The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has published its Report following Reviews into the University of East Anglia’s Climatic Research Unit’s E-mails. The Report states that the issue of how FOI legislation should be applied to scientific research is confused and needs to be resolved as a matter of urgency. The Committee would like clear guidance on the application of FOI to research by the start of the Sept 2011 academic year.
Meantime some useful information for those in universities and colleges involved in this area is JISC's Freedom of Information and Research Data: Questions and Answers, written by Andrew Charlesworth and Chris Rusbridge, available at www.jisc.ac.uk/foiresearchdata
The above House of Commons Science and Technology Report is available at http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmselect/cmsctech/444/444.pdf