Freedom of Information and Staff Privacy

This statement on Staff Privacy was introduced following approval by Communication and Information Policy Committee in January 2006.

For new staff, reference to it is included in the Annex to the Staff Contract concerning Data Protection and Freedom of Information.

Insofar as the College holds personal information about independent members of Council and other College committees, the College will normally adopt the same position on questions of privacy as if the information related to a senior employee.

As a publicly-funded institution the College is subject to the Freedom of Information Act (2000), which means that individual members of the public have a right to request information about most aspects of its business. This may include information which identifies individual employees, beyond that which is included in routinely-available directories and publications.

When it receives a request for information from a member of the public which would involve identifying particular members of staff, the College is only obliged to provide information about their activities in their professional capacity, and not any information held in relation to them as a private individual.

In practice the distinction between what the public has a right to know about the College and the right to privacy of members of staff is not always a straightforward one. It is also potentially subject to change as case-law develops in this new legislation, and in the light of public debates about good practice.

Specific considerations which the College will bear in mind in deciding how to deal with an individual request will include:

• whether the enquiry being dealt with can be answered adequately without revealing information about individuals;
• the seniority of the member of staff - it being generally assumed that the more junior the individual concerned the greater the right to privacy;
• whether revealing particular information would compromise the safety of the member of staff concerned (as in such a case the College is able to withhold the information even if it concerns the individual's professional role);
• whether the member of staff has a particular expectation of confidence (for example because of assurances given at the time the information was collected);
• whether the member of staff has lodged any objection to disclosure;
• whether the information is already in the public domain or might reach the public domain by other means.

At present, the College regards the following commonly-occurring types of information about individuals as private (ie not disclosable):

• precise salary details (although salaries associated with grade boundaries (or the Grade 6/Professorial minimum salary where applicable) will be disclosable);
• Role Descriptions when in draft form (detailed protocols have been agreed in this area as part of the HERA project);
• detailed information about expenses claims (although information of a general nature will be disclosable against individual names - as described in the College's Expenses Policy);
• personal financial information such as salary deductions, tax affairs or bank account details;
• private contact details for the staff member or her/his partner or relatives;
• private conversations, correspondence or diary entries (insofar as these can readily be identified as separate from College business);
• physical privacy in the use of facilities such as changing rooms;
• sensitive personal data as defined by the Data Protection Act (1998) (eg medical details);

Most other categories of information held about staff are generally considered to relate to them in a professional capacity. This includes information not narrowly related to their particular job, but to their public role more broadly - such as appointed or elected committee memberships.

Where individual requests from the public for information raise unusual and difficult issues on which no policy statement has been made, the College will normally consult the member(s) of staff about whom information is sought.

It should be noted that the above presumption of the right to privacy relates to enquiries from the public generally. In relation to specific types of enquiry from recognised authorities, normally involving the investigation of crime, the College may be legally entitled, or indeed be obliged, to breach the personal privacy of staff in ways which would not normally be justified.