Parts of the requested documents are publicly available, but this doesn’t apply to the appendixes. The ministry decided to comply with the WOB (Freedom of Information) request only partially. Part of the information will not be disclosed. Due to privacy, personal data have been left out, but other requested information will be left out as well. The requested list concerns thirteen documents.

“The documents with the numbers 7, 8, 9 and 11 were drafted for the purpose of internal consultation and contain personal opinions on policy,” says Kees Riezebos, director of the department of Legislation and Legal Affairs at OCW. “They concern draft versions of the OCW minister’s reply to questions submitted by the VVD about TU/e’s preferential policy. Insofar as these drafts correspond to the final versions, the information has already been made public or evaluated when the final version was presented. Insofar as the document does not correspond to the final version, the information it contains concerns personal opinions on policy intended for internal consultation. I consider it not to be in the interest of a sound and democratic operational management to disclose these personal opinions on policy, be it in a form that can be traced back to individuals or in an anonymous form.” That is why the documents with the numbers 7, 8, 9, and 11 will not be disclosed. The other documents can be found here.

Julma Braat, policy officer at Human Resource Management, says that the ministry of OCW shared the disclosed information with the university. Braat: “TU/e could have lodged an objection, but you need to have compelling reasons for doing so. Based on what I’ve seen, I don’t believe that there were any. We now have to wait and see who submitted the WOB request and for what reason.”