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Ministry of Defence

  • Date 16 December 2022
  • Sector Central government
  • Decision(s) EIR 11.4: Upheld, EIR 12.4.a: Not upheld, EIR 12.5.a: Not upheld, EIR 14 2: Upheld

The complainant submitted a multipart request to the Ministry of Defence (MOD) seeking information about the use of its land for badger culling. The MOD responded by withholding some information on the basis of regulation 12(5)(a) (defence and public safety) of the EIR and by stating that it did not hold the remainder of the information.
The Commissioner’s decision is that the MOD is entitled to rely on regulation 12(5)(a) to withhold the information to which this exceptions has been applied. The Commissioner is also satisfied, on the balance of probabilities that the MOD does not hold any further information falling within the scope of the request. However, in handling the request the Commissioner has concluded that the MOD breached the following procedural regulations in the EIR: 11(4) and 14(2).