Funding of public transport concessions
Daniel Farrell made this Official Information request to Universal College of Learning
The request was partially successful.
From: Daniel Farrell
Dear Universal College of Learning,
I am looking for information in regard to UCOL's funding of public transport concessions for your students. As such, I make the following requests under the Official Information Act 1982.
1. What reports or documents, if any, does UCOL hold, in regard to any business case considered for providing funding for public transport?
2. What increase in student services levy, or similar levy of students, occurred as a result of this funding?
3. What reports or documents, if any, does UCOL hold, in regard to the benefits the institution has received from this funding?
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Yours faithfully,
Daniel Farrell
From: Daniel Farrell
Dear Universal College of Learning,
Just wanting to confirm that this request has been received, as I have not received an acknowledgement to my request. If you could confirm that it has been received, that would be appreciated.
Yours faithfully,
Daniel Farrell
From: Carol Christison
Universal College of Learning
Dear Daniel
We refer to your email received Wednesday, 29th April 2015.
In accordance with the Official Information Act 1982, your request shall be considered and our response will be provided as soon as practicable as per section 15(1) of the Act.
Yours sincerely,
Carol Christison
UCOL Privacy Officer
[Carol Christison]
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From: Carol Christison
Universal College of Learning
Dear Daniel
In reference to your email received on the 29th April 2015, the following provides our response to the request for information under the Official Information Act 1982.
1. Request: What reports or documents, if any, does UCOL hold, in regard to any business case considered for providing funding for public transport?
Response: We are unable to provide you with a copy of a business case for the funding provision for public transport as the information requested does not exist (Ref section 18(e) of the Official Information Act 1982).
2. Request: What increase in student services levy, or similar levy of students, occurred as a result of this funding?
Response: There has been no increase in the student services levy as a result of this funding. The student services levy has remained static since its inception.
3. Request: What reports or documents, if any, does UCOL hold, in regard to the benefits the institution has received from this funding?
Response: We are unable to provide you with any reports and documents in regards to the benefits the institution has received from this funding as the information requested does not exist (Ref section 18(e) of the Official Information Act 1982).
Yours sincerely,
Carol Christison
UCOL Privacy Officer
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From: Daniel Farrell
Dear Carol Christison,
Thank you for your response.
I would like to clarify the first part to my request to ensure that it has been understood - I believe I may have worded my request in a way that did not properly portray what I was after. So, to clarify, my request should possibly be better read as what reports or documents does UCOL have that were used in making the decision to subsidise public transport for UCOL students?
I apologise for my original request being less clear than would have been ideal.
Yours sincerely,
Daniel Farrell
From: Carol Christison
Universal College of Learning
Hello Daniel
I can confirm that I understood your request and included in our search at the time any documentation which informed the basis of implementing this concept (which dates back to 2001/2002), however unfortunately we were unable to locate any records which related to any decision process in respect to this matter. Therefore our response of 26th May 2015 remains unchanged.
Yours sincerely,
Carol Christison
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Daniel Farrell left an annotation ()
Yesterday, I received notification that the Ombudsman will be investigating my complaint. I will update here if/when more details become available.
Daniel Farrell left an annotation ()
I received a provisional opinion from the Ombudsman earlier this week stating that UCOL's refusal of my request was justified under section 18(e) of the Official Information Act. As part of the investigation, some information that "did not strictly fall within the terms of [my] request" was found, which will be sent to me shortly. This will presumably end up on this website - if not, I will see if I can forward it to the administrators and get it uploaded here.
I am not requiring a final opinion from the Ombudsman, because while I find it highly concerning that this information cannot be found, it seems clear that this is the case. It would be a waste of the time of the Office of the Ombudsman to push this point.
From: Carol Christison
Universal College of Learning
Dear Mr Farrell
We refer to your correspondence to the Office of the Ombudsman, and the
Ombudsman’s subsequent provisional opinion to you.
As per our response to the Ombudsman, and although this does not fulfil
your original request, we are able to provide what information we were
able to locate at the time of our search.
Therefore, please find attached relevant documentation.
Yours sincerely
Carol Christison
UCOL Privacy Officer
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Daniel Farrell left an annotation ()
This evening, I made a complaint to the Ombudsman in regard to the information which has been withheld, as I find it highly unusual that such information would not exist or be that difficult to find.
I will update this with the outcome of the Ombudsman's review.
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