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Make a Freedom of Information request

This page explains how to make a request and how we will deal with it, in line with your rights under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)

Your rights

  • Under the terms of the FOIA, you have the right to request any information that is held by the University. The University has 20 working days to deal with your request.
  • Making a Freedom of Information request is free of charge.
  • You have the right to access any recorded information, including all digital and print records, but there are situations where information is not required to be released, or should not be released due to exemptions. 
  • The Information Commissioner’s Office publishes helpful guidance on people’s rights under FOIA.

Before you make a request

The University routinely publishes large amounts of information, so you may be able to find what you need without making a request. 

Before submitting a request, please check:

  • Our Publication Scheme lists the types of information we make routinely available.
  • Our responses to previous Freedom of Information and Environmental Information requests are published on our Disclosure Log.
  • We have a different process if you want to request information about yourself. Please read our guidance on making a subject access request.

How to make a request

You must make your request in writing as follows:

Include your name and contact address.

Make sure your request is clear and unambiguous, so that we can identify what information is needed.

There is no specific limit on the number of requests you can make, but if you submit a lot of requests in a short period of time, we may aggregate them together for the purposes of assessing costs.

If you need any advice on your request, please email the Information Compliance team, at foi@leeds.ac.uk.

Formats of data and information we can provide

Tell us how you would like to receive the information, and we will do our best to provide the information in that format. If the information held by the University consists of, or forms part of a dataset, the University will, so far as reasonably practicable, provide that information in a reusable electronic format, based on open standards (for example a Comma Separated Value – CSV file). Any datasets released under FOI will also be licensed so you will know how you can use and reuse the information they contain.

If the requested information constitutes a dataset, as defined by the Act, then the University will supply that dataset in a reusable form, so far as reasonably practicable. If the University owns the copyright contained in that dataset it will be provided under the terms of a specific licence, usually the Open Government Licence (OGL).

What happens when we receive your request

When we receive your request, we will start a search for the information you need. 

If we are unsure what information you require, we will contact you as soon as possible to clarify your request. 

The 20-working day period for responding to a request will only start once we understand what information you require.

If we already publish the information, we will send you details of how to find the information.

Some information may be exempt from disclosure. If this is the case, we will provide what information we can and explain why we cannot release the exempted information.

If you are unhappy with our response

Email the Information Compliance team at foi@leeds.ac.uk within 40 days of date of the response letter. It would also be helpful if you could also tell us what you are unhappy about.