Thomson Reuters Enhanced Due Diligence Report on Qatar Campus Project
Dear University of Aberdeen,
I would like to see the findings of the Thomson Reuters Enhanced Due Diligence Report, obtained by the University of Aberdeen from the University of Plymouth, which informed the UoA's decision to open a new campus in Qatar this year. I am content that sensitive information regarding named individuals should be redacted where necessary, but wish to see all materials concerning the health, safety, human rights and employment rights of employees and workers.
Yours faithfully,
Joe Burn
Dear Joe Burn
I refer to your email of 08 September 2017 and, on behalf of the University, I acknowledge receipt and confirm that your request is being dealt with in terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002. In terms of the Act, a reply will be sent to you within 20 working days.
Yours sincerely,
Christina Muir
Administration Assistant
Library, Administration and Planning
University of Aberdeen
Email: [email address] Tel: 01224 273079
Core working hours: Monday - Friday: 9.00am - 1.00pm
The Sir Duncan Rice Library, LSC&M, Aberdeen University, Bedford Road, Aberdeen AB24 3AA
Dear Mr Burn
I regret that I am not in a position to respond to your request today. I anticipate that our response will be finalised instead next week.
Please accept my apologies for this delay. If I can be of assistance in the meantime, please do let me know.
Yours sincerely,
Iain Gray
University Data Protection Officer
University of Aberdeen
Dear Mr. Gray,
It is disappointing that the university has not provided the requested information within the time-frame prescribed by law. I should have appreciated some explanation of the reasons, if there are any.
However, I shall look forward to receiving a satisfactory response this week, and hope there will be no need to call for an internal review or to raise a complaint with the Scottish Information Commissioner.
Yours sincerely,
Joe Burn
Dear Mr Burn
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST FOI 2017-240
I refer to your email of 8 September 2017 requesting information from the Thomson Reuters Enhanced Due Diligence Report on the Al Faleh Group for Education and Academic Services (AFG).
Your request has now been considered under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, ‘the Act’. Please accept my apologies for the delay in our reply.
The information from the report is provided in the attached document. Please note that there is no information in the report relating to health and safety, and no risk reported in terms of human rights or employment rights relating to the AFG.
Should you be dissatisfied with this response, you have the right under the Act, to request a review. A request for review must be made within 40 working days of the date of this reply. It must include your name and address for correspondence and specify the request for information and the grounds for dissatisfaction with the decision. Please send your request for review to our mailbox, [University of Aberdeen request email]. The University will respond to your request for a review within 20 working days of receipt of your request.
If you are unhappy with the outcome of the University’s internal review process, you have the right to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner within 6 months from the date of receipt of the University’s review notice. Details on how to make an appeal to the Commissioner are available at www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal. Should you remain dissatisfied with the Commissioner’s decision, you have a right of appeal to the Court of Session on a point of law.
Yours sincerely,
Iain Gray
University Data Protection Officer
University of Aberdeen
Dear University of Aberdeen,
Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.
I am writing to request an internal review of University of Aberdeen's handling of my FOI request 'Thomson Reuters Enhanced Due Diligence Report on Qatar Campus Project'.
What you’ve given is merely an edited digest of some of the findings of the report, taken verbatim from your summary provided to UoA Senatus Academicus on 14th March 2017. This is not what I requested.
Although your summary lists the ‘range of risk factors’ which you say the report covered, you say nothing here about most of those you mention. Notably, there is nothing here about ‘Human rights and labour abuses’, which you say the report covered. The only findings you include relating to ‘Country related risk factors’ are on corruption and money-laundering, where the risk was ‘low’.
Other than that, the only details you provide are specifically regarding the Al Faleh Group and its chairperson Sheikha Al-Thani. Thomson Reuters Enhanced Due Diligence reports (according to the Thomson Reuters website) ‘also look into supply chains, distributors, and intermediaries that an organization may work with to assess all potential third party risk’. Where is this section of the report?
A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/t...
Yours faithfully,
Joe Burn
Dear Mr Burn
I refer to your email of 16 October 2017 and, on behalf of the University, I acknowledge receipt of your request for review. In terms of the Act, a reply will be sent to you within 20 working days.
Yours sincerely,
Christina Muir
Administration Assistant
Library, Administration and Planning
University of Aberdeen
Email: [email address] Tel: 01224 273079
Core working hours: Monday - Friday: 9.00am - 1.00pm
The Sir Duncan Rice Library, LSC&M, Aberdeen University, Bedford Road, Aberdeen AB24 3AA
Dear Mr Burn
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST FOI 2017-240: REQUEST FOR REVIEW
I refer to your email of 16 October 2017 in which you seek a review of the way in which the University handled your request for the findings of the Thomson Reuters Enhanced Due Diligence Report relating to the Qatar campus.
I am sorry that the digest provided in our initial response did not meet your expectations. The information provided in that digest nevertheless includes all of the findings that appear to be in scope of your original request: the report does not provide any further information on human rights and labour abuses or other risk factors, nor on supply chains, distributors and intermediaries. To evidence that statement, please find attached a copy of the due diligence report from which Thomson Reuters' sources and the personal information of H.E. Dr. Sheikha Aisha Bint Faleh Al Thani have been redacted in line with the scope of your request.
I hope this satisfies your request. If you are unhappy with the outcome of the review, you have the right to appeal to the Scottish Information Commissioner within six months from the date of receipt of this notice. Details on how to make an appeal to the Commissioner are available at www.itspublicknowledge.info/Appeal. Should you remain dissatisfied with the Commissioner’s decision, you have a right of appeal to the Court of Session on a point of law.
Yours sincerely,
Iain Gray
University Data Protection Officer
University of Aberdeen
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Joe Burn left an annotation ()
Awaiting internal review.