From:
Mary Smith
Address
Rest of address
To:
Appropriate Person
Name of University
Rest of address
Freedom of Information Act 2000 - Formal Request for Information
Dear Mrs/Mr …………………………..
I am writing to request information to which I am entitled under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. In order to assist you with this request, I am outlining my query as specifically as possible. If however, this request is too wide or too unclear, I would be grateful if you could contact me, as I understand that under the act, you are required to advise and assist requesters.
Please provide me with the following:
1. How many Employment Tribunals have been brought against the university from 1998 – 2006?
2. A detailed breakdown of what the Employment Tribunals have been brought against the university for?
3. How many such Employment Tribunal applications were successfully upheld against the university?
4. How many Employment Tribunal disputes with individual employees were settled out of court?
5. How many Employment Tribunals and out of court settlements have resulted in a financial settlement, and how much were the settlements for?
6. For the period 1998-2006, how much money was spent in legal fees defending claims of staff workplace bullying?
7. The number of formal and informal complaints by employees concerning workplace bullying and harassment by managers for 1998–2006?
8. How many managers were formally and informally disciplined, due to employee complaints about bullying and harassment?
9. The number of employee resignations due to bullying and harassment from 1998 to 2006?
10. How many workshops or awareness sessions on bullying did the university provide to its employees in the last five years?
If you decide to withhold any of the information requested you should clearly explain why you have done so in your response, by reference to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 legislation. If your decision to withhold is based upon an evaluation of the public interest, then you should clearly explain which public interests you have considered, and why you have decided that the public interest in maintaining the exception(s) outweighs the public interest in releasing the information.
I look forward to receiving the information requested as soon as possible and in any event, within 20 working days of receipt.
Yours sincerely,
Name/Signature
[This template was written with the assistance of Michelle Edwards, thisismeeshe@yahoo.co.uk]
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Remember: Any person can make this request. It could be a friend, a relative, somebody you trust.
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Campaign for Freedom of Information: http://www.cfoi.org.uk/
3 comments:
Hi all,
Just a comment about the Data Protection Act 1998. I am making the assumption that the use of Subject Access Requests has not been overlooked in relation to it being a resource for academics who are bullied? Of course, I agree that the FOI act is important also, but in my own experience, the Data Protection Act can quite easily allow a bullied academic to obtain all the information they need to 'prove' their case. The FOI, I have to say, takes a much lower priority if you are looking for information on your own personal circumstances - the FOI does however modify certain aspects of the DPA to most people's advantage.
Use both!
* For WRITTEN answer on Tuesday, 27th January, 2004. Questions 505, 506, 507, 508, 509.
To the Minister for Education and Science
Joe Higgins T.D.
To ask the Minister for Education and Science his plans to carry out a study of the extent of the problem of bullying in Irish universities.
To ask the Minister for Education and Science the total cost in legal fees for each university arising from Irish universities contesting cases of bullying through the Courts between 1998-2003.
To ask the Minister for Education and Science the total number of cases relating to bullying involving staff or ex-staff of Irish universities brought
through the courts between 1998-2003.
To ask the Minister for Education and Science the amount of money expended in out-of-court settlements between 1998-2003 arising from Irish universities
contesting cases of bullying through the courts.
To ask the Minister for Education and Science the number of out-of-court settlements between 1998-2003 arising from Irish universities contesting cases
of bullying through the courts.
Minister for Education and Science (Mr Noel Dempsey, T.D.)
I propose to take questions 505, 506, 507, 508 and 509 together.
As the Deputy is aware, the Universities Act, 1997 confers autonomous statutory responsibilities on universities in relation to the day to day management of their affairs. My Department does not collect information in relation to the issues raised by the Deputy. I have no proposals to carry out a study in relation to bullying in Irish universities.
NOTE 1: A widely published estimate assembled from news reports etc is an undisputed cost of 3.38 million euro by University College Cork with 500 staff and a budget of 97 million, although this is a gross underestimate.
NOTE 2: UCC's response was "I wish to acknowledge receipt of your recent e-mail. Unfortunately I
am not in a position to furnish you with the details you requested as
this information is for internal reporting purposes only.
..we just have to keep chipping away at bullying... asking questions that don't get answered...
... keep asking and asking and asking...
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