Student extenuating circumstances requests due to mental health issues

The request is waiting for clarification. If you are Max Copeman, please sign in to send a follow up message.

Dear University of Warwick,

I am writing to make an open government request for all the information to which I am entitled under the Freedom of Information Act. In order to assist you with this request, I am outlining my query as specifically as possible. If you need any clarification then please do not hesitate to contact me. Under Section 16 it is your duty to provide advice and assistance and so I would expect you to contact me if you find this request unmanageable in any way.

I am looking for information regarding mental health issues among students, specifically:
a) Since the beginning of the 2009-10 academic year, how many of the students (both undergraduate and postgraduate) who formally requested concessions from the university (i.e. submitted an Extenuating Circumstances form), cited mental health issues as their reason for the request?
b) How many of these mental health-related appeals have been deemed legitimate enough by the university/department for the concessions to be granted?
c) Which mental health issues in particular have been those most cited (e.g. anxiety, depression etc.) in the forms.

To be clear, I recognise that the sensitivity of mental health issues involves a level of confidentiality, but given that I am asking for the data and not the identities of students, I see no reason why this information can not be shared.

I request access to the information in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet format, where each of the 10 full academic years show all of the Extenuating Circumstances forms submitted with those relating to mental health clearly flagged and detailed with the specific issues/illness cited.
I understand that you are required to respond to my request within the 20 working days after you receive this letter. I would be grateful if you could confirm in writing that you have received this request.

I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours faithfully,
Max Copeman

infocompliance, Resource, University of Warwick



Thank you for your email which has been received by the University's
Information and Data Compliance Team. 

The University undertakes to respond to Freedom of Information Requests
within 20 working days and to Data Subject Rights Requests within one
month.

If your query is not related to a Freedom of Information Request or Data
Subject Rights Request, please redirect it to [1][email address].

If your query is not related to a data protection matter, please redirect
it to the relevant team at the University as your email will not be
forwarded.

Information and Data Compliance Team.

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infocompliance, Resource, University of Warwick

Dear Max,
Thank you for submitting an FOI request, requesting information from the University of Warwick. In order to comply with your request, we would be grateful if you could please clarify the following:
Please note, after further investigations in regards to your query and FOI Request- The University cannot provide a refinement of all academic departments. The University do have an online portal for academic years 2018/2019, therefore please could you confirm as to whether you are happy to receive information based on what we are able to provide within the (Cost limits) under S.12. The University therefore are able to offer, (one academic year). Please confirm whether you would like to proceed with the following information? Please let us know as soon as possible.
Please be advised that the University will be unable to proceed with your request until you have provided the requested clarifications and the 20 working day statutory time limit does not begin until clarification has been received. Should we not receive a reply to this email, your request will be closed in 20 working days.
Kind Regards
Information and Data Compliance Team

This message is sent in confidence for the addressee only.  It may contain privileged information.  The contents are not to be disclosed to anyone other than the addressee.  Unauthorised recipients must preserve this confidentiality and should please advise the sender immediately of the error in transmission.

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infocompliance, Resource, University of Warwick

Dear Max,

Just to follow up from my email below. Please note, it would exceed the costs limit as mitigating circumstances is dealt with at a departmental level (of which we have 33 academic departments). In light of the below, as stated the University's new online portal has been introduced for the 2019/20 academic year (not 2018/19) but even with this new online portal, the University would only be able to provide an answer to part (a) of your request as the online portal will just record the submission of the mitigating circumstances; the consideration and outcome will still take place at a departmental level at the University.

As such, in terms of offering a refinement the University could either offer to try and answer (a) for the 2019/20 academic year so far (October – January) or you could focus on 1 academic department for one academic year only (however depending on the number of students and cases in any academic department you may choose this may, in itself exceed the costs limit) as outlined below under S.12.

If you have any questions please let us know.

Kind Regards,

Information and Data Compliance Team.

This message is sent in confidence for the addressee only.  It may contain privileged information.  The contents are not to be disclosed to anyone other than the addressee.  Unauthorised recipients must preserve this confidentiality and should please advise the sender immediately of the error in transmission.

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infocompliance, Resource, University of Warwick

Max Copeman

 

Thank you for your email dated 20 ^ December 2019 requesting information
from the University of Warwick under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Please find below your request and our response.

I am writing to make an open government request for all the information to
which I am entitled under the Freedom of Information Act. In order to
assist you with this request, I am outlining my query as specifically as
possible. If you need any clarification then please do not hesitate to
contact me. Under Section 16 it is your duty to provide advice and
assistance and so I would expect you to contact me if you find this
request unmanageable in any way.

 

I am looking for information regarding mental health issues among
students, specifically:

a)            Since the beginning of the 2009-10 academic year, how many
of the students (both undergraduate and postgraduate) who formally
requested concessions from the university (i.e. submitted an Extenuating
Circumstances form), cited mental health issues as their reason for the
request?

b)            How many of these mental health-related appeals have been
deemed legitimate enough by the university/department for the concessions
to be granted?

c)            Which mental health issues in particular have been those
most cited (e.g. anxiety, depression etc.) in the forms.

 

To be clear, I recognise that the sensitivity of mental health issues
involves a level of confidentiality, but given that I am asking for the
data and not the identities of students, I see no reason why this
information cannot be shared.

 

I request access to the information in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
format, where each of the 10 full academic years show all of the
Extenuating Circumstances forms submitted with those relating to mental
health clearly flagged and detailed with the specific issues/illness
cited.

I understand that you are required to respond to my request within the 20
working days after you receive this letter. I would be grateful if you
could confirm in writing that you have received this request.

 

The University communicated with you regarding your request (email dated
20 January 2020), advising that from its preliminary assessment, in its
current format, your FOI request would be likely to exceed the appropriate
costs limit under section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. As
explained this is due to the way in the information requested is held – it
is not held in a central format as mitigating circumstances are dealt with
at a departmental level (of which there are 33 academic departments).
Therefore all academic departments would need to be contacted separately
in order to locate, retrieve and extract the required data for each of
their respective areas, as it is not accessible from any central system.

The University estimated that this would take in excess of the 18 hours
allowed under the Freedom of Information Act therefore the cost of
complying with the request would exceed the appropriate limit. Public
authorities are not obliged to work past the appropriate costs limit under
section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This is currently
£450, which equates to 18 hours of staff time calculated at £25 an hour as
set out in the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate
Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004.

The University offered guidance as to what would be manageable under the
cost limit however, as the University has not received any communication
containing a refined request, the exemption under Section 12(1) of the
Freedom of Information Act is now engaged.

If you are dissatisfied with the way in which your request has been
handled you can request an 9internal review within one month of our
response and, in the first instance, you are advised to follow the
procedure outlined here:
[1]http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/legal...

If you remain dissatisfied with how your request has been handled, you
have a right to appeal to the Information Commissioner at: The Information
Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Walter Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire,
SK9 5AF (0303 123 1113) ([2]https://ico.org.uk/) There is no charge for
making an appeal.

Yours sincerely,

Ian Rowley
Ian Rowley | Director of Development, Comms & External Affairs| External
Affairs
University House | University of Warwick | Coventry | CV4 8UW

 

References

Visible links
1. http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/legal...
2. https://ico.org.uk/