JISC

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