Dear Perth College UHI,

Following a recent FOI request to UHI, I have identified that you have students that carry out placements as part of their courses in the Applied Life Studies subject network on one or more of the following courses:

1. BSc (Hons.) Integrative Healthcare
2. BSc Oral Health Science
3. Diploma Person-Centred Counselling and Psychotherapy
4. HNC Childhood Practice
5. HNC Social Services
6. HNC Care and Administrative Practice

The UHI Student Placement Policy & Guidance document states:

"4.3 APs are required to keep a record of all placement activities. This should include the following:
1. The subject network/programme associated with the placement activity;
2. A list of the names and student numbers of students undertaking placement activity;
3. The nature of the placement i.e. duration, location, type of activity, assessed or not assessed;
4. Contact details of placement providers; and
5. Copies of formal documentation, at a minimum this must include a copy of risk assessment documentation and signed tri-partite learning agreement, but may also (dependent on circumstances) include, statements of reasonable adjustments, letters of expectation, copies of insurance documentation and students consent to disability disclosure."

Please could you provide me with the information listed above for the courses noted at your AP. I do not wish to see personal information pertaining to disability and please redact the students' names/numbers.

I do not require contact details for the placements, just their name and location, type of business/organisation, type of placement activity taking place, assessed or not assessed.

Please also provide the name of the course that the placement forms part of, the duration of the placement and the role of the person responsible for the student at the placement location.

Please could you let me know if there is a named individual/s specifically responsible for placement students within your AP and if not who would normally be responsible for placement students on the individual courses/their role.

Yours faithfully,

S A Smith

Dear PC FOI,

Please could you give me the information for the current academic year and the previous 5 academic years? Sorry I should have made this clear in my original email.

Yours sincerely,

S A Smith

Dear Mr McCartney,

Thank you for your response.

I do not believe that this request is complex in any way. I was very specific in my request for information that forms part of UHI governance and so should be easily attainable. I have requested information that is specified in the Student Placement Policy and Guidance Document. This information should be easily accessible to programme leaders and managers and I do not believe it could be considered a large amount of information, nor complex and specialised. I cannot see how this would only be accessible by "term-time contractual" staff. The information does not require any processing other than to redact personal information perhaps.

Other APs within the UHI have been able to provide me with this information promptly.

Section 10 of the FOI Act specifies that authorities must respond promptly and by the 20th working day following the date of receipt of the request. I do not believe that any exemption applies here. It seems you may be mixing up your GDPR and FOI legislation.

The Diploma in Person Centred Counselling and Psychotherapy has been running at Perth College since 2015 I believe and still has students enrolled and on placement. Inverness College has provided their information for this course for placements of Inverness students. I wish to see the information concerning Perth College students, please. Please prioritise this course over the other courses if necessary.

You are legally expected to comply with my request by 1 July or to send me a written refusal notice. If I do not hear from you by then, then I will treat this as a refusal to provide me with the information requested.

Yours sincerely,

S A Smith

Dear Perth College UHI,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Perth College UHI's handling of my FOI request 'Information regarding student placements'.

Unfortunately the response is not complete.
I requested:

"Please also provide the name of the course that the placement forms part of, the duration of the placement and the role of the person responsible for the student at the placement location.
Please could you let me know if there is a named individual/s specifically responsible for placement students within your AP and if not who would normally be responsible for placement students on the individual courses/their role."

The role of the person responsible for the student AT THE PLACEMENT LOCATION, refers to the member of staff at the placement location who is responsible for managing the student while on placement and interacting with the College/UHI team on each course. If you do not know the role, please give the name.

You have only provided me with the named individuals responsible for students at the College.

I also asked for the information for the last 5 years. I would have expected that this information would have been separated by academic year. It is not clear whether you have only provided me with one academic year or put all the information in together. Please can I have the information separated into academic years?

Please can you confirm that where you have not provided the location of the placement that you do not hold that information (file 3)?

You did not provide any copies of risk assessment documentation or signed tri-partite learning agreements. If the college does not hold these documents for the individual placement providers you have listed, please can you confirm this?

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/i...

Thank you.

Yours faithfully,

S A Smith