D100 On Hold Statistics

Dear Ray

Thank you for your request for information dated 22/02/2025 (reference 1660). Your request is being dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and will be answered within 20 working days.
You can find out more about Freedom of information at The RVC, and view our Publication Scheme here. For further information about FOI please visit the Information Commissioner’s office here.

Yours sincerely

FOI Officer

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Dear Ray,

Having conducted a search of the RVC’s records, we can confirm that it
does hold information relevant to your request and accordingly have
annotated your questions below in red.

 1. There were statistics shown on 2024/2025 interview days, were the
number of offers made including on hold offers that were eventually
released?

 a. This data showed the total number of offers made for the course.

 2. Could I have statistics of the past 5 years for:

 a. Number of applicants that were made an offer but rejected their place

                                                              i.      *We
are declining to provide you with this information under exemption Section
43 – commercial interests

 b. Number of applicants put on hold

                                                              i.     
Please see below summary table

 c. Number of offers made for on hold

                                                              i.     
Please see below summary table

Placed on hold Offered after being on hold
2020 165* 20
2021 270* 10
2022 295* 10
2023 140 25
2024 125 20

*note higher numbers were place on hold in these years due to
uncertainties related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figures shown in summary table have had the Heidi+ rounding methodology
applied. For further information please see here:
[1]https://www.hesa.ac.uk/about/regulation/...

 3. Are applicants on hold ranked, but their ranking is not shared or is
the on hold system done in a different manner

 a. Details of how we select applicants is available on our [2]website.
Anyone who is eligible for an offer is selected in accordance with
our published approaches, whether they receive an offer in the main
scheme or from the hold list.

* The RVC are declining to provide you with the information requested in
questions two and six under exemption Section 43 (2) (Commercial
Interests) of the Freedom of Information Act, which states that:
Information is exempt information if its disclosure under this Act would,
or would likely to, prejudice the commercial interests of any person
(including the public authority holding it). In this case, the RVC
considers that the requested information is sensitive to RVC, and the
business of the company concerned and disclosing this information would
compromise the company as well as the RVC.  As such, releasing this
information would have a significant impact on the RVC and the company’s
ability to engage competitively in future commercial activity.

This exemption requires the RVC to undertake a Public Interest Test. Below
you will find the reasoning for both in favour and against disclosure.

The arguments in favour of disclosure:

• Openness and transparency regarding the RVC’s commercial activity.
• Public interest in knowing how the RVC are spending public money and
conducts its business.

The arguments against disclosure:

• Revealing this information would allow others to calculate the RVC
conversion rates from offer to acceptance (as offer data is already
publicly available). This is a crucial metric for managing admissions
processes in a competitive environment. Such data could also be
misinterpreted as an indicator of the popularity or quality of the
RVC, which could lead to misleading assumptions.
• If our offer rejection data were made public, competitors could use it
to adjust their own recruitment and admissions strategies. This level
of data is not available at any level within the sector—UCAS itself
does not release this information into the public domain. Without
additional context, the release of this data could be damaging to the
RVC. Without comparable data from other institutions, particularly at
a subject-specific level, it could create a misleading impression of
our admissions performance and the perceived "popularity" of the RVC
among applicants.
• This could significantly harm our competitiveness, negatively affect
our reputation with prospective students, and, ultimately, undermine
our ability to recruit students. This, in turn, would impact our
financial income and all the associated aspects of having students on
course.

As such, the RVC has concluded that releasing this information would
likely prejudice the commercial interests of the RVC, therefore the RVC is
satisfied that the public interest in withholding the information is
greater than the public interest in disclosure.

The RVC is satisfied that in making this response, it has complied with
the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act. If, for any reason,
you are not satisfied with this response, you should request an internal
review by writing within 40 working days of receiving this response to The
Chief Operating Officer and Secretary to the Council, Royal Veterinary
College, Hawkshead Lane, North Mymms, Hatfield, AL9 7TA ( Email: [email
address] ), who will ensure that this is dealt with accordingly. There is
no charge for such a request. Should you still be dissatisfied with the
outcome, you have the right to make a complaint via the Information
Commissioner, pursuant to Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act,
via The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane,
Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF [Tel: 0303 123 1113].

Yours sincerely,

FOI Officer

The Royal Veterinary College

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