8 February 2021
RECORDS MANAGEMENT SECTION
The University of Edinburgh
File ref: T3/43/26
Old College
South Bridge
Edinburgh EH8 9YL
Jack Robson
Direct Dial 0131 651 4099
Sent by email:
request-684555-
Switchboard 0131 650 1000
xxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Email xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xx.xx
Dear Jack Robson
Freedom of information request
Thank you for your email of 14 August requesting information about student complaints
over the last 5 years. Please accept our apologies for the significant delay to our
response to your request. The University’s working practices are currently affected by
the Coronavirus outbreak.
The University of Edinburgh is a global university, rooted in Scotland. We are globally
recognised for our research, development and innovation and we have provided world-
class teaching to our students for more than 425 years. We are the largest university in
Scotland and in 2018/19 our annual revenue was £1.1 billion, of which £286 million was
research income. We have over 43,000 students and almost 16,000 staff. We are a
founding member of the UK’s Russell Group of leading research universities and a
member of the League of European Research Universities.
The University is committed to promoting a positive culture for working and studying, in
which all members of the University community treat each other with dignity and respect,
feel safe and fulfilled within our community, and are able to develop to their full potential.
Our continuing commitment to equality and diversity plays a vital role to ensure the
University’s success as a great civic institution for both students and staff. Equality and
diversity are guiding principles in our pursuit of academic excellence.
To further the University’s
Equality and Diversity Strategy, to meet the requirements of
the Scottish regulations under the Equality Act 2010 and the Public Sector Equalities
Duty, the University has set challenging equality outcomes and associated actions for the
period 2017-2021.
The University’
s Dignity and Respect Policy sets out the responsibilities of each member
of the University community and the support that is available. Section 5 of the
Policy outlines the options available for students and staff for reporting concerns, including
allegations of behaviour that breach the
Policy. As you will also see from the
Policy, the
University has appointed Dignity and Respect Advisors who are able to act as a first point
of contact for students and staff. In addition, students are able to consult the Advice
Place, which is an independent and confidential service run by the Edinburgh University
Students Association, and staffed by professional advisers.
UNIVERSITY SECRETARY Ms Sarah Smith
The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336
Members of the University community have access to a range of University support
services. These include counselling services, chaplaincy services for those of all faiths
and none, and advice from our Security team’s dedicated Crime Prevention Officers. A
full list o
f University support services, and links to the service web pages, is available on
our website.
The Advice Place offers free, confidential and impartial advice to students, including
support and help for those affected by racism. All Advisers are full-time employees of the
Students' Association and have been trained by Police Scotland.
Complaints
Complaints may be raised in a number of ways at the University. Students and members
of the public may make a complaint, for example about the conduct of a student or a
member of staff, using t
he Complaint Handling Procedure. Where a complaint is about
the conduct of a student, it may be handled as a breach of th
e Code of Student Conduct.
Complaints about the conduct of staff may be handled as breaches of t
he Disciplinary
Policy. Members of staff may raise a complaint about the behaviour of another employee
under t
he Grievance Policy, which may also progress to disciplinary proceedings. Staff
may report allegations of student misconduct to their head of area and these allegations
will also be handled under the
Code of Student Conduct.
The Complaint Handling Procedure
T
he University Complaint Handling Procedure (CHP), introduced in March 2013, is
designed to ensure that complaints are properly investigated and are given careful and
fair consideration. Complaint handling in the Scottish Higher Education sector falls under
the jurisdiction of the SPSO. The University acts in full compliance with the SPSO model
Complaint Handling Procedure. The CHP comprises two stages and sets time limits for
each stage.
Stage 1 ('frontline resolution') seeks to resolve complaints at local level within five
working days unless a short extension is given. Centrally, the University holds basic
quarterly information on the volume of Stage 1 complaints, which are managed by 20
individual schools and 70 support services. Collating information about Stage 1
complaints costs more than £600, the limit over which the University is not required to
respond to freedom of information requests.
Stage 2 ('investigation') is used for complex complaints or those which have not been
resolved at Stage 1, and should be completed within 20 working days unless an
extension is given. As explained in the CHP, the nature of the complaint may also
require parallel procedures to be initiated, such as the staff and student disciplinary
procedures as explained above.
