FOI_24-304 Equality Diversity and Inclusion strategies
Date of response: 28 November 2024
We have now considered your request of 31 October 2024 for the following information:
1. EDI Policies and Procedures: All policies and procedures related to EDI, with particular emphasis on how they address systemic racism and promote equity.
2. EDI Committees/Networks: A comprehensive list of EDI committees and networks, including:
a. Date of creation
b. Composition (e.g., senior executive team, academic, professional services)
c. Number of meetings held
d. Their role and impact within the university structure
3. Race Equality Action Plan: Detailed records pertaining to the Race Equality Action Plan, including:
a. Objectives
b. Specific actions taken
c. Measures and milestones
d. Assigned responsibilities
e. Timeframes for implementation
f. Current status updates
4. Hate Crime/Incident Reporting Mechanisms: A summary of hate crime and incident reporting mechanisms currently in use, alongside key trends and insights that have emerged.
5. Best Practices and Achievements: Documentation of best practices and achievements related to the EDI agenda, particularly those that have effectively advanced anti-racism initiatives during the specified period.
Our response:
Unfortunately, on this occasion it is not possible to provide any of the requested information for questions 1-5. We have determined that the cost of finding and assembling some of the requested information will exceed the ‘appropriate limit’ as defined by section 12 of the Act and the Freedom of Information and Data Protection (Appropriate Limit and Fees) Regulations 2004/3244. 'The ‘appropriate limit’ of £450, which equates to 18 hours’ work, as defined by the Information Commissioner’s Office, can relate to one request in its entirety or to a series of linked requests. If the University cannot locate, retrieve and extract some or all of the requested information within the 18 hours we are not obliged to retrieve any of the requested information.
Equality Diversity and Inclusion committees, networks, policies, procedures, working groups, plans, strategies, reports and evaluations, hate crime reporting, race equality action plans, best practice achievements, regarding the topics outlined in your request, are devolved across the University. Information relating to Equality Diversity and Inclusion is held within individual facilities, schools and divisions. There is no central record of where this information is held.
To explain our position the University comprises of four faculties, over twenty schools and sixteen divisions all of whom hold information which may fall into the scope of the request for the period outlined. There are innumerable records which the University holds, surrounding the topics outlined in your request relating to Equality Diversity and Inclusion; including policies, procedures, committees, networks, hate crime reporting, best practices and achievements accessing the effectiveness of implemented strategies. As outlined above there is no central record of where this information is held therefore identifying, retrieving, extracting and locating the exact information you seek would take an inordinate amount of time as each individual department would be required to undertake a search of their own records.
For the period outlined in your request we have identified large numbers of records which may fall into the scope of your request. We have calculated it would take over 110 hours to respond to this request for information held within two faculties and their schools alone. This does not include the information which other faculties, schools and departments hold, and we estimate this request would take over 173 hours to obtain just some of the information requested. To make our position clear, to respond with the exact information for each of the questions in turn would take well over 18 hours per question. This is clearly over the statutory time limit as outlined above.
To assist you in formulating a request to which we can respond we would recommend you significantly limiting the request to question 1, 2, 3 and 4 specifically making the request for information held within our People and Culture and Student Services department only. Please note we have not considered whether any exemptions may apply to such a request and we would refer you to: s.14(1) (2) repeat and vexatious requests, section 22 information intended for future publication, section 43(2) prejudice to commercial interests; s.40(2) personal information of the Act.
Any revised request you submit will be treated as a new FOI request, and the statutory time limit of 20 working days will begin again.