Natural England
- Date 15 June 2020
- Sector Other
- Decision(s) EIR 12.5.a: Not upheld, EIR 5.1: Not upheld, EIR 5.2: Upheld
The complainant has requested information from Natural England (“NE”) concerning whether corvid or other bird or mammal species control licences had been granted by the public authority for certain named geographical locations. Natural England provided copies of all lethal individual licences (including supporting documentation) issued to these areas during 2019 but refused to provide identifying location information, citing regulation 12(5)(a) (public safety) and regulation 12(3) personal information. The Commissioner’s decision is that NE has correctly applied the exception at regulation 12(5)(a) and that the public interest favours maintaining the exception and withholding the requested information. She has also decided that Natural England has disclosed all the relevant information it holds and complied with regulation 5(1) but some of it was provided outside the time frame and therefore it breached regulation 5(2). The Commissioner does not require the public authority to take any further steps.