Ucu marking boycott

The request was partially successful.

Dear University of Sussex,

Please could you send me everything you hold about Ucu plan to boycott essay marking from April. Any preparations you have made or whatever, anything like that,

Yours faithfully,

Alex Jones

Freedom of Information, University of Sussex

Dear Mr Jones,

Thank you for your below email.

Your request is being dealt with under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and will be answered within twenty working days following the date of receipt, i.e. by 25 April 2014.

Yours sincerely,

Alice Robertson

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Freedom of Information, University of Sussex

1 Attachment

Dear Mr Jones,

I write following your request dated 26 March 2014 (below) under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

I attach documents that the University holds in relation to your request for: "everything you hold about Ucu plan to boycott essay marking from April. Any preparations you have made or whatever, anything like that". Please note that some redactions have been made to these documents to protect the personal data of individuals. This information is withheld under section 40 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act: data protection. This is an absolute exemption and therefore the university is not obliged to apply the public interest test.

The University also holds other documents as follows:

1. UCEA, the employers’ association which conducts national pay negotiations on behalf of participating HEIs, has sent information and guidance to its members in relation to the potential boycott. However, this information has been sent to us with the understanding that it will be kept confidential. We are therefore withholding this information under section 41 of the Freedom of Information Act: information provided in confidence. Although this is an absolute exemption, the University has considered the public interest in releasing this information because the law of confidence recognises that a breach of confidence may not be actionable when there is an overriding public interest in disclosure. Although the University acknowledges there is an interest in public authorities being transparent in their relationships with third parties, in this instance we consider that the law of confidence overrides any such interest.

2. A discussion was held at the Vice-Chancellor's Executive Group meeting on 24 March 2014 in relation to UCEA’s guidance. However, in accordance with the University's Information Governance Policy the notes of management groups are viewed as draft (not for further circulation) for a standard period of six months after the meeting in question. We are therefore withholding this information under section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act: documents intended for future publication. We have considered the public interest in releasing these notes earlier than planned, however we consider that there is no overriding public interest in prematurely releasing the draft note of this management meeting, and there is a greater public interest in allowing the University to keep draft notes of management discussions confidential for a reasonable period after meetings have taken place.

If you are not satisfied with the University’s response to your request, you may ask the University to review it. If you wish to do this, please write to Owen Richards, Academic Secretary at [University of Sussex request email] in the first instance. Full details of our FOI complaints procedure, including how to complain to the Information Commissioner, are at:
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/ogs/policies/inf...

Yours sincerely,

Alice Robertson

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Can you ask the academic secretary to look again at this please for two reasons

first the things that you have removed because it's peoples personal data, I accept that but it makes it very difficult for me to understand the docs in context, so eg page 2 of your PDF the email has the name of the persons department blacked out. That information was contained in the original and doesnt need to be their name so could you maybe identify what school they work for or what position they have EG head of school.

also with the minutes of The Vice Chancellor's Executive Group, you say they get published after six months but Ive looked on your website and can't see any minutes of that group from any time, even six months ago. I think that the "documents intended for future pulication" clause is more about things that are actually going to be published to the public, not just confirmed and kept in a safe somewhere, so please think again about whether you did this one right. And if I'm wrong and the The Vice Chancellor's Executive Group minutes are on your website I apologise, please could you tell me where to find them and ignore this paragraph

Thanks
Alex

Freedom of Information, University of Sussex

Dear Mr Jones,

Thank you for your email dated 27 April 2014 (below) concerning our response to your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

The University is handling your email as a request for an internal review of our original response of 25 April 2014. In accordance with guidance from the Information Commissioner, we will respond within 20 further working days following the date of receipt of your request, i.e. by 26 May 2014.

Yours sincerely,
Owen Richards
Academic Secretary

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Freedom of Information, University of Sussex

Dear Mr Jones
Apologies, 26 May 2014 is a bank holiday so the deadline for response will be the next working day which is 27 May 2014.
Yours sincerely
Alice Robertson

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Freedom of Information, University of Sussex

Dear Mr Jones

Following my colleague’s email of 29 April 2014, I have undertaken a review of the University's approach to responding to your Freedom of Information enquiry of 26 March 2014. Apologies for the delay in sending you my response.

Your request was read by senior University staff including the Director of Human Resources, and detailed consideration was given to level of information the University could release.

Having reviewed the response sent to you and considered the reasons for your review request, I have the following comments:

1. The documents that were sent to you in response to your request had personal information removed from them. This was to protect the identity of the individual who corresponded with the PVC Teaching and Learning and the Academic Registrar in relation to their School. Although you say that the redactions make the information difficult to understand, upon review it is clear to me that a member of School staff had concerns about the potential impact of strike action on their School, and was seeking advice and guidance from senior university managers on how to manage any impact. That a member of School staff had these concerns is understandable, and equally that the University should wish to withhold their identity is also understandable, and section 40 (2) is the appropriate exemption. My view is that releasing the name of the School and/or the title of the staff member could risk revealing the identity of the individual concerned. I do not agree that the redactions prevent an understanding of the substance of the information, and therefore my view is that the exemption should be maintained.

2. I have looked at Sussex Direct and found that, although there were VCEG meeting notes published up to April 2013 (dating from the publication of the University's Information Governance Policy), meeting notes were missing from April to November 2013. Having enquired about the missing notes, my understanding is that administrative staff had neglected to update Sussex Direct recently, and this had now been rectified.

This email concludes the University's response to your Freedom of Information request. If you remain dissatisfied, you have the right of appeal to the Information Commissioner's Office. Contact details may be accessed via our website at:
http://www.sussex.ac.uk/records/1-2-10-3...

Yours sincerely
Claire Baines
Academic Secretary

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Dear Miss Baines,

Thank you for this but how do I go on sussex direct? I looked it up on google and it looks like you need a password. How do i get a password? Thanks

Yours sincerely,
Alex Jones

Dear Freedom of Information,

Hello sorry to ask this again but mrs Baines said in her reply that I can find the minutes on 'Sussex Direct" but it looks like only your students can use that site so I really dont think you can say that they are published publicly?

Yours sincerely,
Alex Jones

Freedom of Information, University of Sussex

1 Attachment

Re: Case: FS50545140 (Complainant Mr Alex Jones)

Dear Mr Jones

Further to the above complaint registered with the Information Commissioner’s Office I enclose the information you have sought from VCEG minutes.

Having released this information to you ahead of our normal practice of publication via Sussex Direct I trust that this brings your FOI request (and subsequent complaint to the ICO) to a close.

Yours Sincerely
Claire

Claire Baines
Office of Governance and Secretariat
University of Sussex
Tel 01273 877019

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