548.Section 279 allows the Scottish Ministers to require any person having functions under the 2003 Act to provide relevant information for research purposes, as defined in section 33 of the Data Protection Act 1998. The section provides a number of exceptions and safeguards to this:
information which a person could not be compelled to give as evidence in proceedings in court need not be provided;
information which would enable the person who is the subject of the information to be identified must if reasonably possible be provided in such a way as to prevent identification; and
where provision would breach a duty of confidentiality, the information cannot be provided without the permission of the person to whom the information relates.