Request
am writing to request access to information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Specifically, I would like to request the raw data collected from the Engage 2025 Staff Survey as well as attendant reports .
Please provide the following:
- The complete raw data from the Engage 2025 Staff Survey on a line-by-line respondent basis. This includes but is not limited to:
- Staff responses by individual respondent for each question in the survey.
- Data on the school/service to which each respondent is affiliated.
- Any written comments or open-ended responses connected with each question.
- Any additional data, analyses, or reports (if available) that have been generated from the survey, such as aggregated or summarized data, or management reports that discuss or analyse the data. These should include any reports shared with the senior management team or the board of governors.
I would appreciate it if the data could be provided in a machine-readable format, such as a CSV or Excel file, where possible. And for reports in a DOCX or PDF format.
If any of the information requested is exempt from release under the Freedom of Information Act, I would be grateful if you could provide a clear explanation of the reasons for this exemption.
Original Response
FOI Response
- The complete raw data from the Engage 2025 Staff Survey on a line-by-line respondent basis. This includes but is not limited to:
- Staff responses by individual respondent for each question in the survey.
- Data on the school/service to which each respondent is affiliated.
- Any written comments or open-ended responses connected with each question.
The Engage Survey is conducted with guaranteed anonymity to all respondents. Individual survey responses can be traced back to individuals especially by members of the university community. As FOI responses are public information there is a material risk of violating the privacy of individual respondents if this data is disclosed. We therefore claim exemption under section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act.
Personal data of others is explicitly protected from disclosure under Section 40(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. Whilst we can confirm we hold this personal data, to disclose it would breach the first of the data protection principles in Article 5 of the GDPR, as we do not have a lawful basis to disclose this third-party information. Section 40(2) is an absolute exemption which does not require a public interest test. Detailed information on what organisations must consider when deciding to apply the Section 40(2) exemption can be found here .
- Any additional data, analyses, or reports (if available) that have been generated from the survey, such as aggregated or summarized data, or management reports that discuss or analyse the data. These should include any reports shared with the senior management team or the board of governors.
Please see attached.
If you are dissatisfied with the way the University of East London has handled your request for information, you can request an internal review of this decision by contacting:
E-mail foi@uel.ac.uk
University of East London
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London
E16 2RD