Information Commissioner's Office

University of Manchester

6 December 2017, Education (University)

The complainant has requested information relating to a position they applied for and why their application was unsuccessful. The university confirmed that questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 are requests for information which would constitute the complainant’s own personal data as so should be considered as a subject access request under the Data Protection Act (DPA). With regards to the remaining questions, the university provided a response. The complainant remained dissatisfied with the university’s handling of questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8. With regards to questions 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8, the Commissioner has decided that section 40(1) of the FOIA applies. With regards to question 6, the Commissioner has decided that the university has now complied with the requirements of section 1 of the FOIA and confirmed that the requested information is not held. The Commissioner considers the university breached section 1 of the FOIA by failing to confirm exactly that the information is not held within 20 working days of the request. But as this was later rectified and the university confirmed that the requested information is not held, the Commissioner does not require any further action to be taken.

FOI 40: Not upheld FOI 1: Upheld