Higher Education delivers on people's 'right to know'

Higher Education institutions are providing information openly and freely
under a raft of information governance legislation, a survey has shown.

The survey, carried out between January and February this year, reflects
HEIs’ responses during 2006 to requests for information under the Freedom
of Information Act, the Data Protection Act, and the Environmental
Information Regulations. The survey was conducted by Jisc infoNet, in
association with Universities UK and GuildHE, and builds on information
gathered in 2005.“People are increasingly aware
of their legal ‘right to know’ and this year’s survey shows HEIs are
responding to this promptly and openly.”

Key findings include:

• Institutions received an average of approximately 3 requests a month, a
  level similar to that in 2005 
• The overwhelming majority of requests were answered in full within 20
  working days and without a fee being levied
• Journalists still account for nearly half the number of requests where
  the identity of the requestor is known
• University management, administration and finance are the most requested
  areas, in line with 2005 findings
• Requests regarding student admissions fell by 25% in 2006, while requests
  regarding estates & buildings were up 99% on 2005, and research
  related information was up 94% on 2005.
• Subject Access Requests submitted under the Data Protection Act accounted
  for 22% of all requests received during 2006
• 59% of FOI requests took more than 10 days to complete.

Diana Warwick, Chief Executive, Universities UK, said: “People are
increasingly aware of their legal ‘right to know’ and this year’s survey
shows HEIs are responding to this promptly and openly.”

Dr Gill Ferrell, Service Director for Jisc infoNet, added: “These results
are good news for the HE sector, but there are some challenges regarding
institutions’ records management. Some 79% of FOI requests took less than a
day’s effort to complete and yet 59% of requests took longer than 10 days
to actually close, with nearly a third taking between 15 and the maximum 20
days to complete.

“The survey shows that the decision-making process took less time in 2006
than it did in 2005, so the delays are later on, centering on the process
of locating and accessing information.  It is encouraging therefore
that many institutions have begun to address this through the development
of records management strategies, systems and processes - not only to meet
the requirements of legislation such as FOI, but also to help harness the
business benefits that control of internal information brings.”

For further information, please go to: Survey results