Letter to the OU Secretary About BBC Article

On 10th April 2009 Doug Paulley sent the following to Fraser Woodburn, the Open University Secretary, drawing his attention to an article on the BBC website.

Dear Mr Woodburn,

In relation to my previously raised issues regarding the Freedom of Information response on animal and animal tissue usage in O U research and education, I thought you might find the following article of interest.

Order to release animal test data

"Several universities and major colleges have been ordered to reveal information about their animal experiments by the Information Commissioner's Office.

. . .

However, Information Commissioner Richard Thomas ruled that releasing the information would not increase the risk to the health or safety of any person, said a spokeswoman."

You will remember that the crux of the argument for withholding information I requested from the O U was the Health and Safety Argument. It is clear that this argument is questionnable at best.

In the circumstances, I was wondering if you could please chase a full response, and if you could indicate to me when I can reasonably expect that response. It's now been 21 days since I raised the issue with you.

I very much hope I don't have to raise the issue with the Information Commissioner's office. You may or may not be aware that the I C O have previously issued enforcement notices on my behalf on previous occasions (with other organisations).

Thank you

Doug Paulley