Thank you for your email. 

If you have submitted a Freedom of Information Request or Subject Access
Request, please accept this as acknowledgement of your request.   

All other enquiries will be responded to in due course. 

Yours sincerely 

Information Governance Unit  

University Secretary’s Office 

The Palatine Centre
Stockton Road
Durham
DH1 3LE 

w: [1]https://www.dur.ac.uk/university.secreta...

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Dear Requester,

I am contacting you in relation to your below Freedom of Information
request:

1) Electronic copies of the University Executive Committee ('UEC') minutes
for the academic year 2022/23.

2) Electronic copies of the Senate minutes for the academic year 2022/23.

I can confirm this email serves as a Reasonable Time Notice regarding your
request. This is due to the need for Durham University to consider the
Public Interest in disclosing the requested information to you.

Guidance from the Information Commissioners Office states the following:

Section 10(3) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 enables an authority
to extend the 20 working day limit up to a ‘reasonable’ time in any case
where;

• It requires more time to determine whether or not the balance of the
public interest lies in engaging an exemption; or

• It needs further time to consider whether it would be in the public
interest to confirm or deny whether the information is held.

I hope you understand this position and the extra time needed to consider
the following exemption:

Section 43 (Commercially Sensitive)

All efforts will be made to provide you with a response as soon as is
possible.

Can I thank you for your patience.

Yours sincerely

Information Governance Unit

Durham University

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Information Governance Unit, University Secretary’s Office

e: [1][Durham University request email]

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

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This message is intended solely for the addressee(s) in the first instance
and may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended
recipient, please notify the sender, delete the message from your system
immediately and do not disclose the contents to any other party.

References

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1. mailto:[Durham University request email]

Dear Mr Park

We apologise for the extended wait for a response to your request. The information requested is held within approximately 40 separate documents each of which are subject to the consideration of withholding information when balanced against the weight of public interest. As each of these sections of information are taken individually to ascertain the interests in withholding or disclosing the information, this has led to an increased amount of time being needed to respond to your request.

We are progressing with your request and aim to respond before Friday 17th November. Once again we apologise that we have not been able to respond sooner.

Yours sincerely

Information Governance Unit
Durham University

Information Governance Unit, University Secretary’s Office
e: [Durham University request email]

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:
This message is intended solely for the addressee(s) in the first instance and may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender, delete the message from your system immediately and do not disclose the contents to any other party.

show quoted sections

Dear Requester

Thank you for your request for information from Durham University.
Colleagues have provided the information below/attached in response to
your questions.

1) Electronic copies of the University Executive Committee ('UEC') minutes
for the academic year 2022/23.

2) Electronic copies of the Senate minutes for the academic year 2022/23.

Please see the attached documents. These have been redacted as followed:

UEC Minutes

These minutes include information on the following which have been
considered against exemptions as described below:

Staff names and personal information

Information regarding industrial action

Student Admissions and recruitment strategies

General university strategic aims

Security controls including areas of staff training, systems and physical
security

University financial information

Exemption Applications:

Section 40 – Personal Information

The University confirms that it holds the information you have requested.
However, due to the inclusion of names and personal information, it could
be possible to identify the individual(s) concerned and therefore the
information is personal data as defined by the Data Protection Act 2018.
The University therefore refuses your request under section 40(2) of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. Areas where this exemption applies have
been redacted accordingly. In such circumstances, S40 confers an absolute
exemption on disclosure. There is, therefore, no public interest test to
apply.

Section 43 – Commercial Prejudice

The University confirms that it holds the information that you have
requested. However, the University declines your request for release under
section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Section 43(2)
of the FOIA exempts information from release where its disclosure under
the Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the commercial interests
of any person. As section 43(2) is a qualified exemption, the University
has conducted a public interest test and has concluded that release of
this data would prejudice the University’s commercial interests.

The University recognises that there can be a public interest in
understanding the effects and mitigations in relation to industrial
action, student admission and enrolment strategies and the general
strategic aims of the university. However, as a disclosure under the FOIA
is in effect a release of information to the world rather than to an
individual, release of the requested information could significantly
weaken our current position by:

allowing trade unions to leverage this information in any future disputes
would be likely to prejudice the University’s ability to manage any future
industrial action, thereby weakening the university’s negotiating position
and impacting on future income.

allowing competitors to have a better understanding of our market share
strategies and adapt their own plans accordingly. Consequently, the
University’s position in this specialist market would be undermined as
competitors would be able to tailor their own admission’s strategies to
match or exceed our own targets.

informing the University’s competitors of the strategies the University
considers, implements and/or may implement in future, disclosure of this
information would be likely to prejudice the university’s commercial
interests as this would allow the university’s competitors to tailor their
own strategies in direct competition to the university, therefore
weakening the university’s position in the highly competitive Higher
Education market.

Section 31 – Law Enforcement

Durham University believes that releasing information relating to the
security controls that the University implements may be likely to
prejudice the security of the University’s systems, as it may enable
criminals to identify and take advantage of any potential weaknesses
within the security of the University’s systems. This would be likely to
put the University’s information, including financial and sensitive
personal data at risk.

A public interest test has been applied and has decided that the
disclosure should be withheld under Section 31 (1) (a) of the Freedom of
Information Act 2000 (FoIA), which is a qualified exemption.

The University has concluded that the public interest test favours
non-disclosure. Although disclosure of this information may increase
visibility and promote accountability and transparency and may help to
demonstrate how the University manages and delivers its functions,
disclosure of the information requested could place some of the
University’s key systems at risk of criminal activity.

Section 22 – Future Publication

The University confirms that the requested document holds university
financial information. However, the University declines your request under
Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA). Section 22
exempts information from release where the public authority or another
person intends to publish the information at some future date, whether
determined or not, and where it is reasonable to withhold the information
prior to publication. The University intends to publish this information
on its website at this address [1]Annual Report and Financial Statements -
Durham University

If you are dissatisfied with the University’s response to your freedom of
information request, you can ask us to internally review our handling of
your request, including the application of any exemptions applied. This
must be within 40 working days from the date of our response to you.

To do this, please email [2][Durham University request email].

Please state the grounds on which you wish the decision to be reviewed and
enclose any other information that may be useful in considering the matter
further. We aim to inform you of our decision within 20 working days from
the date your request for internal review is received.

If you are not satisfied with the results of the internal review you may
apply to the Information Commissioner's Office for an independent review.

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House

Water Lane

Wilmslow

Cheshire

SK9 5AF

[3]www.ico.org.uk

Yours sincerely

Information Governance Unit

Durham University

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Information Governance Unit, University Secretary’s Office

e: [4][Durham University request email]

──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:
This message is intended solely for the addressee(s) in the first instance
and may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended
recipient, please notify the sender, delete the message from your system
immediately and do not disclose the contents to any other party.

References

Visible links
1. https://www.durham.ac.uk/about-us/profes...
2. mailto:[Durham University request email]
3. http://www.ico.org.uk/
4. mailto:[Durham University request email]