Statistics of number of parents / nominated persons contacted by university regarding student mental wellbeing.

The request was successful.

Dear University of Bristol,
Student ‘opt-in’ or ‘consent at registration’ was a hot topic in 2018. Essentially it involves lowering the bar at which parents or nominated others could be contacted by a university, when there are serious concerns that something bad might happen to an enrolled student, and/or where their health or wellbeing could be affected. The opt-in consent at registration would apply in circumstances that are not necessarily emergencies, and/or where there is no imminent threat to a student’s vital interests. Having an emergency contact procedure, that has been extended to cover students who had gone missing, with no specific policy or provision for the lower threshold of serious concerns, would not qualify as ‘opt-in’.
It is quite unthinkable that such an important policy would not have been implemented at your institution. Please provide me with the following more detailed information:
• How many students opted-in for each of the academic periods 2018-19,
2019-20
2020-21?
Please provide the above information according to year of study: 1st year, 2nd year, 3rd year.
For each period and cohort sub-division:
• How many students subsequently rescinded their consent?
• How many times was the opt-in consent used to contact somebody?

Yours faithfully,
Gillian Green

SecOInformation Governance, University of Bristol

1 Attachment

Dear Miss Green,

 

Freedom of Information Request (our reference FOI21-72)

 

We refer to your Freedom of Information request dated 6^th February. We
apologise for the delay in responding. In line with government advice, the
University has put in place measures to protect staff and students during
the current Covid-19 pandemic, including staff working from home. We hope
you will appreciate that this has led to some unavoidable disruption and
we regret that we have not been able to respond to requests as quickly as
we would wish.

 

You requested the following information:

 

“1. How many students opted-in for each of the academic periods 2018-19,
2019-20
2020-21?
Please provide the above information according to year of study: 1st year,
2nd year, 3rd year.
For each period and cohort sub-division:
2.  How many students subsequently rescinded their consent?
3.  How many times was the opt-in consent used to contact somebody?”

 

University’s Response

 

Further to Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the “Act”) we
confirm that the information requested is held by the University of
Bristol (the “University”).

 

However, this information is not centrally held. The information requested
is contained with thousands of individual student casework records. Each
record would need to be manually reviewed to determine whether a student
opted-in, if they subsequently rescinded their consent and whether the
opt-in consent was used to contact someone. To locate, retrieve and
extract this information over the past three years is estimated to exceed
the Freedom of Information appropriate limit (£450/18hrs) as set out at
section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act.  

 

We are able to provide details on whether a student currently has active
consent or had an active consent up to the point they finished their
programme. Please find attached the number of the students who registered
in the years shown and who also have a current consent or had one at the
time they left.

 

Our default way of working is to try to secure a student’s consent to
involve their emergency contact in their support arrangements rather than
making the decision for them by using the previously obtained opt-in
decision. It helps the student trust us and helps our working relationship
with them. While we do regularly use opt-in, we try to get their agreement
first to avoid needing to use the opt-in consent.

 

Internal Review Procedure

 

If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, then you have a
right under Section 50 of the Act to request an internal review.  All such
requests must be sent to us within 40 days, and must clearly state our
reference number (at the top of this email) and your reason for requesting
an internal review.  We will aim to respond to your request for an
internal review within 20 working days of receipt.

 

Your request for an internal review should be sent to
[University of Bristol request email], quoting your FOI reference number.
Alternatively, you could post it to:

 

Director of Legal Services

Secretary’s Office

University of Bristol

Beacon House

Queens Road

Bristol

BS8 1QU

 

Information Commissioners Office

 

Should you remain dissatisfied with the final outcome of the internal
review then you may apply directly to the Information Commissioner (the
“ICO”) for an independent review.  The ICO is the Government’s Independent
Body responsible for overseeing the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the
Data Protection Act 2018 and The Environmental Information Regulations
2004.

 

Please note the ICO will only review cases that have exhausted the
University’s internal review procedure. All correspondence to the ICO must
quote the University’s reference number and your reasons for your appeal. 
The ICO’s contact details are as follows:

 

The Information Commissioners Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

 

More information can be found at the ICO’s website
at [1]http://www.ico.org.uk

 

Kind Regards

 

Freedom of Information Team

University of Bristol

 

 

 

 

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www.ico.org.uk/

Dear University of Bristol,

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

I am writing to request an internal review of University of Bristol's handling of my FOI request 'Statistics of number of parents / nominated persons contacted by university regarding student mental wellbeing.'.

