Department For Environment, Food And Rural Affairs (DEFRA)

The complainant has requested minutes and emails regarding meetings between Minette Batters and government ministers. The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) located one document which it said was a “meeting note” and did not fall within the definition of “minutes”, specified in the request. It said it was also satisfied it did not hold any other information falling in scope of the request. The Commissioner’s decision is that the “meeting note” did fall within the scope of the request. By failing to include it within scope and consider it for disclosure, DEFRA failed to comply with section 1(1) of FOIA. However, aside from this, the Commissioner is satisfied that, on the balance of probabilities, DEFRA does not hold any further information falling within the scope of the request, and he finds no failure to comply with section 1(1) in that regard. The Commissioner requires DEFRA to issue a fresh response to the request, either disclosing the “meeting note” or issuing a refusal notice which is compliant with the requirements of section 17(1) of FOIA.