Requests that should be answered locally

Follow the 'receiving a request' procedure to determine if this procedure applies to the request you have received.

Which information regime applies?

Before going any further you need to work out which information regime applies. Has the applicant asked for information about themselves? If so, the request is a subject access request under the Data Protection Act 2018 and should be dealt with under those procedures rather than the steps below on these webpages.

Dealing with freedom of information requests

1. Calculate the response deadline

The response deadline is 20 working days after the request was received by the University.

Working days are Monday-Friday, regardless of whether you are at work or whether the University is open. The only exception are the four bank holidays which occur over the Christmas closure period.

You can enter the relevant dates in our response deadline spreadsheet tool to calculate the deadline.

2. Send an acknowledgement

Copy and paste the text below into an email or a letter using your department's letterhead. Insert the information indicated by the square brackets.

Searches must be thorough, relevant, reasonable and proportionate and likely to identify all relevant information. Relevant staff in areas should therefore use their working knowledge of the records relating to the request to identify what searches need to be undertaken. The searches and their results should be recorded, including why the searches were relevant, keywords used, staff involved, evidence the searches were done (for example, screenshots of search results in relevant systems) and the outcomes.

Depending on the request, searches may need to include paper and electronic records. Paper records may include paper files, notebooks and diaries. Electronic records may include databases and other systems, networked and personal computers and laptops and back-ups or archived data. Information may be held in emails, Teams messages, text or WhatsApp messages, including on personal devices if they relate to the work of the University. If the “golden” (original) versions of records are no longer held, consider if copies may be held. 

If locating and retrieving information will take more than approximately 7 hours tell Information Compliance Services as soon as possible, as it may be possible to charge the applicant a fee for providing the information.

4. Write the response

There is some information we are legally required to include in responses to freedom of information requests. For this reason, follow the procedures for writing the response.

5. Send out the response

Send the response within the deadline calculated above.

Ensure a copy of the response is filed in your local records management system. Information request handling case files should be kept for a minimum of 2 years. Information Compliance Services may request a copy of the request case file.

6. Right to review

The applicant has the right to request a review of the response to any freedom of information request. If you receive correspondence back from the applicant expressing dissatisfaction with the response, or querying the way you have handled a request, you must tell Information Compliance Services as soon as possible.

Information Compliance Services will then liaise with the relevant staff to respond to the review using our review procedures.