From which government, NGO or Private companies do universities receive funding’ for research?
Santino Pani made this Freedom of Information request to Coventry University
This request has been closed to new correspondence. Contact us if you think it should be reopened.
Dear Coventry University,
I am writing you for a Request of information, under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) on the following topics: “From which government authorities, NGO or Private companies do universities receive funding’ for research?”, a research based on information of public interest, for journalism purposes.
Can you provide information to the following questions?
1) What is the total amount that the university received in funds for research, industrial consultancy fees and/or funded researches from government, NGO or private companies in the last five financial years (from 2013 till 2017)? The information should be broken down by organization or company name, year per year (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), in a CSV format, if possible.
2) A portfolio statement for the funds the university has investments in. If you do not have a copy of it, can you provide a list of funds and corresponding management companies? Details should be broken down year by year, for the last financial years (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), provided in a CSV format, if possible.
3) Can you provide details of research projects (such as executive summary and details of reports’ publication, university department and researchers’ names) of projects whose funds exceed £50,000, in the same period of time (2013-2017)?
Yours faithfully,
Santino Pani
Dear FOI Reviewer Team, Coventry University,
My name is Santino Pani. I am a journalist, and I am conducting a research about funds that universities receive from GOV, NGO, and/or private companies. This research is going to be published in a few months in a newspaper, therefore it is of public interest.
I made a request for information, under the FOIA 2000, to your university on the 30th of January, and your university had to respond within 20 working days, and not later than the 27 of February.
Till today I didn’t receive any information from you, not even a notice of acknowledge that you received the request, and now you are more than 12 days overdue in responding it, and you are not complying with the law obligations.
I am asking therefore to process your internal review, before I take a further step asking the Information Commissioner to start an investigation on your university.
I resume the questions I asked you, and at this stage I don’t accept any excuse or refusal, as your complete silence shows a complete negligence and lack of transparency, and your action (or to better say, un-action) is unacceptable.
Please answer to the following questions:
1) What is the total amount that the university received in funds for research, industrial consultancy fees and/or funded researches from government, NGO or private companies in the last five financial years (from 2013 till 2017)? The information should be broken down by organization or company name, year per year (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), in a xlsx spreadsheet format, or equivalent.
2) A portfolio statement for the funds the university has investments in. If you do not have a copy of it, can you provide a list of funds and corresponding management companies? Details should be broken down year by year, for the last financial years (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017), provided in a xlsx spreadsheet format, or equivalent.
3) Can you provide details of research projects (such as executive summary and details of reports’ publication, university department and researchers’ names) of projects whose funds exceed £50,000, in the same period of time (2013-2017)?
Now by law you have to respond to this request within 20 days, and not later than the 11th of April.
After this date I will ask a formal request to the Information Commissioner.
Best regards,
Santino Pani
Dear Mr Pani,
REF: FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST – FOIA0605
The University has completed its search for the information requested by
you under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”). The specific request
was for:
“From which government authorities, NGO or Private companies do
universities receive funding’ for research?”, a research based on
information of public interest, for journalism purposes. Can you provide
information to the following questions?
1. What is the total amount that the university received in funds for
research, industrial consultancy fees and/or funded researches from
government, NGO or private companies in the last five financial years
(from 2013 till 2017)? The information should be broken down by
organization or company name, year per year (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016,
2017), in a CSV format, if possible.
2. A portfolio statement for the funds the university has investments
in. If you do not have a copy of it, can you provide a list of funds and
corresponding management companies? Details should be broken down year by
year, for the last financial years (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017),
provided in a CSV format, if possible.
3. Can you provide details of research projects (such as executive
summary and details of reports’ publication, university department and
researchers’ names) of projects whose funds exceed £50,000, in the same
period of time (2013-2017)?
The Freedom of Information Act requires us to respond to requests promptly
and in any case no later than 20 working days after receiving a request.
However, when a qualified exemption applies to the information then the
public interest test has to be considered. The Act allows the time for
response to be longer than 20 working days and as such as the University
was considering the applicability of Section 43 (2) it has taken longer
than the 20 working days in this instance. Section 43 allows requested
information to be exempt where its release will be likely to be
prejudicial to an organisation’s commercial interests subject to the
public interest test. Your request for the information in relation to Q1
to be broken down by organisation or by company name has been deemed as
commercially sensitive and therefore we have applied Section 43 (2).
In response to your request using the same numbering, please see below:
1. The requested information is not held centrally but maybe held at a
granular level. In order to provide accurate information in the context
requested, the University will need to determine what information is held,
how it is held (manual/electronic) and in which systems. We therefore
believe that locating and retrieving the information would exceed the
appropriate cost limit of 18 hours and as such confirm that the exemption
12 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 be engaged. However, we have
managed to provide information for years 2014 to 2016 only. The data for
2013 would take a long time to collate/extract as in 2014 we started to
use a new system. The data for 2017 has not yet been finalised.
Account
Period (T) Total Additions Total
Research
2014 income £9,742,990 £260,000 £10,002,990
Research
2015 income £9,083,839 - £9,083,839
Research
2016 income £9,077,009 £6,991,000 £16,068,009
2. In relation to Q2, the University has considered your request for
information and is of the view that the requested information is exempt
from disclosure under the exemptions available at section 21 of the FOIA.
Section 21, is an absolute exemption and exempts disclosure of information
to the world at large where it is available to the applicant by other
means. The University already publishes a large amount of financial data
and therefore provides transparency as to its financial trading notably in
the publication of its annual accounts which it publishes on its website.