Student complaints, last 5 years
You asked a series of questions concerning Level 1, 2 and 3 complaints made by
students at the University for the past five years. I explain below how complaint handling
in the university sector in Scotland follows the Model Complaint Handling Procedure
(CHP) prescribed by t
he Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO).
2
There are two stages to the University’s CHP, and therefore your questions about level 3
complaints do not apply in Scotland.
You also asked a series of questions pertaining to the Office of the Independent
Adjudicator (OIA). However, the OIA does not cover Scotland and the University does
not hold the information you requested with regard to the SPSO as the complaints are
not categorised in the way you list. The SPSO operates differently from the OIA and the
terminology used in the wording of your request is not consistent with the information we
hold. For example, there is no equivalent within SPSO of ‘final student acceptance’,
therefore your questions relating to mean and maximum times from initial complaint to
‘final student acceptance’ cannot be answered. The University does not refer cases to
the SPSO, cases are referred by the complainant. Therefore the University is only aware
of a referral if the case is advanced by the SPSO. There is no level 2 panel; the
University appoints an investigator.
SPSO enquiries cover academic appeals, complaints and conduct cases. As we do not
use the categorisations which you listed in the request we cannot provide this data; to do
so, we would need to look at each file to establish which of those categories it might fit
into. As the University is not required to create new information in order to respond to
freedom of information requests we do not hold the information you request.
Breakdowns into outcomes for stage 1 complaints are not held by the University. In
order to identify student complaints only within Stage 1 and 2 data it would be necessary
to check each case file as it also includes complaints from, for example, members of the
public. The mean time for relevant cases would then have to be calculated and outcomes
for relevant Stage 2 cases recorded. Any part of this is likely to incur a cost. Please let
me know if you would like an exact cost to be calculated.
However, you may be interested in the overall data on complaint handling up to the
academic year 2018/19 which is available on
our annual reports. This includes total
numbers of Stage 1 and 2 complaints, and a breakdown of outcomes at Stage 2. Please
use the Complaint Handling Reports link to the left of the page to access the information.
The information for the academic year 2019/20 is currently being prepared and will be
available on the website later in the year due to the impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.
You also asked for the past five years, per year, for the total cost and average (mean)
cost in legal fees the University spent in litigation regarding student complaints. Table 1
below provides the figures you requested.
Table 1: Total and average litigation costs spent by the University on student
complaints
Year
Total Cost Average (mean) Cost
2015
£13,192
£13,192
2016
£66,878
£33,439
2017
£31,566
£10,522
3
2018
£20,748
£10,374
2019
£0
£0
2020 (to date)
£0
£0
Of the resolved legal cases of student complaints for these years, no payment has been
made to students who had complaints upheld in court.
Finally, you asked what proportion were upheld, partially upheld or rejected, of all cases
which went to court.
Since 2015, a total of five cases involving student complaints were lodged in court. One
of these cases was partially upheld, and four did not proceed.
Right to review
If you are dissatisfied with this response, you may ask the University to conduct a review
of this decision by contacting the University's Records Management Section in writing
(e.g. by letter or email) or in some other recorded form (e.g. audio or video tape). You
should describe the original request, explain your grounds for dissatisfaction, and include
an address for correspondence. You have 40 working days from receipt of this letter to
submit a review request. The contact details for the Records Management Section are at
the top of this letter. When the review process has been completed, if you are still
dissatisfied, you may use t
he Scottish Information Commissioner’s guidance on making
an appeal to make an appeal to the Commissioner. If you do not have access to the
Internet, please let me know and I will provide a copy of the relevant web pages.
Privacy notice for information request applicants
The University of Edinburgh's request privacy notice, which describes how we use the
information you have supplied about yourself and your request, is published on the
University website.
Yours sincerely
Mark Hepworth
Information Compliance Officer
If you require this letter in an alternative format, such as large print or
a coloured background, please contact the Records Management
Section on 0131 651 4099 or email xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xx.xx.xx
4
Document Outline
