Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

The complainant requested from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) various pieces of information relating to the declarations of interests made under the Ministerial Code by Ministers within Defra. Defra supplied the complainant with some of the information it held in relation to the request but withheld the remainder under section 41 of the Act (information provided in confidence). Following the Commissioner’s intervention, Defra released some of the withheld information to the complainant. The Commissioner is satisfied that the remaining withheld information is exempt under section 41. The Commissioner also found that Defra failed to respond within the statutory time limit, thus breaching sections 10(1) and 17(1) of the Act (time for compliance with a request and refusal of a request).