| I see my comment above is going down well... Just for reference, the FOI already provides for the following exemptions: 22A Information obtained in the course of, or derived from, a programme of research. 24 Information for the purpose of safeguarding national security. 26 Information that would, or would be likely to, prejudice defence of the realm. 29 Information that would, or would be likely to, prejudice the economic or financial interests of the United Kingdom or of any part of it. 43 Information that constitutes a trade secret or would, or would be likely to, prejudice commercial interests. I think that pretty much 100% of that new agency's work will fall within one of these exemptions so IMHO it makes sense to exempt it altogether and avoid having to deal with FOI requests in the first place. The agency along with the government will then have full discretion to make research and results public as they deemed useful and that will also allow them to work with private companies to license/commercialise stuff. (Note that a lot of DARPA's work is also secret.) |