Out-Law News 1 min. read

Universities given new guidance from ICO on what should be disclosed under model publication scheme


The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has outlined the kind of information it expects universities and other higher education institutions (HEIs) to proactively disclose in accordance with UK freedom of information (FOI) legislation.

The watchdog has published a new 'definition document' in which it outlines examples of the information it expects HEIs to publish under the 'model publication scheme'. Definition documents set out the ICO's guidance on the types of information it expects public bodies across different sectors to make publically available.

Under FOI laws all public authorities must "adopt and maintain" a scheme of publishing information that must be approved by the ICO. The scheme has to "specify classes of information which the public authority publishes or intends to publish, specify the manner in which information of each class is, or is intended to be, published, and specify whether the material is, or is intended to be, available to the public free of charge or on payment".

Among the information that HEIs should disclose include details of the commercial sources for any research funding, the salaries of senior staff and details of contracts they have entered into that are worth more than £25,000, according to the ICO's new guidance (10-page / 191KB PDF). In addition, HEIs should publish details of any "interests" senior employees have that could lead to a conflict of interest or perceived conflict of interest in their role within the institution, it said.

The ICO has set out some circumstances in which HEIs do not need to publish the kind of information it has raised examples of. These circumstances include where HEIs cannot be said to "hold" the information, or whether the information is exempt from disclosure under the FOI Act, the Environmental Information Regulations or "under another statute". If it would be "impractical or resource-intensive to prepare the material for routine release" then HEIs can also legitimately avoid publishing the information, it said.

The ICO said that HEIs should "where relevant ... adopt an open licence for re-use" of the information they publish under their model publication scheme duties. This licence should not provide others with the freedom to publish the information if copyright or other intellectual property rights subsist in the material, it said.

Where there is no reason why information that corresponds with the examples given by the ICO cannot be published under HEIs' model publication schemes, that information should be made "available in an open, machine readable format which can be easily re-used," the watchdog said.

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