Information Commissioner's Office

Summary: The complainant made a series of requests to the Open University for information related to its decision to dismiss a number of associate lecturers employed overseas. The Open University had disclosed information in response to some of the requests but had also withheld some information under various exemptions and also maintained that the cost of complying with some of the requests would exceed the appropriate limit under section 12 of FOIA. The Commissioner has investigated the complaint and found that since all of the requests are for the same or similar information the Open University is entitled to aggregate the total costs of complying with the requests as a whole. The Commissioner found that the aggregated costs would exceed the appropriate limit of £450 and therefore the Open University was entitled to refuse the requests under section 12(1). The Commissioner requires no steps to be taken.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: FOI 12 - Complaint Not upheld