Dear University of Bristol
Please pass this message on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
Thank you for your response to my recent Freedom of information request 'Statistics of number of parents / nominated persons contacted by university regarding student mental wellbeing.'. You state that the information I requested is not centrally located. It would however appear that some of the information may have previously been collated for internal purposes.
I asked “How many times was the opt-in consent used to contact somebody?”.
You responded: “The information requested is contained with[in] thousands of individual student casework records...” and “Each record would need to be manually reviewed to determine … whether the opt-in consent was used to contact someone.”
I wanted to know how many times the scheme had been applied in each academic year. Typically, such information might not be readily available, but your reply to this freedom of information request does not tally with a previous ‘press release’ issued on or around 31 October 2019 in which it was reported that "In the academic year 2018/19, the scheme was used 36 times."
https://thetab.com/uk/bristol/2019/10/31...
My minimum expectation was that you would at least confirm the reported number. Has this information perhaps been collated by a different department who provided the original information used in the above press release? Are such things no longer being monitored?
In your reply it was stated that you “do regularly use opt-in”. How do you know this if you are not collecting relevant data somewhere within your institution? Please supply any alternative measures that you have used to assess your regular use of ‘opt-in’.
I am not satisfied with your response. Please conduct a review of your decision.

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

Yours faithfully,

Gillian Green

Dear SecOInformation Governance,
Hello,
I recently requested an internal review regarding my FOI. As it is overdue, I thought I would check that you had received my message. I understand that many people are still working from home and this may explain why you haven’t been able to help me.
Hoping to hear from you before too long,
Best wishes,
Gillian Green

University of Bristol FOI mailbox, University of Bristol

Thank you for your e-mail. The University will endeavour to respond to
your request under the Freedom of Information Act within 20 working days
of receipt. However, please note that due to the ongoing disruption caused
by the current Covid-19 pandemic, there may be unavoidable delays in
responding to your request. We would be grateful if you could bear with us
if we are unable to respond within the statutory time-frame, and we
apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause.

We may need to ask you certain questions to clarify your request to ensure
we fully understand what information is being requested. If so, the 20
working day deadline will be calculated once we have received such
clarification. 

 

The University's A-Z index can help in locating information that is
publicly available on the University's
website: [1]http://www.bristol.ac.uk/index/

 

Our Publication Scheme is available
at: [2]http://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/s...

 

The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) annually publish certain
data about students and higher education: [3]https://www.hesa.ac.uk/.
Bespoke datasets can be requested from
Jisc: [4]https://www.jisc.ac.uk/tailored-datasets.

 

For further information about the University's FOI procedure, please
see: [5]http://www.bristol.ac.uk/secretary/foi/

References

Visible links
1. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/index/
2. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/s...
3. https://www.hesa.ac.uk/
4. https://www.jisc.ac.uk/tailored-datasets
5. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/secretary/foi/

SecOInformation Governance, University of Bristol

Dear Ms Green

We confirm receipt of your email of 10 March requesting an internal review
of case reference FOI21-72, and apologise that (as you surmised) we are
not able to respond as quickly as we would like.

Please be assured that a full review will be undertaken and we will
respond as soon as possible.

Regards

 

Freedom of Information Team

University of Bristol

To: SecOInformation Governance ([University of Bristol request email])
From: Gillian Green ([FOI #724893 email])
Internal review of Freedom of Information request - Statistics of
Title: number of parents / nominated persons contacted by university
regarding student mental wellbeing.
Sent: 17/05/2021 16:00

Dear SecOInformation Governance,
Hello,
I recently requested an internal review regarding my FOI. As it is
overdue, I thought I would check that you had received my message. I
understand that many people are still working from home and this may
explain why you haven’t been able to help me.
Hoping to hear from you before too long,
Best wishes,
Gillian Green

show quoted sections

Dear SecOInformation Governance,
I am writing to remind you of my FOI request which should have been answered by now. Could you please confirm that you received it?
I understand that times are difficult, so this is just a polite reminder.

Yours sincerely,

Gillian Green

Henry Stuart, University of Bristol

2 Attachments

Dear Gillian,

 

I write in response to your request for an internal review of the
University of Bristol's answer to your freedom of information request. I
apologise for the delay in providing this response and thank you for your
patience.

 

Your Request

 

You submitted the following request for information, made under the
provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ("the Act"), on 6th
February 2021:

 

• How many students opted-in for each of the academic periods 2018-19,
2019-20, 2020-21?
Please provide the above information according to year of study: 1st year,
2nd year, 3rd year.
For each period and cohort sub-division:
• How many students subsequently rescinded their consent?
• How many times was the opt-in consent used to contact somebody?

