University Secretary

Ellison Building
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE1 8ST

Tel: (0191) 227 4010

Fax: (0191) 227 4647

18/05/2010

OUR REFERENCE: FOI/RFI-283/Benson

Dear Mr Benson

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000 - REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Your request for information received on 26/04/2010 has now been considered.

The response to your enquiry is as follows.

Q1 Does your institution provide any information or advice to students or staff

on any potential liability under Terrorism legislation which might result from
accessing materials for teaching or research ? If so please provide copies of
any documents held which detail or refer to such information or advice.

Information not held - There is no formal documentation for advising staff or students
in this area.

Q2 Does your institution have any kind of procedure to review or assess

reading lists, module descriptors or other teaching materials which explicitly
or in practice considers questions of safety and risk under terrorism
legislation as part of its remit ? For example does the institution have anything
similar or analogous to the 'module review process' established at Nottingham
University described here:

Northumbria University does not have an institutional procedure or policy in place to

specifically review or assess reading lists, module descriptors or other teaching
materials in terms of safety and risk under terrorism legislation.

We, of course, do have general procedures for approving new modules or revisions
to existing modules where the learning outcomes, teaching content, reading lists etc
are scrutinised in terms of their fit with the programme, the discipline (including
subject benchmark statements), and the University’s requirements for descriptor
style and content. These do not however explicitly cover “risk under terrorism”.

Q3 Does your institution have any system, policy or procedure in place for
dealing with any potential actions taken by the authorities against the
institution, its students or staff under Terrorism legislation ? If so please
supply a copy of the policy and advise the date it was decided upon and
implemented.

No we do not.

Q4 Does your institution have any system, policy or procedure in place for
‘preventing violent extremism’ as recommended for example in the
government guidance document ‘Promoting Good Campus Relations’

No we do not.

The supply of information under Freedom of Information legislation does not provide
the requestor any automatic rights to re-use what they have received. Any re-use of
the data provided, including free distribution, including online publication, or
commercial use or sale, is not permitted without the explicit consent of Northumbria
University.

If you have any queries or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.

If you are unhappy with our response or the way your request has been handled, you
can ask for an internal review. You should contact the Records and Information
Manager, in writing or via email if you wish to appeal.

Should you be unsuccessful in your appeal, you may then lodge a complaint with the
Information Commissioner at:

Information Commissioner's Office

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF
Telephone: 01625 545 700
www.informationcommissioner.gov.uk

Yours sincerely

Duncan James
Records and Information Manager