Information regarding student placements
Dear North Highland College,
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 North Highland College,
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 faithfully,
S A Smith
Good morning,
I am writing this email to confirm that we have received your FOI and it
is being processed.
Apologies for the delayed response, due to COVID-19 continuity efforts the
individual Members of staff responsible may take slightly longer than
usual to complete request.
The response will be issued in due course.
Struan Mackie
Secretary to the Board of Management
North Highland College - UHI
The North Highland College UHI is a registered charity (SC021215) The
contents of this message are intended for the addressee only and may
contain personal views which are not the views of the North Highland
College UHI unless specifically stated. The College does not accept
liability for any such views. Please note that all email traffic is
monitored for the purposes of security and spam filtering. As such,
individual e-mails may be examined in more detail to ensure that all
College employees are compliant with the College’s E-Mail Policy.
In respect to your submitted Freedom of information Request on Student
Placements;
Can you confirm that you are seeking details relating to this academic
year?
I look forward to responding to this request, once this detail is
clarified.
North Highland College – Freedom of Information
The North Highland College UHI is a registered charity (SC021215) The
contents of this message are intended for the addressee only and may
contain personal views which are not the views of the North Highland
College UHI unless specifically stated. The College does not accept
liability for any such views. Please note that all email traffic is
monitored for the purposes of security and spam filtering. As such,
individual e-mails may be examined in more detail to ensure that all
College employees are compliant with the College’s E-Mail Policy.
Dear Struan Mackie,
As per my email of clarification on the 5 June, Please could you give me the information for the current academic year and the previous 5 academic years?
Yours sincerely,
S A Smith
Good morning,
As outlined in your Freedom of Information Request below, please find the
following response from North Highland College. Responses are outlined in
blue:
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.
1. The subject network/programme associated with the placement activity;
- Subject network – Applied life Studies; Courses at NHC – HNC Childhood
Practice and HNC Social Services
2. A list of the names and student numbers of students undertaking
placement activity; - We are unable to provide the names of students
undertaking placements or their student numbers as this would identify
individuals and break GDPR legislation.
3. The nature of the placement i.e. duration, location, type of activity,
assessed or not assessed; On both HNC Childhood Practice and HNC Social
Services, students undertake a 60-day work placement which underpins the
completion of three units from the SVQ 3 Social Services: Children and
Young People award, which are all assessed. The type of activity
undertaken is variable depending on the nature of the placement and the
requirements of the SVQ units being studied. The placements take place in
a variety of care settings depending on the discipline being studied.
For HNC Childhood Practice this is normally in primary schools ; council
run or private nurseries. For HNC Social Services this is normally in
care homes for the elderly, residential care homes or supported
accommodation where clients have varied support needs.
4. Contact details of placement providers; and - We are unable to provide
this information as North Highland College do not hold agreements that
allow us to publicly name placement providers.
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 see
the UHI documentation attached – it includes a sample risk assessment and
tripartite agreement that contains the expectations of placement provider.
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 refer to point 2.
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 refer to point 1.
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. Yes, there are one or more named individuals
responsible for placements specific to these programme.
North Highland College - UHI
The North Highland College UHI is a registered charity (SC021215) The
contents of this message are intended for the addressee only and may
contain personal views which are not the views of the North Highland
College UHI unless specifically stated. The College does not accept
liability for any such views. Please note that all email traffic is
monitored for the purposes of security and spam filtering. As such,
individual e-mails may be examined in more detail to ensure that all
College employees are compliant with the College’s E-Mail Policy.
Dear North Highland College,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of North Highland College's handling of my FOI request 'Information regarding student placements'.
You have not provided me with the information I have requested. I appreciate that student information will need to be redacted. Please provide me with the placement records I have requested (as per section 4.3 in the UHI Student Placement Policy and Guidance document) with the personal information redacted.
I do not understand why you feel you need an agreement to name placement providers publicly. Other academic partners of the UHI have provided this information. From my original request: "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."
I do not wish to see sample risk assessments and tripartite agreements/ I wish to see the actual ones, with personal information redacted as necessary.
Thank you for letting me know that there are named individuals responsible for placement students within your AP. Please could you be more specific, with their names/roles.
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/i...
Yours faithfully,
S A Smith
Dear North Highland College,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
You have not responded to my request for an internal review of my FOI request within the designated 20 days.
Please can you confirm if the response is delayed and when I might expect a response or if you are refusing to provide me with the information noted in the review request?
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/i...
Yours faithfully,
S A Smith
Please find written confirmation that North Highland College will
undertake an internal review of this FOI request.
This will be undertaken using the Information Commissioner guidance,
available online.
Apologies for the delay in responding to this request, the request for an
internal review is now with the responsible officer and will the process
has begun immediately.
Secretary to the Board of Management
North Highland College - UHI
The North Highland College UHI is a registered charity (SC021215) The
contents of this message are intended for the addressee only and may
contain personal views which are not the views of the North Highland
College UHI unless specifically stated. The College does not accept
liability for any such views. Please note that all email traffic is
monitored for the purposes of security and spam filtering. As such,
individual e-mails may be examined in more detail to ensure that all
College employees are compliant with the College’s E-Mail Policy.
Freedom of Information Request. Outcome of internal review
S A Smith,
Please find the following outcome of your FOI internal review request:
In response to the written request to undertake an internal review on the
30^th August, the North Highland College Freedom of Information Officer
and the Director of Learning, Teaching and Quality undertook a robust
review of the original request and of the subsequent additional
information included in your last email communication.
As a result of this review, The North Highland College have deemed it
appropriate to provide additional information, as outlined in the
refreshed FOI response below and a redacted copy of the Student Placement
Handbook, as attached.
[Begins]
Q1. The subject network/programme associated with the placement
activity.
A. Subject network – Applied life Studies;
Courses at NHC – HNC Childhood Practice and HNC Social Services
Q2. A list of the names and student numbers of students undertaking
placement activity;
A. We are unable to provide the names of students undertaking placements
or their student numbers as requested as this information is protected
under General Data Protection Regulations and cannot be shared with third
parties.
Q3. The nature of the placement i.e. duration, location, type of activity,
assessed or not assessed;
A. On both HNC Childhood Practice and HNC Social Services, students
undertake a 60-day work placement which underpins the completion of three
units from the SVQ 3 Social Services: Children and Young People award,
which are all assessed. The type of activity undertaken is variable
depending on the nature of the placement and the requirements of the SVQ
units being studied. The placements take place in a variety of care
settings depending on the discipline being studied. For HNC Childhood
Practice this is normally in primary schools; council run or private
nurseries. For HNC Social Services this is normally in care homes for the
elderly, residential care homes or supported accommodation where clients
have varied support needs.
Q4. Contact details of placement providers.
A. Details of placement providers that North Highland College work in
partnership with are not in the public domain, nor are named contacts’
information at these placement providers. Therefore, this information this
information cannot be shared with third parties as per General Data
Protection Regulations.
Q5. 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.
Additional information asked: 2/8/2020 - Request for internal review –
“You have not provided me with the information I have requested. I
appreciate that student information will need to be redacted. Please
provide me with the placement records I have requested (as per section 4.3
in the UHI Student Placement Policy and Guidance document) with the
personal information redacted. I do not wish to see sample risk
assessments and tripartite agreements/ I wish to see the actual ones, with
personal information redacted as necessary.”
A. Please refer to the documentation attached – as it includes a sample
risk assessment and tripartite agreement that contains the expectations of
placement provider. We are unable to provide any actual placement
record documentation as referred to above for any specific student
placement as this information is not currently held by the College.
Q6. 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.
A. Please refer to point 4. Placement providers which are not in the
public domain cannot be shared with third parties as per General Data
Protection Regulations. Please also refer to point 3 above re. type of
business / organisation, type of placement activity taking place and
whether assessed or not assessed.
Q7. 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.
A. Please refer to point 1 for the name for the courses. Please refer to
point 3 re the duration of the placement. Please refer to point 5 and the
attached documentation for the role of the person responsible for the
student at the placement location.
Q8. 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.
A. Yes, there are one or more named individuals responsible for placements
specific to these programmes. In your request for an internal review you
have now requested in addition the names of these individuals. These names
are outlined in the placement handbook attached. This document is
currently under review and the named individuals identified may change for
future placement activities on these programmes. Please note that this
document is not in the public domain and only issued to matriculated
students and placement providers for the relevant programmes. As such the
contact details for the staff responsible have been redacted.
The North Highland College UHI is a registered charity (SC021215) The
contents of this message are intended for the addressee only and may
contain personal views which are not the views of the North Highland
College UHI unless specifically stated. The College does not accept
liability for any such views. Please note that all email traffic is
monitored for the purposes of security and spam filtering. As such,
individual e-mails may be examined in more detail to ensure that all
College employees are compliant with the College’s E-Mail Policy.
