University of Southampton
Incomplete, Original Response Refusal
-- Original Response (3 Dec 2014): Southampton1.pdf
From: JJ Hermes
Sent: 20 October 2014 12:21
To: foi@soton.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, Nov 18, 2014 at 12:18 PM, JJ Hermes wrote (Re: FOI request):
To whom it may concern,
On 20 Oct 2014, I submitted a request for information from the University under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act regarding emoluments for senior members of staff for the year ended 31 July 2014.
Your response should have been provided by 17 Nov 2014, as 20 business days have now passed since my initial request. Please let me know when you will be able to reply to my FOI request.
I look forward to hearing back from you.
Sincerely,
JJ Hermes
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On Fri, Nov 28, 2014 at 9:21 AM, JJ Hermes wrote (Re: FOI request):
To whom it may concern,
On 20 Oct 2014, I submitted a request for information from the University under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act regarding emoluments for senior members of staff for the year ended 31 July 2014.
Your response should have been provided by 17 Nov 2014, 20 business days subsequent to my initial request. I inquired about the state of my request on 18 Nov 2014, but recieved no response from your office.
If I do not hear from you by next Tuesday, 2 Dec 2014, I will report a formal concern to the Information Commissioner's Office for failure to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request.
I look forward to hearing back from you. Thank you for your assistance in completing this request.
Sincerely,
JJ Hermes
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On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 3:41 AM, Foi (foi@soton.ac.uk) wrote (FOI request -- refusal and right of review):
Dear Mr Hermes,
FOI request -- refusal and right of review
We thank you for your request for information dated 20 October 2014 (a copy of which is appended hereto for your ease of reference) and for your reminders of 18 November and 28 November, and we apologise for the delay in responding to you.
You have requested the following:-
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.
Your request focuses on individuals (viz. "the names and titles of all senior staff members" and "total emoluments for the past five (5) years for each of the senior staff identified in the first request") and as a result, is information that is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 ('FOIA') by virtue of section 40, subsections (2) and (3)(a)(i) of the FOIA. The exemption applies to third-party information, the disclosure of which other than under FOIA would constitute a breach of any of the data protection principles enumerated in the Data Protection Act 1998 ('DPA'). The University's employees do not expect to be personally identified save with their consent or where identification is a necessary part of their role. They would not expect to be personally identified in relation to remuneration, and disclosure of their identity would, therefore, be a breach of the first data protection principle.
We must, therefore, regretfully refuse your request and we pray in aid the exemption set out in section 40, subsections (2) and (3)(a)(i) of the FOIA. Notwithstanding the above-mentioned refusal, please note that the University does already disclose information relating to remuneration of higher-paid members of staff in its financial statements, which are publicly available for download (for the years 2003/04 to 2013/14) at www.southampton.ac.uk/finance/services/statements/faq.php: you will see from the table below that clinical staff form the overwhelming majority of staff with remuneration in excess of £150,000 pa.
Southampton1.pdf
If you do not feel that we have dealt with your request in accordance with the requirements of Part I of the FOIA, you may request a review. Your request for a review should specify in what respect you consider that the requirements of Part I have not been met. The request for a review should be addressed to the Registrar and may be sent by email to foi@soton.ac.uk.
The Information Commissioner is responsible for enforcing rights of access to information. You may apply to the Information Commissioner in writing (FOI/EIR Complaints Resolution, Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF) or electronically for a decision whether, in any specified respect, your request for information has been dealt with by the University in accordance with the requirements of Part I of the FOIA. The Information Commissioner will not normally take action unless he is satisfied that the University's review procedures have been exhausted.
Please accept our apologies once again for the delay in responding to you.
Yours sincerely,
Freedom of Information Office
email: foi@soton.ac.uk
-- Attachment: Southampton1.pdf
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On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 10:32 AM, JJ Hermes wrote (Re: FOI request -- refusal and right of review):
To whom it may concern,
I write to respectfully dispute your response 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 understand from your 3 Dec 2014 response that the University reserves the right to withhold public disclosure of individual staff and their salaries as refusal Notice 3, which was part (1) of this request. However, the University has completely ignored part (3) of this request. Thus, I request the University respond to this original request in full:
Please identify all senior staff members making more than £150,000 in total emoluments for the year ended 31 July 2014. Please categorize them as one of the following, as per part (2) of this request: (a) academic staff, (b) clinical staff, or (c) senior management. Then, please provide the annual emoluments for the past five (5) years for each of the senior staff making more than £150,000 in total emoluments identified in the first part of this request. Please identify by name and title all members of the University's senior administrative team and management (e.g., staff in the Vice-Chancellor's Office such as pro-vice-chancellors, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, directors of institutes, etc.).
I have submitted this identical request to each of the 24 members of the Russell Group of universities, and a response from the University of Exeter (attached) exemplifies what I consider a complete fulfillment of my request. Note that it protects the personal data of all senior staff with the exception of the senior management team, and provides salary information in bands of £10,000 annually for the past five years. This information is not accessible from the University by any other means than a FOI request, so your Refusal Notices 1 and 2 are not relevant to my request.
Moreover, a First-Tier Tribunal has ruled in a very similar case that universities must disclose the names/titles and salaries of all members of the PSS (Professional Services staff; ie, the senior management team) making more than £100,000 in total emoluments. The Information Commissioner's Office found in case FS50513117 dated 17 Feb 2014 that King's College London must release the names/titles and salaries of *all* staff making more than £100,000 in total emoluments (http://ico.org.uk/~/media/documents/decisionnotices/2014/fs_50513117.pdf). However, the First-Tier Tribunal ruled on 2 Oct 2014 in Case No. EA/2014/0054, an appeal from King's College, that only the names and salaries of members of the PSS (Professional Services staff; ie, the senior management team) making more than £100,000 in total emoluments are subject to disclosure (http://www.informationtribunal.gov.uk/DBFiles/Decision/i1390/Kings%20College%20London%20EA.2014.0054%20(30.09.14).pdf).
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 Tue, Jan 27, 2015 at 10:33 AM, JJ Hermes wrote (Re: FOI request -- refusal and right of review):
To whom it may concern,
On 3 Dec 2014, I requested a review of your response to a FOI request I submitted on 20 Oct 2014 for information about senior staff members making more than £150,000 in total emoluments for the year ended 31 July 2014. It has been well more than 20 working days since I last heard from you regarding a review of my FOI request. Could you please let me know where that now stands?
Sincerely,
JJ Hermes
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On Tue, Feb 17, 2015 at 9:10 AM, JJ Hermes wrote (Re: FOI request -- refusal and right of review):
To whom it may concern,
On 3 Dec 2014, I requested a review of your response to a FOI request I submitted on 20 Oct 2014 for information about senior staff members making more than £150,000 in total emoluments for the year ended 31 July 2014. It has been well more than 20 working days since I last heard from you regarding a review of my FOI request. Could you please let me know where that now stands?
Sincerely,
JJ Hermes
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On Mon, Mar 16, 2015 at 11:07 AM, JJ Hermes wrote (Re: FOI request -- refusal and right of review):
To whom it may concern,
On 3 Dec 2014, I requested a review of your response to a FOI request I submitted on 20 Oct 2014 for information about senior staff members making more than £150,000 in total emoluments for the year ended 31 July 2014. It has been well more than 20 working days since I last heard from you regarding a review of my FOI request. Could you please let me know where that now stands, more than three months later? This delay is embarrassing.
Sincerely,
JJ Hermes
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