King's College London

The complainant requested an electronic copy of a dissertation and information about any investigation into allegations of plagiarism by the dissertation’s author. King’s College London (‘the university’) refused both parts of the request under sections 40(2) and 40(5B) of FOIA, which concern personal data. The university subsequently confirmed that the information requested in part 1 of the request is exempt from disclosure under section 21(1) of FOIA, as this information is already reasonably accessible to the complainant. It maintained its reliance on section 40(5B) in respect of the second part of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that the second part of the request engages section 40(5B) of FOIA and it’s not necessary for the university to take any steps.