S A Smith,
Please find the following update in respect of your whatdotheyknow issued
Freedom of Information Request.
In line with a further internal review of this request, we believe that
the following information should have been initially disclosed as part of
your original FOI. We apologies that this was withheld and was not
subsequently released at the internal review stage.
You will find attached a spreadsheet file entitled “Placement
co-ordinators list HNC CP and SS NHC” which contains the names (column A)
and locations (column C) of our placement providers as per your request
and in addition their addresses (columns B, C & D) and phone numbers
(column E). Where it is not obvious what type of organisation a provider
is from their name, then additional information has been provided in the
name column (column A) e.g. Allsorts (after school club).
Also included by provider in this file is:
a. the type of provider (column F) – there are 2 setting types for the
purposes of placement. Care is used to indicate placement providers
for the HNC Social Services award, EECC (Early Education and Child
Care) is used for HNC Childhood Practice placement providers.
b. whether the placement is assessed (column G) - indicated by a Yes or
No
c. the length of placement (Column H) – number of days
d. the nature of the placement activity (Columns I, J, K, & L) –
Placement activities must allow the student to demonstrate the
requirements of the 3 SVQ units that are assessed as part of the HNC
the student is studying. The detailed specific requirements for each
unit are detailed in the SQA unit descriptor for each relevant SVQ
unit relating to the HNC award. All the relevant SQA descriptors are
attached (PDF file names by unit code) but can also be found on the
SQA website at the links below. Columns I, J, K & L indicate which 3
units apply to a particular setting type/HNC award and are also
summarised below.
For HNC Social Services – the 3 relevant units are:-
SVQ Unit 1 (column I) - H5LE 04 Develop Your Practice through Reflection
and Learning [1]https://www.sqa.org.uk/files/aq/H5LE04.pdf
SVQ Unit 2 (column J) - H5LD 04 Promote Health, Safety and Security in the
Work Setting [2]https://www.sqa.org.uk/files/aq/H5LD_04....
SVQ Unit 3 (column K) - H5RY 04 Promoting Effective Communication
[3]https://www.sqa.org.uk/files/aq/H5RY_04....
For HNC Childhood Practice – the 3 relevant units are:-
SVQ Unit 1 (column I) - H5LE 04 Develop Your Practice through Reflection
and Learning [4]https://www.sqa.org.uk/files/aq/H5LE04.pdf
SVQ Unit 2 (column J) - H5LD 04 Promote Health, Safety and Security in the
Work Setting [5]https://www.sqa.org.uk/files/aq/H5LD_04....
SVQ Unit 3 (column L) - H5LC 04 Promote Effective Communication
[6]https://www.sqa.org.uk/files/aq/H5LC_04....
Secretary to the Board of Management and Freedom of Information Officer
North Highland College - University of the Highlands and Islands
[7]NHC UHI Logo Email
The North Highland College UHI is a registered charity (SC021215) The
contents of this message are intended for the addressee only and may
contain personal views which are not the views of the North Highland
College UHI unless specifically stated. The College does not accept
liability for any such views. Please note that all email traffic is
monitored for the purposes of security and spam filtering. As such,
individual e-mails may be examined in more detail to ensure that all
College employees are compliant with the College’s E-Mail Policy.
References
Visible links
1. https://www.sqa.org.uk/files/aq/H5LE04.pdf
2. https://www.sqa.org.uk/files/aq/H5LD_04....
3. https://www.sqa.org.uk/files/aq/H5RY_04....
4. https://www.sqa.org.uk/files/aq/H5LE04.pdf
5. https://www.sqa.org.uk/files/aq/H5LD_04....
6. https://www.sqa.org.uk/files/aq/H5LC_04....
7. https://www.northhighland.uhi.ac.uk/
Dear Struan Mackie,
Thank you for your response with some additional information. It is not clear whether the information relates to the current academic year or any or all of the last 5 academic years. Please could you clarify this?
Yours sincerely,
S A Smith
W/c 9.11.2020 - My working days are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of
this week.
Out-with these days I will check my email periodically and make every
attempt to response as quickly as I can.
Struan Mackie
North Highland College - UHI
The North Highland College UHI is a registered charity (SC021215) The
contents of this message are intended for the addressee only and may
contain personal views which are not the views of the North Highland
College UHI unless specifically stated. The College does not accept
liability for any such views. Please note that all email traffic is
monitored for the purposes of security and spam filtering. As such,
individual e-mails may be examined in more detail to ensure that all
College employees are compliant with the College’s E-Mail Policy.
