fretna.org [home]       Found Poetry       UTIMCO       Open Records       Daily Texan Clips       Fresh  

Cardiff University

Partially Complete, Requesting Classification of Staff
-- Original Response (17 Nov 2014): Cardiff1.pdf
-- Follow-up Response (28 Jan 2015): Cardiff2.pdf

From: JJ Hermes
Sent: 20 October 2014 12:15
To: inforequest@cardiff.ac.uk
Subject: FOI request

To whom it may concern,

I respectfully request the following information under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act:

1. The names and titles of all senior staff members making more than £150,000 in total emoluments for the year ended 31 July 2014. These individuals are considered "higher-paid staff" by the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE).

2. Please identify the number of individuals identified in the first request who are (a) tenured faculty, (b) clinical staff, or (c) serve in a non-classroom capacity, such as administrative staff.

3. The total emoluments for the past five (5) years for each of the senior staff identified in the first request.

There is wide precedent across publicly funded entities in the UK of regularly disclosing this type of information. The Accounts and Audit (Amendment no 2) Regulations of 2009 require local authorities to publish the actual salaries, allowances, bonuses, compensation and employer's pension contributions paid to each employee who earned over £50,000, and in addition to publish the names of those staff who earned over £150,000 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2009/3322/made). It is not necessary to disclose the exact salary of the employees earning more than £150,000, but rather to quote that amount in bands of £10,000, as directed by the HEFCE.

The request holds significant public interest, given that the university is a publicly funded institution of higher education that derives a significant portion of funding from public taxation. In addition, openness is, in itself, something in the public interest in promoting accountability and transparency in the spending of public money. As suggested by the Information Commissioner's Office, "It is reasonable to expect that a public authority would disclose more information relating to senior employees than more junior ones. Senior employees should expect their posts to carry a greater level of accountability." Employees earning more than £150,000 annually can be considered senior employees, since this compensation is more than twice the highest grade on the human resources salary scale.

I look forward to hearing back from you regarding this request. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any follow-up questions. I would prefer all correspondence be sent digitally through this e-mail address, including the response to this request. Thank you for your time in addressing this query.

Sincerely,
JJ Hermes
On Mon, Oct 20, 2014 at 12:57 PM, InfoRequest (InfoRequest@cardiff.ac.uk) wrote (FOI14-263 Senior Staff Salaries):

Dear Mr Hermes

I acknowledge receipt of your email below received by this office on 20th October 2014 in which you requested information regarding Senior Staff Salaries.

Your request will now be dealt with under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and has been allocated reference FOI14-263 which should be quoted in all correspondence. We will respond to your request within 20 working days starting the next working day after receipt, therefore you can expect to receive a response no later than 17th November 2014.

Where we consider that we will not be able to meet this deadline or if further time is required to consider the public interest test we will contact you as soon as possible and give you a revised date for response.

In some circumstances a fee may be payable and, if that is the case, we will let you know. A fees notice will be issued to you, and you will be required to pay before we will proceed to deal with your request.

Yours sincerely,
Judith Dray

Information Governance Team
Governance and Compliance Division
Cardiff University
McKenzie House
30-36 Newport Road
Cardiff
CF24 0DE

Fax 029 20874478
Tel 029 20879351
On Mon, Nov 17, 2014 at 12:44 PM, InfoRequest (InfoRequest@cardiff.ac.uk) wrote (FOI14-263 Senior Staff Salaries):

Dear Mr Hermes

I am writing in response to your Freedom of Information request below dated 20th October 2014 in which you requested information regarding Senior Staff Salaries.

For ease of reference, I have reproduced your questions below and set out our corresponding responses.

1. The names and titles of all senior staff members making more than £150,000 in total emoluments for the year ended 31 July 2014. These individuals are considered "higher-paid staff" by the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE).

Under s22 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 we are not obliged to provide information that is due for future publication. This information, including information in relation to the Vice Chancellor's salary, is due to be published by the University following the University's usual processes for the preparation, audit and approval of its Financial Statements. As well as the information provided in the University's Financial Statements in relation to salaries over £100,000 the University has also made a commitment to publish individual UEB members salary on the basis of £10k bands which will be made available at the same time as the Financial Statements. We are not aware of any pressing public interest in providing the information earlier than the expected publication date and it may interfere with the University's accounting and audit process to do so. This Financial Statements and additional salary information will be available to the public on the University website in February 2015.

2. Please identify the number of individuals identified in the first request who are (a) tenured faculty, (b) clinical staff, or (c) serve in a non-classroom capacity, such as administrative staff.

9 academics with clinical responsibilities
9 academics
1 non-teaching

3. The total emoluments for the past five (5) years for each of the senior staff identified in the first request.

Please see the table below which sets out the total emoluments (including employer pension contributions) of staff currently earning in excess of £150,000.

Cardiff1.pdf

I trust this information satisfies your enquiry. The University has a Freedom of Information Complaints Procedure should you feel dissatisfied with this response or the way in which your request was handled. Complaints must be made in writing and must set out why you believe the University has not met its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act. You may email your complaint to inforequest@Cardiff.ac.uk where it will be forwarded to the Director of Student Services and Governance who will be responsible for overseeing the review.

