Dear Mr Howe,

This is to acknowledge receipt of your request for information below and to let you know it is being processed.

We'll get back to you as soon as we can, but in any case within 20 working days from 20/02/2018.

In the meantime, if you wish to add any further details or check on progress, please reply to this message, without altering the 'Subject:' line, so that we can track your input and respond promptly. (IMPS#020117).

Yours sincerely,

Sinead Latham
Information Management & Policy Services (IMPS), University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6AH
t: +44 (0)118 378 8981 www.reading.ac.uk/foia

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Dear Mr Howe, 

We can confirm that we do hold some of the information specified in your
request. Under Section 16 of the FOIA (duty to provide help and
assistance), we have provided some explanatory text below your questions.

Please supply me with any information about this arrangement. This may
include (but is not limited to) communication between Tesco and the
University, internal communications regarding crates, purchase orders or

No information held. Whilst the University owns a number of crates it has
been brought to our attention a range of crates that are from various
sources have mistakenly slipped into our usage. The University apologises
for this mistake. The crates appear to have come into circulation when
they are placed with other catering owned crates at delivery bays of our
catering outlets, these are mostly from student grocery deliveries from
various retailers which have accumulated in catering areas, these in turn
have been mixed in with University property and thus have been used
mistakenly by the catering team. The team are now sorting out the crates
into their various owners and will be arranging collection by the various
supermarkets. As this is an operational mistake there are therefore no
agreements in place with any supermarket to utilise their crates and we
will do everything we can to eliminate non-University owned crates being
utilised.

invoices for crates owned by the University (either from Tesco or other
suppliers), etc.

Please find attached invoices for supplier Nisbets.

Please note, some information has been withheld from disclosure by virtue
of FOI S.43(2) – prejudice to the commercial interests of the University
or another party. Section 43(2) of the FOI allows a public authority to
withhold information when its disclosure would be likely to prejudice the
commercial interests of either the University or any third party. This
exemption applies because the information is both sensitive and
commercial.

Using the FOI s43 exemption requires the University to undertake a public
interest test. The University appreciates that there is an inherent public
interest in ensuring openness, transparency and accountability around any
contract to which it is a party, including supplier and catering
contracts. However, the public interest in disclosure needs to be balanced
against the public interest in withholding the information. In this case
disclosure of precise unit costs and values would be likely to prejudice
both the University’s position and that of the contractors by disclosing
commercially sensitive information to the wider public. Rival
organisations could use this pricing information to undercut the
contractors’ pricing structures. Similarly potential business partners
could also use the information to their advantage in negotiating down the
contractors’ prices. Both outcomes would be likely to prejudice the
negotiating position of the contractors. Should disclosures be made that
could harm a third parties commercial interests, these same contractors
may then be less likely to conduct further business with the University,
which would be likely to have a deleterious effect on the University’s
service provision and, quite possibly, revenue streams. It may even
prejudice its core business functions and undermine its ability to fulfil
its wider role as an institution dedicated to teaching and learning, which
is not in the public interest. For the reasons above, the balance of
public interest tips in favour of withholding this information from
disclosure.

Names of individuals have also been withheld under Section 40 – Personal
information. This information is personal data, specifically the names of
some University employees and third parties.

Section 40(2) of the FOIA allows a public authority to withhold
information from a response to a request under the FOIA when the
information requested is personal data relating to someone other than the
requestor, and its disclosure would breach any of the Data Protection
principles.

In this case we believe that the disclosure of the names of these
individuals would not be within their reasonable expectations and as such
would be unfair and in breach of the first data protection principle which
requires personal data to be processed fairly and lawfully.

We are required to include details of our complaints procedures, including
your rights to apply to the Information Commissioner.  The procedure is
detailed in our Freedom of Information and Environmental Information
Regulations policy on the web at
www.reading.ac.uk/freedom-of-information...

If we are unable to resolve any complaint, you can complain to the
Information Commissioner, the independent body who oversees the access to
information regimes:

Information Commissioner

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

Email: [email address]

Yours sincerely

Rebecca Daniells

IMPS Officer

Information Management & Policy Services (IMPS), University of Reading,
Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6AH

[University of Reading request email]    t: +44 (0)118 378 8981   
www.reading.ac.uk/foia

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