The Freedom of Information (FoI) Act gives everyone a new and extensive right of access to recorded information held by public authorities. The Act applies right across the education sector and includes the University of Westminster. A FoI request can be made to anyone who works in the organization and a FoI request must be dealt with within the prescribed time limit of 20 working days.

FoI extends over all the recorded information that we hold and affects everyone who works with us or for us.

Download the University Freedom of Information Policy:

Our obligations

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the University of Westminster has to:

1. Create and maintain an accurate index of all the information we routinely and proactively publish into the public domain.

The University publishes a lot of information into the public domain already. This includes material about our corporate structure and governance, our finances, our courses, our facilities and so on. FoI requires us to list all this information in an organised, searchable inventory called a Publication Scheme.

2. Provide access, on request, to all the other unpublished information that we hold or that is held on our behalf by others (subject to certain qualifications and restrictions).

We are required to do this because the public has the right to know about how we conduct our business.

How to make a request

Freedom of Information (FoI), Environmental Information Regulations (EIRs) and Data Protection (DP) requests are different. The guide below will help you determine what sort of request you need to make. Please try to make your request as clear as possible. Send your request to the Information Compliance Manager at [email protected].

If you are looking for information about yourself or someone else, visit our Data subject rights page. If you are looking for information regarding the University and its policies and responsibilities to the environment, visit our Environmental Information Regulations page. If you are looking for another kind of information held by the University, visit our Publication Scheme page or email us at [email protected]