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Freedom of Information

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UCL Publication Scheme

The public's rights to information under the FOI Act came into force on 1 January 2005. In order to comply with the Act UCL has compiled a Publication Scheme, which is reviewed annually.

The Scheme lists the classes of information and the documents that it routinely publishes or intends to publish and is available on UCL’s website (hard copies of documents can be obtained from Legal Services or from relevant department).

Purpose and Structure of the Scheme

The purpose of the Scheme is to inform the public what information is readily available from UCL. By ‘readily available’ we mean information that is on our website, or that can be obtained from us by letter, fax or e-mail.  In creating and reviewing this Scheme, we have to consider the public interest when:

  • Allowing public access to the information we hold.
  • Publicising the reasons for decisions that we make.

By law, our Scheme must:

  • Set out the classes of information that we publish or intend to publish.
  • Say how we will publish the information in each class.
  • Say if we will provide the information free or charge for it.

The Scheme follows the standard format required by the Information Comissioner's Office (ICO) from January 2009 and used by Higher Education bodies in the United Kingdom. The Scheme will be regularly reviewed.

Role and responsibility for this Publication Scheme

UCL’s Provost and Council have overall responsibility for Freedom of Information in UCL. Operational responsibility is delegated to the Freedom of Information Officer.

Access and handling of requests

The Freedom of Information Officer is responsible for the processing and monitoring of Freedom of Information requests.

Exemptions

The Freedom of Informtation Act recognises that certain information can be exempted from the right of access. In cases where its is deemed that an exemption will apply to some or all of the information requested, the applicant will be notified in writing. The relevant exemption will be cited and any information that is not exempt will be provided.

A list of the types of exemptions that UCL are able to use is available at:

Fees

UCL will follow the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004. Accordingly, all requests that cost less than £450 to process (the ‘appropriate limit’) will be complied with free of charge.

Copyright

You are free to use any information supplied for your own use, including for non-commercial research purposes. The information may also be used for the purposes of news reporting. However, any other type of re-use, for example by publishing or issuing copies to the public, will require the permission of the copyright owner.