Freedom of Information Act: Warwick wants out

Warwick University has released a document to the Students’ Union (SU) stating that universities should not “remain within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act (FOI).”

One clause of this document suggests that Warwick thinks universities should not be held to the FOI Act.

The document is Warwick’s response to the latest government green paper on higher education.

The green paper, which was released in November 2015, proposes to make English universities exempt from Freedom of Information (FOI) requests.

Currently, all public universities in the UK are subject to the FOI Act. This means they are legally obliged to provide information if it is requested as long as it does not go against the Data Protection Act or cost more than £450 to obtain the data.

The move, which has been condemned by SU education officer Charlie Hindhaugh, aims to “balance the playing field in terms of cost and responsibilities” for all public bodies.

The Freedom of Information Act allows any individual to request information from a public body.

These public bodies are then obliged to respond to the request within 20 working days. The act ensures transparency between institutions and the public by allowing institutions to be held accountable for their actions.

An FOI request revealed Warwick spent £12,558 on a court injunction Photo: Lydia / Flickr

At Warwick, previous information discovered from FOI requests includes the revelation that £12,558 was spent on legal fees by the University on a High Court injunction. This injunction banned sit-ins and occupation style protests across campus.

Also at Warwick, the Animal Ethics Society discovered the number of tests being carried out on live animals on campus (over 5,000 in 2014).

Many have raised concerns over the proposed removal of universities from the FOI Act.

Charlie Hindhaugh blogged in November: “No longer will we be able to find out where our money is going or hold universities to account on these decisions.

He added: “Byeee accountability!”

Hiran Adhia, editor-in-chief of the Boar, warned that the move could be “the end of student journalism as we know it”.

The Student Publication Association has also expressed concerns, and launched a campaign to “save FOI” in UK universities.

In contrast, Paul Greatrix, registrar at the University of Nottingham, welcomed the move as it “will reduce the volume of regulation and will not significantly reduce universities’ accountability to their stakeholders.”

Meanwhile, Peter Dunn, director of press and policy told the Boar that there is an increase of private Universities emerging in the UK and these institutions are not subjected to the FOI Act.

He said: “We would be supportive of leveling the playing field in terms of regulatory burden, with particular reference to the increasing cost of freedom of information requests.

“We do recognise our responsibility to our primary stakeholders in terms of appropriate transparency, however in our view universities should not remain within the scope of the Freedom of Information Act.”

Mr Dunn has declined to comment further when questioned about the cost of FOI requests to Warwick. According to Mr Dunn, Warwick’s most recent comment on supporting the act serves to simply reiterate the views presented last year by the Russell Group and the UUK.

The Russell Group support removing universities from the FOI Act Photo: Piers Nye / Flickr

Previously, Dr Tim Bradshaw, director of policy for the Russell Group, wrote in a letter, “We have calculated the average cost to our universities to process FOI requests is £155 per request. Using this estimate, the cost of processing FoI requests to Russell Group universities has grown from £514,000 in 2010 to £1.1 million in 2014.”

Concerns over costs have been raised as the private higher education providers might have an advantage due to their lack of accountability through the FOI Act.

However, public institutions, which now only rely minimally of government grants, are burdened with the cost of answering FOI requests.

The overall cost of FOI requests to public Higher Education providers is estimated at £10 million by the Green Paper, although it is never explained how this figure was reached.

Arguments have also been forwarded that there are plenty of bodies and regulators to ensure transparency in the education sector.

This comes at a time when government has moved responsibility for FOI requests from the Ministry of Justice to the Cabinet Office.