Business Assurance 5th Floor

Information Compliance 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:
http://www.kcl.ac.uk/college/policyzone/assets/files/governance_and_legal/Freed
om_of_Information_Policy_updated_Oct_%202011.pdf

In the event that you are not content with the outcome of your complaint you may
apply to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally the Information
Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted the internal
complaints procedure provided by King’s College London.

The Information Commissioner can be contacted at the following address:

The Information Commissioner’s Office

Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Yours sincerely

Olenka Cogias

Information Compliance