S A Smith,
Thank you for your email clarification regarding your recent FOI request.
Apologies for not being clearer in the subsequent email, please find the following additional information that should help make sense of our submission.
The database download that has been provided by North Highland College outlines the list of potential placement providers as of the 2020/21 academic year. The information provided has been taken from a live database and updated when new providers join or notify the college that they cannot provide a placement.
Because the data source is live, it does not include an legacy information (ie. providers who no longer provide placements) or indeed any detail for when providers have been added to this list. Although some providers may have been used within the five previous years as requested, we do not hold the information that could confirm this.
I hope the above makes sense but if you require any further information, please don't hesitate to get back in contact.
KRs
Struan
Freedom of Information Officer and Secretary to the Board of Management
Dear Struan Mackie,
Thank your recent correspondence.
I am a little confused, I have to say. My original request for information was for the records of placement activities which are held by academic partners of the UHI according to their policy reproduced in my initial request.
I was assuming from this policy that each course or programme would have a record/database of placement activities with each student's name, details of the placement and an indication that the required documentation had been completed. It was this information that I wished to see. I was happy for personal information to be redacted of course, but I wished to see that these records were being kept as per UHI policy and I wished to see those records for the last 5 academic years.
I have been provided with course handbooks with sample agreements etc. I have been provided with a broad overview of the placement activity, but I have not been provided with the information I requested which was the records of ACTUAL placement activity. The most recent information was a database of potential placement providers (not actual placement information).
It may be of course that these records do not exist and that North Highland College, UHI does not keep the records as stated in the UHI policy document. In which case I would appreciate it if you would state that explicitly.
Yours sincerely,
S A Smith
Dear Struan Mackie,
The Scottish Information Commissioner's Office advised me to ask you to "clarify whether the records exist or not (along with the other matters that you have highlighted", while awaiting the case being allocated to an investigating officer. I will be advising them that you failed to respond to my request for clarification of the 19 November.
Yours sincerely,
S A Smith
As of December 2nd 2020, I no longer work at North Highland College - UHI.
If your email is in relation to Board of Management matters, Subject
Access or Freedom of Information requests, please email
[1][email address] who now holds the Secretary to the Board of
Management post.
For all other communication, please email [2][North Highland College request email] where your
email will be forwarded to the appropriate member of staff.
Struan Mackie
North Highland College - UHI
The North Highland College UHI is a registered charity (SC021215) The
contents of this message are intended for the addressee only and may
contain personal views which are not the views of the North Highland
College UHI unless specifically stated. The College does not accept
liability for any such views. Please note that all email traffic is
monitored for the purposes of security and spam filtering. As such,
individual e-mails may be examined in more detail to ensure that all
College employees are compliant with the College’s E-Mail Policy.
References
Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
2. mailto:[North Highland College request email]
Dear North Highland College,
The Scottish Information Commissioner's Office advised me to ask you to "clarify whether the records exist or not (along with the other matters that you have highlighted", while awaiting the case being allocated to an investigating officer. I will be advising them that you failed to respond to my request for clarification of the 19 November.
Yours sincerely,
S A Smith
Many thanks for your email, the North Highland College UHI is currently
closed for Christmas and New Year and will reopen on Wednesday 6 January
2021.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
Kind regards,
The Admissions Team
Dear S A Smith,
I've taken over as Secretary to the Board of Management on the departure of Struan Mackie on 1st December. I do not appear to have been sent a copy of your email of 19th November. If possible, please send me a copy of it and I will take steps to try to address your queries.
Kind regards,
Fiona Sinclair
Secretary to the Board of Management
North Highland College - UHI
Thurso
Dear S A Smith,
Further to the email I sent to you on 5th January I can advise that I do now have access to prior correspondence in this case, including your email of 19th November. I am investigating the situation, having just taken over the case, and will endeavour to come back to you within one week of this date. I apologise for the delay which has arisen here.
Yours sincerely,
Fiona Sinclair
Dear S A Smith,
Further to my email of 7th January I regret that the information requested by you is not yet available. Additional checks have been carried out this week, and a small number of files containing requested information have been identified. Personal details are being redacted from these files and final checks are being carried out.
I anticipate that the College will be able to give you a final response before Thursday 28th January, and apologise again for the delay which has arisen in this case.
