REASONS Introduction 1. This Decision relates to an Appeal brought by the Appellant pursuant to section 57 Freedom of Information Act 2000. It is in respect of a decision notice issued by the Information Commissioner and concerns a request for information made to the University of Essex. 2. References to page numbers in this Decision are to an open bundle provided for the Appeal of 1,669 pages. If a reference is to one of the many documents provided but not included in that bundle the reference is to the internal numbering of that document itself. 3. We recognise that notwithstanding the Senior President of Tribunals Practice Direction of the 4 June 2024 this Decision is lengthy. This is because we considered the amount of content necessary to deal with the Appeal and the many points raised. However what follows is a summary of the submissions, evidence and our view of the law. It does not seek to provide every step of our reasoning. The absence of a reference by us to any specific submission or evidence does not mean it has not been considered. 4. The Appeal was first considered by the Tribunal on 4 March 2024. Due to the number of issues raised and the amount of material provided we considered it necessary and appropriate and in compliance with the overriding objective (in particular rule 2(2)(a) 2009 Rules) to reconvene on 20 May 2024 to continue our consideration of this matter. 5. In this Decision we have adopted the following definitions. Freedom of Information Act 2000 FOIA Data Protection Act 2018 DPA United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation GDPR The Tribunal Procedure (First -Tier Tribunal) (General Regulatory Chamber) Rules 2009 2009 Rules Alan David Sokal the Appellant The Information Commissioner the IC University of Essex UoE Decision Notice the DN The Grounds of Appeal the GoA Report commissioned by UoE and prepared by Akua Reindorf KC the Report 2