Projects with Arms Companies
Dear University of Bath,
I am writing to formally request information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Specifically, I would like to request the following details:
Does the university have any joint initiatives or research projects with arms and defence companies?
- This includes, but is not limited to, companies such as Airbus, Babcock International, BAE Systems, Boeing, Chemring, Elbit Systems, General Dynamics, General Electric, Honeywell, Huntington Ingalls, JCB, L3Harris Technologies, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, Meggitt, Northrop Grumman, QinetiQ, Rolls-Royce PLC, RTX (formerly Raytheon Technologies), Smiths Group and Thales.
What is the nature of these relationships?
If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request. If you need any clarification on any part of my request, then please contact me using this email address.
Under your section 16 duty to provide advice and assistance I would expect you to contact me if you find this request unmanageable in any way before the twentieth working day. If for any reason you are not able to fulfil all parts of my request, please respond to those that you can respond to, setting out your reasons for not responding to the entire request.
Should you require any clarification or further details regarding this request, please do not hesitate to contact me via email. I am more than willing to discuss and refine the request as needed.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your response.
Yours faithfully,
Beth Appleton
Good afternoon
Please accept this email as acknowledgement that your request has been received by the University of Bath and will be processed in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act.
A response will be issued within the statutory timeframe of 20 working days.
Best wishes
Rebecca Warhurst
Freedom of Information Officer
University of Bath
Address: 4 West 3.10, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Telephone: +44 (0)1225 383225
Email: [email address]
Good afternoon
In respect of your FOI request below, I am emailing for further clarification.
The scope of your request is such that, where you mention joint initiatives, a number of Departments would have to be approached. This has the potential to result in the request exceeding the statutory cost limit.
In terms of centrally held information relating specifically to research projects, it is possible to search on the company names you have listed. However, please confirm exactly the types of projects in which you are interested. There may be projects with the listed companies that have nothing to do with defence or arms as these companies are broad, industrial manufacturing businesses with significant non-defence activities. Are these non-defence related activities within the scope of the request?
Finally, please confirm whether your request is limited to current research projects only as no timeframe has been provided.
I have placed your request on hold pending your further clarification.
Best wishes
Rebecca Warhurst
Freedom of Information Officer
University of Bath
Address: 4 West 3.10, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Telephone: +44 (0)1225 383225
Email: [email address]
Dear Freedom of Information,
Thank you for your response.
Would it be possible for you to provide information on any joint initiatives to the extent that it stays within the cost limit of a FOI request?
On the research projects, please would you be able to provide information on non-defence related projects with the stated companies, explaining the nature of these projects so that this is clarified.
Finally, would you be able to provide information on any projects/initiatives that are ongoing or have ended in the past five years (ie. since Sept 2019).
Many thanks.
Yours sincerely,
Beth Appleton
Good morning
In respect of your email below, I can confirm that a public authority is not obliged to work up to the FOI statutory cost limit. With this in mind, the element in respect of initiatives/joint initiatives/projects would still exceed the cost limit as it stands. This information could potentially be held by individual academics and it is not possible to locate and retrieve this within the 18 hour statutory cost limit.
In terms of the research projects, I can confirm that it would be possible to provide the non-defence related projects specified in your request which is held centrally, subject to the application of any relevant exemptions. Please let me know if you are happy to proceed with this element of the request, bearing in mind the remainder would attract an excess cost refusal.
Best wishes
Rebecca Warhurst
Freedom of Information Officer
University of Bath
Address: 4 West 3.10, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Telephone: +44 (0)1225 383225
Email: [email address]
Please note my working days are Monday,
Tuesday & Thursday
Rebecca Warhurst would like to recall the message, "Freedom of Information request - Projects with Arms Companies".
Good afternoon
In respect of your email below, I can confirm that a public authority is not obliged to work up to the FOI statutory cost limit. With this in mind, the element in respect of initiatives/joint initiatives/projects would still exceed the cost limit as it stands. This information could potentially be held by individual academics and it is not possible to locate and retrieve this within the 18 hour statutory cost limit.
In terms of the research projects, I can confirm that it would be possible to provide the non-defence related projects specified in your request which is held centrally, subject to the application of any relevant exemptions. Please let me know if you are happy to proceed with this element of the request, bearing in mind the remainder would attract an excess cost refusal.
Best wishes
Rebecca Warhurst
Freedom of Information Officer
University of Bath
Address: 4 West 3.10, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Telephone: +44 (0)1225 383225
Email: [email address]
Dear Rebecca,
Thank you for your response.
I can confirm that I would I would like to know about defence and non-defence related projects that are held centrally.
However, can you also advise on how it would be possible to get information about information not held centrally because I do not think that without this it is possible to get a true picture on the topic.
Many thanks.
Yours sincerely,
Beth Appleton
Good afternoon
I have re-opened your request as confirmed below in respect of centralised research information.
In terms of joint initiatives/projects that may be held locally by Departments and/or by individual academics, it is not possible to locate and retrieve this, in its entirety, within the 18 hour cost limit. To refine this element of your request, you may wish to nominate a specific Department and within that, allow the University to approach a limited number of academics who are randomly selected to determine if they hold any information relevant to your request.
I would suggest that the majority of the information will be captured by the information held centrally so I am not sure how useful an exercise this would be.
Best wishes
Rebecca Warhurst
Freedom of Information Officer
University of Bath
Address: 4 West 3.10, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Telephone: +44 (0)1225 383225
Email: [email address]
Dear Rebecca,
Many thanks for your response and advice.
If the majority of the information I seek can be found centrally, I am happy to go down this route for now.
Many thanks,
Beth
Good morning
Further to your Freedom of Information request below, I am writing to inform you that information held in respect of this request is subject to public interest considerations in relation to s43(2) Commercial Interests. This is a qualified exemption and a further 20 working days is required to consider the specific public interest arguments.
This request is therefore being extended under s10(3) of FOIA.
The revised deadline for your response is the 15th November 2024 but please be assured that a response will be with as soon as possible.
Best wishes
Rebecca Warhurst
Freedom of Information Officer
University of Bath
Address: 4 West 3.10, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Telephone: +44 (0)1225 383225
Email: [email address]
Good afternoon
Please find attached response in respect of Freedom of Information Request
246/24.
Best wishes
Rebecca Warhurst
Freedom of Information Officer
University of Bath
Address: 4 West 3.10, Bath BA2 7AY, UK
Telephone: +44 (0)1225 383225
Email: [1][email address]
References
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