Information Commissioner's Office

Kings College London

2 December 2015, Education (University)

The complainant has requested information from King’s College London (“the University”) broadly concerning the University’s practice in respect of meeting actuarial strain and redundancies within the Health Schools at the University. The Commissioner’s decision is that the University has correctly applied section 12 of the FOIA to requests 1, 8 and 9. He has also determined that the University was correct to apply section 40 of the FOIA to requests 12, 13 and 14. However, the Commissioner has decided that the University was incorrect to apply section 12 to request 11(c). With respect to request 11(c), the University argued that if section 12 did not apply, it was seeking to rely upon section 40(2). The Commissioner has considered whether the information sought in request 11(c) can be withheld under section 40. He has determined that individuals cannot be identified from the information in question and therefore section 40(2) is not engaged. The Commissioner requires the University to disclose the information sought in request 11(c). The University must take these steps within 35 calendar days of the date of this decision notice. Failure to comply may result in the Commissioner making written certification of this fact to the High Court pursuant to section 54 of the Act and may be dealt with as a contempt of court.

FOI 12: Partly upheld FOI 40: Not upheld