RFI between the Charity Commission for England and Wales & St Mary's University.

The request was refused by Charity Commission for England and Wales.

Dear Charity Commission for England and Wales,

You wrote to me on the 23rd of January 2020 reference number: KS/CC/1120192/C-535143

There is concern that St Mary's University which is a public body has not given proper consideration to the law when charging students up to the 8th April 2020 for halls of residence that the UK government and St Mary's University told them to vacate prior to the 23rd March 2020. Instead, there was a clear message from the government for students to return home from their halls of residence prior to the 23rd March 2020 and on the 24th March 2020 a clear message from St Mary's Interim VC in a YouTube broadcast that has now been made private by St Mary's University for reasons only known to them.

Nevertheless here is a copy of that YouTube broadcast and some background:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziNtu4WB...

https://zelo-street.blogspot.com/2020/10...

https://zelo-street.blogspot.com/2020/11...

Given the following 3 facts:

(1) St Mary's Univerity VC gave direction for students to go home via a now-removed or deleted YouTube broadcast on the 24th March 2020;

(2) St Mary's "student charter" makes clear that students must follow the direction given to them by the staff of the University (which they did with the direction to go home), and;

(3) The YouTube broadcast of the Vice-Chancellor stating that students who do not follow the St Mary's student charter will be disciplined.

Then there is no doubt that St Mary's University placed students in an impossible position.

(i) St Mary's University were unambiguous in their YouTube message on the 24th March for students to go home, yet charged students up to the 8th April 2020 for rooms that they were told not to use;

(ii) If students were disobedient to St Mary's University's VC and the 'student charter' then students faced potential disciplinary action from St Mary's University. However, if a student wasn't disciplined by St Mary's University and left the halls of residence on the 8th April 2020 (the date that they were charged up to) then students faced fines from the Metropolitan Police Service given the fact that there was the Coronavirus Regulations introduced that did not allow non-essential travel. This is supported by a Tweet on the 27th March 2020 from the Department for Education that stated: "stay put" [in your halls of residence] and a letter on the 9th April 2020 from the Universities Minister, Michelle Donelan MP that stated students were not permitted to travel.

You've claimed in your letter of the 23rd January 2021 to me:

The Charity Commission wrote to St Mary's University on the 19th of November 2020 and the Charity Commission received an in-depth and detailed explanation on the 14th December 2020 - can you please publish these 2 letters under an FOI request?

I say that; because the UK Government and St Mary's University gave clear direction for students to vacate their halls of residence and go home prior to the 23rd March 2020 which was reaffirmed by St Mary's University in a YouTube broadcast on the 24th March 2020, then there is a very strong allegation that the accommodation contract became 'frustrated' in law and St Mary's University failed to give the correct consideration to the law when charging students up to the 8th April 2020 for accommodation that students were directed to vacate.

Legal principles:

It is a well-established principle of public law that “a person entrusted with a discretion
must, so to speak, direct himself properly in law. He must call his own attention to the
matters which he is bound to consider. He must exclude from his consideration matters
which are irrelevant to what he has to consider”: per Lord Greene M.R. in Associated
Provincial Picture Houses Ltd. v. Wednesbury Corporation [1948] 1 KB 223, at 229.

There is no doubt the Coronavirus pandemic was not a consideration when the students entered into a contract for accommodation with St Mary's University, however, the pandemic materially changed the accommodation contract in March 2020 and a matter of law has arisen due to this - I claim that St Mary's University has no legal authority to charge students beyond the 23rd March 2020, yet they have charged many students beyond the 23rd March 2020 culminating in the allegation that hundreds of thousands of pounds has been unlawfully overcharged to students by St Mary's University.

Additionally, The Charity Commission's own guidance sets out purposes that cannot be a charitable purpose and non-compliance with the Coronavirus Regulations (which is a public policy) would allegedly render St Mary's University non-compliant with the Charity Commission own conditions.

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk...

Purposes that cannot be charitable purposes.
Your organisation’s purpose cannot be a charitable purpose if it:
• does not fall within the descriptions of purposes and is not for the public benefit, including if it is:
• unlawful or against public policy

This is a serious allegation that requires public interest scrutiny, as such, I am reaffirming my request for the following information which clearly satisfies the public interest test:

The Charity Commission wrote to St Mary's University on the 19th of November 2020 and the Charity Commission received an in-depth and detailed explanation on the 14th December 2020 - can you please publish these 2 letters under an FOI request?

