Engagement with and Payments Made to RAND and/orRAND Europe

The request was partially successful.

Dear Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council,

RAND Europe, subsidiary of the US Think-tank cite support from SFC on many of their reports , documents, and conferences, particularly on the Impact Agenda.

Please provide details of all interactions and contacts between the Funding Council and RAND (including US parent body and RAND Europe) including any made through other UK Funding Councils (e.g. Higher Education Funding Council for England, HEFCE) or other UK bodies from 2000 to the present date.

Please also give details of the value of all contracts given to RAND Europe from 2000 to present, whether these were directly or via other bodies such as HEFCE, or any contributions made by SHEFC/SFC to any such payments .

Please itemize each contract/piece of work by date and duration and
state exactly how much was paid to RAND /RAND Europe in each case, and what the SHEFC/SFC contribution was.

Please provide any documentation that would indicate that this work
was tendered for. If not tendered please state why not.

Yours faithfully,

John O'Dowd

Info, Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council

Dear Mr O'Dowd,

I write to acknowledge your request for information of 11 August and will aim to respond as soon as possible.

Kind regards.

Richard Hancock

Richard Hancock | Assistant Director | Learning, Governance and Sustainability | Scottish Funding Council | 97, Haymarket Terrace | Edinburgh EH12 5HD
0131 313 6645 | www.sfc.ac.uk

My working pattern is normally Monday to Thursday.

Richard Hancock | Leas Stiùiriche | Ionnsachadh, Riaghladh agus Seasmhachd | Comhairle Maoineachaidh na h-Alba | Taigh MhicDhòmhnaill | 97, Barraid Haymarket | Dùn Èideann
EH12 5HD
0131 313 6645 | www.sfc.ac.uk

San àbhaist, tha mi ag obair Di-Luain-Di-Ardaoin.

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Dear Info,

I am sorry to note that have failed as yet to reply to my request on SFC Engagement with RAND and payments made to them.

As you will be aware the law requires a "prompt" response within specified time limits set by law.

As things stand therefore the Funding Council has broken the law.

I will be most grateful for your prompt response to this complaint and my request for an internal review.

Yours sincerely,

John O'Dowd

Simon Macauley, Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council

Dear John,
Profound apologies for this lack of response within the 20 day timeframe. Your request is now being processed. I take note of your request for a review and this will be actioned with an explanation of the failure to respond.

Kind regards, Simon.

Simon Macauley
Information Compliance Officer
Scottish Funding Council
Apex 2
97 Haymarket Terrace
Edinburgh
EH12 5HD
Tel, 0131 313 6569

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Info, Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council

3 Attachments

Dear Mr O'Dowd,

I am replying to your information request of 11 August 2015 and your
subsequent request for a review sent 15 September 2015.

Your request as follows:
‘ …. details of all interactions and contacts between the Funding Council
and RAND (including US parent body and RAND Europe)  including any made
through other UK Funding Councils (e.g. Higher Education Funding Council
for England, HEFCE) or other UK bodies from 2000 to the  present date.

Please also give details of the value of all contracts given to RAND
Europe from 2000 to present, whether these were directly or via other
bodies such as HEFCE, or any contributions made by SHEFC/SFC to any such
payments. 

 

Please itemize each contract/piece of work by date and duration and state
exactly how much was paid to RAND /RAND Europe in each case, and what the
SHEFC/SFC contribution was.

Please provide any documentation that would indicate that this work was
tendered for.  If not tendered please state why not’

 

To answer your specific questions in turn:

 

-              The Scottish Funding Council (SFC) has had no direct
contact with RAND and therefore does not hold any of the information you
requested regarding interactions, contacts or tenders;

 

-              The SFC has contributed funds to The Higher Education
Funding Council for England (HEFCE) towards an ‘evaluation of impact’ and
‘impact assessment’ of the Research excellence Framework (REF);

 

-              The amounts given to HEFCE were:

£24k of the total £280k RAND contract cost in 2014

£11,427 of the total £95k RAND contract cost in 2015

Details of these payments are in the two letters of grant attached to this
email;

 

-              All tendering was carried out by HEFCE; the SFC does not
hold any information regarding the tendering process.  Email attached from
HEFCE detailing their finalising of the tendering process for 2014-15.

 

REVIEW

At your request an internal review was carried out by a Senior Officer at
the SFC to determine the causes for the delay in responding to your
initial request.  It was concluded that during the August holiday period
the absence of key staff delayed the processing of your request.  This was
further exacerbated when the responsible FOI Officer was absent for a long
period and a necessary handover to an appropriate officer was not carried
out.

 

We apologise for this delay and are now taking steps to ensure procedures
are in place to ensure this does not happen again.

 

If you are dissatisfied with this response you may now appeal to the
Scottish Information Commissioner:

Scottish Information Commissioner,
Kinburn Castle,
Doubledykes Road,
St Andrews, Fife
KY16 9DS

Telephone: 01334 464610
Fax: 01334 464611
e-mail: [1][email address]

 

Kind regards, Simon.

 

Simon Macauley

Information Compliance Officer

Scottish Funding Council

Apex 2

97 Haymarket Terrace

Edinburgh

EH12 5HD

Tel, 0131 313 6569

 

 

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References

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John O'Dowd left an annotation ()

An article arising out of the information contained in this work can be found in Bella Caledonia:
http://bellacaledonia.org.uk/2016/07/19/...

An earlier article in Global Research citing RAND's influence on UK Higher Education over a longer period can be read at
http://www.globalresearch.ca/britains-em...