The Decision Notice

Emma was checking her notes when Fiona Bell called. The records team had found another sheet in the old student travel files. It explained how the foundation planned to tell students about the result of their applications.

“Can you send it?” Emma asked.

“I can send a blank copy,” Fiona said. “It has no names or addresses.”

The document was a model decision letter. At the top were spaces for a student's name, the course and the date. Under the result was a short paragraph explaining that an unsuccessful student could ask for a review within fourteen days.

Emma compared it with the rules she had received the day before. Both described the same period for requesting a review. But neither proved that the trust had sent the letter to anyone.

“Have you found any completed letters?” she asked.

“Not yet. The records team is still checking. The appeals folder has not been opened.”

Emma thanked her and rang Sarah.

“So the students were told about the review,” Sarah said.

“Not necessarily. We know what a letter was supposed to say. We don't know whether students received it.”

Sarah was silent for a moment. “And we still don't know how many were selected.”

“Exactly.”

Emma opened the newspaper letter from the parent who had complained about unclear decisions in September 2011. There was no mention of a decision letter. But that did not prove one had never arrived. The parent might have chosen not to mention it.

Later, Emma received an email from the newspaper archive. It confirmed that old unpublished letters might still be stored, but staff would need to check the collection. They could not promise to give her private correspondence.

She wrote down the reply. It offered another possible source, not a new witness.

Before finishing, Emma noticed a small line at the bottom of the model letter: “Send a copy to the scheme administrator.” There was no administrator's name. She asked Fiona whether there was a register of letters sent to applicants.

Fiona replied that she would put the question to the records team. She made no promise that such a register existed.

Emma looked at her notes. The rules and the model letter agreed about what should have happened. The missing piece was evidence of what had actually happened.

She underlined her next question: Were the decision letters sent, and how was that recorded?