Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs
- Date 23 January 2023
- Sector Central government
- Decision(s) EIR 12.4.a: Not upheld, EIR 14.3: Upheld
The complainant has requested Defra to disclose a list of all 1-2-1 meetings with farmers in relation to the Catchment Sensitive Farming (CSF) programme. Defra refused to comply with the request citing regulation 12(4)(b) (manifestly unreasonable) of the EIR. During the Commissioner’s investigation it was established that the requested information is in fact not held by Defra. The Commissioner’s decision is therefore that Defra does not hold the information and should have cited regulation 12(4)(a) of the EIR instead. As it cited the incorrect exception, the Commissioner has recorded a breach of regulation 14(3) of the EIR in this case. The Commissioner does not require any further action to be taken.