Animal and Plant Health Agency

The complainant requested raw data from the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), an executive agency sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Welsh Government, relating to trap-side testing carried out on badgers suspected of carrying the bovine tuberculosis virus. APHA withheld the information under regulation 12(4)(d) of the EIR – materials in the course of completion, unfinished documents and incomplete data. APHA also stated that no information was held in relation part 8 of the request, as defined in this notice.The Commissioner’s decision is that the exception at regulation 12(4)(d) is not engaged. With regard to question 8, having reconsidered this, the Commissioner is satisfied that it was not a request for recorded information as defined in regulation 2(1) of the EIR. The Commissioner requires APHA to take the following step to ensure compliance with the legislation: disclose the information requested in parts 2, 3, and 4 of the request, as set out in this notice, to the complainant.