Whistleblowers: Cambridge breaks law by withholding data

Cambridge University has broken data-protection laws by not supplying personal information to Gill Evans, the history lecturer with whom the university is fighting a High Court battle.

The compliance officer at the office of the Information Commissioner confirmed in a letter to Dr Evans that "there is little doubt that the university has failed to supply you with all the personal data to which you are entitled within the statutory 40-day period, further to your subject access requestsI We have written to the university pointing out the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998 and have asked a number of queries about they way in which they have dealt with your requests." The commissioner has asked Cambridge to supply Dr Evans with all the material within 14 days.

Cambridge said the letter was written before it was allowed to put its position. The university said it was confident that it could answer the concerns.