Information Commissioner's Office

Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

25 July 2016, Central government

The complainant has requested copies of correspondence between the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) about the Door-Drop Preference Service scheme, covering the period from 7 May 2012 to 31 May 2014. Defra provided a limited number of records in response to the request, with information relating to some individuals redacted in accordance with the ‘third party personal data’ (regulation 13(1)) exception to disclosure in the EIR. The complaint to the Commissioner is two-fold. Firstly, the complainant considers that Defra holds additional records that have not been identified and provided. Secondly, the complainant has disputed Defra’s reliance on regulation 13(1) to withhold the names of Defra’s officials listed in the correspondence that has been supplied. The Commissioner has decided on the balance of probabilities that Defra does not hold any further information caught by the scope of the request and that regulation 13(1) of the EIR was correctly applied. In light of her findings, the Commissioner does not require any steps to be taken by Defra.

EIR 5: Not upheld EIR 13(1): Not upheld