University of Edinburgh
Partially Complete, Awaiting Other Staff Besides Senior Management Group
-- Original Response (17 Nov 2014): Edinburgh1.pdf
From: JJ Hermes
Sent: 20 October 2014 12:15
To: data-protection@ed.ac.uk
Subject: FOI request
To whom it may concern,
I respectfully request the following information under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act:
1. The names and titles of all senior staff members making more than £150,000 in total emoluments for the year ended 31 July 2014. These individuals are considered "higher-paid staff" by the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE).
2. Please identify the number of individuals identified in the first request who are (a) tenured faculty, (b) clinical staff, or (c) serve in a non-classroom capacity, such as administrative staff.
3. The total emoluments for the past five (5) years for each of the senior staff identified in the first request.
There is wide precedent across publicly funded entities in the UK of regularly disclosing this type of information. The Accounts and Audit (Amendment no 2) Regulations of 2009 require local authorities to publish the actual salaries, allowances, bonuses, compensation and employer's pension contributions paid to each employee who earned over £50,000, and in addition to publish the names of those staff who earned over £150,000 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/3322/made). It is not necessary to disclose the exact salary of the employees earning more than £150,000, but rather to quote that amount in bands of £10,000, as directed by the HEFCE.
The request holds significant public interest, given that the university is a publicly funded institution of higher education that derives a significant portion of funding from public taxation. In addition, openness is, in itself, something in the public interest in promoting accountability and transparency in the spending of public money. As suggested by the Information Commissioner's Office, "It is reasonable to expect that a
public authority would disclose more information relating to senior employees than more junior ones. Senior employees should expect their posts to carry a greater level of accountability." Employees earning more than £150,000 annually can be considered senior employees, since this compensation is more than twice the highest grade on the human resources salary scale.
I look forward to hearing back from you regarding this request. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any follow-up questions. I would prefer all correspondence be sent digitally through this e-mail address, including the response to this request. Thank you for your time in addressing this query.
Sincerely,
JJ Hermes
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On Tue, Oct 21, 2014 at 3:22 PM, AAPS Records Management (data-protection@ed.ac.uk) wrote (Acknowledgement of Freedom of Information Request):
Dear Mr Hermes,
Thank you for your email of 20 October 2014 requesting information about senior staff earning more than £150,000. I am writing to let you know we have received your request and will process it as quickly as possible, and certainly within 20 working days of the day we received the request. You will hear back from us by 17 November 2014 at the latest.
Yours sincerely,
Claire Jackson
Records Management Section
University of Edinburgh
Old College
Edinburgh
EH8 9YL
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On Mon, Nov 17, 2014 at 4:10 PM, AAPS Records Management (data-protection@ed.ac.uk) wrote (Response to Freedom of Information Request):
Dear Mr Hermes,
Thank you for your email of 20 October 2014 requesting information about the emoluments of senior staff at the University. Please find attached our response.
Yours sincerely,
Claire Jackson
Records Management Section
University of Edinburgh
Old College
Edinburgh
EH8 9YL
-- Attachment: Edinburgh1.pdf
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On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 8:57 AM, JJ Hermes wrote (Re: Response to Freedom of Information Request):
Dear Claire,
Thank you for your positive response on 17 Nov 2014 to my 20 Oct 2014 FOI request for information about senior staff members making more than £150,000 in total emoluments for the year ended 31 July 2014. As a reminder, that request comprised three parts:
1. The names and titles of all senior staff members making more than £150,000 in total emoluments for the year ended 31 July 2014. These individuals are considered "higher-paid staff" by the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE).
2. Please identify the number of individuals identified in the first request who are (a) tenured faculty, (b) clinical staff, or (c) serve in a non-classroom capacity, such as administrative staff.
3. The total emoluments for the past five (5) years for each of the senior staff identified in the first request.
I would ask for one additional point of clarification in your response:
Please provide the banded salaries for all 61 staff members making more than £150,000 in total emoluments for the year ended 31 July 2014. In order to comply with the most recent decision of the First-Tier Tribunal ruling on 2 Oct 2014 in Case No. EA/2014/0054, an appeal from King's College, you may withhold the names of staff not in the Central Management Group, but I would please request that you categorize them as one of the following, as per part (2) of my orginal request: (a) academic staff, (b) clinical staff, or (c) non-academic staff. For the members of the Central Management Group, please provide their salary information for all five of the previous years.
I appreciate your response in full to this request under the Freedom of Information Act of 2000. I look forward to hearing back from you regarding this request. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any follow-up questions. I would prefer all correspondence be sent digitally through this e-mail address, including the response to this request. Thank you for your time in addressing this query.
Sincerely,
JJ Hermes
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On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 11:25 AM, AAPS Records Management (data-protection@ed.ac.uk) wrote (Acknowledgement of Freedom of Information Request):
Dear Mr Hermes,
Thank you for your email of 03 December 2014 requesting information relating to the salaries of staff earning over £150,000 per annum. I am writing to let you know that we have received your email and will be treating it as a new request for information. We will process your request as soon as possible and certainly within 20 working days of the day we received the request. You will hear back from us by 06 January 2015 at the latest.
Yours sincerely,
Claire Jackson
Records Management Section
University of Edinburgh
Old College
Edinburgh
EH8 9YL
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