For 16-17 and 15-16 this was in note 13 and prior years note 11. I’ve
provided an extract from one year’s and the link to this data is:
[1]http://www.coventry.ac.uk/life-on-campus...
3. In relation to Q3, the University has considered your request for
information and is of the view that the requested information is exempt
from disclosure under the exemptions available at section 21 of the FOIA.
Section 21, is an absolute exemption and exempts disclosure of information
to the world at large where it is available to the applicant by other
means. The University already publishes a large amount of financial data
and therefore provides transparency as to its financial trading notably in
the publication of its annual accounts which it publishes on its website.
For ease of reference I have included the link below:
[2]http://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision,
you should write to the Information Protection Unit, Coventry University,
Portal House, 163 New Union Street, Coventry, CV1 2PL or email
[Coventry University request email].
If you believe that the University has not dealt with your request in
accordance with the FOIA, please be advised that you have the right to
have this decision reviewed via the University’s complaints procedure, a
copy of which can be provided upon request.
If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
ICO cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the complaints
procedure provided by the University. The Information Commissioner can be
contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water
Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF; Tel: 01625 545 745; Email:
[email address]
Kind Regards
Will Doherty | Legal Compliance Clerk | Information Protection Unit (IPU)
Coventry University, Portal House, 163 New Union Street, COVENTRY, CV1 2PL
T: +44 (0)2477 658202 | M: +44 (0)7557425844 | E:
[3][email address] |
W: [4]www.coventry.ac.uk
Working hours: Monday – Friday 08.30am – 17.00pm
[5]cid:image001.png@01D37584.2F2CE2C0
Gold rating for teaching excellence
Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)
Ranked No.12 UK university
The Guardian University Guide 2018
UK’s highest ranking new university
The Guardian and the Complete University Guides 2018
Top 6 for Student Experience
The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018
NOTICE
This message and any files transmitted with it is intended for the
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addressee, you should not read, copy, disclose or otherwise use this
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Any views or opinions expressed within this e-mail are those of the author
and do not necessarily represent those of Coventry University.
References
Visible links
1. http://www.coventry.ac.uk/life-on-campus...
2. http://pureportal.coventry.ac.uk/
3. mailto:[email address]
4. http://www.coventry.ac.uk/
Dear Mr Williams,
Your response is 12 days overdue, and you responded just after noticing that I asked for an internal review.
Besides that, you answered roughly, without giving any specific information I requested. Therefore I don’t accept it, as it seems you are buffing me.
Pass this request to your FOI Review team, or I will write to the Information Commissioner.
Regards,
Santino Pani
Dear William Doherty,
Ps: I wrongly addressed my previous response to Mrs Williams. However I don't expect to receive any other response from you, but I am awaiting for an internal review, as already asked yesterday the 11th and today.
Santino Pani
Dear Mr Pani,
REF: FOIA0605
Thank you for your email.
I can advise that under the guidance of the Information Commissioners Office, The Freedom of Information Act requires us to respond to requests promptly and in any case no later than 20 working days after receiving a request. However, when a qualified exemption applies to the information then the public interest test has to be considered. The Act allows the time for response to be longer than 20 working days and as such as the University was considering the applicability of Section 43 (2). It has taken longer than the 20 working days in this instance. Section 43 allows requested information to be exempt where its release will be likely to be prejudicial to an organisation’s commercial interests subject to the public interest test. As stated below, your request for the information in relation to Q1 to be broken down by organisation or by company name has been deemed as commercially sensitive and therefore we have applied Section 43 (2) accordingly.
We have provided you with the information that we have been able to obtain under our section 16 obligation to assist you with your request under the FOI Act.
I will however arrange an internal review of the University's response and will revert back to you in due course.
Kind Regards
Will Doherty | Legal Compliance Clerk | Information Protection Unit (IPU)
Coventry University, Portal House, 163 New Union Street, COVENTRY, CV1 2PL
T: +44 (0)2477 658202 | M: +44 (0)7557425844 | E: [email address] |
W: www.coventry.ac.uk
Working hours: Monday – Friday 08.30am – 17.00pm
Mr William Doherty,
I asked to pass this request to FOI Reviewer, and I don't want any fuurther response from you.
I hope I have been clear enough. Your way to work is unacceptable, and you are not complying with the law.
I just remind you that this correspondence is shown publicly, and if I write to the Information Commisioner your university would appear, very likely, to its annual report.
Don't reply me anymore, and send this request to your FOI Reviewer, OK ??
I don't like to be treated as a child, and you don't joke me. I'm a journalist, not an illiterate pesron.
Santino Pani
Hello Mr Pani
Please find attached my response to your request for an internal review.
Kind regards
Gurdeep Chayra | Group Head Of Data Protection and Data Protection Officer
(DPO) | Information Protection Unit
Coventry University, Portal House, 163 New Union Street, Coventry, CV1 2PL
T: 07557 425217 | E: [1][email address] | W:
[2]www.coventry.ac.uk
Please see IPU site for more information [3]here.
Gold rating for teaching excellence
Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF)
Ranked No.12 UK university
The Guardian University Guide 2018
UK’s highest ranking new university
The Guardian and the Complete University Guides 2018
Top 6 for Student Experience
The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2018
NOTICE
This message and any files transmitted with it is intended for the
addressee only and may contain information that is confidential or
privileged. Unauthorised use is strictly prohibited. If you are not the
addressee, you should not read, copy, disclose or otherwise use this
message, except for the purpose of delivery to the addressee.
Any views or opinions expressed within this e-mail are those of the author
and do not necessarily represent those of Coventry University.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.coventry.ac.uk/
3. https://share.coventry.ac.uk/staff/ps/IP...
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