Under the Freedom of Information Act you can ask for any recorded information you think a public authority may hold.
Any request for information held by/on behalf of a public authority or a body carrying out a public function is technically a Freedom of Information (FOI) request in the first instance.
Section 39 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOI) then exempts environmental information from being dealt with under the FOI Act and provides it should be dealt with under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
If it is determined that part/all of the information requested is personal information, where the applicant is the subject of the information, access to that information will be dealt with under the General Data Protection Regulations and Data Protection Act 2018 as a subject access request.
Requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act or Environmental Information Regulations
The Freedom of Information Act and Environmental Information Regulations give you rights to access official information.
You can ask for any information you think a public authority may hold. The right only covers recorded information which includes information held on computers, in emails and in printed or handwritten documents as well as images, video and audio recordings.
You should identify the information you want as clearly as possible.
Your request can be in the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, but the authority does not have to answer your question if this would mean creating new information or giving an opinion or judgment that is not already recorded.
Some information may not be given to you because it is exempt, for example because it would unfairly reveal personal details about somebody else.
You don't have to know whether the information you want is covered by the Environmental Information Regulations or the Freedom of Information Act. When you make a request, it is for the public authority to decide which law they need to follow.
To make a request to City, please email FOI@city.ac.uk.
However, please check first whether or not the information you seek access to is available via the City, University of London FOI Publication Scheme.
Requests for your personal data – Subject Access Requests
You have the right to ask an organisation whether or not they are using or storing your personal information. You can also ask them for copies of your personal information, verbally or in writing.
This is called the right of access and is commonly known as making a subject access request or SAR.
Anyone wishing to make a SAR should email dataprotection@city.ac.uk. This applies to staff, students, former students and anyone else City University may hold personal information about. There is no fee for making a SAR.
Data subjects also have the following rights:
- The right to be informed
- The right to rectification
- The right to erasure
- The right to restrict processing
- The right to data portability
- The right to object
- Rights in relation to automated decision making and profiling.
More information about these rights is available on the Information Commissioner’s Office website.
We also have further information about how we process personal data in our Privacy Notice for past, present and prospective students of City and Privacy notice for past, present and prospective City staff members.
City, University of London provides information free of charge on its website.
Data Protection Subject Access Requests
Article 15 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) entitles individuals to the right to access their personal data. Requests under Article 15 are now referred to as Right of Access requests, but are more commonly known as Subject Access Requests.
If you would like to make a request, please feel free to email us at dataprotection@city.ac.uk, or alternatively feel free to contact us at our street address listed below.
So that we may answer your request fully, please provide as much information as you can about the information and where we can find it. Information which would be helpful is:
- The name(s) of the College, School or other area in whose records you would like us to look for information about you. You may want to think about the areas of the University with which you have had contact.
- The type of information you are interested in.
- The date range of the information.
Freedom of Information/Environmental Information Regulations
The Freedom of Information Act (FOI) and Environmental Information Regulations (EIR) give you rights to access official information.
You can ask for any information you think a public authority may hold. The right only covers recorded information which includes information held on computers, in emails and in printed or handwritten documents as well as images, video and audio recordings.
You should identify the information you want as clearly as possible.
Your request can be in the form of a question, rather than a request for specific documents, but the authority does not have to answer your question if this would mean creating new information or giving an opinion or judgment that is not already recorded.
Some information may not be given to you because it is exempt, for example because it would unfairly reveal personal details about somebody else.
You don't have to know whether the information you want is covered by the Environmental Information Regulations or the Freedom of Information Act. When you make a request, it is for the public authority to decide which law they need to follow.
To make a request to City, please email FOI@city.ac.uk. We do not charge a fee for FOI and EIR requests.
However, please check first whether or not the information you seek access to is available via the City, University of London FOI Publication Scheme.
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Please note that following our merger, the policies on our website are the previous City policies. All policies are subject to review and re-development as part of the integration within City St George’s, University of London.