If you remain dissatisfied following the outcome of your complaint, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for consideration. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at the following address: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in Cardiff University. If you require further assistance please feel free to contact me.

Yours sincerely
Katherine Drysdale

Information Governance Team
Governance and Compliance Division
Cardiff University
McKenzie House
30-36 Newport Road
Cardiff
CF24 0DE

Fax 029 20874478
Tel 029 20879351


-- Attachment: Cardiff1.pdf
On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 8:56 AM, JJ Hermes wrote (Re: FOI14-263 - Senior Staff Salaries):

Dear Katherine,

Thank you for your positive response on 17 Nov 2014 to my 20 Oct 2014 FOI request for information about senior staff members making more than £150,000 in total emoluments for the year ended 31 July 2014. As a reminder, that request comprised three parts:

1. The names and titles of all senior staff members making more than £150,000 in total emoluments for the year ended 31 July 2014. These individuals are considered "higher-paid staff" by the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE).

2. Please identify the number of individuals identified in the first request who are (a) tenured faculty, (b) clinical staff, or (c) serve in a non-classroom capacity, such as administrative staff.

3. The total emoluments for the past five (5) years for each of the senior staff identified in the first request.

I would ask for one additional point of clarification in your response:

Could you please replace the numbers in your response for each member of staff with their classification (a) academic staff, (b) clinical staff (academics with clinical responsibilities), or (c) senior management and/or non-teaching staff. Additionally, please identify by name and title all members of the University's senior administrative staff (e.g., pro-vice-chancellors, chief financial officer, chief operating officer, directors of institutes, etc.) in the response.

Supporting evidence for the second point of clarification comes from a First-Tier Tribunal has ruled in a very similar case that universities must disclose the names/titles and salaries of all members of the PSS (Professional Services staff; ie, the senior management team) making more than £100,000 in total emoluments. The Information Commissioner's Office found in case FS50513117 dated 17 Feb 2014 that King's College London must release the names/titles and salaries of *all* staff making more than £100,000 in total emoluments (http://ico.org.uk/~/media/documents/decisionnotices/2014/fs_50513117.pdf). However, the First-Tier Tribunal ruled on 2 Oct 2014 in Case No. EA/2014/0054, an appeal from King's College, that only the names and salaries of members of the PSS (Professional Services staff; ie, the senior management team) making more than £100,000 in total emoluments are subject to disclosure (http://www.informationtribunal.gov.uk/DBFiles/Decision/i1390/Kings%20College%20London%20EA.2014.0054%20(30.09.14).pdf).

I appreciate your response in full to this request under the Freedom of Information Act of 2000. I look forward to hearing back from you regarding this request. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any follow-up questions. I would prefer all correspondence be sent digitally through this e-mail address, including the response to this request. Thank you for your time in addressing this query.

Sincerely,
JJ Hermes
On Wed, Dec 3, 2014 at 9:14 AM, InfoRequest (InfoRequest@cardiff.ac.uk) wrote (RE: FOI14-263 Senior Staff Salaries):

Dear Mr Hermes

Thank you for email below -- this is receiving our attention and we will revert to you as soon as possible.

Yours sincerely,
Katherine Drysdale
Information Rights Officer

Governance and Compliance Division
Cardiff University
McKenzie House
30-36 Newport Road
Cardiff
CF24 0DE

Fax 029 20874478
Tel 029 20879351
E-mail: inforequest@cardiff.ac.uk
On Tue, Jan 27, 2015 at 10:29 AM, JJ Hermes wrote (Re: FOI14-263 - Senior Staff Salaries):

To whom it may concern,

I appreciated your response on 3 Dec 2014. It has been well more than 20 working days since I last heard from you regarding a review of my FOI request for information about senior staff members making more than £150,000 in total emoluments for the year ended 31 July 2014. Could you please let me know where that now stands?

Sincerely,
JJ Hermes
On Wed, Jan 28, 2015 at 8:41 AM, InfoRequest (InfoRequest@cardiff.ac.uk) wrote (FOI14-263 - Senior Staff Salaries):

Thank you for your email below. A response was sent on 18th December 2014 to your email dated 3rd December 2014 and a further copy of that is attached.

I trust this information satisfies your enquiry. As previously advised, the University has a Freedom of Information Complaints Procedure should you feel dissatisfied with this response or the way in which your request was handled. Complaints must be made in writing and must set out why you believe the University has not met its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act. You may email your complaint to inforequest@Cardiff.ac.uk where it will be forwarded to the Director of Student Services and Governance who will be responsible for overseeing the review.

If you remain dissatisfied following the outcome of your complaint, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for consideration. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at the following address: Information Commissioner's Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

If you require further assistance please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Yours sincerely
Matt Cooper
Information Rights Manager

Governance and Compliance Division
Cardiff University
McKenzie House
30-36 Newport Road
Cardiff
CF24 0DE

Fax 029 20874478
Tel 029 20879351
E-mail: inforequest@cardiff.ac.uk

-- Attachment: Cardiff2.pdf