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You are here: BAILII >> Databases >> Information Commissioner's Office >> Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decision Notice) [2011] UKICO FER0274482 (31 January 2011)
URL: http://www.bailii.org/uk/cases/UKICO/2011/FER0274482.html
Cite as: [2011] UKICO FER274482, [2011] UKICO FER0274482
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Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decision Notice) [2011] UKICO FER0274482 (31 January 2011)
Summary: The complainant made a request to the Department of Energy & Climate Change for information related to the Strategic Environmental Assessment prepared in connection with the government-™s proposals on the Framework for the Development of Clean Coal. The public authority initially responded to the request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed some of the requested information. Additional information was withheld under the exemptions in section 35(1)(a) (Formulation and development of government policy), section 42 (Legal professional privilege) and section 43(2) (Commercial interests). At the internal review stage the public authority referred to the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) and suggested that the withheld information would fall under the exceptions in regulation 12(4)(e) (Internal communications) and regulation 12(5)(b) (Course of justice, etc) if this legislation were to be applied. The Commissioner considers that the withheld information is environmental and that therefore the EIR was the correct regime to apply. However, the Commissioner also found that of the information identified by the public authority only a fraction fell within the scope of the request and that regulation 12(4)(e) was the only relevant exception. The Commissioner decided that this exception was only engaged for some of the information and that the public interest in maintaining the exception outweighed the public interest in disclosure. Where regulation 12(4)(e) did not apply the Commissioner requires the public authority to make this information available to the complainant.
Section of Act/EIR & Finding: EIR 5 - Complaint Upheld, EIR 5 - Complaint Upheld, EIR 12.4.e - Complaint Partly Upheld, EIR 14 - Complaint Upheld