 

Our Response

 

On 8th March 2021 you were told that the University holds information
relevant to your request but that it was being withheld from release under
section 12 of the Act, as to provide it would involve exceeding the
'appropriate limit'. The following explanation was given:

 

"However, this information is not centrally held. The information
requested is contained with thousands of individual student casework
records. Each record would need to be manually reviewed to determine
whether a student opted-in, if they subsequently rescinded their consent
and whether the opt-in consent was used to contact someone. To locate,
retrieve and extract this information over the past three years is
estimated to exceed the Freedom of Information appropriate limit
(£450/18hrs) as set out at section 12 of the Freedom of Information Act.  

 

We are able to provide details on whether a student currently has active
consent or had an active consent up to the point they finished their
programme. Please find attached the number of the students who registered
in the years shown and who also have a current consent or had one at the
time they left."

 

You have subsequently pointed out that [1]an article in The Tab reported
that the University made use of the opt-in consent to contact emergency
contacts 36 times during the 2018/19 academic year. You have also
contested that some data must be collected if the University knows that
the opt-in consent is being used regularly, as stated in our response. You
have asked for information about any alternative measures that are used to
assess the frequency of the opt-in being used.

 

Internal Review 

In order to reassure you that your request for an internal review has been
dealt with fairly, I confirm that I did not have any direct involvement in
the handling of your freedom of information request and the response
provided.

 

I have assessed three elements of the University's response to your
request as part of the internal review:

1) The University’s procedural compliance with the Act;

2) The University’s use of section 12 to withhold requested information
from release.

 

3) Whether information about the number of times opt-in consent has been
used is held.

1. The handling of the request.

The request was handled in a professional manner and the response was
formulated in line with the obligations conferred on the University by
sections 1 and 17 of the Act, i.e. the response confirmed that information
requested was held and informed you of the provisions contained in the Act
that the University was relying on to refuse disclosure.

 

The response was not sent within the statutory twenty working day
deadline by which the University was required to answer your request.
Instead it was sent on the twenty-first working day after it was received.
I apologise for the slight delay. 

 

Although the requested information was not provided, figures for students
who registered in the different years and who had current active opt-in
consent, or did so at their time of departure, were provided.

2. Application of section 12 to withhold requested information.

 

Having reviewed the substance of your request and the response provided, I
am satisfied that section 12 was applied legitimately to withhold some of
the requested information from release. In coming to this view I have
discussed the process required to produce the requested information with
the relevant teams involved. 

 

It is not possible to determine how many students opted in during each
academic year without interrogating thousands of individual records, as
the information is not collated centrally or easily reportable. The same
applies to how many students subsequently rescinded consent. It would
clearly take over the 18 hours appropriate limit, as outlined in
the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and associated guidance, to complete
this exercise.

 

The closest we can reasonable come to this within the permitted time is
the information provided previously, i.e. how many students who registered
in each of the years currently have active opt-in consent, or had it at
the time of their departure from the University. I have attached updated
figures, also including the number who opted out (i.e. ticked the box at
registration to say that they did not opt in). These figures differ from
those provided previously as many are current students and may have
amended their current opt-in status. There may also be some students who
did not answer the question to indicate whether they opted in or not, so
they are not included in the figures.

 

3) Whether information about the number of times opt-in consent has been
used is held.

 

Regarding your request for the number of times opt-in consent has been
used to contact emergency contacts, I have looked into what information
is held and where the figure reported in The Tab article came from. The
University did monitor and record the number of times opt-in consent was
used during the first year of the scheme. Therefore, I can confirm that
the figure given in the article is correct, i.e. 36 times during the
2018/19 academic year. However, no collation or central record has been
kept since. Hence, we would need to access and interrogate thousands of
individual case files to produce information for subsequent years. The
University's Student Wellbeing Service have reported that it is used
regularly but no further metrics or detail is currently kept. It can also
be used by some other University services. 

 

I am sorry that you were provided with incorrect information regarding the
use of the opt-in during the first year of the scheme. The FOI Team were
not informed that this information had been recorded.

 

The University is currently undertaking work on its information systems
that may result in more information relating to the use of opt-in consent
being recorded going forwards. This may mean that it could be more easily
reported on in the future.

 

Information Commissioner's Office

If you remain dissatisfied with the University’s response then it is your
right to submit a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office.
Further details can be found at [2]www.ico.org.uk, or you can write to:

Information Commissioner’s Office
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Tel: 0303 123 1113 

Please get in touch if you would like to discuss this matter further.

 

Yours sincerely,

Henry

 

 

show quoted sections

Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[FOI #724893 email]

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References

Visible links
1. https://thetab.com/uk/bristol/2019/10/31...
2. http://www.ico.org.uk/
3. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/