Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs

The complainant has requested information from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (“APHA”) about bovine tuberculosis cultures. As an executive agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (“DEFRA”), APHA does not constitute a public authority for the purposes of FOIA and EIR and so this notice is issued to its parent Department. The Commissioner’s decision is that APHA did not deal with the requests for information in accordance with the EIR in the following way: it failed to provide a response to the requests within the statutory timeframe of 20 working days as set out in regulation 5(2) of the EIR. As a response has now been provided, the Commissioner requires APHA to take no steps.