Requesting information from the University

So far as is possible, Staffordshire University wishes to provide its staff and students, and other members of the public, with any information they need about the University.

Under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Freedom of Information Act 2000, individuals have rights in regard of obtaining information held by the University. You may make requests for information under the terms of either (or both) of these Acts, and appropriate application forms are attached.

Before completing an application form, please read the notes below to determine the nature of your request.

Under the terms of the Data Protection Act 1998 you are allowed to ask the University for any information held about you as an individual. For example, you may wish to see your staff or student file, your library borrowing record, etc. If you wish to make an enquiry about data that relates to yourself, then please complete the form titled “Subject Access Request Form”. 

Please note that there will be a charge of £10 for this service and that the University will normally have 40 days to respond to your request.

Under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 you are allowed to ask the University to provide you with any information about the University. For example, you may wish to see the minutes of a particular meeting, or obtain statistical information relating to student or staff numbers. If you wish to make an enquiry about data that relates to the University, then please complete the form titled “Request For Information”.

Please note:

1. where the information you request is already published in some form by the University (or some other related body) then we will provide you with guidance on how to find this information, rather than the information itself
2. you cannot use a request of this sort to obtain personal information relating to yourself (which can be done through the Subject Access process described about) or, usually, to any other third party
3. there will usually be a charge for this service that will reflect the administrative costs of providing the information you request, and the University will usually have 20 days to respond to your request following receipt of the relevant fee. We will make every effort to determine the search fee as quickly as possible.
4. we will make all reasonable efforts to locate the information you require, but we may need to ask you to provide more detail if your original application does not allow us to identify exactly what you want (only once your request is clear will the 20 days response time commence)
5. you should be careful to ask for everything that you need: any later requests you may make will attract additional fees
6. both the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Data Protection Act 1998 provide some limits to your access to information: please note that the University reserves the right to withhold information in some cases. For example, we will not provide information of a commercially sensitive nature, nor shall we provide information relating to third parties where there is no consent for such a disclosure. If we cannot comply with your request for any reason, we will provide you with a full explanation of the reason(s) for that refusal.
7. we will not usually provide statistical information analysed to any greater level of detail than is normally provided with the University’s standard published data sets.
8. if the information you request is held/published by some other Public Authority, then we will make every effort to advise you on how to contact the relevant Authority.

Once you have decided the type of enquiry you are making, please complete the appropriate application form and return it to the Data Protection Officer at the address shown. Please provide full contact details so that we may contact you quickly should we need to clarify the nature of your enquiry.

• Request information form (DOC, file size: 50KB)
• Request information form (PDF, file size: 12.57KB)