UK Research and Innovation

UK Research and Innovation has explained to the Commissioner that from 1 April 2018 the seven UK Research Councils (which include the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council - EPSRC), Innovate UK and Research England became part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK Government. UKRI is now the legal entity for complying with UK Information Access Regimes. UKRI provided the submission to the Commissioner, which retained reference to EPSRC for clarity. The Commissioner notes the new structure but also refers to EPSRC throughout this decision notice; again, for clarity. The complainant requested from the EPSRC information about a particular grant. EPSRC directed the complainant to a website where some relevant information is published. It released other information with some redacted under section 36(2)(b) (inhibition to provision of advice and exchange of views), 36(2)(c) (prejudice to effective conduct of public affairs), 40(2) (third person personal data), 41(1) (information provided in confidence) and 43(2) (commercially sensitive information). During the investigation EPSRC’s application of section 40(2) to some information was removed from the scope of the complaint. The Commissioner’s decision is that: EPSRC is entitled to rely on section 36(2)(b)(i) and (ii) and section 36(2)(c) with regards to some of the withheld information but the public interest favours releasing this information. EPSRC in not entitled to rely on sections 41(1) or 43(2) with regards to the information it has withheld under these exemptions. EPSRC breached section 10(1) of the FOIA as it did not comply with section 1(1) within 20 working days. The Commissioner requires EPSRC to take the following step to ensure compliance with the legislation: Disclose the information it has withheld under sections 36(2), 41(1) and 43(2) having redacted any third person personal data.