Yours faithfully,

Steven Carter

FOI Requests, Charity Commission for England and Wales

Thank you for submitting your Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the
Charity Commission. We will respond within 20 working days.
 
If you have used this email address for a query that is not an FOI
request, we will not reply.
 
Please contact [1]Charity Commission to resubmit general enquiries.
 
This is an automated email. Please do not reply to this email.
 
 
 
______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com
______________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

Steven Carter left an annotation ()

Here is the link to the letter that I've received from the Charity Commission.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r3I4...

RIGA FOI (Queue), Charity Commission for England and Wales

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Carter

Please find attached the Commission's response to your request for
infromation.

Yours sincerely

Data Protection and information Rights Team

Charity Commission

W: [1]https://www.gov.uk/charity-commission

[2]Twitter Follow us on Twitter | @ChtyCommission
[3]Bar
[4]Logo

______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com
______________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

RIGA FOI (Queue), Charity Commission for England and Wales

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Carter

Please find attached the Commission's amended response to your FOI
request.  Please accept our apologies for the error regarding the
submission date of your request

Yours sincerely

Data Protection and Information Rights Team

Charity Commission

W: [1]https://www.gov.uk/charity-commission

[2]Twitter Follow us on Twitter | @ChtyCommission
[3]Bar
[4]Logo

______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com
______________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

Dear Charity Commission for England and Wales,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of Charity Commission for England and Wales's handling of my FOI request 'RFI between the Charity Commission for England and Wales & St Mary's University.'.

Your exclusion clause under the legislation frustrates what is in the public interest. I am collating information with the view to bring a legal challenge against St Mary's University for unlawfully charging students beyond the 23rd March 2020 (upto the 8th April) for rooms which they were told to vacate by both the government and St Mary's Interim Vice Chairman in a 24th March 2020 YouTube broadcast. As such, this is very much a public interest matter given the allegation that St Mary's University has unlawfully overcharged students many hundreds of thousands of pounds collectively

I claim that you have no reasonable grounds to apply an exemption to this FOI request under the public interest test and you are simply protecting the interests of the University.

I am giving you 28 days to reconsider your position before I apply to the ICO to ask that legal action is taken to obtain this vital public interest information.

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

Yours faithfully,

Steven Carter

FOI Requests, Charity Commission for England and Wales

Thank you for submitting your Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the
Charity Commission. We will respond within 20 working days.

If you have used this email address for a query that is not an FOI
request, we will not reply.

Please contact Charity Commission to resubmit general enquiries.

This is an automated email. Please do not reply to this email.

______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com
______________________________________________________________________

Dear FOI Requests,

I have received a similar non answer from the Charity Commission similar to this request.

Is the Charity Commission set up to protect charities from public scrutiny?
It certainly seems this is the case.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/r...

Yours sincerely,

Steven Carter

FOI Requests, Charity Commission for England and Wales

Thank you for submitting your Freedom of Information (FOI) request to the
Charity Commission. We will respond within 20 working days.

If you have used this email address for a query that is not an FOI
request, we will not reply.

Please contact Charity Commission to resubmit general enquiries.

This is an automated email. Please do not reply to this email.

______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com
______________________________________________________________________

RIGA, Charity Commission for England and Wales

1 Attachment

 

 
 
Dear Steven Carter
Please find attached the Commissions response to your request for a
decision review.
Yours sincerely
Ms Jan Provost (Information Rights and Complaints Manager)
Please do not reply to this email.  Please email
[email address] to submit another FOI
 
 
 
 
 

W: [1]https://www.gov.uk/charity-commission

[2]TwitterFollow us on Twitter | @ChtyCommission
[3]Bar
[4]Logo

[5]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com
______________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
5. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

FOI Requests, Charity Commission for England and Wales

1 Attachment

 

 
Dear Steve Carter
 
Please find attached the Commissions response to your request for
information.
 
Yours sincerely
 
Ms Jan Provost (Information Rights and Complaints manager)
 
Please do not reply to this email. For new requests under FOI please use
[email address]
For requests for a review of our decision please use
[email address]
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

W: [1]https://www.gov.uk/charity-commission

[2]TwitterFollow us on Twitter | @ChtyCommission
[3]Bar
[4]Logo

[5]https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...

______________________________________________________________________
This email has been scanned by the Symantec Email Security.cloud service.
For more information please visit http://www.symanteccloud.com
______________________________________________________________________

References

Visible links
1. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...
5. https://www.gov.uk/government/organisati...