefore exempt from disclosure under Section 43(2) of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Were this information to come into the public domain it would weaken the
University's position in a competitive market by revealing market-sensitive information.
Section 43(2) provides that information is exempt where its disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice
the commercial interests of any person. In our view, disclosure of the information requested would be likely to
prejudice the University’s commercial interests, by revealing information that would be of value to other
institutions. There is strong competition for students, both nationally and internationally. These sections would
indicate the particular approach taken by Oxford to undergraduate admissions, and would be of interest and
value to rival organisations, who could use the information to improve their own processes.
Section 43(2) is a qualified exemption that requires the University to weigh up the public interest in disclosing
the information requested, which is presumed under FOIA, against the public interest in withholding it. The
University considers that there is little public interest in the disclosure of the information requested, beyond the
general interest in openness and transparency in the conduct of the University’s affairs. Whatever more specific
interest may exist in the information can be met through the admissions information available on the University’s
admissions website, and on the web pages for individual departments, which include information on the
admissions process and advice on making an application. We therefore consider that the balance of public
interests lies in favour of maintaining the exemption.
Section 40(2) – personal data
We have redacted from the annex the names of staff members and any other information that could be used
to identify them. In making these redactions, we have applied 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 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 not reasonably
expect their personal data to be made public under the FOIA without their consent. (Please note that a
2
disclosure of information under FOIA is presumed to be a disclosure to the world at large, and not just a
disclosure to the individual making the request.)
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.
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
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.
Yours sincerely
Information Compliance Team
