Information Commissioner's Office

Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

19 November 2007, Central government

The complainant asked Defra for information about two contractors involved in the clean up operation after the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease epidemic. In respect of the first company, Defra withheld the information sought, citing the exceptions in regulations 12(3), (4)(e), (5)(d) and (e) of the EIR. Defra said that investigations were proceeding into the second company. It subsequently cited regulation 12(4)(d) as its grounds for withholding information about that company. The Commissioner decided, in relation to the first company, that the information in question should be withheld under regulations 12(4)(e), 12(5)(b) and (d). For the comparable information for the second company, the Commissioner found that some of the information had been correctly withheld under regulation 12(4)(d), and that Defra had complied with its obligations under regulation 5(1) in saying that other information was not held at the time of the request. The Commissioner concluded that, in all the circumstances of the case, the public interest in maintaining the exceptions in the regulations outweighed the public interest in releasing the information. He found, however, that Defra had misapplied regulation 12(5)(d), in relation to the legal aspects of some of the information. Information Tribunal appeal number EA/2007/0137 has been dismissed.

EIR 12.4.d: Not upheld