Business Assurance
Information Compliance
5
th
Floor James Clerk Maxwell Building 57 Waterloo Road London SE1 8WA Tel: 020 7848 7816 Email: info-compliance@kcl.ac.uk
Matthew Kennard By email only to: request-681455-05c9aeca@whatdotheyknow.com
20 August 2020
Dear Matthew Kennard,
Request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 “the Act”)
Further to your recent request for information held by King’s College London, I am writing to confirm that the requested information is held by the university.
Your request
We received your information request on 03 August 2020 and have treated it as a request for information made under section 1(1) of the Act. You requested the following information:
Please disclose for the War Studies and Defence Studies departments: 1) A list of all UK government contracts signed from 2010-2019. 2) The amount each contract was worth. 3) A description of what services the departments were providing. 4) A list of all King's College staff who have taught on Ministry of Defence courses.
Our response
War Studies and Defence Studies have a number of contracts/agreements with various departments within government, including the Cabinet Office, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Ministry of Defence. These contracts range in length from 1 day to 10 years and are to deliver education and/or research in line with the research areas and topics publicised on both department’s websites.
More specific information has been withheld under the following two exemptions: The university engages Section 27 (‘prejudice to international relations’) in withholding this information. The majority of contracts are listed as classified under UK security legislation. This means we are not permitted to disclose details, since they predominantly involve areas either directly or pertaining to the UK security services. Publishing confidential details of any such contracts would be likely to prejudice international relations and the protection or promotion of the UK’s security and strategic alliances abroad. Although the University recognises the inherent public interest in understanding decision-making, the harm that would be likely to result from disclosure outweighs the wider public interest in transparency on this occasion. The university engages Section 43(2) (‘Prejudice to commercial interests’) in withholding this information. Disclosing commercial information valuable to our competitors, such as contractual amounts and details of services provided, would be likely to prejudice the University in open competition. Two of the largest contracts are due for renewal in the next 12 months and will go to open tender. If the University were to reveal either our pricing structure or the nature of our delivery, competitors would be likely to use this information to modify their own bids and gain a commercial advantage in these forthcoming open tenders. The University acknowledges that there is always inherent public interest in transparent practice. However, as a public authority in receipt of public funds, the University must also consider the weight of public interest in ensuring the use of public funds efficiently, through maintaining its ability to operate competitively and generate income. A significant amount of time and resource is devoted to producing these services, they are a core commercial asset of the University, therefore on this occasion we find the public interest favours withholding the information. This completes the university’s response to your information request.
Your right to complain
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your information request or feel that it has not been properly handled you have the right to complain or request a review of our decision by contacting the Assistant Director of Business Assurance (Information Compliance) within 60 days of the date of this letter. Further information about our internal complaints procedure is available at the link below: