Can a person use the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act to request research data that has been deposited in an archive?
If research data were given in confidence to an archive and the release of such data would breach this confidence, then a FoI request to disclose such research data can be refused. Such research data could be data that under the licence agreement are only available to researchers, or may even have been placed under more restrictive access conditions due to the data being confidential. In addition, if a ‘record’ (e.g. research data) contains personal data (under the definition of the DPA) or Personal Information (under the definition of the Statistics and Registration Services Act) that would allow a person to be identified from the data, then such data can not be released under the FoI Act. In general, a FoI request entitles access to the content of information held, not necessarily to an exact original document (e.g. an interview transcript or dataset).
Related Questions
- How do I ask for information under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act or submit a Subject Access Request under the Data Protection Act?
- Can a person use the Data Protection Act to request personal information that has been deposited in an archive?
- Is the data be available under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI)?
