Thank you for your email which has been received by the University's
Information and Data Compliance Team. 

The University undertakes to respond to Freedom of Information Requests
within 20 working days and to Data Subject Rights Requests within one
month.

If your query is not related to a Freedom of Information Request or Data
Subject Rights Request, please redirect it to [1][email address].

If your query is not related to a data protection matter, please redirect
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Information and Data Compliance Team.

References

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1. mailto:[email address]

Dear Poppy Damon,

Thank you for your emails dated 28^th August 2019 requesting information
from the University of Warwick under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please find below your request and our response.

I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act to request
information regarding the University's use of PR firms. To be clear this
request is seeking to understand how much is being spent on Public
Relation companies and in what circumstances. We do not want marketing or
communication budgets to be included.  Any questions please get back to me
prior to the 20 day time limit.

Can you please answer the following?

A) - How much was spent per month 1st July 2017 - 31st July 2019 on PR
firms?

B) - What firms did you employ in this period and what were the terms of
service? Please include any special projects or issues they worked on.

C) -Between 1st July 2017 - 31st July 2019, did you ever employ a PR firm
specifically for 'crisis management’? If so who did you employ, how much
were they paid and what issue were they addressing?

The University declines to provide the requested information on the
grounds that the exemption at Section 43 (2) is engaged, the rationale for
which is outlined below:

“The University is withholding the requested information since we consider
that the exemption under section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act
2000 applies. Section 43(2) states that “information is exempt information
if its disclosure under this Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice
the commercial interests of any person (including the public authority
holding it)”.  We consider that the release of the requested information
would be likely to prejudice the commercial interests of the University.

Public Relations lies within Communications activity of the Marketing &
Communications Function and Marketing and Communications spend is
typically and in the majority used for recruiting students, which
generates the majority of income to the University. The information
requested is considered commercially sensitive information as it would
have a considerable impact on this student recruitment activity, which is
a core income generating activity of the University. With this in mind,
disclosure of information would be detrimental to the University as it
relates directly to its commercial operations.

This activity is conducted in a competitive environment as the population
declines for a number of years and the market shrinks. The HE sector has
been in significant competition for students for at least ten years and
this has become more competitive with the increase in fees and the removal
of the student number cap in 2015. Although the University is in a good
position to recruit students and does not spend the amount of money on
marketing and communications that some other universities do, at least two
of the University’s key competitors spend significant amounts and they
could easily out compete the University. Sharing any information with
regard to the University’s Marketing & Communications spend (under which
Public Relations sits) would allow key competitors to have access to
highly sensitive data and result in a competitive advantage.

In this instance the request for the University to share any part of its
spend would have a significant negative impact on the University’s student
recruitment which in turn would have a huge impact on financial
performance and therefore be detrimental to business confidence going
forward and would affect the commercial interests of the University and
associated departments and schools. Therefore, the University considers
that the likelihood of prejudice to be caused is high, enabling
competitors’ access to the requested information as well as giving
competitors a more informed understanding of the student recruitment
strategy. The University operates in a competitive market and for this
reason sharing this information would impact future strategy and plans
should the information requested be shared.

The exemption at section 43(2) is a qualified exemption which means that
the University must consider whether the public interest in maintaining
the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosure. The University
considers there is no overriding public interest in the circumstances that
would warrant prejudicing the University’s commercial interests. It is
important to note that disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act is
effectively disclosure to the general public, not solely the person who
has made the request and the Higher Education market is highly competitive
and therefore in order for the market to retain its competitive nature
Higher Education institutions need to be able to compete fairly. The
disclosure of the information requested would impact the commercial
activity of those departments in a highly competitive market. Therefore,
the University is of the opinion that the public interest lies in favour
of withholding the requested information”.

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which your request has been
handled you can request an internal review within one month of our
response and, in the first instance, you are advised to follow the
procedure outlined here:
[1]http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/legal...

If you remain dissatisfied with how your request has been handled, you
have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at: The Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Walter Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire,
SK9 5AF (0303 123 1113) ([2]https://ico.org.uk/) There is no charge for
making an appeal.

Yours sincerely,

Ian Rowley

Ian Rowley | Director of Development, Comms & External Affairs| External
Affairs
University House | University of Warwick | Coventry | CV4 8UW

References

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1. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/legal...
2. https://ico.org.uk/