Information Commissioner's Office

University of Bournemouth

6 July 2015, Education (University)

The complainant has requested copies of the complaints received by the University of Bournemouth (the University) between April 2012 and September 2013 from students and any third parties in relation to University employees. The complainant clarified that he was seeking the original wording of the complaints, albeit he confirmed that any personal data could be redacted. The University considered that the complaint information was exempt from disclosure under sections 36(2)(c) (prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs), 40(2) (third party personal data), and 41 (information provided in confidence) and further found that it was not possible to redact the personal data contained within the information without rendering it meaningless. The Commissioner has decided that because of the way the personal data was embedded the University was not obliged under FOIA to disclose an anonymised version of the complaint information. He does not therefore require any steps to be taken as a result of this notice. This decision notice is currently under appeal to the Tribunal.

FOI 36: Not upheld FOI 40: Not upheld FOI 41: Not upheld