Yours sincerely,
Fiona Sinclair
Dear S A Smith,
Following my email of 14th January, I can advise that the College has given further consideration to your initial request of 3rd June 2020 in light of your email of 19th November. Your emails of 3rd June and 19th November are reproduced in the Appendix to this email.
It is noted that you are seeking records of actual student placement activity by partners of UHI, rather than sample documentation. A further detailed search of College records for academic year 2019/20 and the previous five academic years has been carried out. Having reviewed the contents of individual files, there are four broad categories of file that have been found which constitute actual placement records, namely:-
1.Risk assessments
2.Student placement lists
3.Individual student placement reports
4.Records of individual student placement contact
As all of these files contain third party personal data, the contents of each individual file have been reviewed in accordance with the FOISA Guidance, section 38: Personal Information Exemption Briefing, which can be found at http://www.itspublicknowledge.info/nmsru...
In particular, Section 38 (1)(b) tests have been carried out. These tests refer to disclosure of third party personal data, and determine whether the College can release any of the personal data within the four file types (numbered 1-4 above) to you.
The College has concluded that:-
a)The College does not have consent from third parties to disclose their personal data
b)The third party individuals have a right to privacy over their personal data
c)The College is not aware of any legitimate interest that you may have in obtaining such personal data
Therefore, as the College cannot rely on there being a legitimate interest, nor has it identified a lawful basis under which to disclose the data, the disclosing of this third party personal data would not be fair and lawful under section 38(1)(b), and as such the third party personal data is deemed exempt and is being withheld. Consequently, please find attached, with reference to the specific file types (numbered 1-4 above):-
1.Risk assessments (4 files) - the College deems it appropriate to release these files with third party personal data redacted as exempt under section 38(1)(b)
2.Student placement lists (20 files) – the College deems it appropriate to release these files with third party personal data redacted having considered its exemption under 38(1)(b)
3.Individual student placement reports – the College has deemed these files wholly exempt from disclosure under 38(1)(b), however a few exemplars of student placement reports (3 files) are provided for your reference
4.Records of individual student placement contact (3 files) – the College has deemed all bar three of these files as wholly exempt from disclosure under 38(1)(b). The College is releasing three of these files with personal data redacted and an exemplar student contact record file (1 file) is provided for your reference.
Whilst the College is not aware of any legitimate interest that you have in obtaining this personal data, you may wish to submit a representation for releasing this. The College will consider any such request when received.
I trust that this response together with the earlier responses on behalf of the College addresses all aspects of your request. If you believe that it does not, please reply to this email as soon as possible letting me know which aspects of your request you feel have not been addressed in order that I can take this forward.
If you are dissatisfied with the way in which North Highland College has dealt with your request, you are entitled, in the first instance, to request a review of the College's actions and decisions. Your request must specify the matter which gives rise to your dissatisfaction and it must be submitted within 40 working days of receiving this response - by email to [email address]. If you remain dissatisfied following the outcome of that review, you are thereafter entitled to apply to the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner within six months for a decision. You can apply online, by email to [email address] or by post to Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner, Kinburn Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS. Should you wish to appeal against the Office of the Scottish Information Commissioner's decision, there is an appeal to the Court of Session on a point of law only.
On behalf of the College I apologise sincerely for the length of time it has taken to provide the information you requested.
Yours sincerely,
Fiona Sinclair
Secretary to the Board of Management
North Highland College – UHI
Thurso
Appendix - Letters from S A Smith dated 3rd June, 2020 and 19th November, 2020
Original request 3/6/20:-
“Dear North Highland College,
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 Struan Mackie,
Thank your recent correspondence.
I am a little confused, I have to say. My original request for information was for the records of placement activities which are held by academic partners of the UHI according to their policy reproduced in my initial request.
I was assuming from this policy that each course or programme would have a record/database of placement activities with each student's name, details of the placement and an indication that the required documentation had been completed. It was this information that I wished to see. I was happy for personal information to be redacted of course, but I wished to see that these records were being kept as per UHI policy and I wished to see those records for the last 5 academic years.
I have been provided with course handbooks with sample agreements etc. I have been provided with a broad overview of the placement activity, but I have not been provided with the information I requested which was the records of ACTUAL placement activity. The most recent information was a database of potential placement providers (not actual placement information).
It may be of course that these records do not exist and that North Highland College, UHI does not keep the records as stated in the UHI policy document. In which case I would appreciate it if you would state that explicitly.
Yours sincerely,
S A Smith”
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S A Smith left an annotation ()
Referred to SIC