Dear Sir or Madam,

Please provide me with any rules, regulations or policies regarding the audio recording of appeal, grievance, disciplinary, etc. hearings in the University that were in effect on the following dates:

27 February 2008

20 May 2008

(If the relevant rules, etc. were the same on both dates then supplying them once with a statement to this effect is sufficient).

For the purposes of this request the term "appeal hearing" should be understood to cover appeals against the outcome of the recent "assimilation to the new grading structure and single salary spine" exercise, as well as any other meaning which the University may ascribe to this term.

For any such rules, policies, etc. that were in effect on the above dates please also provide the following:

- Details of where the rules, policies, etc. are documented (e.g. where in the Statutes or Ordinances of the University, in which minutes of the Personnel Committee, etc.);

- The date on which the rules, etc. were agreed; and

- The date on which the rules, etc. were promulgated to the University at large.

Yours faithfully,

Bruce Beckles

Dear FOI,

Please pass this on to the person who deals with complaints about your handling of Freedom of Information requests.

The statutory time limit has expired and I have not received a response to my FOI request regarding the regulations governing the audio recording of appeal hearings, etc. on particular dates. I am therefore requesting an internal review of the University's handling of this FOI request.

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

Yours sincerely,

Bruce Beckles

Dear FOI,

Thank you for your response to my e-mail of 6 February 2009, available on-line at the following URL: http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/re...

I note in passing that, if you intended your response FOI-2009-04 to be a response to *this* request, then you have not only worded it incorrectly but also replied to the wrong e-mail/FOI request from myself. Your response FOI-2009-04 specifically refers to a different FOI request made by myself (available at:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/re...
)

However, be that as it may, I am happy that you have finally decided to reply with the required information to this FOI request.

I am however confused by a statement made in your reply to my e-mail of 21 January 2009, namely:

"It is a generally accepted principle amongst HR professionals that such hearings are not recorded."

Having consulted various HR professionals of my acquaintance I find that they are unaware of this "principle". In addition, the HR professionals at the University were also apparently unaware of it until at least 27 February 2008. This can be deduced from the fact that I was given permission to record such a hearing (held on 27 February 2008) in an e-mail from the University's Pay and Grading Team dated 25 February 2008. (You have previously supplied me with this e-mail as part of your response to an FOI request, FOI-2008-41.)

Please therefore provide me with some authoritative references establishing that this is indeed a "generally accepted principle amongst HR professionals" as not only am I unable to find any, but, as mentioned above, the University's HR professionals seem to have been unaware of this principle until very recently. Failing that, perhaps you could explain why you believe it to be a "generally accepted principle amongst HR professionals"?

Yours sincerely,

Bruce Beckles